Colocation is a concept as old as dedicated servers themselves. The fact is, bare metal solutions require dedicated space and experienced technicians. When ideal conditions are necessary to keep your servers running smoothly, why not entrust your hardware to facilities built around their maintenance? By housing your servers in a larger provider’s data center, you not only gain access to premium security, cooling, and the fastest networks possible but a slew of associated financial savings as well. For many organizations, colocation has been a tried and true solution for decades.

But with the rise of public cloud providers like AWS and Azure, has colocating dedicated servers become an outdated infrastructure solution?

Ten years ago, there are many who would have told you “yes.” However, as these early adopters have come to realize, the cloud is not some perfect panacea: for all its perks, its flaws are just as prevalent. The fact is, renting your digital infrastructure on-demand will always be more expensive than owning your servers outright. Even if it doesn’t seem that way when you’re signing the contracts, the fees do eventually add up.

Now, with many early adopters approaching or passing the ten-year mark with their public cloud solutions, market trends are revealing a growing move towards colocation, a resurgence in dedicated bare metal server solutions, and an increasing reliance on hybrid cloud infrastructure.

In this post, we’ll look at some of the evidence supporting the growth of colocation, its projected market potential over the coming years, and why your organization would benefit from a hybrid cloud colocation solution with Hivelocity.

Market Trends, Annual Growth, & Projected Totals

Colocation is booming. According to a new report available through ResearchandMarkets.com, the Global Colocation Market is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.44%. Assuming this trend continues through 2028, the report predicts global market growth for the colocation industry to rise from roughly 41 billion in 2020 to 101 billion by 2028. Another report from Grand View Research, places these numbers even higher, estimating the current market value for colocation at 44 billion with a 13.3% CAGR.

In other words, in spite of the cloud, reliance on colocation is still growing.

But why? Why are more and more companies moving back to colocation-based solutions for their digital infrastructure?

The fact is, renting your digital infrastructure on-demand will always be more expensive than owning your servers outright.

There are many reasons companies are making the switch to colocation. Whether it’s a desire to reduce public cloud costs and diminish overall reliance, a move towards smaller, greener alternatives to swelling hyperscale data centers, or a need for the location-specific advantages of newer edge facilities, there are many factors contributing to this move away from purely cloud-based solutions.

In the end, the question isn’t, “why are so many companies choosing colocation?”, but rather, “is it time for MY company to consider colocation too?”

Why Colo? The Advantages of Colocation

There are numerous advantages associated with colocation. In the days of on-premise dedicated servers, the key benefit of colocation was reducing physical space requirements. Instead of building server rooms to house your servers on-site, colocation allows companies to utilize the existing square footage of an established provider. This means you not only save on the costs of building and maintaining server rooms, but it also means that future growth opportunities aren’t limited by a lack of physical space to expand in.

Beyond the issue of space, utilizing the larger facilities of a true data center also translates to price breaks in electricity costs and access to superior networks. Because these facilities move large volumes of data, they wield increased power when negotiating with electricity and networking service providers. This can lead to significant price breaks which are typically transferred along to customers as an incentive for using their services.

Additionally, it’s important to remember that a data center’s business relies on its reputation. Mistakes are costly and second chances are rare. For that reason, colocation facilities emphasize reliability, implementing various fail-safes and essential emergency precautions to mitigate disaster. This not only protects their business but yours as well, ensuring the best protection for your servers and data. It also means these data centers seek out the best talent in the industry, hiring technicians who are truly experts in their fields. With 24×7 support staff on-site, issues can be resolved as they arise, offering immediate responses when timing is critical. Through managed service packages, these skilled technicians often serve as crucial lifelines for their customers, offering peace of mind and providing their expertise. Even better, because of the scale these facilities operate at, retail colocation providers are able to offer this level of support at a fraction of the cost of hiring your own full-time, in-house technicians. That means cost savings for you and less stress on your employees.

Now, in the age of the cloud, this concept of “on-premise servers” is mostly gone. With everything stored and running through various cloud services, the risk of physical space limitations is practically non-existent. As a result, the new rise of colocation isn’t due to people moving servers offsite, but rather a move from on-demand virtual instances, to dedicated bare metal resources. In other words, the biggest advantages of colocation today revolve around superior computational power and cost savings opportunities.

In spite of the cloud, reliance on colocation is still growing.

But what about the bare metal options being offered by providers like AWS?

While it’s true that an increasing number of cloud providers are offering bare metal solutions to their customers, the options available are typically limited. After all, the cloud business model is built around selling pre-made packages. Out-of-the-box functionality often comes at the loss of flexibility.

Instead, by purchasing and housing dedicated servers through a retail colocation facility, organizations are able to specify every element of their underlying hardware and software. Prefer a specific control panel or server brand? When purchasing or storing servers through a colocation provider, your options aren’t limited to the provider’s preferences. Want to keep your data stored in a specific country? By housing your bare metal solution in an edge data center, you can keep your servers where your clients are, reducing latency and improving user experience. In short: when you colocate with a dedicated server, you retain control over all these choices and more.

Now, proponents of the cloud will be quick to point to its convenience, ease, and scalability as clear advantages of a public cloud solution. After all, these elements have become essential factors in building modern digital infrastructure. Can bare metal really provide that same level of functionality?

Put simply — Yes. At the end of the day, every cloud solution is running on top of bare metal resources. The difference comes down to a question of access: how much are you actually able to interact with or manipulate the underlying hardware. As a public cloud customer, that access is incredibly limited. However, when you own the servers, you have full access to everything.

What actually makes the cloud so convenient comes down to a blend of virtualization & containerization, orchestration tools for cluster management, and the ability to upgrade infrastructure on-demand. These three components are essential for dynamically creating and managing instances, but these tools aren’t limited to the cloud. With a dedicated server, free solutions like Proxmox VE and Kubernetes can give you the same degree of custom instance management. Orchestration tools like Terraform and Ansible let you integrate and automate these instances using simple code, helping to unify your infrastructure across the board. Better yet, the open-source, vendor-agnostic status of many of these solutions means you’re not limited in the tools you utilize. API hooks let you integrate easily with third-party applications and control every inch of your digital infrastructure from the same place.

At the end of the day, every cloud solution is running on top of bare metal resources. The difference comes down to a question of access.

Beyond these similarities, what’s unique about a true bare metal solution is you also have the option to forgo virtualization entirely, running your applications directly on your server’s OS. For resource-intensive processes, especially those utilizing AI, the elimination of a hypervisor can lead to significantly faster outputs and higher reliability. Best of all, you can still scale and descale your infrastructure as needed using instant-deployment dedicated servers. This ability to grow on-demand can even be automated, allowing your cluster’s resources to operate with maximum efficiency. For more information on how you can easily integrate the Hivelocity Public API with your favorite orchestration software, check out our API documentation pages.

In the end, bare metal can do everything the cloud can do and more — often at a fraction of the price.

Hivelocity Colocation & Hybrid Cloud Solutions

The fact is, for all its convenience and name recognition, the cloud isn’t perfect. Data transfer is expensive and the stress of complex workloads can quickly grind systems to a halt. With many early cloud adopters reaching their ten-year mark with these services, market trends are showing a growing movement back to more traditional hosting solutions. These companies are realizing that combining elements of their current cloud solutions with the underlying resources of a true bare metal server can provide them with hybrid solutions which offer the best of both worlds. In doing so, they’re proving that you don’t have to eliminate your reliance on the cloud completely to regain control over rising costs. By strategically implementing the right hybrid solutions, you might save as much as $15,000 a month, or, depending on your usage, potentially even more. The right solution for your organization is out there — it just might not be the one-size-fits-all package pushed by public cloud providers.

