Ping! Zine Issue 77- One on One with 1&1's Robert Hoffmann

10 REASONS TO MIGRATE TO THE CLOUD COMPUTING SERVICE USING YOUTUBE FOR BUSINESS

ONE ON ONE WITH 1&1’S

ROBERT HOFFMANN

INSIDE

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IN THIS ISSUE... eighteen

10 REASONS TO MIGRATE TO THE CLOUD COMPUTING SERVICE twenty two

PROTECTING YOUR BUSINESS FROM DISASTER twenty four

USING YOUTUBE FOR BUSINESS twenty six

5 P’S FOR YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING SUCCESS thirty

SIX SECURITY MISCONCEPTIONS THAT CAN CLOSE YOUR BUSINESS

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ABOUT

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EXECUTIVE STAFF Publisher Keith Duncan Executive Editor Dave Young Senior Online Editor Robert Lang Senior Editor David Dunlap Senior Designer Lois CLark

EDITORIAL STAFF Technical Editor John Burmeister Marketing Editor Frank Feingold Headlines Editor Derek Vaughan

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS David Baker Asher Ross Cheryl Hanna Jeremy Juhasz

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BLACK LOTUS zero five

KERNELCARE zero seven

1&1 INTERNET zero eight

STABILISERVERS eleven

VOIPO fourteen

BUILDAHOST.COM seventeen

SERVERHUB twenty one

TURNKEY INTERNET twenty seven

LIMESTONE NETWORKS twenty eight

KAJE PICTURE PASSWORDS Ping! Zine Web Hosting Magazine Š 2015, Ping! Zine Web Hosting Magazine, Published and Copyrighted 2015 by PINGZINE, LLC, P.O. Box 516, Denham Springs, LA 70726. All rights reserved.

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Trust is important when it comes to choosing the right server provider.

With 13 years of server experience and 6,000 employees in 11 countries, 1&1 is one of the largest Internet service providers in the world and a company you can rely on. Benefit from our expertise and the maximum security offered by our high-tech data centers.

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Latest Intel® Xeon® processors E5-2600 V3 (from 8 cores HT/2.3 GHz) and from 64 GB DDR4 RAM

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From 4 TB HDD, Hardware RAID 6

Maximum availability

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Maximum security due to redundant components Optional 240 GB Intel® SSD hard drive with RAID 1

Also available as a 1&1 Managed Server with OS managed by our experts

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Broad range of Linux and Windows operating systems

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The complete 1&1 server range: Great entry-level web servers from $39.99 per month, to high-end servers with the highest capabilities.

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*1&1 Server X8i from $349.99/month for 1 or 6 months with a minimum contract term with the same term length. $389.99/month for 12 months with a minimum contract term with the same term length. Regular & renewal price is $449.99/month. $99 setup fee applies.

1&1 Server X10i from $499.99/month for 1 or 6 months with a minimum contract term with the same term length. $539.99/month for 12 months with a minimum contract term with the same term length. Regular & renewal price is $599.99/month. $99 setup fee applies.

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IBM OPENS FIRST CLOUD DATA CENTER WITH SOFTLAYER IN JAPAN IBM announced the opening of its first cloud data center with SoftLayer in Japan, located in Tokyo. This announcement comes on the heels of recent SoftLayer cloud data center launches in Melbourne and Paris and represents the next step in IBM’s $1.2 billion investment to expand its global cloud footprint.

The facility in Tokyo complements other SoftLayer resources located in cities within the Asia-Pacific region, including Singapore,

JELASTIC ANNOUNCES FIRST CLOUD PARTNER IN LUXEMBOURG

Jelastic, Inc., the first company that combined Unlimited PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) into one solution, has announced their partnership with Telecom Luxembourg Private Operator (TLPO), a leading private managed services Luxembourgish operator.

The Telecom Luxembourg Datacenters are world-class Tier 4 facilities, offering highly secure, highly available and fully redundant environments. While an infrastructure grows in complexity, the data volumes increase and the security enforces their customer to take extra measures. Telecom Luxembourg Datacenter solutions offer an End To End solution whilst reducing Total Cost of Ownership.

Telecom Luxembourg is currently offering the Infrastructure as a Service portfolio, including Housing, secure Housing with additional bespoke services such as Remote Hands services.

Hong Kong, and Melbourne and broadens data redundancy options and geographic diversity within IBM’s growing number of cloud data centers worldwide.

It also addresses the industry’s growing concerns about data residency and privacy by offering a local Japanese facility to compute and store sensitive data that needs to remain in country.

R1SOFT EXPANDS COMPANY TO NEW OFFICE IN HOUSTON

R1Soft®, creator of the R1Soft Server Backup Manager (SBM) product line, has moved to a new office at 777 North Eldridge Parkway in Houston, doubling capacity and positioning the company for continued growth in 2015.

