2 Ping! - Ping! Zine Web Tech Magazine

2 Ping! Zine Magazine

www.pingzine.com 3

issue 5.3 

CONTENTS 

Ping! Zine Magazine 

22 FEATURED ARTICLE 

New A Opportunity 

for Web Hosts? 

VoIP remains a powerful technology for hosting providers to use, but what about 

hosting VoIP applications? Ping! Zine explores these possibilities. 

22 

28 Customer Service Q&A 

Douglas Hanna is back with his Customer Service Q&A, delivering answers for 

those tough Customer Service Questions. 

30 You Know It’s Time To Leave Your Web Host When... 

Here’s a light hearted but rather jaded list of reasons for why it is time 

to leave your web host. 

34 100% Uptime. Is It Really Possible? 

When it comes to hosting websites, data, or applications for clients, one of the 

toughest questions we face relates to what kind of uptime guarantees we can give. 

39 The Best Guy On The Web 

Brian Prince is a digital marketing visionary, and he has been intimately involved 

with shaping the landscape of the internet revolution since 1994. 

44 Want To Keep Your Business Afloat? 

GE, Allstate, Yahoo! What do leaders at these companies know that you don’t? 

They know what it takes to build a sustainable business that will be around for years. 

34 

47 Rock Out With Rails On Windows 

Subsequent to a prior article, Running Multiple Ruby on Rails Applications on One 

Domain, this new Rails article involves setting up Rails on your Windows system. 

52 Raid Combo Number Five: Supersized! 

It is apparent that the web hosting industry these days is all about reliability, speed, 

and price. Your potential clientèle will probably seek out the best of all three factors. 

57 An Interview With Serguei Beloussov of SWsoft 

Using his management skills,Serguei Beloussov builds businesses from the 

ground up, creating enterprises with multi-million dollar profits in very little time. 

60 Be Unique, Be Successful 

With so many would-be entrepreneurs trying to build a hosting company these days, 

the competition has certainly become fierce. What does it take to be successful? 

64 Service Directory 

Find the services you need from some of the best companies in the industry 

right here in our Service Directory. 

60 

66 Ping! Byting Back 

No good issue of Ping! would be complete without a gut-splittingly hilarious back page. Of 

course, this isn’t necessarily a good issue of Ping!, so the following will simply have to do.

www.pingzine.com 5

issue 5.3 

BITS & BYTES 


12 COMODO RELEASES BOCLEAN 4.23 

12 GOOGLE PARTNERS WITH DOUBLECLICK DIGITAL MARKETING 

14 HOSTWAY APPOINTS NEW DOMAIN NAME REGISTRY PRESIDENT 

14 HOSTINGCON 2007 TO FEATURE CRUISE 

16 BECOME A HOSTING GLADIATOR AT CAESARS PALACE! 

17 YAHOO! EXPANDS NEWSPAPER CONSORTIUM FOR UNIQUE LOCAL CONTENT 

20 MODERNBILL WORKSHOP V3.0 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 

Jean C., North Vancouver, BC, Canada: 

Alternative Hosting 

Just wanted to thank Ping for an excellent article on alternative 

hosting platforms. As a long-time Macintosh user and a long-time 

Macintosh hosting user, it is refreshing to see a major hosting 

magazine not ignoring these systems and their customers. Great 

work! 

Sincerely, Jean 

[Editor’s Note: Thank you for your kind words, Jean!] 

[Publisher’s Note: I believe Jean is only praising Reece because 

Reece is a fellow Canuck!] 

Aaron G., Las Vegas, NV: 

Using The Sun is a Bright Idea 

It was totally great to read a review of three different classifications 

of hosting that most of us probably don’t think much about. I 

certainly didn’t before reading the article. I was amazed that there 

is even a webhoster that actually uses solar power! Talk about a 

bright idea. 

Yours Truly, Aaron G. 

[Editor’s Note: We’re sure Aaron meant to also add “pardon the 

pun!”] 

Joshua D., Houston, TX: 

Eric Meyer Interview 

The very “personal” nature of the questions by Ms. Amy Armitage 

in her interview with Eric Meyer was as educational as it was 

entertaining. It’s not everyday that you get to read something 

about webmasters and then feel as if you almost know the person! 

Thanks Amy! 

Regards, Joshua D. 

Jeremy H., Miami, FL 

Article Made Sure I Kept My Job 

A huge THANK YOU to David Dunlap -- MAN, DO I OWE YOU 

A BEER OR WHAT! Dave’s article gave me the encouragement 

and techniques I needed to keep my job. I had never thought 

of making my code so hard to understand that I could not ever 

possibly have my bosses even consider firing me. I’m now moving 

very very quickly to make sure all my code resembles the flying 

spaghetti monster. Thank you again! 

One of David’s greatest fans, Jeremy H., Miami, FL 

[Editor’s Note: Just to be certain, we wish to remind readers that 

back page articles tend to be satirical, and are not meant to be 

applied to real-world situations. Really. (And, even if they *do* 

work!)] 

