Our Largest Disk Space Upgrade Ever, Completed One Month Ahead Of Schedule!
Back in June, we announced that we would be increasing the disk space across our entire VPS line — and that this upgrade was going to be passed along to all our customers, both existing and new, at no additional cost. After weeks of hard work, I’m proud to announce that we have successfully completed the disk space upgrades — and prouder still that we did it more than a month ahead of schedule.
I should be clear — the fact that we performed the upgrade quickly doesn’t impress me so much. What impresses me is the fact that we performed this massive upgrade so quickly, without compromising our exacting standards for uptime, customer care and service reliability.
It wasn’t easy. Before our announcement we had done extensive testing. We had invested a small fortune in new equipment, and had devised the necessary workflow to get the job done right. But no matter how hard you plan you can’t help but worry when the hard work actually gets underway. Over the course of just 58 days, we managed to test each and every box to make sure it met ServInt’s standards and get everything into production without a hitch.
We implemented the change in two phases:
- All new clients were automatically turned up on new host machines (the giant servers we use to host our VPS and SuperVPS products) that were pre-outfitted with the upgraded disk space.
- All existing clients were then carefully migrated to host machines reconfigured with new resources by ServInt’s network engineers.
We made that decision because we wanted to get as many people more resources as quickly as possible, and we didn’t want to make everybody wait. Some of you may have seen your resources suddenly pop up overnight without ever having noticed the transition, and if you didn’t — well, that was the idea!
I’ve got pretty high standards for this company, and I don’t brag about our achievements too often — but in this case I really want to say that this was a fantastic example of intelligent engineering. Our team worked long hours, as long as it took, at all of our data centers to bring you these features in a way that minimized interruption to our clients’ online businesses, and I’m proud of them.
Now that everybody has their free upgrade, we hope you can put it to good use. Look for even more free updates in the future — and thanks again for your business!
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Introducing Jim Tricarico, ServInt’s New Director of Managed Services
[Editor's Note: ServInt cast a wide net when looking to fill this role. We received hundreds of resumes and interviewed dozens of exceptionally qualified candidates. We were looking for individuals who were committed to -- and possibly a little obsessed with -- exceptional customer service. I therefore shouldn't have been that surprised when an employee from within our ranks rose to to the top of the pack and convinced us that he was the right man for the job. Jim is a veteran of our Managed Services Team and he easily stood out with his keen understanding of the day to day challenges facing our NOC. With his terrific analytical mind and wealth of ideas to further improve the division, I'm ecstatic that Jim is taking the reins of our MST and look forward to his leadership. -Christian]
I’ve been a computer enthusiast for a really, really long time. I started tinkering with hardware as a child, and by the time I was 14 I was running my own bulletin board, my interests continued on to more complex projects in highschool and college that eventually led me to ServInt. So, I think it’s fair to say that I’m passionate about technology, and as that technology has grown more and more complex over time, so have my personal technological interests.
As ServInt’s new Director of Managed Services, my job is to make our support even better. Here, in story form, is how I’m gonna do it.
I’ve been at ServInt for nearly 6 years, starting as a Tier 1 Support Technician on the front lines of our Managed Services Team. It was there that I got my first taste of the hosting experience. Diving headfirst into UNIX and trying to fix what were sometimes incredibly ambiguous quirks was appealing to me. Needless to say, no two challenges are alike, and helping people overcome technical problems and get back to making their businesses thrive was – and still is – an incredibly rewarding experience.
While the challenge is definitely invigorating, what’s really important is ensuring that our support experience is as pleasant a process as possible for everyone. When it comes to your business, we get that there is no such thing as a small problem. Our clients come in at all skill levels, from hosting novice to server expert. Whether you’re capable of compiling a Linux kernel with a toothpick and chewing gum, or your an aspiring blogger trying to tell your story, our Managed Services Team will help you get up and running.
The ServInt MST is committed to tackling issues as quickly and as effectively as possible. At ServInt, we do everything we can to get it right the first time because for us we take service personally. Overcoming intricate issues is part of our collective DNA.