Since being purchased by Continuum®, the industry’s only channel-exclusive provider of fully integrated managed IT services solutions, in August 2014, R1Soft has expanded its team by more than 100 percent. The new office space allows for continued expansion into next year and beyond.

“As we’ve experienced growth at R1Soft, including a significant increase in employees as well as customers while increasing revenue year over year, this new space will support these efforts,” said Randy Bowie, Vice President, Backup Product and Engineering at R1Soft. “From large cubicle work spaces and various meeting rooms for collaboration to social and relaxing amenities including a foosball table and large screened TV, this is the perfect place for the work hard, play hard culture of R1Soft.”

ENDURANCE LAUNCHES BLUEHOST INDIA

Endurance International Group, a leading provider of cloud-based platform solutions to help small and medium-sized businesses succeed online, today announced the launch of Bluehost India.

Bluehost, part of the Endurance family of brands, is a leading provider of cloud-based solutions, including web hosting and other web presence services. Bluehost currently powers over two million websites worldwide and has developed solution-oriented, easy-to-use products, like the recently launched Optimized Hosting for WordPress solution.

Over the last year, Bluehost has expanded its localized offerings to Brazil, Russia, China, Turkey, and now India. According to the World Bank’s World Development Indicators, from 2010 to 2013, people with access to the Internet in India doubled, from 7.5 to 15.1 people per 100 of the population. Bluehost India caters to local needs by providing quality customer support from local employees who understand the language and culture of the region. The Bluehost India website provides customer support in over 27 dialects, and gives customers the option to pay using local currency. In addition, Bluehost India has also launched its in-country affiliate program to grow the local subscriber base.

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1&1 OFFERS BETA TRIAL OF REMARKABLE NEW CLOUD SERVER If you are still looking for the ideal Cloud Server to fit your web projects and developments perfectly, you may now have the opportunity to be among the first to discover a new generation of Cloud solution.

1&1, a leading web hosting provider, is currently offering Web and IT professionals the opportunity to trial their new range of Cloud Servers.

The focus is on making Cloud adoption easy to use but at the same time, extremely powerful, 1&1 have redesigned their Cloud range to include such benefits. With the most advanced features in the market, this combination is said

GIGENET ANNOUNCES OPENING OF NEW DATA CENTER IN ASHBURN, VA. GigeNET is excited to announce they are set to open a brand-new data center in Ashburn, VA. Just in time for the New Year, the opening is set for January 2015.

Never one to rest on their laurels, GigeNET continually strives to be recognized as one of the premier hosting companies in the industry. As business continues to grow, so does their solutions and services. They continue to improve their current products and offerings while inventing new solutions to support their clients.

GigeNET, who’s always on the forefront of innovation and known for its EPIC customer support, will be opening a brand-new data center in Ashburn, VA. This will be the 3rd location for the full service, managed hosting provider offering dedicated, cloud and hybrid hosting solutions. Their headquarters is located just outside of Chicago, where it owns and operates a 17,000 square foot data center. They also provide a wide array of services at their expanded LA location.

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to make the 1&1 Cloud Server a unique solution in the market changing everything you know about Cloud Servers.

Whilst the company is still putting the finishing touches to the product, its commercial launch is still a few weeks away, 1&1 today offers a free beta version, which is open and without cost for developers and industry professionals.

Once you have registered, you can access the dashboard for the new Cloud Server, which includes the following key functionalities: SSD and SAN storage, load balancers, centralised firewall rule setting, flexible server size, and more new features.

I2COALITION SUPPORTS MICROSOFT APPEAL OF US COURT RULING

The Internet Infrastructure Coalition (i2Coalition) signed on to an amicus brief arguing that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York failed to properly analyze the extraterritorial application of the Stored Communications Act. i2Coalition Co-Founder and Public Policy Chair David Snead released the following statement regarding thebrief: The issues in this case go to the very heart of the debate the world is having about government access to data and the flow of data across borders. The i2Coalition has been a prime advocate of the position that any access to data must respect not only the laws of multiple jurisdictions, but the expectations of customers who entrust their data to infrastructure providers.

U.S. laws provide a mechanism for balancing the needs of governments to access data outside the U.S. with those expectations, and the District court’s decision did not properly take these into account. The i2Coalition does not believe that Congress intended the Stored Communications Act to be applied in an extraterritorial manner.

CLOUDONE SECURES $4.5M TO ACCELERATE GROWTH, BROADEN HYBRID CLOUD PLATFORM

CloudOne, a leader in bringing enterprise applications to the cloud, announced today it secured $4.5 million in Series D investment to accelerate the company’s growth.

Led by Plymouth Ventures of Ann Arbor, Mich. with expected participation by existing investors HKS Capital Advisors and Elevate Ventures through the Indiana 21st Century Research & Technology Fund, the investment will fuel the expansion of the company’s hybrid cloud platform that enables companies such as Cummins, Panasonic and McDonald’s to collaboratively develop, produce and analyze software and products in real time.

