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Hosted Private Cloud Services to Surpass $24 Billion in 2016

March 1st, 2013
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

Good news from IDC yesterday — at least for those of us engaged in private cloud hosting.

The research group forecasts that worldwide spending on hosted private cloud services will surpass $24 billion in 2016.  Compare that to $5.5 billion spent on such services last year. IDC predicts that spending will rise 64% to $9.1 billion in 2013.

Have a look below at the press release, which also talks about two popular private cloud deployment models:

IDC Forecasts Worldwide Spending on Hosted Private Cloud Services to Surpass $24 Billion in 2016

FRAMINGHAM, Mass., February 28, 2013 – According to a new forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide spending on hosted private cloud (HPC) services – an operational model for deploying computing infrastructure services of many types via a cloud model – will be more than $24 billion in 2016. HPC spending will experience a compound annual growth rate of more than 50% over the 2012-2016 forecast period as companies and IT providers look to cloud in its various forms as a means to transform and make more efficient and scalable the “how” of what they provide to their customers. Along the way, Hosted Private Cloud services will become the backbone of a new set of infrastructure services, transforming existing provider models for IT outsourcing, hosting infrastructure services, and other key IT industries.

At the highest level, there are two types of deployment models for cloud services: public and private. Public cloud services are designed for a market and are open to a largely unrestricted universe of potential users who share the services. Private cloud services are designed for a single enterprise and have user-defined and controlled restrictions on access and level of resource dedication.

Hosted private cloud is a composite view of two private cloud services deployment models, both of which offer customers and providers very different choices about resource dedication, tenancy cost, user access/control of the computing asset, and real and perceived security structures in place. The two HPC deployment models are:

  • Dedicated Private Cloud: This model offers dedicated 1:1 physical compute and storage resources focused on the needs of one enterprise or extended enterprise. This model offers the greatest customer control over their contracted resource. Examples of dedicated private cloud service offerings include Amazon EC2 Dedicated Instances, IBM SmartCloud Enterprise, Savvis Symphony Dedicated, and Rackspace Cloud: Private Edition.
  • Virtual Private Cloud: This model is an adjunct of public cloud services with shared virtualized resources and a range of customer control and security options distinct from most public cloud services. Examples of virtual private cloud service offerings include Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), IBM SmartCloud Enterprise Plus, Savvis Symphony VPDC/Open, and Rackspace RackConnect.

“IDC anticipates that virtual private cloud will be the predominant operational model for companies wanting to take advantage of the speed and lower capital costs associated with cloud computing while cloud service providers will welcome the move away from the expense of dedicated 1:1 physical systems for delivering their business process and datacenter outsourcing and other services,” said Robert Mahowald, Research Vice President, SaaS and Cloud Services.

Virtual private cloud is expected to make steady gains in part because of its similarity to public cloud, particularly public Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), which many IT buyers are already using as a cost-saving alternative to replacing aging infrastructure. As more companies evaluate their Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS) options, the need to centralize the management of all cloud-sourced capabilities will become apparent. Meanwhile, the majority of dedicated private cloud buyers will be those companies with existing IS outsourcing or hosted infrastructure services contracts. Potential buyers of dedicated private cloud services will place a premium on off-loading the asset management burden and on operational reliability, over and above other cloud features such as scalability, granular billing, and customer self-service.

When dedicated private cloud grows, the winners are likely to be large incumbent packaged software providers and equipment providers, global systems integrators, professional services firms, and telecommunications service providers. These providers are working mightily to build single-vendor stacks, providing all the underlying components from bare metal to “trusted partner applications.” But if virtual private cloud becomes the dominant provider-based model, as IDC expects, it will be more like a public cloud model with mostly standardized, virtually dedicated assets, which means a vastly different set of vendors will benefit.

“Not even the largest technology incumbents can sustain IT market leadership without achieving leadership in cloud services. Quite simply, vendor failure in cloud services will mean stagnation,” added Mahowald. “Vendors need to be doing everything they can – today – to develop a full range of competitive cloud offerings and operating models optimized around those offerings.”