Bare metal can do everything the cloud can do — often at a fraction of the price.

Instead, through a blend of colocation, bare metal servers, and public cloud integration, your digital infrastructure can remain cutting-edge for years to come, all without breaking your budget.

So, call or chat with one of our agents or request a quote today through our colo page and see how colocation and a dedicated server solution from Hivelocity can help you avoid the financial pitfalls of the cloud. Whether you need instant servers or a fully-custom solution, Hivelocity is the hosting provider that’s got your back.

Come see what the Hivelocity difference can mean for you and your organization.

– Sean Kelly

The post Colocation Resurgence: Global Growth 2022 & Beyond appeared first on Hivelocity Hosting.

This probably comes as a surprise to no one, but the truth is, it’s a hard time to be a traditional, brick-and-mortar retailer. This statement has been true for years, but thanks to the rise of e-commerce and the unshakeable positioning of industry giants like Amazon and Alibaba, it’s easier than ever for consumers to make essential purchases from their couch. With the explosive growth of Covid-19 and the resulting shutdowns that followed, foot traffic to traditional retailers has hit an all-time low. For many, this has proven to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, forcing closures and liquidations of well-established franchises. Those retailers who still remain have done so by embracing new relationships with technology and reimagining their roles in consumers’ lives. Whether it’s improving their e-commerce presence, instituting customer loyalty programs and AI-based, targeted marketing, or even just an increase in contactless, self-checkout enabled hardware, the role of technology in retail is more important than ever.

But what about the digital infrastructure underlying this growth? When moving huge volumes of product data in an environment where customer loyalty is fickle and trust is easily lost, can you afford to not give your company the best? What if it turned out that sometimes the best solutions are also the most financially viable?

Well, if you’re looking for a solution that’s powerful, reliable, and simultaneously cost-effective, then a cloud-like environment powered by dedicated server resources is the solution your organization needs. Read on to learn how a managed dedicated server plan with Hivelocity can help your company outpace the competition, all without breaking your budget.

Already familiar with dedicated servers and the cloud? Use the table of contents below to jump ahead and see all the benefits a bare metal solution can offer your organization.

What is a Dedicated Server?

Let’s keep this simple. A dedicated server is a physical machine, with its own RAM and CPU, running on an operating system of the user’s choice. They’re essentially the same as your home PC, but their enterprise-grade status means their computational power is much, much higher.

At the end of the day, any hosting package you use is actually a form of dedicated server hosting. Whether it’s shared web hosting, virtual private servers, or even one of the major public cloud solutions like AWS or Azure, all these solutions are utilizing dedicated server resources to power their processes. The difference comes down to how much access you have to the underlying hardware, and how many other tenants you share resources with. In a shared hosting environment, your data is still being stored on a dedicated server, you’re just sharing its resources with dozens or hundreds of other users simultaneously. This limits your available processing power leading to decreased system predictability, as well as a plethora of potential security issues.

When you control the entire server though, these issues quickly vanish.

Need to use 100% of your system’s RAM for a resource-intensive process? Go right ahead. Want a tightly organized system efficiently running your processes seamlessly? Micromanage every byte of your infrastructure without the fear of multi-user resource overlap. Storing large volumes of private customer payment information? Rest easy knowing your data is held securely within a single-tenant environment, where you retain control over the security methods utilized.

In other words, why pay for access to a small fraction of a dedicated server, when you can improve your system’s power, security, and reliability, all while taking control of the whole machine?

So, What is the Cloud?

If a dedicated server is a physical machine capable of powering multiple virtual instances, then what is the cloud? Well, put simply, the cloud is multiple, massive networks of dedicated servers, all sharing resources, combining their overall power to support a sprawling environment of isolated, virtual instances. When you spin up a new cloud instance, what you’re actually doing is creating a new virtual machine (VM) with its own designated resources, storage, and OS, which then lives in a shared, online network of virtual machines. These decoupled instances are able to float easily between clusters of dedicated servers, utilizing resources efficiently as the other instances around them shift and change.

Because cloud instances are decoupled, they can often feel unbound by the same limitations as physical resources. A single machine only has so much RAM, but the sprawling networks that make up the cloud are so large, it would be nearly impossible for a single user to max them out. This focus on scalability has lent itself to new methods of building infrastructure, based not on finite resource limitations, but rather on hyper-focused, resource-optimized parcels. The idea is that if you know exactly how many resources an application needs, why waste additional resources giving it access to more than it will actually use? Because cloud instances can dynamically scale up and down as resource usage increases or decreases, they allow for a highly efficient and precise means of planning long-term growth.

On paper, these are all wonderful perks.

The issue is though, this sensation of “infrastructure freedom” is a calculated illusion. After all, moving data around isn’t free, and building massive networks of dedicated servers isn’t cheap. These costs are absolutely passed along to the consumer, but often in ways that don’t become apparent until you’ve grown reliant on the provider’s services. This leads to vendor lock-in and eventually to massive, unpredictable IT bills. It isn’t a fluke when this occurs: it’s their entire business model.

But what can you do? The cloud is the future of IT, right? Isn’t floating infrastructure the direction everything’s moving in?

While these statements are all true, what’s even truer is this: if the major cloud providers are all running their services using networks of dedicated server resources, then doesn’t that mean dedicated servers are already capable of doing anything the cloud can do? They are the cloud. If you could capture the convenience, flexibility, and scalability of the cloud, without its associated risks, wouldn’t that solution prove to be the best of both worlds?

Thankfully, with the right dedicated server solution, that’s not only possible but affordable too.

The Benefits of Dedicated Servers

In this section we’ll focus on several of the clear benefits dedicated servers have to offer and how these perks, when utilized effectively, can become the secret weapons in any retailer’s arsenal.

Powerful

Increased processing power is the most obvious benefit of using a dedicated server. When it comes to CPU-intensive processes, nothing can beat the computational speed of a bare metal server. It makes sense. If a shared instance is only a fraction of the system’s total resources, then wouldn’t having access to the entire system automatically prove more powerful?

Now you might be asking yourself, “do I really need a power-house machine to run my organization’s daily operations?”

The thing is, in the tech world, power and speed are often two sides of the same coin. When your system is more powerful, it will typically complete tasks and queries more quickly. With traditional retailers growing increasingly reliant on sales through their brand’s e-commerce stores, even historically brick-and-mortar chains are seeing the need for lightning-fast websites. After all, page speed has a significant effect on your site’s bounce rate. When 3 seconds can attribute to an increased 29% customer dropoff, can you really afford to not seek out speedier solutions? The faster your system can sort through large volumes of product and payment information, the better the user experience for your customers and the more likely they are to return in the future.

Speed makes a difference.

