Archive for December, 2008
Privacy Groups, Yahoo, and Everything
Posted by: | CommentsSo I have been reading up on the Yahoo three month search retention policy and the fact that privacy groups are unimpressed and believe Yahoo is not doing enough to ensure our privacy is safeguarded.
All I can say is, give me a break. If we were truly concerned about our privacy we wouldn’t be dumping our lives on MySpace and Facebook; talking about our likes and dislikes on blogs and places like LiveJournal; moving from one site to the next without using an anonymous IP address; buying goods on the Internet; and while we are at it, if we truly wanted privacy we wouldn’t be on the Internet period.
As web site analytics becomes more advanced we are going to see even more problems with privacy.
So a search engine saves my searches, there are worse privacy infractions going everyday. Heck will the fact that Yahoo changes the search engine data after ninety days (I would suggest that they remove the IP address, seems logical, but people rarely are) cause me to embrace Yahoo has my new found search engine savior? Highly doubtful.
Call me a cynic, but I would like to open up the news and see, at least once, an article on a privacy group that has designed a way (software, hardware, a list of best practices, something) for people to remain private, if they want to be.
Hosting Experts on Hosting
Posted by: | CommentsWebsite hosting, vps, and dedicated servers are all shifting rapidly. The added uncertainty of the worldwide financial crises has created a new sense of urgency for hosting providers to adapt to this rapid change and thrive. What can we expect in the future for website hosting? Below are the expert opinions of four veterans of the web hosting, vps and managed server industries: Ron and David Dunlap – the esteemed publishers and editors of this blog and www.webhostmagazine.com, Daniel Foster – co-founder of UK vps hosting firm 34SP.com, and William Toll – an industry veteran of Affinity Internet, Intermedia and now with managed dedicated hosting firm Navisite. We asked each expert to render an opinion on the current web hosting state of affairs and to look forward into the future to share their thoughts.
Ron Dunlap: ”We have always believed that as long as the web hosting industry is a vital part of the Internet, the handful of objective web host directories and resource sites like WebHostMagazine.com will be around. Even as web host companies go through the inevitable consolidation of smaller companies getting gobbled up by larger ones, web developers, businesses, and others will be looking at honest web host resource sites like ours to find the best web hosts that meet their needs. We tend to think the industry will shrink in terms of the number of companies, but not necessarily in the number of customers. Back when the Internet bubble burst and the web host industry had some hiccups, we saw the larger web hosting companies buying up smaller web host companies more and more. We believe this will likely happen again. This kind of thing tends to be the norm. Smaller companies do not normally have the resources to handle their services as well as their customer’s needs. Many will be eager to sell their assets (namely their customer base) to larger companies looking for bargains.”
David Dunlap: ”A lot hinges on the size of the host, what their overhead is like, and what type of customers do they have. Times like these will be lucrative to hosts who provide enterprise solutions since many companies will be looking to outsource their hosting IT infrastructure. I would imagine these hosts will be looking to increase their marketing in order to obtain those customers. Conversely, I believe smaller budget hosts will probably decrease their marketing budget in order to stay lean. But as Ron said, this will be a time where larger hosts may be looking to consolidate by absorbing the customers of smaller hosts.”
William Toll: ”NaviSite’s dedicated hosting business will benefit significantly from several trends in 2009. First, we expect an increased interest from small businesses looking for a quality full service managed hosting provider to move to deploy their services and applications with. Small, financially questionable providers are now seen as a risk – while companies with significant experience with the enterprise that provide an affordable and accessible service for the small business will win new business.
Secondly, the capital crunch, and the increasing needs for additional and upgraded CPU power and servers are combining to drive interest in hosted managed dedicated servers and virtual dedicated servers. Windows Server 2008 and open source Linux based applications require new hardware and new licenses. The ”rented” high-performance multi-core CPUs and virtual CPUs and monthly license rental model is far more conducive to today’s finances than the massive capital outlays and consulting services required for onsite upgrades and new deployments.
Third, the interest in hosted applications, SaaS etc., has not only crossed over to the mainstream, but is now a preferable model for ‘utility’ needs like email, office collaboration/file and information sharing and CRM. The increasing popularity of hosted Exchange is the best example. With hosted Exchange businesses of all sizes can stop worrying about SPAM, increasing needs for storage and archiving and multiple mobile platforms for BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile and more.”
