All Hosting Is Not Created Equal

The Foremost Media Data Center In Omaha Nebraska

One of the common questions I get from new customer is why does your hosting cost more then many of your competitors?

Below is a bit of information on how our hosting works:

All of our sites are hosted on a cloud server configuration which in non technical terms means that your site is actually sitting on more then one sever.  If a server were to fail or slow down the other severs in the cloud would take over.  Unlike many hosting companies we greatly limit the number of sites on each cloud server.  Giving you site more resources and better performance.

Although we build our sites to be hosted anywhere we prefer to host what we build for three main reasons:

1. If there is a problem with your site you have one call to make.  Over the years I've seen a lot of developers blame the hosting company  for performance issues or other problems with the website and it's not uncommon for the hosting company to point fingers at the developer.  We don't want that to happen to our customers.  If you build a site with us and host with us you only have to call one person if something goes wrong.
2. Our servers our built and optimized to run only sites we build giving us better performance and better ability to update should a security risk arise.  Most hosting companies host a lot of different CMS systems on their servers from a wide variety of developers.  Did you know bad coding on a site that is not yours but happens to be on the same sever can slow or even crash your site?  We only host sites we build.
3. We are able to monitor site performance and resources and respond before there is a issue.  We have techs on call 24/7 monitoring all our sites and servers.  On the rare occasion that there is a problem with your site we will typically know about it well before our clients.

Here is a bit of background on our data center where our sites are hosted:

Our sites resides in a Tier 4 data center in Omaha, Nebraska. This facility is free from natural disasters, such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, and power shortages that plague other datacenters throughout the world.  Below are a few of the key features of our Data Center:

• Carrier Access
  Four local SONET fibers provide redundant carrier/neutral fiber access (AT&T, Level 3, Qwest, and COX) 
• Internet Access
  Route Science manages redundant, Tier 1 internet bandwidth with fully redundant, Carrier-class Cisco core routing and switching 
• Network Monitoring
  SNMP management tools monitor all critical infrastructure components 
• Fiber
  Four fiber carriers with diverse points of entry 
• Network Providers
  Meet-me access to major carriers (AT&T, MCI, Qwest, Global Crossing, Alltel, Sprint, Cox and Level 3) 
• Carrier Services
  OC-3, OC-12, OC-48 and above
• Internal Cabling
  Cable management trays throughout the building use copper and fiber access to carrier bandwidth 
• External Cabling
  Dual points of entry into the building with multiple CO redundancy and fiber access

For your reference here are the differences in data center ratings Again, our center is a certified Tier 4:

Tier Level	Requirements
1	Single non-redundant distribution path serving the IT equipment Non-redundant capacity components Basic site infrastructure with expected availability of 99.671%
2	Meets or exceeds all Tier 1 requirements Redundant site infrastructure capacity components with expected availability of 99.741%
3	Meets or exceeds all Tier 1 and Tier 2 requirements Multiple independent distribution paths serving the IT equipment All IT equipment must be dual-powered and fully compatible with the topology of a site's architecture Concurrently maintainable site infrastructure with expected availability of 99.982%
4	Meets or exceeds all Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 requirements All cooling equipment is independently dual-powered, including chillers and heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems Fault-tolerant site infrastructure with electrical power storage and distribution facilities with expected availability of 99.995%

Other companies that are in our data center:

• Ameritrade
• Ebay
• Wells Fargo
• Paypal
• Alegent Health

For more information on Foremost Media Website Hosting Services Visit Our Website