Beyond these surface-level issues like page speed though, there is also the fact that less powerful infrastructure solutions will inevitably limit future growth opportunities. For example, one new technique growing popular among tech-forward retailers is the utilization of AI-trained sales bots. These systems intake customer shopping patterns in order to offer highly targeted, customer-specific marketing opportunities. While incredibly useful, AI-based tools like these are resource-intensive, meaning the systems that run them need to be powerful to not buckle under their weight. As more major retailers begin adopting these methods, the need for powerful hosting solutions could become a necessity in order to remain competitive.

Reliable

Reliability in this context means two things. First, it means the predictability of knowing your applications and instances will consistently run as intended, free from the potential issues of a multi-user environment. When you control 100% of the available resources, the risk of resource overlap by another tenant is a non-existent issue. This allows administrators to build hyper-precise systems with focused, intentional resource usage, maximized for efficiency.

Moreso though, reliability also means trust. It’s the knowledge that your system will be up and running when you and your customers need it. But when you only control a fraction of the system, do you have any real assurance that your data remains both secure and available? Are you not bound to the decisions of massive, external corporations?

I mean, have you ever tried to call Microsoft support?

Now it’s true that when you host with a dedicated server hosting provider, you’re still placing your trust in the hands of an external facility. Unless you host your servers onsite, you will always find yourself reliant on your provider’s network to keep you up and running.

The thing is, hyperscale data facilities like those used by AWS and Azure, aren’t as concerned with maintaining 100% uptime for their clients. They have so many customers, they can afford to lose some if things go wrong. It’s a numbers game to them.

Smaller providers though are reliant on their reputations. We provide exceptional service every time to ensure our customers keep coming back for more. That’s why at Hivelocity we have our 99.99% Uptime Guarantee, and why we can boast that nearly all our facilities have maintained 100% uptime status since their commissioning. In the event emergencies do arise, our 24/7 on-site support staff is ready with solutions for you in minutes, not hours or days. When every second matters, wouldn’t you rather put your trust in the hands of true industry experts?

Secure

When you control the machine, you control its security. You get to determine which forms of software and hardware firewalls are implemented and who has access to what. You get to decide who, if anyone, can share that digital space with you, and what kinds of traffic you want coming in and out. You’re in control to a level you could never achieve with a shared solution through a cloud provider.

Now, do you really need that level of security?

Well, think of it this way: your e-commerce site might have the best security available, but if lax protocols on the part of your provider lead to an infection on the machine housing your systems, you could find yourself in a really bad position; one which you have virtually no control over. In the end though, who are your customers actually going to blame? You or your service provider?

With cyber-attacks growing more frequent and data leaks occurring constantly, your customers want protection, not excuses. That means premium security solutions are more important than ever.

In addition to gaining control over the entire environment your system resides in, dedicated servers also provide advantages when meeting external compliance regulations. For retailers, PCI compliance for customer credit card information is of particular concern. While some cloud providers do pass along compliance standards to their customers, it depends both on the provider and the specific regulations in question. At Hivelocity, all our data centers are HIPAA and PCI compliant as well as being SSAE-16 SOC 1 and 2 certified. That means you can rest easy knowing your customers’ personal data is being stored in a facility that meets the highest standards for compliance regulations.

Flexible

Most cloud providers offer users their services in the form of pre-packaged solutions. For some, these packages prove to be good fits, but for others, not so much. The fact remains that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for building the right digital infrastructure. It just doesn’t work that way.

With a dedicated server solution, you can use the applications and tools you want to use, all running on the operating system of your choice. Prefer a specific software for managing your virtual machines? Need a custom combination of VM and containerization tools? Prefer Windows-based solutions rather than running Linux? With a private dedicated server, you control everything. Build the exact system you want regardless of why you prefer it that way.

What’s even more essential though, is that the flexibility offered by dedicated servers can help you avoid the risks of vendor lock-in.

The problem is, when you run your infrastructure through a proprietary system like AWS or Azure, your ability to migrate instances to a different provider is limited. In the beginning, this might not seem like a deal-breaker, but as your system becomes reliant on the services of one provider, your ability to pick up and leave will continue to diminish. Inevitably, these providers then increase pricing knowing that once you’re stuck within their solution, you’ll be willing to pay almost anything rather than risk losing everything.

With non-proprietary solutions, especially the many open-source solutions utilized here at Hivelocity, not only will you have the flexibility to interface with a wider variety of 3rd-party applications, but you’ll also have an easier time migrating your solutions should you ever decide to. This means you not only have the option to build your system with the widest variety of available solutions, but you also retain your power as a consumer throughout the process.

Capable

As mentioned earlier, anything that can be done on the cloud can be done on a dedicated server. Like many things in life, it’s just a matter of having the right tools for the job. Better yet, many of the best tools available, like Proxmox VE, Terraform, and Kubernetes, are actually free, open-source, third-party compatible solutions.

With Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like Terraform, building and managing vast networks of integrated servers is easy. Manage and deploy containers and virtual machines; scale and descale your resource usage dynamically using automated scripts; monitor the health of your entire system from a single source. Simple, reusable syntax lets you build new instances as needed, increasing your system’s capabilities as resource demands grow. API hooks let you coordinate between services further integrating the applications you use. You can even increase your cluster’s maximum resources by provisioning new instant dedicated servers automatically through the Hivelocity Public API. Scale and descale as easily as spinning up a new virtual instance, all with the backing of true, bare metal resources.

In other words, anything the cloud can do, your dedicated server can do better.

Cost-Effective

This is probably the part you’ve been waiting for. After all, is it really possible that dedicated servers can offer traditional retailers all these benefits and still be a cost-effective solution? Well, the answer is that for large organizations, dedicated servers are most definitely the more affordable option.

It’s all a question of scale.

Let’s say you own a small brick-and-mortar retail shop that relies heavily on foot traffic, and mostly uses its website for directions and contact methods. Would a business like this need a dedicated server? Probably not. If your website is just an informational gateway for your clients and your store’s not storing much in the way of customer or product data, it’s unlikely you need the full resources of your own dedicated server solution.

But what about for larger stores? As data volume and computational processing usage grow, it quickly becomes apparent that the higher initial investment of a dedicated server solution soon pays for itself.

For a concrete example of this, let’s look at one of our previous posts, Is Your Cloud Too Expensive? In this article, we take a side-by-side comparison of the 3 biggest cloud providers, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, and compare pricing for their inbound and outbound data transfer. This is important because while the initial pricing for these packages is often quite affordable, it’s only as your data usage grows that you really start to see the effects of the bandwidth pricing on your budget. We cover it here in full detail, but the key takeaway is that for organizations with heavy bandwidth usage, you might end up paying hundreds if not thousands of dollars more each month using the cloud.

That’s a significant difference and an obvious problem for organizations seeking growth.

After all, isn’t the point of utilizing the cloud and decoupled infrastructure to promote growth potential? If that very growth becomes too expensive to support, it’s probably not the most sustainable solution for your organization’s long-term plans. Using a dedicated server solution may typically mean a higher one-time investment, but in return, it gives you the ability to continue growing at a fraction of the cost.

For large organizations or those hoping to become larger, there really is no better solution than a dedicated server.

The Disadvantages of Dedicated Server Hosting

Now, no solution is perfect and I would be remiss to ignore the potential downsides associated with dedicated servers. While there aren’t many, it’s important to address both sides of the equation to assist potential customers in making well-informed decisions.