Daniel Foster: ”In 2009, I’m sure there will be more buzz about cloud and utility computing. I’m also sure that ”traditional” hosting companies which are good at what they do will continue to thrive. Not everyone has the technical expertise to manage a complex hosting solution so hosts that can provide solutions relevant to their customers should continue to see growth. At 34SP.com, we’re expecting to see our growth continue in 2009, and to be able to offer even better service and solutions to our existing and new customers alike.”
Ron Dunlap: ”We also see more web developers and business trending toward the grid and cloud computing options that are coming out. Each of these provide more security and reliability and as their costs come down, We can see them becoming dominant in more types of hosting services, including reselling and ecommerce.”
This content was written by Derek Vaughan exclusively for WebHostBlog.com.
Automation in the Data Center
Posted by: | CommentsIn a recent study, 88% of companies around the world said that automation would play a significant role in business priorities. Although there was less enthusiasm in the US (82%), automation appears to be a firm fixture of the data center of tomorrow.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the top five benefits are:
- Greater Efficiency
- Improving Service Level Availability
- Deliver IT services based on priorities
- Higher Availability
- Reduction of Human Error
This all very well and good but where do you get started? How do you go about automating your own operations?
As always the first step is planning. To start, list all repeatable processes your company has such as sending out invoices, patching servers, server provisioning, etc.
When you have this list completed prioritize the list. You should also look at software and hardware packages that can automate the items on the list and can automate perhaps other processes.
The next step is to test each software and hardware package to see which ones fit best with your company. Take ease of installing, maintaining, and learning into account.
While this is going on you will need to come up with a means to effectively measure and test the automated processes. Maintenance and improvement should be priorities.
Continue to find things that can be automated and for each automated process develop testing measures. It is not enough to automate processes, automation needs to make sense for the company. What will it cost? How much time will it save? Can there be a purely objective means of testing the effectiveness of the automation and can you track these benefits?
Automation is the means to decrease overhead and allow your employees to be more productive. However, you always need to way the costs and be prepared to spend time learning and optimizing your automated processes. Automation is not some magic wand. Until next time Happy Hosting!
Telecommuting – 5 Ways to Stay Focused
Posted by: Dave | Comments (0)I spend equal time between an office and telecommuting from my home. Although I did not know it at the time, telecommuting and working out of the home in general takes a lot of work to keep focused. Here is a little of what I have learned and I hope it helps other fellow telecommuters.
5. Do not change your dress and morning habits: One of the appealing things about working from the home is that you can go to work in your ‘jammies. You can also wake up just before work, you can decide not to take a shower, or not eat breakfast, or half a million other things.
Your morning is what primes your work engine. So get up at the same time you normally do, spend the commute time getting ready for work, plan out your day, work out perhaps, take a shower, etc. This was the hardest lesson for myself to learn. I noticed that when I began to actually take pride in my mornings the quality of my work started to increase. I also noticed that I was able to finish my work sooner. So, keep your morning routine and even take some of that extra time to refine it a bit.
4. Have set work hours: If you think that you can spend all day working… well you are right. Since you have all your work at home you can spend the whole time working if you wanted. Problems with this is it blurs the lines between work and home life. It destroys your focus and can make seemingly easy assignments take forever to finish.
3. Work time is work time: Telecommuters and work at homers have very flexible hours. If you have an emergency you get out and get it done. Which is an excellent perk, but easily abused.
With your set work hours you need to make sure that work is work and, conversely, not work hours are for not working. Keeping work and say house chores separate gives you a chance to recharge your batteries and not get sucked into work drudgery. I’ve had my own problems in this department. There have been days I have gone to get a cup of coffee and noticed the lawn needed mowing.
Instead of working I grabbed the lawn mower and mowed the lawn. Doing things other than work during your work hours leads to distraction, disrupts your workday, and forces you to work longer hours.
2. Keep your work environment work related: If you have an extra room in your home, make it an office. Make sure it has a door so you don’t have to think about it during your off hours. Your work computer should be for work, ie remove the games, the hobbies, and the non-work related social crud. Not only will it keep you focused on what you need to get done, but it gives you something to look forward to.
1. Don’t be a hermit! One of the biggest problems with telecommuting, well my biggest problem, is the disconnect between myself and my colleagues. There is a certain sort of creative energy and camaraderie that happens when you have a group of people together. So how to combat this problem? Cell, Skype, four different types of instant messengers, collaboration tools, video conferences, I go the whole nine. Previously, I talked about Jellies and if you have one in your area, check it out.
Well I hope this brief list helps in your own endeavors. Till the next time, Happy hosting!