At the end of the day, my goal is to simply uphold the core tenets of our Managed Services Team. Our job is to ensure every customer experience is efficient, fast, and most importantly, accurate. So sit back and relax, your server is up and running.
~ Jim
I’m Headed to LinuxCon!
One of the best parts of my job is being able to go places and meet our partners, our peers and our clients face to face, be it in meetings or at conferences, speaking engagements and events.
It’s funny, despite how much closer the Internet brings us, sometimes the tech industry can seem oddly impersonal. Well, we take things personally at ServInt. Our customers come to us in search of a partner, someone who has genuine concern –and in some ways a vested interest — in their success.
After all, few things are as personal as one’s livelihood, and all of us at ServInt take our role in the lives of our clients seriously. Our service and our technology power thousands of businesses around the world. People trust us with the foundation of their day to day lives online and they expect us to take that role seriously.
That’s why I’m proud to be one of the public faces of ServInt. I’ve logged plenty of travel time under my belt to make sure that people know we’re a living, breathing group of caring and hardworking people.
Tomorrow I have a fun stack of meetings up in Boston at LinuxCon, which is run by our partners at The Linux Foundation.
If you’re in town and want to sit down and chat, let me know!
Explaining ServInt’s New KickStart Team
When I started at ServInt more than six years ago, one of the first lessons I learned was just how critical first impressions were to the customer experience. ServInt’s new Kickstart Team, a division of our Managed Services Team, is committed to making hosting a website as painless a process as possible. Here’s a little background on who we are and why we do what we do.
“Oh My God We’re All Gonna Die” – HostingCon 2010
A couple weeks back, I mentioned that I would be speaking at the HostingCon 2010 conference in Austin, TX. I also mentioned that I would post the presentation here for all to see after the conference and I want to make good on my word. The presentation is posted below (after the jump).
The title of my presentation is “Oh My God We’re All Gonna Die”. While the title is intentionally provocative, the message is, I think, pretty optimistic. Our industry is changing rapidly, while we’ll be forced to innovate and compete on a whole new scale, it will mean a leaner operation for businesses and better and more affordable services for end users.
Since there is no video of the presentation (sorry about that), I’ll try and sum it up as best as I can here.
My HostingCon Presentation: “Oh My God We’re All Gonna Die…”
As you may have heard, I’ll be speaking at HostingCon 2010 next week in balmy, beautiful, and weird Austin, TX. I love Austin and am really looking forward to mingling with friends and industry colleagues, but I thought I’d mention something about my presentation before I hopped on a plane to the Lone Star State.
The name of my presentation is:
“Oh My God We’re All Gonna Die: The Future of Webhosting…and What We Can Do About It.”
Now, I admit the title is a bit provocative, but I want to be clear that what I think is going to happen to our industry in the next few years will completely transform the landscape of the web.
What this presentation will spell out are what I believe to be the coming shifts in web hosting and web infrastructure in the next few years. Like the automotive industry more than a century ago, the web is a chaotic marketplace with competing platforms and standards.
Whether it’s Windows and Linux, WebM vs OGG vs H.264, or Open vs Proprietary, the movers and shakers on the web are still arguing over foundational issues. We are only now beginning to see a crystallization of standards, and along with it we’re seeing the entrance of technology behemoths creating and promptly capturing entire segments of the internet economy.
I’ll be out of the office for a few days after I give my presentation, but I’ll be sure to post it here for all to see as soon as I’m back and am looking forward to your thoughts and feedback.
Questions? Comments? Leave a comment below, Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter!
Follow Christian Dawson on Twitter.
ServInt Solo Series Dedicated Server Customers Can Now “Go Gigabit”!
Gigabit speed
Today ServInt is announcing the availability of full gigabit (Gbps) throughput to all ServInt Dedicated Server customers for just $25 a month.