When critiquing dedicated servers the two most common complaints center around issues of pricing and complexity. We addressed pricing above, but the fact remains that purchasing a dedicated server or a system of dedicated servers will often prove a higher initial investment than signing on with a cloud service. The cost to get the ball rolling is higher, but as mentioned above, the cost to keep it rolling is significantly less. In fact, one of our customers who uses a hybrid combination of AWS and Hivelocity dedicated servers is actually saving over $15,000 a month using our services. That’s a cost savings of roughly $180,000 dollars each year! Even if his sign-on package with AWS was completely free, it could never justify bandwidth costs that high. Who has room in their IT budget for that?

So, while it’s true that dedicated servers are definitely not the cheapest solution upfront, they more than pay for themselves over time.

Now, let’s look at the issue of complexity. For some, this is a valid concern. Servers take a degree of expertise that not everyone has. Although they can be built around your exact specifications, their out-of-the-box functionality is often limited as systems need to be built up from scratch. Compared to the plug-and-play mentality of many cloud services, running your own server can seem daunting.

The fact of the matter is though, you don’t have to be a tech wizard to host on a dedicated server.

Not sure how to build your ideal infrastructure? Chat with our custom build experts and let them design you a system that’s both powerful and efficient, all built around your company’s actual needs. Don’t want the responsibility of maintaining and updating your hardware? Affordable managed service plans let you rest easy knowing your systems are in the hands of true industry experts.

After all, here at Hivelocity, our managed service packages are backed by the best support in the industry.

So, is running a dedicated server complex? Yes. But it doesn’t have to be. With the right provider and service plan, running your dedicated server solution can be as convenient as the cloud while still offering you the superior resources of bare metal.

So, Is a Dedicated Server Solution Right for Your Business?

Depending on the size of your organization, the volume of data you move around, and the general trajectory of your growth plan, chances are you’d see many benefits from making the switch to a fully dedicated server solution. For large retailers especially, those trying to rise above the competition in a world growing increasingly remote, there’s no better time than now to see how a dedicated server plan can benefit you. Whether you’re looking to improve the e-commerce side of your business or are just hoping to integrate new technologies into your brick-and-mortar facilities, a strong digital infrastructure will keep you growing for years to come.

So, come see what the Hivelocity difference can mean for you. Call or chat with our experts and let us build you an affordable, cutting-edge solution.

Give your business and your customers the best with a Hivelocity dedicated server solution.

– Sean Kelly

The post Dedicated Server Solutions for Traditional Retail appeared first on Hivelocity Hosting.

At Hivelocity, we’re not one to play favorites with hardware. While our technicians have their individual preferences, as a whole, we know the best solutions are the ones that best fit the needs of our clients. That said, there is certainly value in the comparative metric tests available through SPEC (Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation), and at times, the results of these tests are simply too overwhelming to leave much room for debate. In the case of CPUs, this has become especially true with AMD’s 3rd Generation EPYC “Milan” processors.

After placing 1st in all 16 categories of the SPECspeed2017 and SPECrate2017 tests (according to tests run and published by NextPlatform), it’s hard to deny that AMD’s EPYC chips might be the fastest, most efficient processors on the market. But what does that mean for you and your organization? What is it about AMD EPYC that makes these outstanding results possible? Should your company consider making the switch?

Read on for more about AMD EPYC and the important advantages it has to offer organizations like yours.

What is EPYC?

Designed to utilize their proprietary “Zen” microarchitecture, EPYC is a series of enterprise-grade x86-64 microprocessors designed and released by AMD. With support for more RAM, higher core counts, and increased PCI Express lanes, the EPYC line of processors offer premium alternatives to AMD’s desktop Ryzen models. Designed for large and growing organizations, these processors have been built with scalability, hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), and cloud native app development in mind. Certified for use with multiple popular virtualization solutions including VMware and Nutanix, and fostering partnerships with major HCI providers like HPE, Dell, and Lenovo, AMD has secured itself as a fixture in data centers around the world. With their long-term focus on hyperconverged infrastructure, AMD can keep your organization on the path of continuous development, all while maximizing the lifetime value of your initial investment.

EPYC Gen 2, which released back in 2019, represented a massive technological leap for AMD, carrying the company from the point of bankruptcy and earning them a strong foothold in an industry previously dominated by Intel. Now, having launched in March of 2021, AMD’s EPYC Gen 3 Milan processors have already broken over 100 world records in categories ranging from HPC to standard enterprise workloads. Utilizing their new Zen 3 architecture, the new Milan processors not only offer higher core counts and increased PCIe 4.0 lanes, but also represent a 19% performance improvement over AMD’s previous generation of processors.

It’s hard to deny that AMD’s EPYC chips might be the fastest, most efficient processors on the market.

With AMD’s market share growing and their chips continuing to lead the charge in powerful, efficient design, the argument over Intel vs. AMD has only grown louder. With the release of both companies’ Gen 3 options though, the fight for supremacy has grown more one-sided than ever.

So what’s the verdict? Is one option really better than the other?

AMD vs. Intel

AMD and Intel have been engaged in an ongoing CPU chip arms race since the early 2000s. With the size of chips shrinking and new models releasing almost yearly, both companies have continued to outdo themselves as they struggle to be considered the industry’s best. While Intel still retains a strong hold over the market, AMD’s EPYC line of processors have succeeded in significantly weakening the tech giant’s grip. This can especially be seen in NextPlatform’s tests, in which Intel’s new Gen 3 Ice Lake processor (part of its Xeon Scalable line) falls behind not only AMD’s Gen 3 EPYC chips, but their Gen 2 chips as well. This means Intel’s newest chips, having just launched in April of 2021, are struggling to match the output results of AMD’s 2019 chips, let alone the new Gen 3 launched back in March.

Now this is in no way an attempt to defame Intel. Their Xeon Scalable servers are solid CPUs which have been fixtures in data centers everywhere for decades. But numbers don’t tend to lie, and the results of recent speed and efficiency tests have been quite noteworthy. If you’ve been considering making the switch to an AMD-based chip, now might be the right time.

To summarize some of the more interesting results from NextPlatform’s tests, I’ve listed a few statistics below:

• In 2-Socket Integer Performance (32 Cores across all 3 builds) – Xeon Gen 3 does perform better than EPYC Gen 2 by ~5.2%, but when compared to EPYC Gen 3, AMD outperforms Intel by roughly 27.6%.
• In 2-Socket Floating Point Performance (32 Cores across all 3 builds) – Not only does EPYC Gen 3 perform about 30.6% better than Xeon Gen 3, but even EPYC Gen 2 beats it by nearly 4%.

One of the most interesting results presented from the test is in NextPlatform’s assessment of the impact on EPYC vs Xeon on users’ three year TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). With potential for roughly 34% lower server costs, about 50% lower rack space investment, nearly 42% lower power usage, and an estimated 33% lower admin costs, AMD’s Gen 3 EPYC chips are not only technically impressive, but cost-saving as well.

That’s a hard combination to beat.

Now it’s important to note two things: 1). While this certainly does not discredit the results presented by NextPlatform, it should be noted that the article in question is a sponsored post. In other words, while the positive results presented are presumably accurate, it is important to remember that any potential negatives might be downplayed in a sponsored analysis of a product. 2). While the 3rd Gen AMD EPYC chips have officially launched, additional 3rd-party test results are limited. Over time, as more testing is conducted, it is possible we’ll see the general interpretation of these results shift some.