The IDC study, Worldwide Hosted Private Cloud Services 2012-2016 Forecast: New Models for Delivering Infrastructure Services (Doc #238689), examines the hosted private cloud services market, composed of dedicated private cloud services and virtual private cloud services. The study includes a detailed discussion of the overall cloud services market and how public and private cloud services are distinguished from one another, as well as revenues for 2011 and a five-year growth forecast for 2012-2016.

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Top 10 Security Risks Found by Your Auditor

February 21st, 2013
Posted by: admin

GUEST BLOG

By Sarah Morris
KirkpatrickPrice

At KirkpatrickPrice, we strive to provide the proper assurance and resources to help our clients maintain security within their organization.  Recently, we held a client webinar focused on the “Top Ten Security Risks” that your auditor finds during your auditing process.  Below is a summary of the most common risks that we find.

1.      No Formal Policies and Procedures

Formal guidelines of policies and procedures help provide your employees with clarity of what’s expected of them.  They define the accountability for each employee and also establish necessary training. Information security policies are mandated by the FTC Safeguards Rule, PCI Data Security Standards, and the HIPAA Security Rule. This means they are mandatory.

2.      Misconfigurations

Standards need to be applied consistently. Organizations should utilize benchmark configuration standards from a recognized entity such as: Center for Internet Security (CIS), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), SysAdmin Audit Network Security (SANS) Institute, and the National Institute of Standards Technology (NIST).

3.      No Formal Risk Assessment

Assessment should cover assets that are critical to your enterprise to continue business operations for the following: hardware, software, human resources, and processes (automated or manual). Some important things to consider when thinking about risk assessment are the threats to your assets as well as the likelihood of vulnerability being compromised. Threats can be both internal (employees or third party contractors or partners) as well as external (natural events or social engineering). Developing a proper risk assessment can help to mitigate potential risks that you face.

4.      Undefined Incident Response

It is always important to have clear instructions on reporting procedures when determining incident response. It is suggested to build a culture within your work environment that encourages reporting of all incidents the moment they present themselves.

5.      Lack of Disaster Planning

Disaster planning is important in a situation where written plans were available for others to follow in the event that key personnel are not available. A business impact analysis can help quantify what level of redundancy is required for disaster planning. Proactive arrangements should be made to care for the staff and to communicate with third parties. Walkthroughs and training scenarios can benefit organizations so employees are properly prepared in the event of a disaster.

6.      Lack of Testing

The concept of testing applies to all areas of your security. If your security is not tested, there is no way to determine whether or not vulnerabilities are present.

7.      Insecure Code

Developing secure coding is something we find lots of companies struggling with. To develop secure coding, training must be implemented as well as specific development standards and quality assurance.

8.      Lack of Monitoring/Audit Trails

Log Harvesting, parsing, and alerting methods must be determined to efficiently deal with massive event logs. The responsibility for review must be formally assigned as part of daily operations.  Audit trails should be stored in such a way that system administrators cannot modify without alerting someone with and oversight role.

9.      Data Leakage

Some things we often forget are where the data is located and how long should it be retained? How is encryption implemented and verified? How is access to data granted and audited?  These things are all very important, and if not corrected, can keep you from complying with federal and industry standards and regulations.

10.  Lack of Training

A lack of training can prove to be a striking blow to the security of your organization. Employers should recognize the importance of properly training all employees on safety and security best practices. Standards and guidelines should be clearly set and determined in each organization. Several training opportunities are offered through KirkpatrickPrice to properly train you and your company on the basics of security awareness, awareness for managers, awareness for IT professionals, and awareness for credit card handling.

Determining your individual risks is the first step toward the mitigation process.  Maximum security of your sensitive information is KirkpatrickPrice’s number one priority.

If you’re ready to get started with your assurance process, you’ve come to the right place. We’re ready to help. Let’s work together.

Sarah Morris is a technical writer for KirkpatrickPrice, a provider of world-class audit services. Visit www.kirkpatrickprice.com.