“CloudOne is transforming how teams around the world work together to bring software and products to market,” said John McDonald, chief executive officer of CloudOne.

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One on One with 1&1 CEO

Robert Hoffmann German web hosting provider 1&1 Internet (www.1and1.com) continues to be a leading provider in the web hosting industry, with a global outreach of over 13.5 million customers. Under its parent company, United Internet, 1&1 houses more than 700,000 servers in its green data centers in Europe and Lenexa, Kansas. Its services and offerings can be seen globally, including areas in Germany, United Kingdom, United States, France, Spain, Poland, Canada, Italy, and Mexico. The company continues to expand with leadership from its CEO Robert Hoffmann, who attains its success in the industry to its partners and knowledgeable staff.

Before Hoffmann became 1&1’s CEO in 2012, he learned much about the industry through other roles that led him to where he is today. He earned a degree in Business Administration from the University of Cologne in Germany in 1994, where he used his knowledge and expertise to form his own business, Hoffmann Distributions-Technik GmbH, an importer of American and Spanish vending machines. While the company was considered to be within the technology industry, Hoffmann did not truly get into the IT environment until he sold Hoffmann Distributions-Technik GmbH in 1998. Shortly after he began working for Vodafone, where he held multiple executive positions until 2006, including launching the first DSL-bundles as Head of Product Management, leading residential sales organization for the company, creating brand consolidation, and adding value for voice services for business customers.

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In 2006, Hoffmann joined 1&1 Internet as a team member of the management board for the company’s Access business, which focuses on DSL, telephony, mobile and broadband services. In a recent interview with Hoffmann, he stated that during his time at 1&1’s Access business, he “introduced unbundled options on all major networks in Germany and became a fast-growing mobile service provider on the Vodafone-Network.”

In an exclusive interview with Ping! Zine, Hoffman reflected on 1&1 and offered insight into the company and what makes 1&1 the most sought after company for web hosting needs.

What makes 1&1 a global leader in hosting?

1&1 is undoubtedly one of the largest Web hosts in the world often the first to bring to market new Internet solutions and partnerships with the best hardware vendors. With 26 years of experience, we have the expertise necessary to provide high quality, reliable and secure products to our customers. Each of our data centers operate with impressive security, as well as high reliability through georedundancy. By constantly investing in innovation, we provide Web developers and small businesses with leading technology. We offer the broadest portfolio of solutions to satisfy every requirement in the process of creating successful Web projects.

What drives and motivates innovation at 1&1?

1&1 has more than 3,000 employees who focus their efforts directly on meeting the needs of our hosting customers, driving innovation and ensuring customer satisfaction. Every employee is well experienced and passionate about the success of our customers.

These attributes really help to fuel their enthusiasm for innovation, which is showcased in the years of positive results… We have recently placed a considerable focus on strategic partnerships to advance our product development. We make sure to collaborate with inventive start-ups, mostly in the eBusiness sector, to help bring our existing products to the next level. For example, we have heavily invested in long-term partnerships with ePages (1&1 Online Store) and Uberall (List-Local), both of which have pioneered products already available for purchase.

Customer demand and discovering new ways to fill a need is one of the first steps in innovation. What are some of the past products/ services derived through this means?

Our customers’ success is our success. We need to understand the requirements of our customers in order to deliver online solutions that meet their needs today and in the future… This can be seen within two of our product lines: 1&1 MyWebsite Maintained by Experts and WordPress Optimized Hosting. Perhaps our most well-known product worldwide, 1&1 MyWebsite is a website design tool for business owners wanting to possess full control over their online presence. Web apps, mobile optimization, and drag-and-drop functionality all contributed to its huge success within the past five years. Based on our recent research, we saw a need for a fullymanaged solution for the business owners that still want control over their site content yet do not have the time to dedicate towards the strategy. Launched earlier this year, 1&1 MyWebsite Maintained

by Experts has helped thousands of business owners execute a professional, up-to-date website. We scouted for some of the best copywriters and website design professionals to add to our team, helping make this vision come to life. These team members provide one-on-one assistance to help make the customer as successful as possible on the Web. Through regular consultations, ongoing support, search engine optimization, and Facebook integration, owners can be confident in their online presence while focusing all their time on other daily business operations.

Looking at the developer market, the overwhelming adoption of WordPress as a content management system (CMS) presented a

great opportunity for us to expand our existing hosting packages. To ensure the launch of project with WordPress is fast and easy, 1&1 customers have the exclusive benefit of a streamlined installation and setup process. 1&1’s WordPress Click & Build App is useful for all levels of technical expertise as it installs the application in just a few clicks, without restricting functionality. After the installation is completed, 1&1’s WP Wizard plugin can guide users through the initial steps of customizing their project within the WordPress dashboard.