Still, it’s hard to ignore results this impressive. Even applying a 5% cushion in either direction, AMD’s results would still represent a landslide victory. Assuming that both the Ice Lake and Milan processors feature similar pricing models, the increased performance AMD offers means you have the potential to deliver the same output while cutting the cost of your server investment by a third.

AMD’s Gen 3 EPYC chips are not only technically impressive, but cost-saving as well.

Lastly, a final important advantage of the new Milan processors is that AMD’s Gen 3 EPYC chips can run seamlessly on existing EPYC Gen 2 platforms with little more than a simple BIOS update. This ensures easier upgrading, improves user adoption, and contrasts greatly with Intel’s approach of forcing new server platforms with each new release.

The Advantages of Intel

Now, metrics aren’t everything, and while AMD’s results are very impressive, there is more that goes into purchasing a server than just top available speed and efficiency. These things are often important but rarely represent the only factors worth considering.

For instance, AMD’s Milan processors max out at 64 available cores and 128 threads, while Intel’s new Ice Lake chips max out at 40 cores and 80 threads. Higher core counts typically mean higher efficiency and this can be seen in NextPlatform’s tests when comparing the premium offerings of both models. In 2-socket floating point performance, AMD’s 3rd Gen 64 core 7763 model outperforms Intel’s 40 core 3rd Gen Xeon Platinum 8380 by over 36%. In 2-socket integer performance we see a similar story, with AMD’s 7763 outperforming a Xeon Platinum 8368Q model by roughly 47% *(interestingly, the 8368Q model is actually a 38 core offering but in this test, it slightly outperformed Intel’s 40 core 8380 model by about 5 points).

But what if you don’t need 64 cores and 128 threads? After all, not every workload requires that level of power. Depending on what sort of applications your organization is actually using, you might be better off saving some money and purchasing a lower end model more precisely outfitted for your specific needs.

This is where Intel continues to shine.

With an average 46% performance improvement, 166% higher memory capacity, and a 60% higher memory bandwidth over their previous generation of Xeon servers, Ice Lake still represents a significant leap for Intel. By offering nearly double the number of chip variations compared to AMD though, Intel is offering users a higher degree of specialization, ideal for organizations with clear-cut needs. This can especially be seen in Intel’s focus on 5G infrastructure. As mobile providers like Verizon move away from proprietary systems for running their 5G networks, Intel is hoping to entice adoption of their new Ice Lake chips by offering increased flexibility and a more reliable supply chain alternative. Beyond this focus on specialization, Intel’s Ice Lake chips also offer higher total memory than AMD, maxing out at 6TB instead of 4TB.

So, while AMD may currently have Intel beat in regards to pure performance, they still have a ways to go before truly toppling Intel’s position. After all, as Navin Shenoy, executive VP of data platforms at Intel puts it, “nobody else in the industry has the intersection of (intellectual property), architecture, design, and manufacturing” that Intel has.

By offering nearly double the number of chip variations compared to AMD, Intel is offering users a higher degree of specialization.

AMD EPYC & Hivelocity

When it comes to AMD vs. Intel, it’s unlikely there will ever really be a clear winner. Like most things in life, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. However, with AMD’s new Gen 3 EPYC processors offering more powerful and cost-effective solutions than ever, the gap between these two competitors might be wider than it’s ever been. Depending on your organization’s specific infrastructure and goals though, the larger variety of specialized chips available through Intel might better serve your current needs.

In the end, the best hardware option is the one best suited to you.

So, whether you’re a diehard Intel fan, a loyal AMD enthusiast, or just someone looking for the best CPUs available, Hivelocity’s got the solutions you’re looking for. From instant and custom dedicated server solutions, to private bare metal clouds, Hivelocity knows that when our clients succeed, we succeed. Custom, affordable solutions backed by the best support in the industry.

For a full list of our available AMD EPYC servers, check out our new AMD Server Page or browse our entire list of instant and custom servers on our Dedicated Servers Page.

Want to learn more? Call or chat with a sales agent today and see what the Hivelocity difference can mean for you.

– Sean Kelly

The post Why AMD EPYC? appeared first on Hivelocity Hosting.

About Feedonomics

• Feedonomics combines best-in-class technology and service to list products everywhere people shop online, including Google Shopping, Amazon, Facebook and Instagram.
  
• Our HQ is in Los Angeles but we have offices around the world in Denver, Texas, North Carolina, Australia, and Manilla. Our full-service team of over 150 helps many of the world’s most prolific advertising agencies and brands, including over 30% of the top 1,000 internet retailers.
  
• We are one of the top 100 fastest growing companies in America, and my brother and Cofounder, Robert, recently got awarded Forbes 30 under 30.
  

How Did You Start Feedonomics?

Our story started when my brother Robert and I were working at a large agency in Los Angeles, managing advertising campaigns and product data for over 50 large retailers, including some very large publicly traded companies, whose stock price relied on our work! We tested and tried every legacy product feed platform out there in the marketplace. We became increasingly frustrated when we experienced firsthand the shortcomings of those platforms. Some of them were incredibly slow and couldn’t handle any kind of meaningful scale, and others had terrible support. You would ask a question and they wouldn’t answer it for a week. Meanwhile, your performance is suffering and you could be out tens of thousands of dollars in revenue.

Armed with this knowledge and the fact that my brother and I are software engineers, we set out with the vision of creating the leading feed platform in the industry.

We quickly realized that other agencies, brands, and retailers have the exact same problems that we had, and Feedonomics was born. We lived the challenges and solved our own problems, so our pitch was very compelling.

It was a challenge in the beginning. We aren’t backed by any kind of venture capital. The money we put into this business came from our own pockets and we continue to reinvest in ourselves. Every major decision we made was carefully weighed. Our persistence paid off and we have made great strides since our early days.

Challenges with Cloud Hosting

Since starting just over 5 years ago, our growth has doubled every year both in terms of revenue and the massive amounts of data we process. We needed a cloud hosting service and solution provider that could scale with our rapid growth.

Our Experience

Feedonomics processes over 6 billion product rows per day, with over 2 million data transformational rules. Because we deal with such massive amounts of data across hundreds of servers, bandwidth egress charges can be unfathomably expensive. Hivelocity was able to save us tens of thousands of dollars every month when compared to what costs would have been on Azure or AWS.

Even more than cost, the thing that drew us most to Hivelocity was their Support Team’s reputation for super fast and super knowledgeable assistance. They have absolutely lived up to their reputation and have been there any time we have needed them.

For us, downtime means that we are not able to reflect inventory and price changes from online retailers to their advertising channels and marketplaces, which can result in massive revenue loss and wasted advertising spend. For example, a client might run into oversold issues on Amazon if we can’t update their inventory quickly enough. We have experienced close to 100% uptime every year we have done business with Hivelocity enabling our customers to maintain steady margins.

During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, when we had many of our servers in a potentially affected area in Florida, we worked very closely with the Hivelocity team to build redundancy in other data center locations. As it turns out, Hivelocity’s Florida data centers never missed a beat but their ability to quickly deploy geo-redundant solutions for us made the whole experience calm and comforting.

We get incredible support from Hivelocity, usually within minutes!