Of course, this isn’t the most revolutionary news. Though ServInt’s pricing on this service is very competitive, we’ve been offering this service on a custom basis for some time. Really, this announcement is a public signal that we see where the web is headed and are reshaping our products to fit those needs.
Back from the Ashes: The Internet Appliance
Earlier this morning I read a terrific article from cnet’s Ina Fried about the state of the “Internet Appliance”.
Basically, the Internet Appliance rested on the idea that there were, to paraphrase Ms. Fried, many “on-ramps” to the Internet (more specifically the web). These “on-ramps” would give relatively fast, simplified access to the web in order to access information.
There’s no doubt it was a great idea, but the execution was hampered by spotty, slow, and expensive internet access and a lack of justifiable content. The result was a swift and untimely death for the entire concept.
But fast forward to today and you’ll find the Internet Appliance is alive and well. While there isn’t a single product or category that can claim the “appliance” concept outright, most of us have and use these devices everyday.
Be it an iPhone or Android, a PS3 or a Wii, all of these devices have constant access to the web to some degree.
Looking again at Ms. Fried’s article, one of the most glaring examples of an appliance’s “revival” of sorts is the concept of the “Network Computer”.
Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison dreamt up the concept of a modern mainframe computer, a “thin client” that simply accessed a core computer for its computational muscle. In the 90′s, the idea fell flat. These network computers looked and acted like standard desktops, only they were designed to be used completely differently and simply didn’t have the muscle of your standard PC.
Today? Mobile “thin client” devices are everywhere and this space is slated to get a lot more competitive with devices like the iPad and the upcoming Chrome OS.
From the standpoint of a hosting provider, the needs of web users have changed dramatically since then as well. In 1999, web pages were largely static and couldn’t break. When all you’re doing is throwing an animated “hamster” gif up with a looped audio track, well, that could very well stay up forever without a hitch.
Today, even the most basic sites require databases. Whether it’s video sharing sites, online gaming, or even a simple blog with comments, it’s hard to imagine an internet that didn’t involve real time user participation of some kind.
That got me thinking, I know how my internet creation and consumption habits have changed in the past decade, but what about everyone else’s? For those who own and operate businesses, how has your company or business adapted to the modern web? For consumers, how has your experience consuming content changed with this latest generation of internet appliances?
Let us know in the comments, on Facebook, and follow ServInt on Twitter!
Follow Eric Morales on Twitter.
Photo by Steve Rhode.
Happy Canada Day from all of us at ServInt!
All of us at ServInt want to wish our friends up North a very happy Canada Day!
Fire up your barbecues and (safely) light up your (legally obtained, I’m sure) fireworks. ;-)
Supporting Open Source One Download at a Time
We’ve always been vocal about our support for open source software and the communities surrounding the movement. After all, we wouldn’t be around without Linux and the myriad of open source components that help us run our business. This isn’t a simple reaffirmation of the obvious here, we are true believers and we want to show it. Below are a couple of the open source initiatives we’ve been involved in the past few weeks, with even more to come!
In April, we decided to double down and become Silver members of the Linux Foundation. We did it for two key reasons.
First, our entire product line is is based on Linux, so we felt compelled to help ensure that the platform is sufficiently protected and represented in the growing tech world. Secondly, we believe that real innovation comes from a level playing field.
There is no fairer platform than Linux.
A little while later, we also became official sponsors of the CentOS.org. Our VPS, SuperVPS, and Solo Series all leverage the power, and flexibility of CentOS Linux and we’re proud to put our money where our mouth is. We’re also hosting a CentOS mirror on one of ServInt’s Solo Series Dedicated servers, so those interested can download our favorite distro!
Finally, ServInt’s COO, Christian Dawson, will be visiting LinuxCon 2010 in Boston this coming August. If you’re in town, don’t forget to say hi!
In the near future, we’ll be announcing even more open source initiatives so stay tuned!
Questions? Comments? Let us know below, on Facebook, or on Twitter!
Follow Eric Morales on Twitter.
Photo by sidereal.