Our developer and designer customers also often manage more than one project at a time. With various resource demands, it was important for us to offer the latest version of PHP (PHP5.6) and the choice of either 2GB or 4GB guaranteed RAM. With these elements, customers can be confident in meeting requirements of multiple projects and heavy, resource demanding websites a shared hosting platform.

What are some trends you have seen lately?

Firstly, the way in which Web hosting packages are being engineered and sold is evolving. For both novices and professional users, there is now a greater emphasis on overall online success.

Web hosting packages are being designed to optimize the performance of applications and increase traffic. Many find that shared Web hosting can mean either compromised speeds, or complex administration of their app-based sites. However, there has been a shift in delivering a modular approach to achieve the optimized hosting environment for Web projects. Guaranteed performance, expert support, security and enhancements are all integral and industry leading.

Perhaps the biggest change being seen in 2014 is the launch and implementation of new top-level domains (TLDs). Over 700 new domain endings, including themes like industry (.restaurant, .consulting), website type (.blog, .app) and locations (.nyc, .miami), are being introduced into the market. These TLDs offer a new realm of possibilities by creating a much less crowded Internet with more opportunities. The new domains can help increase a company’s awareness, visibility in local search results, competitive edge and brand value for years to come.

Marketing solutions are important to every business, especially to SMB’s. What kinds of marketing solutions do 1&1 have to offer to its customers?

A successful online presence only starts with a website. Optimal visibility and brand reputation can be reached by continuing the efforts through online marketing. To make it more streamlined, 1&1 offers a range of options, from SEO and SEM to online directory listings and newsletters, to meet the specific needs of each customer.

1&1 SEO Spotlight gives users a do-it-yourself platform to enhance their website for prominent search engine placement. The tool automatically scans the business’s website ranking as well as determined competitors while providing the data in an effective, visual reporting structure. For example, if a competitor suddenly boosts their ranking, a website admin will be informed immediately so they can quickly react. Staying fully informed of how the website ranks with the most relevant keywords can also prevent potential technical issues that may inhibit a prominent search engine ranking.

While SEO focuses on organic search results, SEM offers paid placements on the most popular search engine with Google AdWords. Through this solution, the business owner can specify the target market to ensure they are getting the most out of the investment. Our ListLocal solution also helps to guarantee placements when people are searching for a business online, no Pi n g Z i n e . c o m

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matter what directory they are using. Be it Superpages, Yellowpages or Google maps, we make sure that a business can be found when customers are searching in their area.

How do partners play a role in the development and implementations of these new product lines?

Today, we leverage great partnerships with the world’s leading technology providers so we can deliver cutting-edge features to our customers. Announced last year, our partnership with CloudFlare offers Web hosting and managed server customers the ability to have their website viewed perfectly by visitors from across the globe.

For those customers wanting to possess a reliable international reach without loading limitations, CDN is crucial. With two options for 1&1 CDN Powered by CloudFlare, businesses can optimize both static and dynamic content within their website for ideal viewing on all devices and leverage faster loading times… Another one of our strategic partners is SiteLock which offers users a way to protect their websites against unintentional access from outsiders that might take advantage of customized or outdated code. Specifically valuable to developers, this tool checks the security of all code including those adapted or custom code created for clients. Through a site scan, vulnerabilities within applications can be detected and users are notified when updates and security patches are available. This can save developers significant time and ensure that the code is protected and secured, especially when their project is built using software that does not directly provide users with information about update availability.

Additionally, with a recent collaboration with Intel®, 1&1 has introduced newly enhanced dedicated servers now delivering 30 percent more performance for the price-point than the previous version. By incorporating Intel® Atom™ and Xeon™ processors into these packages, we can provide a fast and highly scalable solution ideal for a wide range of users.

Each of these most recent partnerships largely contribute to our success as a global Web hosting provider. With them, we are able to acquire the newest technology to best position our customers on the Web against their own competitors.

Going Green has become a huge trend in the industry. What is 1&1 doing to be an eco-friendly hosting company?

In October 2008, 1&1 became the first globally green Web hosting company when we were able to exercise our corporate responsibility to consider our surrounding environments. Worldwide, 1&1’s green efforts offset over 30,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year. In all of our data centers, we use highly efficient power supplies with less than 20% heat loss, as well as omit any unnecessary components within the servers. In the United States data center, located in Lexena, Kansas, a partnership with Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) allows us to offset 100% of our energy usage through the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).

Additionally, the structure of the US data center was built with energy efficiency in mind. For example, the floors of the facility are raised by four feet, providing ample, unhindered space to cool the servers.