• From Technical
  • Jake Bryant
  • Donald Bennett
  • Lance Tuller
  • Dan Protich
  • Kevin Comerford
  • Steve Clayton
  • Ryan Arp
  • (I’m sure I’ve forgotten a few!!!)
    
• To account management
  • Lee Linton
  • Sasha Yetter
  • Steve Eschweiler

Something intangible about Hivelocity that has been a big deal for us is their personal touch. These guys have thousands of customers and are big enough to provide us with millions of dollars in infrastructure, yet they always make us feel like we are their most important customer and our needs are their number one priority. Right down to sending us a picture of our actual server the day we signed up for our first system with them.

Their customer service is really just the best.

Hivelocity provides dedicated servers, bare metal cloud, and colocation hosting solutions to customers from over 130 countries worldwide. Featuring 38 world-class, edge-ready data centers, strategically positioned in 36 cities, across 4 continents, Hivelocity’s expansive global footprint allows users to reach 80% of the world’s internet population in under 25 milliseconds. All of their data centers are SSAE-16 SOC1 and SOC2 certified, and HIPAA and PCI compliant services are also available. With award-winning 24/7 support, an average 15-minute ticket response time, and an SLA-backed 99.99% network uptime guarantee, Hivelocity is the hosting provider you can rely on.

Download a free PDF of this case study: Feedonomics Case Study

Additional Links:

Looking for more information on Hivelocity? Search our blog or look over our about page!

In need of more great content? Interested in cPanel, Private Cloud, or Edge Computing? Check out our recent posts for more news, guides, and industry insights!

The post Feedonomics Processes Billions of Products Every Day Using Hivelocity’s IaaS appeared first on Hivelocity Hosting.

Hivelocity has implemented the following precautionary procedures:

• We have implemented a remote and semi-remote staff schedule. All members of the Hivelocity team that are able to work remote have been instructed to do so.
• Where possible, our on-site workforce will be divided into 2 teams with each assigned to a single data center.
  
• Elimination of shared workspaces.
  
• Elimination of unnecessary business travel.
  
• Engaging with critical vendors and partners to ensure inventory and services continue to be provided as needed.
  
• Establishing the following office and data center entrance guidelines below.

For all visitors and staff of Hivelocity offices and data centers globally, Hivelocity directs the following:

• If you have been experiencing flu-like symptoms in the past 14-days, we have advised staff, visitors, and clients they are prohibited from entering. If someone is at high risk or has family members with symptoms, they are advised to stay home.
  
• Hivelocity will follow local government requirements and we will enforce those requirements, including quarantines, mask-wearing, and temperature checks.
  
• All individuals should practice the highest levels of personal hygiene while in offices and data centers.
  
• Additional hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes have been installed in all facilities.
  
• Nightly cleaning of offices will be supplemented with enhanced cleaning of work-spaces, break, and restrooms.
  
• Indefinite suspension of all Friday office lunches and other group/community gatherings.

Rest assured, Hivelocity is closely monitoring the recommendations of local health authorities as well as our building representatives in all of our locations.

We greatly appreciate your understanding and concerns throughout this rapidly changing situation. We will continue to monitor and do our best to keep you informed on any significant changes to our procedures or processes that may impact you further.

As always, we appreciate the confidence you place in the Hivelocity team.

Best Regards,
Mike Architetto

The post Coronavirus Advisory appeared first on Hivelocity Hosting.

Here are some links to more information about this serious security flaw.

• https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/microsoft-fixes-critical-windows-10-wormable-remote-desktop-flaws/
• https://blog.qualys.com/laws-of-vulnerabilities/2019/08/13/august-2019-patch-tuesday-93-vulns-29-critical-7-remote-desktop-vulns-hyper-v-dhcp-adobe-vulns
• https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2019-1181
• https://portal.msrc.microsoft.com/en-US/security-guidance/advisory/CVE-2019-1182

Take These Actions Immediately to Patch and Protect your Server

To protect your computer from this serious vulnerability, follow these steps:

1. Run Windows Updates and reboot your computer/server immediately.
   
2. Turn on Network Level Authentication in your Remote Desktop Settings on your servers if you do not have this enabled already. See below for detailed instructions on how to accomplish this.
   1. First, open the control panel (you can search for the control panel in newer version of Windows). Once the control panel is open, click on System and Security.

      

   2. Next, click System.

      

   3. Now, click Remote Settings.

      

   4. Lastly, at the bottom make sure Allow remote connections is selected AND Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication (recommended) is checked.

      

This action will ensure NLA is turned on, thus further protecting your server. Once you have completed your Windows Updates, this new exploit should be patched, but you should always run Network Level Authentication just to be safe.

Need More Personalized Help?

If you have any further issues, questions, or would like some assistance checking on this or anything else, please reach out to us from your my.hivelocity.net account -> Support and provide your server credentials within the encrypted field for the best possible security and support.

If you are unable to reach your my.hivelocity.net account or if you are on the go, please reach out from your valid my.hivelocity.net account email to us here at: support@hivelocity.net. We are also available to you through our phone and live chat system 24/7/365.

Additional Links:

Looking for more information on Windows Servers? Search our Knowledge Base!

In need of more great content? Interested in cPanel, Private Cloud, or Edge Computing? Check out our recent posts for more news, guides, and industry insights!

The post New Windows Vulnerability Discovered – What You Need to Do Right Now! appeared first on Hivelocity Hosting.

Original Article:

As many of you already know, on June 27^th of 2019, cPanel (now owned by Oakley Capital Investment Group via acquisition), announced plans to introduce all-new account based pricing for their control panel software. This all-new pricing was a shock to the system for the hosting industry as a whole considering cPanel maintains roughly 70% market share in the US and over 30% across the globe.

It would be naïve to think cPanel would not eventually raise their prices considering they were acquired by an investment group and prior to that, had not raised prices in over a decade. A modest price increase is what should have been expected but that is not what we got. Instead, cPanel raised base pricing by over 20% AND introduced a whole new billing methodology that increases costs with each account added to a server over 100. With many cPanel users having built their business models around a predictable static fee associated with their management software, this shift has created scenarios where once prosperous cPanel reliant businesses are potentially no longer viable. This is where Hivelocity comes in.

Hivelocity is proud to announce today that it is bringing flat fees and predictable cPanel licensing back to the hosting and IaaS industry. “The more successful our customers are the more successful we will be,” has been our mantra since 2002 and we have no intention of losing that core philosophy now. It gives us great pleasure to announce Hivelocity’s go forward, flat-rate cPanel for bare-metal pricing:

• 1-500 Accounts – $45/month
• 501-1000 Accounts – $114/month
• 1001+ Accounts- $189/month + $0.175 per additional account (this 3rd tier was added on August 16th due to strong customer demand)

NOTE: you can see a full list of our Instant Deploy and Same Day Custom Built Dedicated Servers at https://www.hivelocity.net/dedicated-servers/

For those of you who have not studied cPanel’s new pricing structure, we highly encourage you to do so now to fully grasp how aggressive our pricing is. In addition to being incredibly generous, the Hivelocity three-tier pricing model allows you to run your business as you always have, with sound knowledge of what your server bill is going to be each and every month. No need to hire an accountant, no need to over-analyze your cPanel bill every month, no need to worry every time you add a new account that your bill is going up… no need to change anything.

