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We don't actually supply the physical location of your Web Site on the Internet. Instead, we have contracts with other firms that specialize in that service. We then deal directly with them for you, on your behalf. So you still have a one-source Web presence provider (us), while allowing us to specialize in the business that we do best, and allowing other companies to do what they do best. Our preferred provider supplies you with the following capabilities.
- Your own domain name (www.yourcompany.com)
- Multiple, unlimited email ID's (sales@yourcompany.com, info@yourcompany.com, john@yourcompany.com, etc.)
- AutoResponders
- Mailing Lists
There are four types of speed and connectivity issues that a Web Host provider should be prepared to discuss with you. Although we've attempted to simplify these issues, they are still somewhat technical. The most important sentences are in bold, so you can just read the bold portion. Because we've attempted to simplify the information in this section (e.g., un-geekified it), it may not be 100% technically accurate. Instead, we've strived to convey the issues and the relevant points, and are ignoring the more nitpicky details.
- Dial in capabilities:
- Many Web Host providers are also ISP's and offer dial-in capabilities to the Internet. The disadvantage of this is that their Internet connections are frequently taken up with people surfing the web, rather than accessing your Web Site. ISP's tend to optimize their setup for Web surfers rather than Web Sites. We do not offer dial-in capabilities.
- The Internal Network speeds/capabilities:
- Our preferred provider has a "Switched Ethernet" internal network. Although many providers forget to consider this, the local network setup is a crucial element in determining overall Internet performance. A traditional 10baseT Ethernet (and even the newer 100baseT) becomes flooded with collisions as new servers and workstations are added. Our "Switched Ethernet" network gives each server maximum throughput to the outside world.
- The connection from their offices to their backbone provider:
- Our preferred provider has multiple T3/DS3 connections to the Internet backbone with a 10-16 MBs data rate. The multiple T3/DS3 connections allow for redundancy. In the event that one fails, all traffic can be immediately routed through the other. This ensures your site has maximum availability.
- The connection from their backbone provider to the rest of the Internet:
- All Web Host providers and all but a few of the very largest ISP's use one or more Internet Backbone providers to provide them access to the Internet. The two Internet Backbone providers we use supply your site with multiple DS3/T3 connections to the Internet. Each provider supplies a capacity of 10-16 MBps, scalable to 45 MBps. This again ensures redundancy and maximum availability of your Web Site to your customers.
In summary, many Web Host Providers either
- optimize their connections for Web Surfers rather than viewing your Web Site,
- have an inadequately configured internal Network
- do not have adequate redundancy to ensure maximum availability of your Web Site
- claim to have multiple T1 connections to the Internet, when they really have a slow T1 connection to their Backbone provider who has multiple T1 or a T3 connection to the Internet.
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