With forced air moving from the raised floor directly into the racks, no energy is wasted on space within the data center that does not require cooling. Recycled water is also used for the entire facility’s cooling system in order to prevent any wasted resources. As a result of these green initiatives, 1&1 has been recognized as a Green Power Partner by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Ping! Zine would like to thank Robert for taking time to sit with us and give us an inside look into 1&1 and what makes it one of the top leading web hosting providers in the industry. With Hoffmann’s leadership and 1&1’s 26 years of expertise, the company will continue to grow and offer the best solutions and services to its customer base.

by asher ross

10 Reasons To Migrate to the Cloud Computing Service Since the world is moving at the pace the Internet is the source for many to research and deploy things online with many technologies to develop their business presence in the digital world. From last decade technology is changing in a rapid phase. IT organizations, B2B industries and Online organizations have selected Cloud server technology and forgets all other hosting options because of its flexibility and features deployed by its different platforms.

These services are based on hardware Virtualization and resource allocation based on units not only in amounts of server resources. It is to decide, if we want a certain amount of CPU, memory, disk, network.

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The specialized Cloud environment and platforms developed by Cloud help organizations to deploy their services without any downtime and even in time of high traffic on the website. The network server technology and load balancing works simultaneously to divide the load generated on site and allow a website to work in any traffic situation. Many companies have decided to migrate their systems to cloud hosting services, which has many advantages.

In this post, I will try to give arguments about the advantages of cloud computing to those who still are not convinced to migrate their services to the cloud. This will put examples of different suppliers, but my idea is to give reasons for the cloud service generically.

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1) Simplicity

Companies generally oppose profound changes. They tend to follow a course of action over which they have control, they have the expertise in house, and based on the axiom “if it works do not touch it.” The cloud services have to be administered, there’s no doubt. This requires staff with the necessary training. That there is no doubt. But faced with the complication of asking machines budgets, approval of area managers, price negotiation, order delivery expected, Inspection of the machines in the corresponding CPD, installation of operating systems, and security, Cloud Hosting service only requires a request to install a platform.

2) Hardware

To Select a cloud server is what all you have to do. Cloud servers are available in three platforms which includes Public, Private and Hybrid Cloud solutions. The Scalable Cloud developed by eUKhost gives you a complete overview of your required hardware to deploy your service online. You have complete freedom to upgrade your resources at any point of time. Hardware installation is not required in Cloud server so it takes no time to set up your cloud just pay as you go.

3) Uptime. Keeping 100% effective.

After the fall of Amazon AWS last year, many people have some fear of the Cloud service. But the reality is that even with a drop in the characteristics of the Cloud server, it can work without falling. Let’s see why.

The cloud service as noted above are based on the allocation of hardware resources in a virtualized network, not allocating physical machines. So if a server within a Cloud Hosting falling, the connected network of servers is standing together to continue providing the service, while the supplier replaced the part that fails.

And what happens if the virtualized network goes down?

Typically, such failures do not occur as the network elements are redundant, as well as data traffic providers. Because if one network location is in such danger then the provider can use another service location to deploy services and maintain the down network to deploy services. Meanwhile, users have uninterrupted services from another location without knowing a downtime on the website.

4) Variety of services.

Nowadays there are few services that cannot be placed on Cloud. Most vendors only facilitate a Cloud Hosting service, I.E. gives us the ability to create servers with the RAM, Processors and Disk space and freedom to decide our own configurations for the specified time and can be changed later. Every provider is different in manner of RAM, CPU and HDD but they all have one thing in common is “Build Your own server”. Cloud servers have major three services, 1) Platform as a service 2) Information as a Service 3) Software as a service. You have to decide from this 3 services and deploy your cloud, according to your need on 3 platforms which are, 1) Public cloud 2) Private Cloud 3) Hybrid cloud.

5) Scalability.

The cloud is instantly scalable. One of the major disadvantages of using dedicated servers for hosting is that when sizing need to be clear, what is the starting point, which is the arrival, and how long it’s going to take on the road. This determines which hardware to buy and how much we have to scratch your pocket.

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In the case of using Cloud, such issues go to the background.

Obviously we need to know if the service is able to bear the burden that we will commit, but if not, three mouse clicks are enough to increase their capacity and continue to provide service immediately. This expansion nearly cost without headaches. Imagine doing the same maintaining hardware.

Output implies that you have to be clear about the architecture that you are riding and if you fall short, buy more iron and add.

The expanded service times increase considerably, and for business losses can be substantial.

6) Reliability.

Needless to say that if you are covered at the hardware level, capacity and expand abilities, the system is very reliable.

Practically nothing will make you lose your service and follow your business offering to your customers.

7) Profitability

Migrate your cloud services will make you improve your profitability. It’s very simple. Cloud services are affordable and reliable. Not only because the service if it is, but because it saves a lot of your costs and allows you to save lost in case you need to grow. In case you have a hosting service in your own room in a CPD your savings will be more or less like this: your technicians will be much more efficient, you will save traces of CPD, connectivity with suppliers, operations departments, hardware failures. All this adds a significant amount of extra money.

8) Pay for what you use.

One of the great advantages of Cloud Hosting is the ability to pay exactly what you use. As I said before, when you use a dedicated hosting or housing, you have to size the platform for today as well as for the expected growth for the period you choose. This makes you have to make a strong initial outlay to purchase the hardware. Also, at an early stage is quite underutilized. The worst of it will be wrong in the forecasts. We succeed or die of boredom machines if you calculate wrong.