Hivelocity wants you to succeed. Hivelocity wants you to focus on growing your business and making a great living for you and your loved ones. Hivelocity knows that when we put you in the best position to succeed, you will, and so will we.

Existing customers will continue to pay their previous flat rate per month for cPanel on their Hivelocity dedicated server until October 1^st, 2019 and will be billed within the 3-tier model thereafter. New bare-metal sign-ups will be presented with the 3-tier pricing model described below within our cart “effective immediately” (inside joke for those of you who have been following the cPanel pricing drama).

In addition to cPanel, Hivelocity offers Plesk, DirectAdmin, Webmin, and SolusVM control panels for those of you wanting to transition to a new control panel altogether. For anyone who is using cPanel with another provider, we do offer free cPanel migrations in many cases and migration assistance in all cases. Hivelocity also offers proactive managed services for cPanel and Linux Servers should you need extra help maintaining your dedicated server. You can discuss a new server and migration with one of our Account Managers via live chat, phone, or email at: support@hivelocity.net.

For more information, visit us at https://www.hivelocity.net. cPanel pricing can be found within the cart of any dedicated server we offer. Tech Support works on-premises and is available 24/7/365 to our customers via phone, chat, and ticket. Our Sales Department works 9am-10pm Monday through Friday and is happy to answer any questions you have via phone, chat or ticket.

Additional Links:

Looking for more information on cPanel? Search our Knowledge Base!

In need of more great content? Interested in Minecraft, Private Cloud, or Edge Computing? Check out our recent posts for more news, guides, and industry insights!

The post Simple Flat Rate cPanel Pricing – Bringing Sanity Back to cPanel Users appeared first on Hivelocity Hosting.

ABOUT AGENT BLACK HOSTING

Agent Black Hosting provides a wide range of services including domain name registration and administration, dedicated servers, virtual private servers, and shared hosting. The company focuses on delivering outstanding quality of service and inimitable customer service to its clientele.

CHALLENGE

Agent Black Hosting wanted to enhance its service to customers and serve new markets and geographies. The problem? It had outgrown the dated data center infrastructure and services of its existing provider, LiquidWeb, and grown weary of poor customer service. To achieve the company’s objectives, it needed to find a more progressive and reliable data center partner.

SOLUTION

Hivelocity, a premier provider of dedicated servers, edge-computing, colocation, and cloud hosting services and solutions.

BENEFITS:

• Lower costs
• Empowered company growth into new markets
• Zero downtime and reliable throughput
• Ability to offer superior, state-of-the-art infrastructure to customers
• More responsive customer service

QUOTE

“Hivelocity worked closely with us to develop the infrastructure we needed to bring our clients the best shared hosting environment at a reasonable cost. They have also allowed us to tap into their vast system management experience which helps us keep our infrastructure running at peak performance so we can focus on serving our clients and attracting new customers to our platform.”

– James Miller, Founder & CEO, Agent Black Hosting.

Agent Black Hosting’s Journey to Hivelocity

There’s Got to Be A Better Way

James Miller, the founder and CEO of Agent Black Hosting,

has a history of turning technological obstacles into opportunities. In 2007, when a local paintball business he was doing web design work for needed a place to host their website, he became frustrated trying to help them using existing hosting services. “I felt that there had to be a better way to do web hosting and that’s how I launched what is now Agent Black Hosting,” says Miller.

Today, the company provides over 100 businesses with domain name registrations, email hosting, shared hosting, and dedicated servers. “We serve everyone from a small local comic book store all the way to the single largest paintball registration company in the world, and small design firms that need numerous domain names managed,” says Miller. “Technically savvy organizations that need stable web hosting to grow their business, and are willing to pay for a quality platform, turn to us.”

The Backbone for Next-Level Success

Before Agent Black Hosting could achieve its goals, it had to build the IT infrastructure necessary to support it. “In 2017, the time was right for us to reevaluate our existing data center partner,” says Miller. “The managed hosting provider we were with, Liquid Web, used antique hardware that left a great deal to be desired. Response times were also slow, trouble tickets went unanswered for extended periods of time, and they were charging over double the industry norms for subpar hardware.”

Agent Black Hosting made the difficult decision to seek a new partner. “We found LiquidWeb to be inconsistent with our growth, that it did not offer the greatest value to our clients, and had not kept up with the changing hardware scene, so we needed to move on,” says Miller.

Miller knew exactly what he wanted in a new data center partner. “We wanted a premium data center partner that could provide us with a wide selection of options, locations, support, and opportunities for growth,” says Miller. “Other key criteria included an IaaS partner with a demonstrable track record of providing quality service, proven uptime records, network quality, premium hardware, and responsive technical support. I also wanted to make sure that they did not permit abuse on the web such as SPAM or supporting questionable websites.”

Agent Black Hosting started its due diligence. “I made inquiries on Web Hosting Talk and received many suggestions and conducted research online and via various non-traditional resources,” says Miller. “It ultimately came down to two providers: ColoCrossing and Hivelocity.”

While both Hivelocity and ColoCrossing could satisfy Agent Black Hosting’s needs, Miller soon realized that one IaaS provider stood out for several reasons. “Hivelocity answered all of our questions and did not dance around and give typical corporate-speak replies,” says Miller. “They also checked off all our boxes including great customer service, infrastructure quality, technical support, and network peers. They really listened to our needs and crafted the service package we needed including a deal that was difficult to turn down.”

While confident in his decision, Miller did harbor some small reservations until he could truly experience working with Hivelocity. “I was a bit skeptical at first of the quality we would receive at their price point, but after a few months any concerns were completely dispelled,” says Miller. “Going with Hivelocity has turned into one of the best decisions I have ever made.”

Delivering Results

Agent Black Hosting migrated from LiquidWeb to Hivelocity without a hiccup and began reaping the benefits. “Since we migrated, we have had zero downtime,” says Miller. “Hivelocity always has the most current hardware on the market, which is key for those with demanding web or application needs. And, with their prime crypto-mining hardware, I’m confident that we can meet any demands from even the most dedicated crypto-miner on the market.”

Miller’s team has found Hivelocity’s customer service and accessibility a major asset. “The ability to speak directly to Hivelocity’s senior management, and with account reps and technical support staff that understand our needs is really valuable, as is the intuitiveness of their management interface,” says Miller.

The move to Hivelocity is delivering bottom-line benefits. “The amount we pay for Hivelocity’s dedicated server hardware, versus the quality of the infrastructure we receive, makes utilizing any cloud vendors pointless,” says Miller. “With all of the hidden ‘gotchas’ with some cloud offerings, we would end up far exceeding what we pay for Hivelocity.”

Hivelocity Powers Entry to New Markets

Agent Black Hosting now has the throughput, reliable uptime, state-of-the-art, robust hardware, and tools and services it needs to continue to grow and target new markets and geographies. “By leveraging Hivelocity’s investments in other data centers throughout the United States, we are able to provide our clients with a diverse selection of locations to house their data,” says Miller. “And, their rock solid infrastructure and data center environments have allowed us to successfully market ourselves to non-profits and our other clients as a safe-haven for their online presence. In particular, we want small non-profits to know that we can assist them with their needs so they can focus more on initiatives instead of worrying about whether their website is online or if they’re getting overcharged or not.”

