Utility-Model Web Hosting? Sounds Great!

About a month ago, I was meeting with the ServInt Marketing team, discussing the fact that — while we have a relatively high proportion of customers who will shout from the mountaintops about how much they love us (thanks, guys!) — the vast majority of our customers are silent throughout the length of their stay with us.

This topic was top of mind for us because we were in the process of designing a full-time staff position dedicated to customer outreach and relationship management — and we were frankly wondering how useful such a position would be if, in fact, people didn’t really want to engage with their web host unless something went wrong.

We began contemplating the possibility that our customers see us the same way they see their electric utility — i.e., they only think of us when their service is interrupted, or when they open their bills each month.

From a marketing perspective – trying to build brand loyalty and attract new business through referrals – this may sound like a bad thing, but it doesn’t have to be.  It’s possible to offer a commodity service on a utility model and still have your customers love you — and one sector of the utility industry is particularly good at this.

The American rural electric utility industry is made up of about 1,000 electric cooperatives — small, non-profit, consumer-owned utilities that serve the needs of the 10% of Americans who live in areas largely beyond the reach of investor- or municipally-owned power companies.  Because these co-ops are owned by the households and businesses they serve, an extraordinarily high emphasis is placed on providing impeccable, personalized customer service.

These co-ops invest in community business development, constantly enhance their infrastructure with systemic upgrades, and — despite their small size — are frequently the first in the industry to deliver new technologies that lower costs for their customers.  The result is a peculiar anomaly in the business world:  these are regulated monopolies that enjoy fierce customer allegiance — utility companies that are actually loved and appreciated by their customers.

ServInt isn’t a cooperative.  But it turns out we operate a lot like one:  frequent, free infrastructure and service package upgrades, customer/community-centric decision making, personalized service geared towards making our customers’ businesses succeed — the similarities are striking.  And because of that, I’m not afraid of the similarities between us and the electric utility industry when it comes to customer engagement and feedback.  We love talking to our customers — but a healthy silence can be a good thing when it’s coupled with fierce loyalty.  Bottom line:  if it turns out that web hosting is seen as a utility-grade service these days, at least I know we’ve modeled our business after the right segment of that industry.

Photo by ykanazawa1999

SOPA/PIPA Update: We are Winning!

Today PIPA was dealt a crushing blow when Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) pulled his planned cloture vote on the bill, agreeing to go back to the drawing board. The original vote was planned for Tuesday, Jan 24, but today he announced “In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT I.P. Act.” In a later statement, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) said his committee wouldn’t take up SOPA until “there is wider agreement on a solution.” “I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy.” “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”

This shows huge positive progress on both PIPA & SOPA!

The fight isn’t over. These bills are not dead, they’re just not coming up for a vote right now.  But that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate our remarkable accomplishment! Read more

Calling Your Senators about PIPA is Easier Than You Think

If you’re a subscriber to ServInt’s Twitter feed, you may have noticed we’ve tweeted nearly 30 separate “PIPA Facts” today.  We did this because we wanted to empower all our online friends and colleagues with easy-to-remember information that would make phone calls to their senators as quick and painless as possible.

It’s easy to get scared off when people ask you to upgrade your protests against bad policy from the virtual to the real world.  Tweeting and changing your Facebook status seems so much easier than actually picking up the phone and talking to somebody — somebody who you might feel understands the bill in question better than you do.

But that’s where you’re wrong.  The fact is, your elected representatives almost always know a lot less than you do about what you do for a living — and they actually want you to help them understand how legislation will affect businesses in their state or district.

Calls to your elected representatives don’t have to take long.  A few well-informed points, contained in a few simple sentences, are really what they’re seeking, and they’re what will make the difference.  It’s easy.

So here’s what we need you to do — preferably tomorrow, but certainly no later than Monday, Jan. 23: Read more

What I Learned at CES: PIPA is the New SOPA

SOPA seems to be breathing its last!  Although Rep. Smith has indicated that he’ll remove the controversial DNS blocking provisions of the bill, we’ve heard that the bill is so poisoned, hearings won’t resume, essentially killing the bill.  That’s a huge victory for the Internet industry. This bill had big money interests behind it, and we in the Internet community were outspent to a ridiculous degree — but at the end of the day our voices were heard. Victory, right?

 

Not so fast! Read more

SOPA, PIPA & CES: First Reactions

I just arrived back in Virginia after three days at International CES in Las Vegas, where I was spreading the word about the dangers of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) on behalf of the Internet industry.

I had the opportunity to speak in front of large audiences about PIPA and SOPA, and I believe that our message resonated. Along with many other key legislative and industry stakeholders, I was able to meet with Senator Ron Wyden and Rep. Darrell Issa — and I got to engage in a lively and spirited debate with a Director from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

I have stories to tell, insights to share, and legislative updates to pass along. I’m in the middle of a few “catch-up” items of business back at the ServInt ranch, but I hope to get everybody a detailed CES report on Monday.  Please check back then, and thanks for your support!

Christian Dawson is the Chief Operating Officer of ServInt.

The Battle over SOPA and PIPA continues at CES

In a few hours, our COO, Christian Dawson, will be speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This is an important panel discussion involving SOPA and PIPA, but it is also a proud moment for ServInt.