In a hosting in the cloud have the great advantage of being able to start with a modest service tailored to your ability to pay and of course your ability to monetize at the time of the project’s output. There is no point spending a pasture if that makes you go to lose money.

9) Do your tests!

Currently eUKhost allows testing of its eNlight Cloud Computing VM machines to see if you can do with the service and to learn to handle it. You can create as many instances and test it.

10) It is the new standard of Web Hosting

Currently one third of Internet users are addicted to Cloud services. In a time like the present in which these services are starting to grow, it is a symptom that is not a fad, but practically a necessity if you want to be left behind with the rest of your competitors.

Cloud computing is the future, but it is really important to find a reliable service provider to get a secure online presence.

Author: Asher Ross is an expert technical writer from UK web hosting company eUkhost LTD. eUKhost has completed 13 successful years in Web hosting industry and specialized in deploying Cloud hosting solutions, Managed Dedicated hosting and many more with free tech support and complete web hosting satisfaction.

by david baker

PROTECTING YOUR BUSINESS FROM DISASTER Today, most businesses rely heavily on computerised systems for day-to-day running. The more reliant businesses are on computerised systems, the larger the damage should they fail. Fortunately, there are ways of making these systems more resilient, or at least quicker to restore in case of failure: Ensuring high availability Firstly, hardware redundancy is a great way of minimising the effect a failure will have on your business; keep a spare for each hardware component.

Within a rack of servers, allow for two sources of power to feed the equipment in case one power source should fail. This will ensure mission-critical servers keep running provided the servers have dual power supplies themselves.

Duplicating network switches is another way to build in protection

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against failure. Most servers will allow for multiple network connections on a single network card that can be used to provide a backup route if one switch goes down; however for full redundancy a second network card would be required.

Servers can also be grouped in a high availability cluster allowing the same application to be run over multiple physical machines. This allows for a single server failure while not taking the application down, it also lets you perform maintenance or upgrades on a single machine without having to take your applications offline.

When servers are clustered data is usually stored on a centralised SAN. Accessible from all nodes, it will be configured with a redundant array of disks and often includes hardware redundancy across controllers, power supplies and network cards.

But what happens when disaster strikes and wipes out the building your IT systems are in?

Planning for the worst Although most enterprises think about redundancy and will put measures in place to avoid any outages, smaller businesses (and even larger ones) often overlook disasters and the consequences. What happens if your office or server room is no longer there?

Disaster recovery (DR), in this instance, will depend on having a secondary DR site with either a complete or partial replica of your IT systems. Then, in the event of the worst happening you can switch to the backup system and be back online within a few hours with little data loss.

Tips for HA and DR It is important to bear in mind that both of these processes are required for a fully resilient system. HA is good for small failures of individual components, whereas DR helps in the event of catastrophic failure.

High Availability - When planning your system, ensure you have at least an n+1 configuration - Make sure you have redundant raid in your servers and SANs (ideally RAID-6 or better) - Ensure your hardware has redundant power supplies and controller cards where possible - Use dual power feeds, fed from separate power sources (including at least one UPS) - Cluster your servers and/or replicate data for minimal recovery time.

Disaster Recovery - Plan a backup strategy involving off site backups. This can be achieved by backing up to tape and storing the tapes securely off site - Either build a second complete environment in a geographically diverse location or build a cut-down system, with only key mission critical systems. Replicate your data to one of these systems - Consider using cloud for your DR environment to save capital expenditure (usually paid for monthly) - Test your DR plan. Nominate key members of staff to carry out the procedure on an isolated network and test that core permissions and access work as designed. Load test where possible. This test should be carried out at least annually or preferably every six months - Update your DR plan as your system grows and changes to ensure the plan is still viable.

If you have further tips from your own experience, then tweet me on @David_4D

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Although most

enterprises think about redundancy and will put measures in place to avoid any outages, smaller businesses (and even larger ones) often overlook

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How is this achieved? · Take nightly backups of your data and store them on a different site to your infrastructure. · Create a second live environment which is mirrored continuously between your server configurations and data stored on the SAN. · A third option would be to adopt a cloud set up where, in the event of a disaster, the data centre could migrate all the virtual machines over to another site. This would allow you to maintain almost zero downtime with little, or no data loss.

Maintaining high availability and redundancy, as well as planning for disaster recovery is not just about the systems, it is also about your staff and how you will deploy them if there is no office to go to.

Have a DR plan in place; review and rehearse it regularly. This will allow everyone to be more prepared should anything happen. Also, make sure you look at your processes and find out what you need.

For companies of any size, just a few hours’ downtime are enough to lose a sizable amount of revenue and brand credibility, which can take a long time to recover. Planning for the worst is an essential part of ensuring your business’s success. And even if you think you have business continuity plan, when was the last time you read it and did a dry run?

disasters and the consequences.