 

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IT Outsourcing Services Spending to Top $251 Billion Globally in 2012

August 9th, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

In their latest outlook issued just two days ago, Gartner, Inc., says that worldwide spending for IT outsourcing (ITO) services is on track to reach $251.7 billion in 2012, up 2.1 percent increase from 2011 spending of $246.6 billion.

Not surprisingly, the industry analyst firm reports that the fastest-growing segment within the ITO market is cloud compute services (part of the cloud-based infrastructure as a service/IaaS segment). Cloud compute services are expected to grow 48.7 percent in 2012 to $5.0 billion, up from $3.4 billion in 2011.

Gartner expects that North American buyers will seek to transition more IT work to annuity-managed service relationships for cost take-out and IT costs. This will keep ITO growing through 2016. Enterprises’ reluctance to hire or make large capital purchases, as well as their pursuit of asset-light IT strategies, continues to push clients toward consuming externally provided services, the firm says.

According to the Gartner press release, which addressed the global outlook:

“Today, cloud compute services primarily provide automation of basic functions. As next-generation business applications come to market and existing applications are migrated to use automated operations and monitoring, increased value in terms of service consistency, agility and personnel reduction will be delivered”, said Gregor Petri, research director at Gartner.

“Continued privacy and compliance concerns may however negatively impact growth in some regions, especially if providers are slow in bringing localized solutions to market.”

Data center outsourcing (DCO), a mature segment of the ITO market, represented 34.5 percent of the market in 2011, but growth will decline 1 percent in 2012. “The data center outsourcing market is at a major tipping point, where various data center processing systems will gradually be replaced by new delivery models through 2016. These new services enable providers to address new categories of clients, extending DCO from traditional large organizations into small or midsize businesses,” said Bryan Britz, research director at Gartner.

The application outsourcing (AO) segment is expected to reach $40.7 billion, a 2 percent increase from 2011 spending of $39.9 billion. This growth reflects enterprises’ needs to manage extensive legacy application environments and their commercial off-the-shelf packages that run the business.

“Change is afoot in the AO market. The burdens of managing the legacy portfolio, along with the limitations of IT budgets, have shifted the enterprise buyers to be cautious and favor a more evolutionary approach to other application services, such as software as a service (SaaS),” said Britz. “New applications will largely be packaged and/or SaaS-deployed in order to extend and modernize the portfolio in an incremental manner. While custom applications will remain ‘core’ for many organizations, the trend in the next few years to SaaS enablement in the cloud will reflect in the growth of the AO outlook.”

You can find additional information in the report, “Forecast Analysis: IT Outsourcing, Worldwide, 2010-2016, 2Q12 Update,” which is available on Gartner’s website.

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Why Email Archiving?

August 3rd, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

Why email archiving?  Well, from the knowledge management perspective, valuable information is contained within our everyday email conversations, and yet that vast knowledge repository is typically not documented or stored using any formal means or framework.  Email archiving solves this problem, especially if it is designed with simple yet robust search capabilities.

email archiving

Email archiving addresses legal readiness and regulatory compliance needs, among other business requirements.

However, information archiving also addresses several key business requirements, particularly for enterprises.  To start, consider:

  • legal discovery readiness
  • regulatory compliance
  • email storage optimization

Being prepared for legal discovery and regulatory events means knowing where data is stored and being able to collect, search, and retrieve that data in a short period of time.

Organizations must also be able to establish and enforce policies, which reflect specific regulatory and geographic market requirements that align with internal information governance strategies. When managed improperly, exposure to legal and compliance risks can be significant and challenge an organization’s ability to defend its processes. This can lead to costly fines, guilty verdicts and damaged reputations.

Also, keep in mind that because regulations mandate that data must remain in its original state (native format), robust search capabilities are needed.  An archive provides a centralized, searchable repository that provides end users with access to historical information.  We believe that this access should be simple and intuitive, with a familiar user experience that fits existing work habits and enables greater productivity.

