Being responsible for the uptime of over 65,000 websites is no easy feat—and it is a responsibility that Hosting.com takes seriously. Established in 1997, Hosting.com provides hybrid hosting solutions, enterprise colocation, cloud and dedicated hosting, managed hosting, disaster recovery and business continuity services to a global customer base.

For over 13 years Hosting.com has experienced steady growth primarily due to their commitment to quality service and strong word of mouth. This growth has resulted in the company expanding their hosting services to five data centers, nationwide. With this expansion came the need for consistency. Hosting.com’s Data Center Facilities Director, Roman Flom, explains, "Company growth dictated the need to standardize on a single scalable platform that would allow our global NOC to monitor all of our locations using one interface." However, having five different data centers in four states across the nation, meant Hosting.com had some challenging requirements for their global NOC.

Staying Neutral

Hosting.com employs a diverse set of technologies from a number of equipment manufacturers. Finding a monitoring system that could successfully integrate different communication protocols was essential. Environet’s vendor neutral platform allowed Hosting.com to integrate with their current technologies. Flom explains, "Communication types had both economic and operative perspectives in this decision making process."

The Environet system allows Hosting.com to use current equipment from a number of manufacturers without suffering the cost of equipment replacement. This vendor flexibility also allows Hosting.com to pick and choose equipment based on their needs rather then the system’s needs. Environet gives them the freedom to choose the best technology for their data centers without compromising the quality of service they provide to their customers.

Intuitive Interface

With any technology, there is a learning curve. The quicker users can learn how to properly and efficiently use a technology, the faster that technology becomes valuable. An intuitive, easy-to-use interface decreases the need for extensive—and often times costly—staff training. "We wanted a simple to understand user interface", says Flom, "The Environet interface was the most intuitive of the platforms we evaluated."

The drop down menus and icon-based interface made it easy for Hosting.com employees to navigate the system. In addition, the graphical layout and visual representations of data such as temperature, alerts and energy usage makes recognizing problem areas fast and efficient.

Deployment Cost

Installation costs for five data center sites can get expensive, quickly. Between technicians’ time, travel costs, hardware purchases and other expenses, deployment cost is an important factor when choosing a monitoring system. According to Flom, "Deployment cost was a significant factor. We conducted an extensive pricing exercise and Environet was consistently presented as the more competitive solution both for initial deployment and incremental growth costs."

Not only is Environet competitively priced for deployment, but it also has a fast return on investment. With features like Power Capacity Planning and the CRAC Sequencer, Environet provides a number of ways to decrease operational cost, while increasing data center efficiency.

Only the Best

Hosting.com knows quality service. As a company, it guarantees that all representatives are extensively trained in both the technical aspects of hosting solutions, as well as, customer service. They uphold superior standards for their customer relations which is why they have been able to rely on word of mouth and referrals to grow their business. Even with such high customer service standards, the Geist DCIM team was able to meet and surpass expectations. "The technicians and the project manager we worked with during the implementation were clearly experienced professionals and demonstrated a real personal interest in making sure we were satisfied with the system in its full scope." Flom continues, "Further, our project manager was always accessible and eager to answer questions or make adjustments during the course of the project – considering the complexity of tying together multiple sites with varied equipment platforms this was reassuring."

Geist DCIM satisfied Hosting.com’s numerous requirements. Environet monitors each Hosting.com facility while also providing a centralized monitoring platform that gives Hosting.com accurate, real-time visibility of all five data centers. And with a relationship that reflects the high standards and quality service of both companies, Hosting.com says they are sure to expand their Environet system as they continue to grow.

DCIM Case Study Booklet