By investing in the latest technologies, adding new data center locations, and delivering responsive service and affordable, customizable services, Hivelocity continues to help companies like Agent Black Hosting reach their objectives. “Hivelocity allows us to provide a solid shared hosting platform with Solid State hardware, which enables us to improve service to our clients,” says Miller. “Combined with their team’s vast technical knowledge, we are now well positioned to handle the next phase of our growth.”

It’s clear that Miller hasn’t lost his knack for converting technical challenges into opportunities to better serve customers or to grow Agent Black Hosting. He has some advice for other organizations in search of a data center provider capable of driving their business. “Hivelocity has a proven track record, wide selection of data centers, constantly evolving hardware options – ­including crypto-mining machines – and the network connectivity necessary to deliver our client’s data around the world,” says Miller. “If you’re looking for an infrastructure partner that has the technical aptitude to handle simple to extremely complex issues, look no further than Hivelocity. They are one of the best partners we have had since we launched in 2007.”

Hivelocity provides dedicated servers, bare metal cloud, and colocation hosting solutions to customers from over 130 countries worldwide. Featuring 38 world-class, edge-ready data centers, strategically positioned in 36 cities, across 4 continents, Hivelocity’s expansive global footprint allows users to reach 80% of the world’s internet population in under 25 milliseconds. All of their data centers are SSAE-16 SOC1 and SOC2 certified, and HIPAA and PCI compliant services are also available. With award-winning 24/7 support, an average 15-minute ticket response time, and an SLA-backed 99.99% network uptime guarantee, Hivelocity is the hosting provider you can rely on.

Download a free PDF of this case study: Agent Black Case Study

Additional Links:

Looking for more information on Hivelocity? Search our blog or look over our about page!

In need of more great content? Interested in cPanel, Private Cloud, or Edge Computing? Check out our recent posts for more news, guides, and industry insights!

The post Agent Black Hosting Entrusts Hivelocity with Next-Level of Growth appeared first on Hivelocity Hosting.

Frankfurt joins Dallas, New York City, Los Angeles, Tampa, Miami, Atlanta, and Seattle in the list of markets Hivelocity offers its suite of infrastructure services. Hivelocity’s platform lets users instantly deploy hundreds of Linux and Windows dedicated servers in any of these 8 global markets. Once bare-metal is deployed, users can view server health and resource usage data, establish data recovery points, perform OS reloads, interact with technical support, and much more. Each server has the option of being self-managed or managed, with the latter including things like proactive security patches and monitoring. Hivelocity’s expansion plans include adding edge computing to many new markets like London, Paris, Amsterdam, Singapore, Sydney, and Sao Paulo over the next three months.

“With customers hailing from over 130 countries, Hivelocity has long served a global market. As our customers’ businesses have grown and matured, so have their needs to optimize and scale the performance of their applications all over the world. By enabling our customers to deploy their compute and storage resources wherever in the world their end users are best served, we are providing them with a much better opportunity to maximize the end user experience and their own bottom line,” says Hivelocity CTO Ben Linton.

With more and more businesses recognizing the benefits of having their compute nodes at the edge, there has been a recent surge in upstart edge providers. Hivelocity believes its 17 years of IaaS experience and its obsessive focus on customer support gives it a leg up on competitors. “Our mantra has always been to be the best service provider our customers have ever worked with. We maintain a Net Promoter Score of 74+ which is a testament to the level of satisfaction our customers feel, and frankly heads and shoulders above our competitors. If a business needs to deploy 1,000 servers or just 10 servers around the globe, you can guarantee they are going to need some help and technical support along the way. Most of our competitors are new to the arena and all of their capital is invested in developers and hardware. We spend a lot of money on developers and hardware too, but we also employ nearly 100 technicians and engineers who work inside our data centers 24/7, providing the most exceptional technical support in the industry. Our support solutions involve experts with years of experience working with you in real time. Our competitors’ solution is to have you fix it yourself or reload the OS,” says Hivelocity COO Steve Eschweiler.

Hivelocity was founded in 2002 and serves roughly 6000 businesses out of its 12 North American data centers. For more information please visit https://www.hivelocity.net/.

Additional Links:

Looking for more information on Hivelocity? Search our blog or look over our about page!

In need of more great content? Interested in cPanel, Private Cloud, or Edge Computing? Check out our recent posts for more news, guides, and industry insights!

The post Hivelocity’s Global Edge Computing Expansion Starts in Frankfurt appeared first on Hivelocity Hosting.

As you can tell from the images below, Rob is harnessing his inner Kenny Powers these days. Don’t judge a book by it’s cover on this one. Just because Rob looks like La Flama Blanca he is far from being a selfish imbecile like the real KP. Rob’s ever growing neck warmer is actually the result of a deal he made with his brother about a year ago where they both agreed to grow there hair out for the “Locks of Love” foundation. In the next few weeks Rob will but cutting his party in the back and be back to all business as he donates his hair to an inflicted child. Rob has endured a year of ribbing for the benefit of someone else and for that we love him.

Rob has worked in the Hivelocity Sales Department for just over 5 years and has proven to be one of our best Account Manager’s. Rob is always eager to please and goes out of his way to make sure his customers are well taken care of. From proactive “just saying hi and making sure all is well” emails and phone calls to customers, to sitting in manager’s meetings with ideas on how to improve the Hivelocity Experience, Rob always wants to ensure his customers are loving Hivelocity.

When Rob is not at the data center taking care of business, you can likely find him rooting for or reading about Florida Gators and Tampa Bay Buc football. Rob is not only a graduate from the University of Florida but a huge football fan. Since there are many alumni of the Florida State University, University of South Florida and Penn State here, this time of year is always fun, if not a bit bristly around here. So here you go Rob, “Go Gators, Get Up & Go!” Or as those of us who did not attend the University of Florida like to say, “Go Gators, get up and go….seriously please leave, you’re quite obnoxious.”

The post Meet the Team- Rob “Wrong Hair” Wright appeared first on Hivelocity Hosting.

Tommy Craddock has been a member of the Hivelocity support team for 5+ years and currently holds the position of Systems Engineer. While Tommy may look super smooth on his fractured leg scooter, don’t be fooled, he is a nerd at heart. If you ever get the opportunity to meet Tommy in person one of the first things you will notice, assuming he is not still rolling around on his “Fibula Flyer” (we will get to that), is the Star Wars tattoos. I told you he was a nerd. Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Boba Fett, Dark Sith, Yoda among others are emblazoned across his arms, chest and lord knows where else. That is him staring down a poser Darth below!

Tommy is also one heck of a tech with a work ethic like you wouldn’t believe. If you ever have an issue with a cPanel system or any Linux server for that matter, you would be wise to ask for Tommy by name. Don’t be thrown off if he answers the phone with “Tech Support you have reached. Help you I may.” You have reached a Sys Admin guru who will go above and beyond to make sure whatever issue you may be having is taken care of expertly.

Now, about that “Radio Cryer” he is cruising around the NOC on these days. When Tommy is not providing expert service for our customers, you can likely find him throwin bowes at the Tampa Bay Men’s Roller Derby rink. Based on the “Bruiser Cruiser” he has been rolling around on this week, he recently caught a bowe instead of throwing one.

We love Tommy and we hope you do too! You can speak or live chat with Tommy in person weekday nights starting at 11pm.

The post Meet the Team: Tommy “Crash” Craddock appeared first on Hivelocity Hosting.