Finally, an information archive should address all of these requirements while also supporting the dual IT objectives of centralizing email storage and reducing the cost and management complexities of exploding data volumes — both within managed systems as well as in the wild.

AISN has recently introduced a new cloud-based offering for enterprise email archiving — one that has a variety of attractive features, especially if you need to meet high compliance standards.  AISN’s next generation email archiving, Proofpoint Enterprise Archive™, offers a proven email archiving solution architected explicitly for the cloud.  It features ultra-rapid parallel email search capabilities for discovery, DoubleBlind Encryption™ as the industry’s only email archiving solution to secure against hacking or legal challenges, and unlimited storage with straightforward flat-fee pricing.

Read more about our new email archiving solution on our site’s email archiving page; it’s also briefly highlighted in our disaster recovery section.  Because we price email archiving on a case-by-case basis, you won’t find a pricing guide, so please be sure to contact us for a free quote.

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Private Cloud Success Trends Upward

July 17th, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

How successful are private clouds, anyway?

That’s the question asked by a recent research report from Information Week.  The survey reveals that most companies with private clouds in place are pleased with the results and are experiencing heightened efficiency and lower costs.

I find this report particularly interesting, since we’re building more and more private clouds — and particularly SharePoint private clouds — every day.  While it’s not entirely clear to me how many of the companies surveyed are hosting their private cloud with a hosting provider or building their private cloud on premise, I think that the takeaways are broadly applicable.

Network Computing editor Mike Fratto, who wrote the 66-page report, said in his abstract:

The big takeaway? Those with private clouds experience more efficient use of hardware and superior scalability and reliability, and they make better use of IT’s time.  These are all measurable benefits that can make your IT department shine in the eyes of users and the CFO.  Those with private clouds also report success in lowering capital and operational costs and total cost of ownership.

There are some keys to success, though:  Have a well-thought-out migration plan. Make sure new software can leverage the scaling and reliability features of your private cloud, and be prepared to train employees on the new systems. They’ll love you for it, and you’ll get better results.

A majority of the 414 IT professionals surveyed said they aren’t running private clouds yet.  However, 21 percent of respondents said they have private clouds in place, and 30 percent more said they’re beginning private cloud projects.  Of the respondents with private clouds, 72 percent described their implementations as “very successful” or “a complete success.” Another quarter said they were “somewhat successful,” while only 1 percent chose “somewhat unsuccessful.”  Most reported having successfully lowered capex and opex.

The report digs deeper into cloud expectations, cloud costs, cloud maintenance, challenges, obstacles, vendor choices, best practices, keys to success and more.  You can download the report here.

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Slow SharePoint Server? If your SharePoint Loads Slowly, This May Be Why.

July 9th, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Terry Engelstad
MCP, MCSE, CCNA, MCDBA, MCTS, MCITP
AIS Network Operations Manager

Is your SharePoint Server running slow?

Recently, a client emailed to say that he was noticing large slowdowns in connecting to their SharePoint server at AISN.  It seems to be happening nightly and intermittently throughout the day, he said.  Specifically, his issues were:

  1. SharePoint content loads slowly
  2. Uploading/ downloading from SharePoint is impossible (speeds come to a crawl at less than 5KBps)
  3. Remoting in to the SharePoint server is very slow

He asked what could be causing a slow SharePoint Server and SharePoint SQL Server.  Here’s the problem in his case.

The servers, in general, are starving for memory.  The hypervisor on which they reside (XYZ1) has only 74 MB of free memory.  Microsoft recommends not dropping below 2 GB of free memory on a hypervisor.

See the image below for XYZ1 (real names changed to protect client).

Slow SharePoint

As I explained to our client, the server “SharePoint” has 0 free memory and is warning that it needs more.  It looks like the vast majority of the memory on SharePoint is being consumed by w3wp.exe – IIS Application Pools. This would certainly contribute to slow web page rendering.  And with 0 free memory, anybody who remotes into it will take more memory away from the Application Pools, thereby making it slower.