About the Author David Barker is the technical director of 4D Hosting, having founded the company in 1999 when he was 14. In 2007 he bought an industrial unit on the outskirts of London and set up 4D Data Centres as a colocation and connectivity supplier.

In 2013, 4D Hosting re-launched with a focus on providing premium hosting packages and 24/7 support from its own engineers to SME enterprises, business consultants and professionals.

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by cheryl hanna

Using YouTube for As well as being an entertaining place to spend free time, YouTube is increasingly becoming an invaluable tool in business. Free to use, fantastic for reaching a wide audience and highly compatible with other media, it offers a great deal of potential to marketers. The catch is that an awful lot of other businesses are using it too, and doing so effectively takes quite a bit of skill. This begins with understanding how to unlock its potential.

The rise of online video Over the last four years, online video has experienced a boom in popularity, with study after study identifying it as one of the very best ways businesses can connect with customers. Next to a face-to-face meeting, it’s the best way to inspire trust and loyalty. It creates a sense of personal connection, and customers simply find it more exciting than the written word.

One of the longstanding problems with text-based online communication is that most people don’t read more than the first three lines of any given website or post before they form an opinion about it. That opinion may be that they want to read more, but too often it isn’t, because it takes really good writing – and a bit of luck – to forge that instant connection. Video is a completely different matter. It communicates more information more quickly, and it forges a much more powerful emotional connection. This can hook people while that all important sales message gets through, significantly increasing the rate of conversions.

How YouTube works in business Like all forms of media, YouTube has one purpose when used in business, and that’s to drive potential customers to a location (online or off) where they might make a purchase. This can be done directly – by making a strong sales pitch – or indirectly, through attraction marketing, providing viewers with a useful service that makes them feel positive about the business. It can be done purely on YouTube itself, or it can also be embedded on the company website and potentially other sites.

Business

With over 100 million video views daily and a wide demographic reach, YouTube has a lot of potential, but is a medium in which it’s all too easy to disappear. Avoiding that requires careful key wording of videos and, if possible, taking advantage of curation schemes. This means getting connected with people and sites that recommend YouTube content. While some people assume this can’t be done with a commercial product, in fact it’s quite easy as long as the video has some strong appeal, such as being funny, innovative or beautifully shot. Videos should also be branded to enable businesses to build up a following over time, and it’s a good idea to have a YouTube channel.

Developing video content Although business owners obviously know their work better than anyone else, they are not necessarily the best people to talk about it, even when they have a background in other forms of marketing. There have been massively successful YouTube videos shot by amateurs with phone cameras, but a better guarantee of success comes from using good quality equipment or from hiring professionals. There are many small film companies happy to make YouTube adverts at very affordable rates, with varied packages that enable different levels of creative input from the businesses hiring them.

Case study: Fisher Investments Fisher Investments YouTube videos are shown on their company’s own YouTube channel, helping to define its brand.

Rather than simply posting adverts for its own services, this company regularly posts videos aimed at providing useful information to those working in the finance industry. These include educational videos explaining specific concepts in finance and careers videos useful to those exploring their options within the sector. For people already working in finance roles, there are videos addressing significant issues in the markets and aspects of the long-term investments outlook.

The value of these videos to Fisher Investments is twofold.

First, they draw in people who are looking for useful resources. Secondly, they position the company as an authority in this area. This means that people looking for the financial services it offers will be impressed by it and think of it as a good company to choose, without the need for a direct sales pitch. It is showing, rather than telling, what it can do, and this tends to carry a lot more weight with potential customers.

There are many different ways to approach using YouTube, and the optimum choice will vary between businesses, but one thing is for sure: nobody can afford to be without this wonderful marketing tool.

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by jeremy juhasz

5 ‘P’S FOR YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING SUCCESS Small businesses and nonprofits face a different set of circumstances when it comes to social media marketing than their larger for-profit counterparts, namely, smaller budgets, fewer employees and a greater priority on traditional forms of marketing.

For those charged with marketing, the biggest first step toward making social media an integral component of the plan may be convincing your organization. Despite widespread use of social networks for personal connections, the leadership of smaller organizations often questions its effectiveness as a marketing tool and whether they’ll see a return on their investment.

I’ve developed and implemented social media strategies for a variety of organizations -- for-profits, nonprofits, and individuals. For all of them, I’ve discovered, when it comes to social media, it’s important to remember the 5 P’s:

Plan

Identify what you hope to accomplish and create a strategy to take you there. Too many nonprofits and small businesses dive into social media because they “have” to and don’t consider a plan of action before they do so. Make a list of what you want to accomplish.

Is it to gain more donors? Get a higher attendance at your annual fundraiser? Increase sales?

Make it a priority to identify goals so you can create the social media strategies for meeting them.

