(919) 439-4848

Raleigh / Durham, NC

Hosting & Email

Don't be fooled by the myriad of "bargain" hosting "deals" that are abound in the marketplace. The reality is that these are sold way below cost with the intention of upselling you to further (more profitable) products either intentionally, or more alarmingly through a bewildering array of 'questions'. Your site is also buried on a server hosting tens of thousands of websites - ever wondered why response and performance of your website isn't great???

Are you annoyed and tired of poor customer service when you need your domain related questions answered? Want to speak with knowledgable people physically located in the United States?

Why entrust your business website - your most visible corporate image - to an indifferent company who is simply focused on volume?

Our website hosting packages in our SAS 70 Level II certified data center start as low as only $15.99 a month

• 24 x 7 Website Hosting - 99.999% uptime reliability
• Redundant Internet Connectivity
• Uninterruptible Power Supplies & Generators
• Sophisticated Firewalling
• E-mail Accounts (POP3/IMAP/SMTP)
• Webmail interface to Email with full Groupware facilities (calendars, contacts, tasks, sharing etc.)
• Incoming & Outgoing Email scanned with on-the-fly Anti-Virus Scanner
• Gateway Anti-Spam Filter
• Generous File Storage Space
• Very Generous Bandwidth/Data Transfer Limit
• Databases: MySQL and MS SQL Server 2005 (Business Packages)
• Languages: HTML, ASP, PHP, PERL, CGI
• RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 / Apache or Microsoft Server 2003 / IIS
• FTP access and/or web-based file manager

You get plenty of capacity, speed and reliability with our hosting plans. Plus, your email is accessible from any internet connection, so you are never too far from sending and receiving important business information. Email is configurable with Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express as well as most PDA's.

We will never upsell you on extras, unless you specifically ask us to provide the extra service. We guarantee a SAS 70 Level I and II, PCI compliant, HIPAA compliant, Sarbanes-Oxley compliant 99.999% uptime hosting environment. This can either be a full turnkey service where we manage every aspect of your site, or in a self-service environment that is entirely under your control.

For larger customers requiring secure dedicated server facilities, contact us today to discuss your needs and we will work with you to draft the right IT solution for your business needs.

Facilities Specs

The hosting facility data centers meet the most demanding requirements, with 3 Carrier Grade facilities totaling close to 40,000 sq. ft. of raised floor space, With the highest level of security, safety, redundancy, reliability, scalability and technology, the state-of-the-art hosting facilities are capable of handling server management applications for customers worldwide. The data center, and its IT processes, have been certified SAS 70 Level I and II compliant (see below).

Below are some of the general features of the facilities:

Special Building Features

• Ballistic-proof exterior, including doors & windows.
• Lightning protection throughout the perimeter, rooftop, and electrical and mechanical support infrastructure
• Entrance requires badge or security entry
• Building strategically located outside of severe weather and seismic zones
• Building is rated to withstand hurricane force winds
• Ballistics-proof walls, doors, and windows
• 24-hour physical security monitors all cameras, door positions, and badge access areas
• Redundant off-site monitoring of all security systems
• Camera on each doorway
• Double man trap forces double verification and provides extra secure data center entry
• Door entrance to data center requires a badge to get in and a badge to get out

General Data Center Information

• 24 inch raised floor provides conditioned air from below to push hot air up for more efficient and effective cooling of computer equipment
• Hot air rises away, keeping customer equipment cool
• Sensor-driven cameras watching every door, aisle, cage, and cabinet, NOC, NODE, and other secure support rooms
• Steel structural supports and concrete walls
• Hurricane wind rated roof
• Additional water and weather resistance and membrane roof for further waterproofing
• Leak detection system
• Grounding connections on all posts, cages, and cabinets

Lobby Information

• Ballistics-proof walls, doors, and windows
• 24-hour physical security monitors all cameras, door positions, and badge access areas
• Redundant off-site monitoring of all security systems
• Camera on each doorway
• Double man trap
• Forces double verification and provides extra secure data center entry
• Door entrance to data center requires a badge to get in and a badge to get out
• Biometric hand scanner verifies unique hand geometry image and a heat signature before allowing entry into data center

Cage/Cabinet Information

• Locks are impossible to “pick” because they require unique laser-etched keys with magnetic signatures
• Keys can only be ordered by two people in the company
• Strong sheet metal cages. Can't get a hand or foot hold (unscalable).

Electrical

• All electrical supply is configured in a 2N+1 model
• Redundant utility feeds and transformers
• Redundant main switch panels, each able to take full data center load and automated to fail over instantly if one shuts down to avoid downtime
• Each switch panel feeds into redundant Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs) (4-500 kVA Powerware active units with 2 add'l. in reserve)
• Each UPS feeds through redundant cables into redundant Power Distribution Units (PDUs) (8-Powerware 150 kVA)
• Each PDU distributes power to power strips to each rack
• Each customer power strip is supplied by Redundant PDUs with automatic transfer to active power supply
• Cameras monitor room and alarm with motion
• 2 Megawatt diesel generator (1-Catepillar), regularly tested, for added protection
• Indefinite run time with refueling. Currently, over one week of continuous operation without refueling with current load. Locked within a sound-attenuated enclosure behind locked security fences and monitored by cameras. Critical functions are remotely monitored within data center.

HVAC

• 2N+1 configuration. Two complete and separate air conditioning systems each fully capable of maintaining temperature, each with an additional CRAC unit
• Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) units (14-DataAir 30-ton) are positioned around the data center.
  * Filter the air to remove dust and lint
  * Humidity the air to a finite set point to reduce static electricity
  * Maintain temperature to within one degree
• Utilize a water/glycol mix from outside water towers for efficient cooling year around (2-Evapco cooling towers)
• Moisture containment basins and sensors ensure no moisture gets in the data center
• Separate and further redundant cooling systems for critical support areas (NOC, NODE, MIS, Security) (Liebert & Mitsubishi split systems, each < 1 ton)

Mechanical Room

• Cooling system pumps (3-60 Hp Bell & Gossett) in a 3N configuration with variable speed drives for reliable and finite cooling control
• Adjustments are controlled through a building automation system
• 10,000 gallon water tank onsite to maintain cooling systems through utility water system failures

Building Management Systems

• Prowatch building management system with on-site monitoring and control of all HVAC and cooling towers, as well as other mechanical systems.

Security Cameras

• Cameras digitally record all movement in and around the data center
• 7 pan-tilt-zoom cameras watch all perimeter areas
• Separate cameras focused on all exterior doorways
• Ademco digital controllers and recorders
• Seperate camera controller
• ProWatch video GUI, multiple monitors

Access Control

• Biometric hand scanner verifies unique hand geometry image and a heat signature before allowing entry into data center
• Card access control throughout space

SAS 70 Compliance

Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No.70 is an auditing standard developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). A SAS 70 audit validates that a service organization has completed an in-depth audit of their control activities, which include controls over information technology processes. A Type I report describes the service organization's description of controls at a specific point in time. A Type II report not only includes a description of controls, but also includes detailed testing of those controls over a minimum six month period.

SAS 70 was created in 1998, but received wide spread adoption after the Sarbanes-Oxley act of 2002. Developed as a direct response to the corporate scandals of 2001-2002, Sarbanes-Oxley requires dramatic increases in institutional control from publicly traded companies. Hosted Solutions, provider of data center facilities to Strategic Advantage, are in a very select group of data center providers nationally that have certified all of their facilities with both a SAS 70 Type I and Type II audit.