In our client’s case, the server “SharePointSQL” is grossly overtaxed.  I count 68 databases defined and live.  This is way, way too much for a SQL Server with only 8 GB of memory.  The Microsoft recommendation is 8 GB of memory for a lightly used SharePoint Foundation Farm and 16 GB for a lightly used SharePoint Server Farm.

This level of memory, combined with the number of databases, will create very small page caching (perhaps not even caching at all).  This will seriously degrade the speed of uploading documents.

As you may or may not know, SharePoint stores all documents as Binary Large Objects (BLOBs).  In order to properly convert, for example, a Word document to a BLOB, it must cache the entire uploaded document somewhere before it can go through the conversion to a BLOB. So again, small or non-existent cache, means real slow upload and download times, among other slownesses.

In this case, adding more memory is the solution to a slow SharePoint Server.   However, a SharePoint private cloud would be an ideal approach – one that allows for the flexibility and scalability this client needs to accommodate growth smoothly.

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AISN’s Redundant Power and Connectivity Protect Customers From Power Outages in Aftermath of Massive DC Storm

June 30th, 2012
Posted by: admin

By Jay Atkinson
AIS Network CEO

data center reliability

Unplanned outages are costly. Redundant power and connectivity are critical values that managed hosting providers offer.

Can the AIS Network data center reliably maintain data availability when a massive storm hits?  Yes!

Last night, the Washington, DC, metropolitan area suffered a massive, highly destructive storm replete with high winds, thunder, lightning and heavy rains.  This afternoon, more than 1.3 million households and businesses across the area are still without power.  In fact, power company officials are predicting a “multi-day outage.”  All this bad news comes in the middle of a heat wave when weather forecasters are calling for dangerous heat levels and still more storms.  We sympathize with those who are still without power and who have suffered property loss.

Last night’s storm, which crippled many businesses with a primary utility power outage, underscores why it’s tremendously advantageous to host your mission critical data in an SSAE 16 Type II-compliant data center.  Outages are costly.  Customers don’t really care if there was a storm, an earthquake, a rolling blackout or some other issue responsible for an outage.  They  simply expect perfect availability of and connectivity to their data, and that is understandable.

Reliable, redundant power and redundant IP connectivity are two of the most important safeguards that a managed hosting provider can offer its customers, especially when a natural disaster strikes.  Yet, what many hosting providers offer falls short of that.  AIS Network’s Tier III data center in Virginia came through with flying colors and kept our customers’ data up and running.  No hiccups, just solid availability.

Choosing to move your mission critical applications and data from an on-premise hosted environment to a fully managed hosted environment within a secure data center definitely makes good economic sense but it’s also a decision that provides for more reliable protection against power and Internet connection outages.  That’s a critical value proposition.

Managed hosting support systems must be predictably available, and system availability is only as predictable as the availability of power to those systems.  When you host your data in AISN’s data center, you are choosing to add a level of built-in redundancy for failover protection during common and extreme conditions.  AISN facilities are designed for redundancy and high availability of power to our clients’ critical server systems, and high density Internet connections.  Clearly, to build this sort of environment for your data on-premise would be cost-prohibitive.

Some data centers promise redundant/ backup systems, but nonetheless, it’s still very important for a prospective customer to confirm precisely what that promise entails.  In some cases, a physical inspection may be necessary or advisable.  If you’d like to learn more about AISN’s data centers or take a technical tour, please contact us.

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SharePoint Users: Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Solves Common Business Challenges

June 29th, 2012
Posted by: admin

 

By Jay Atkinson
AIS Network CEO

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 is here now.  How much do you know about it?

If you’re using Microsoft SharePoint 2010 or Microsoft SharePoint 2010 for Internet Sites or if you manage big data, then it’s likely that you are familiar with SQL Server.  This newest version of Microsoft’s premier enterprise database management system has numerous new (and quite powerful) features over the previous release, 2008 R2.

In fact, there are so many noteworthy improvements over 2008 R2 that it would take quite a long time to blog about them all.  Rather, let’s just examine how this new version helps you solve some basic business challenges effectively.