Patience

Nothing happens overnight. It takes time to develop relationships and establish credibility with your brand and your target audience. Over time, events and a steady pace will win out. Rushing leads to mistakes.

The type of patience I’m referring to is a long-term mindset. When day-today activities seem arduous and, at times, unfulfilling, know that each day builds to the greater goal. March on.

Persistence

You must be stubbornly committed to your goals and your strategy. Keep plugging away and give your plan a fair amount of time and analysis before you pull the plug. If you know the plan is a good one, it’s not a good ideas to panic and change course simply because you’re not seeing results as quickly as you’d like.

That said, circumstances change, not every strategy works, and you need to also be willing to recognize that it is time to try something new.

Be persistent in implementing your plan and in monitoring whether you’re reaching the objectives that will take you to your goal.

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5 ‘P’S FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Pay (what you can)

These days, especially on Facebook, it’s a pay-for-play landscape. Pay where you can, if you can. The results can provide the spark you need to drive a specific campaign or to increase your overall visibility to your target market. It can also be a very affordable alternative to other digital advertising options.

Prioritize

I can’t stress enough the importance of time management. If your marketing staff consists of only one or two people, it’s essential that you stay on top of your social media strategy by prioritizing your quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily objectives and goals. Nonprofits and small businesses face countless new daily challenges. Sometimes we lose track of what’s most important. Take the time to identify those tasks critical to your success and make them a priority.

You can succeed with social media even if your organization doesn’t have the brand recognition of a multi-billion dollar corporation. If you remain even-keeled and set realistic goals, the return on investment will follow.

About Jeremy Juhasz

Jeremy Juhasz is a social media strategist at EMSI Public Relations and a panelist for the Tampa Bay Marketing Summit, (www.tampabaymarketingsummit.com) on Aug. 8. Jeremy has years of experience managing social media marketing for the nonprofit sector, including launching social media and online strategies for Feeding America Food Bank and Goodwill affiliates. His multi-media background includes work as a newspaper reporter and as a marketing professional.

He’s a graduate of Alfred University and attended Kent State’s School of Communication and Information, public relations.

by david baker

Six Security Misconceptions That Can Close Your Business It’s no secret that if you identify and correct a security threat at the earliest opportunity, it will cause the smallest impact to your business and the potential threat will be limited. Many companies will avoid vulnerability assessments/audits as they are timeconsuming, continuous and tie-up resources. Even companies that have identified and resolved vulnerabilities within their business then fail to proactively assess for repeat occurrences of these weaknesses and can fall victim to the same threat multiple times.

Common misconceptions include…

We only need firewalls and intrusion detection: Putting anti-virus and a firewall in place is a great step towards protecting your business, but the implementation of these often leads IT managers to believe their business is safe from all vulnerabilities. Today’s complex environment has many more threats so developing a strict network and security policy, auditing it regularly and assessing for on-going threats will be critical in securing your IT systems.

We are not a target: You may think “it can’t happen to me”, but in recent years most cybercrime and vulnerabilities have not been specifically targeted. You may feel that only larger businesses should be concerned about this issue, but attacks due to a disgruntled employee, contractor or customer can leave even the smallest company under threat.

We don’t need assessments: Even if you have a remediation system you still need vulnerability assessments. These assessments will identify any weakness that may need correcting, including policy non-compliance and mis-configurations which a simple security patch system wouldn’t be able to address. An effective remediation system should be in place following any identified vulnerabilities in order to correct these and protect against future ‘holes’.

We are fine with a reactive approach: Most companies believe that their IT department can keep on top of the vulnerabilities and patches via a reactive update process. The reality is that if the IT guys don’t put a proactive system in place they could become lost in all the patches needed and not complete the actions thoroughly enough to protect the network.

We can’t afford more security: The cost of implementing proactive vulnerability analysis is questionable within a small enterprise. The management team may not understand the true costs of not putting a system in place and so will often downgrade the need, or put it on a low priority list of optional expenditure.

The reality is that if your system is brought down by a cyber-attack this will often mean mission critical systems won’t work and the business will be offline costing money, reputation and customers. Security assessments and security measures to protect your business should be at the heart of your business continuity plans.

We do not have the time: Businesses often believe that they do not have the time to stay ahead of attackers but with a powerful proactive process in security management you can secure your business and protect it against any future attack.

For a business to survive, security has to be one of your top priorities. A single attack could bring you down for a prolonged period of time, costing revenue and reputation, possibly even closing you down.

About the author David Barker is technical director of 4D Hosting, having founded the company in 1999 when he was 14 and still at school. In 2007 he bought an industrial unit on the outskirts of London and set up 4D Data Centres as a colocation and connectivity supplier for small businesses in the South East of England.

In 2013, 4D Hosting re-launched with a focus on providing premium hosting packages and 24/7 support from its own engineers to technology companies, developers and geeks. He can be contacted via Twitter on @David_4D. 0

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