Before I came to ServInt, I spent years in the trenches launching various satellite-powered multimedia technologies — efforts which required me to attend the giant Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas each January.

These trips were a lot of work, but a lot of fun as well — and one of the reasons they were so much fun was because we had some of the coolest technology on display.  Trust me, in the early 2000s, satellites were hot, and it was fun being a “satellite guy.”  Our booths were swamped, reporters called us to make interview appointments, and there were few parties to which we weren’t invited.

Despite the fact that we were too cool for school, there was one thing we never got invited to do:  speak at any of the CES sessions.  That was a gig reserved for seriously important people only.  And that’s why ServInt’s presence on the “Infringement, Rogue Websites, and Copyright Crackdowns:  How to Catch Tuna Without Catching Dolphins” panel is such a big deal.

Today, ServInt’s leadership position in the efforts to stop SOPA, PIPA and other flawed anti-piracy legislation is being recognized by having our COO, Christian Dawson — in his role as one of the leading voices of the Save Hosting Coalition — represent the viewpoint of the internet infrastructure industry.

The battle against SOPA is hitting the mainstream, and ServInt is being recognized for all the hard work we’re putting into it. That’s great—but we still need your help. Make sure you follow ServInt on Facebook and Twitter for complete updates on SOPA and PIPA, and please visit savehosting.org to join the battle against this extremely dangerous and misguided legislation.

We’ll keep you posted on how the panel goes.  In the meantime:  break a leg, Christian!

Fritz Stolzenbach is ServInt’s Vice President of Marketing and Business Development

ServInt, GoDaddy, SOPA and the Fight to Save the Internet

In the wake of a well-publicized boycott campaign against GoDaddy, hosting providers are racing to try to come up with their stances against SOPA. I am proud that we don’t need to do that. Our stance on SOPA, its sister bill PIPA, and the bill from whence they both came COICA, is well known. We have spent much of the last year not just railing against these bills but trying to do something about them.

The well-intentioned goal of SOPA is to go after piracy, which is noble and very important. But piracy is something that needs to be handled smartly, with a laser-focus. SOPA isn’t a laser, it’s a wrecking ball that if enacted is likely to destroy hard-working legitimate businesses more frequently than it does pirates. SOPA allows people merely accused of ‘contributing to infringement’ to have their business taken from them. Pirates will maintain back-up plans in case they get their resources pulled – it’s legitimate businesses that will suffer most. SOPA will be used for censorship and as an anti-competitive tool. It will stifle innovation, and is one of the most dangerous bills I have seen in my two decades in this industry. Read more

Hosting for the Holidays

With the holidays upon us, I thought I’d step back a moment from our insight-heavy “actionable intelligence” and ponder the season and our place in it.

The holidays are a busy time for all of us. Whether it’s buying presents and visiting relatives, or getting those end-of-year projects complete at home and at work, it’s definitely a time of high stress and manic energy.

But in the midst of the holiday shopping season with its black Fridays and no payments until the new year, the spirit of the season can get lost pretty quick.

That’s why I’m so happy to be working in an industry that doesn’t have to capitalize on the season the way so many businesses must. Hosting is not an impulse buy. It’s a long, thoughtful decision process—especially at the high end of the hosting market where ServInt lives. So, no matter what time of year it is, buy-now short-term advertising gimmickry really has a very small potential impact on our sales. And that’s not the kind of company we are anyway. Read more

What is SOPA and PIPA?

I just finished listening to 12+ hours of day one of the House Judiciary Committee Markup of H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and I have the scars to prove it. It was a brutal day of legislating. Four Congressmen, Reps. Issa, Lofgren, Polis and Chaffetz, stood out as having a firm grasp on the Internet and its complexities, and spoke eloquently about the dangers of SOPA. They weren’t being listened to by the Chairman, who is intent on bringing this dangerous, job-killing, security-killing, and frankly terrible bill to the House floor.

At the same time, I got to announce that the Save Hosting Coalition sent a letter to the Senate—signed by 275 Internet executives—opposing PIPA, with a similar letter on its way opposing SOPA. Both of these letters were huge accomplishments for a normally fragmented industry.

In the wake of all that, I wanted to get back to basics and try to give you an easy-to-understand overview of what SOPA is, where it is, why you should care and what you should do to stop it from becoming law. I tried to make it “non-technical” so if you are reading this and you are technical, pass it along to your friends who aren’t, but want to better understand the threats at hand.

Our story begins… Read more

Running out of CPU: Troubleshooting Slow Servers and Knowing When to Upgrade

Choosing the right size server package—and choosing a package that can be scaled easily—are important decisions in any hosting purchase. Simply buying a server with enough CPU, RAM, I/O and disk space may not be enough for customers anticipating future growth or spikes in traffic. And upping the size and cost of a server package during (or even before) a traffic spike may not always be the smartest use of a company’s money and time.

A website on a fast server on a fast network is going to be fast until the server runs out of something: CPU, RAM or I/O, or something at the software resource level like inodes. The places within your hosting infrastructure where resources are depleted first are your “bottlenecks.”

But server specifications don’t cause the bottleneck. They are simply the place where a theoretical limit collides with a real-world application. The following is a list of the five areas of interaction that can lead to a slow-down in service:
Read more

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