Why use SQL Server 2012?  As the foundation to the cloud-ready information platform, SQL Server 2012 will help businesses of all sizes unlock breakthrough insights across the organization as well as build solutions quickly and extend data from server to private or public cloud — all backed by advanced capabilities for mission critical confidence.

Not only does SQL Server 2012 help improve customer management, but it also may help you face a number of common challenges.  Let’s look at five:

SQL Server 2012

But how do you know if you need SQL 2012?  Many organizations are 24×7 operations.  They may have a global presence too.  But they all have one very important quality in common:  they cannot afford downtime.  Does this describe you?  If so, ask yourself some of these questions:

  • How is your current database supporting your needs?
  • Is the performance of your current database where you need it to be?
  • Are you planning a move to the cloud?
  • Do you see yourself introducing new mission critical applications or planning migrations within three months to a year?
  • How are you viewing business insights for your organization?
  • Are you planning any major projects within the next three months to a year?

These are all good discussion points that we’d be happy to help you work through in your effort to discover whether or not SQL Server 2012 would benefit your organization.

Finally, I’d suggest three brief points for consideration:

1)  Mission Critical Confidence. SQL Server 2012 enables mission critical performance and availability at low TCO.  Consider that it offers:

  • A new integrated high availability and disaster recovery solution
  • Advanced performance speeds
  • Built-in encryption capabilities help protect confidential information without changes to the application

2)  Breakthrough Insight. Use SQL Server 2012 to unlock new insights with pervasive data discovery across the organization.  With SQL Server 2012, you can:

  • Empower business users to create visually rich dashboards or reports across heterogeneous data sources
  • Activate managed self-service BI, which easily balances an employee’s need for rich information and collaboration with IT’s need to manage the safety and confidentiality of information

3)  Cloud on Your Terms. SQL Server 2012 is useful in enabling you to create business solutions quickly – on your terms – across servers to private or public clouds. You’ll like that you can:

  • Easily move applications across on-premises and cloud with unlimited virtualization (available through SQL Server 2012 Enterprise Edition) and license mobility
  • Extend data across on-premises and the cloud

Are you aware of the significant improvement Microsoft has made to the licensing model for SQL Server 2012?  We’ll cover that topic in a future blog.

In the meantime, to learn more about how Microsoft SQL Server 2012 can help you stay productive and reduce costs, please just contact our office.  We’re happy to help.

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Outsourcing Hosting: Talking Points for the C-Suite (Part II)

June 2nd, 2012
Posted by: admin

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

We are often asked, “How do I make the case to upper management that outsourced hosting of our mission-critical data and apps is the way to go?”

AISN

If you are considering outsourcing your hosting, you may need to prepare some talking points for your C-suite executives.

First, because many businesses rely upon their Web site as their primary public face and their IT infrastructure as their office backbone, Internet downtime is simply not an option. “Always on” is mission-critical to business performance.

Next, if you are dealing with aging IT assets, growing application portfolios to manage, or capital spending cuts due to the economy, then you are like most businesses evaluating hosting solutions for your mission-critical data and applications, and we can help guide you through that process.  IT departments everywhere are finding it’s tough to do more with the same or even less staff.  That’s why hosting has major appeal.   It minimizes your operational risk exposure, makes your business more efficient and agile, and knocks down the high fixed cost of IT.

Here are some talking points to consider:

Better—Hosting decreases your risk

  • Frees up your capital for other projects
  • Guarantees you’re always online (with a 100% Service Level Agreement)
  • Helps you avoid poor server purchasing decisions
  • Offers complete scalability, freeing you to upgrade your server or capacity without service interruption
  • Deploys your solution rapidly and provides expert monitoring, 24x7x365
  • Allows you to focus on growing your business by managing operational and strategic risks that you would not be able to handle in the event of a catastrophic loss

Faster—Hosting extends your resources

  • Cuts your labor/staff training costs to stay ahead of the technology curves
  • Enables you to tap more expert talent, faster and for less cost
  • Allows your people to focus on core business needs that accelerate business growth
  • Provides instant staffing for the “what if” scenario that may occur
  • Improves your access to new technologies while eliminating the need to hire more expertise
  • Offers increased flexibility, so that your IT can be more agile and move as the business does

Cheaper—Hosting delivers the best dollar value

  • Delivers consistent, affordable IT coverage 24x7x365 with virtually no downtime
  • Eliminates big capital expenditures on hardware and data centers
  • Frees up your IT budget and staff for other strategic initiatives
  • Enables you to better predict monthly IT costs and therefore reallocate precious resources
  • Grows with you as you grow—at the same superior service level and without requiring you to over-purchase capacity upfront
  • Provides a quicker return on your investment that’s provable

Clearly, just how much you improve your risk management and exposure, efficiency, and cost savings depends on the hosting provider that you select.

We can help you draft your internal proposal or determine honestly how—and if—your company would benefit from hosting services—either traditional or in the cloud. Contact us!

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Choosing a Hosting Provider: 20 Questions to Ask Yourself

May 26th, 2012
Posted by: admin

By Laurie Head
AIS Network Vice President

Choose a provider based on its ability to provide a cost-effective architecture and high-quality customer experience for your envisioned use case.

—Gartner, Inc., “Magic Quadrant for Web Hosting and Hosted Cloud System Infrastructure Services”

So, you’ve decided to outsource your hosting.  How do you choose a provider?  It’s a bit tricky, so think carefully.

Your IT is mission-critical and that’s why selecting the right hosting provider is crucial to your business’ success.  There are a number of key considerations to keep in mind when you are evaluating a hosting provider as a potential IT partner for your organization.

Peace of Mind

Okay, this photo may be a little over the top, but you get the point. Price isn't everything. Confidence and peace of mind is. Choose the right hosting provider, and you'll rest easy.

Keep in mind that the relationship you have with the IT provider you invest in and work with will be an intimate one, so it’s important that you’re comfortable will their ability to deliver “mission-critical confidence” on multiple levels.

Ask yourself:

  1. How long has the company been in business?  Will it be around in five years?
  2. Is the company profitable and financially sound?
  3. What is the company’s reputation for customer service and which experts will be on your business account team?
  4. Are they actively listening to you and working with you to understand your specific requirements?
  5. Do they provide unlimited 24x7x365 support or is it fee-based?
  6. Have they gone through the SSAE 16 audit and are they certified?
  7. What is the quality of the company’s data center? Its infrastructure? Its networking?
  8. What type of security will they provide and are they capable of installing patches quickly when faced with a security threat?
  9. What type of hardware will be used to host your business?
  10. Do they actually deliver everything that they guarantee (uptime, reliability, etc.)?
  11. Do they offer a range of hosting services that will meet all your needs?
  12. What are their capabilities for developing a disaster recovery program?
  13. Do they support the compliance standards that are important to your business?
  14. Are they actively investing in upgrading and growing their infrastructure?
  15. Are they actively investing in new product offerings and services?
  16. What monitoring portal do they offer their customers?
  17. What are their backup and reporting policies?
  18. Are they helping you to understand fully the costs, including any “fine print” items?
  19. Are they committed to helping you grow your business and your brand?
  20. Will you be able to sleep at night with 100% confidence that your IT infrastructure is in good hands?

If you are not asking the right questions, you will not get the specific information you need to make an informed decision about your hosting solution. Once you’re confident that you have greater knowledge about the hosting provider, you can move to the next phase, which includes getting a quote that you understand and checking the company’s references.

In the end, is “price” what counts?  No, your hosting provider selection should be not solely based upon the pricing quote but rather based upon a unique combination of features and services offered at a price that’s right for your business.

Remember, this is a mission-critical decision that you need to feel good about, and the hosting provider you choose should make you feel 100% confident.

Need help defining your technical criteria for hosting?  Having a tough time writing an RFP?  Let us know.  We’ll be glad to lend a hand.

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