Rick G., Omaha, NE 

Other Alternative Web Hosting Systems 

Even though I really did enjoy Reece Sellin’s article on 

“alternative” hosting, I was a bit disappointed that some other 

alternative hosting platforms were not talked about. I know of at 

least a handful of web hosts that are using operating systems 

such as BSD, Solaris, and other Unixes and Unix-like systems for 

hosting. Just because Microsoft, Apple and Linux are dominating 

hosting does not mean that these other systems are not just as 

good or reliable or secure. 

Just my two cents, Rick G., Omaha, NE 

[Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, due to space considerations, I 

could not exhaustively cover the full range of platforms currently 

available in the hosting marketplace. That said, I definitely agree 

with you, Rick -- there are certainly excellent, reliable, secure 

hosting options available that use none of Windows, Linux or 

MacOS, with FreeBSD likely being the one most commonly 

encountered “in the wild.”]

www.pingzine.com 7

issue 5.3 

SPONSORS 


Intersurge 2.3 

Intermedia 5 

Bocacom 7 

Host4Yourself.com 55 

Host PC 9 

TechPad Agency 56 

1&1 10.11 

Lunar Pages 59 

Hosting Panama 13 

Psoft 62 

Top Web Hosts 15 

Host Careers 67 

WingSix 17 

Righteous Software 68 

First Vox 19 

SCInterface 20 

Biz Hosting Network 20 

CDG Commerce 21 

SWsoft Hosting Summit 25 

One Avenue 27 

Touch Support 29 

HostingCon 33 

Data Hosts 36 

ModernBill 38 

Host Gator 43 

Relio 45 

Host Buyout 46 

SWsoft 49.50.51 

Press Advance 53 

Web Host Magazine 53 

Publisher Keith A. Duncan 

Managing Editor/Designer Derek Morris 

Corporate Manager Devin White 

Senior Editor Reece Sellin 

Accounts Manager Jeremy Smith 

Advisory Board 

Isabel Wang, CEO, IsabelWang.com 

Deborah A. Discenza, Publisher, Preemie Magazine 

Ben Fisher, VP TechPad Agency LLC 

Ron Dunlap, ME, Web Host Magazine & Buyer’s Guide 

Frank Feingold, Owner, Doreo Hosting 

Aaron Phillips, VP Sales/Marketing, FastServers.Net 

David Kathiramalai, Director, WebWorldNetwork 

Carlos Regos, Owner, Relio.com 

Editorial Staff 

Features Editor Amy Armitage 

Technical Editor John Burmeister 

Commentary Editor David Dunlap 

Marketing Editor Trey Gardner 

Service Editor Douglas Hanna 

Corresponding Editor Rollie Hawk 

Headlines Editor Derek Vaughan 

Business Editor Dave Young 

Contributing Writers 

Joe Whyte 

Danielle Wallace 

Evan Kamlet 

R. K. Selman 

Contact Information 

PingZine LLC 

1814 S. Range Ave, Suite D 

Denham Springs, LA 70726 

(225) 791-6140 

Website www.pingzine.com 

General Info info@pingzine.com 

Sales sales@pingzine.com 

Editor editor@pingzine.com 

Design design@pingzine.com 

Ping! Zine Web Hosting Magazine © April/May 2007, 

Published and Copyrighted 2007 by Ping! Zine, LLC, 

P.O. Box 516, Denham Springs, LA 70726. All rights 

reserved. 

Permission to reproduce with or all or parts of this 

magazine must be secured in writing from the 

publisher, although we don’t recommend it. For more 

information email info@pingzine.com. 

Disclaimer: Ping! Zine assumes no responsibility 

or liability for the content of this magazine or the 

stupid things we say or do. All points and ideas are 

strictly that of the writers involved and not that of the 

publisher, publishing company, printing company or 

anyone involved with the same. If you want to blame 

someone however, blame the new guy. All materials 

in this magazine were produced by free labor, 

drunkin monkeys. Printed in China. We needed to 

save some money this issue.


www.pingzine.com 11

BITS&BYTES 

GET THIS NEWS & MORE ON THE WEB AT WWW.PINGZINE.COM 

COMODO RELEASES BOCLEAN 4.23 

Comodo releases BOClean 4.23, formerly by Privacy 

Software Corporation (PSC) 

New version provides robust malware protection as part of 

Comodo’s strategic initiative to secure the desktop for free 

Comodo, a global Certification Authority and leading provider 

of Identity and Trust Assurance (ITA) Management solutions, 

announced the launch of Comodo BOClean 4.23. Building on 

Comodo’s recent acquisition of the assets of Privacy Software 

Corporation (PSC), the release coincides with the re-launch 

of the PSC website under the Comodo brand. Like all of Comodo’s 

desktop security software, BOClean 4.23 is free of 

charge to end-users. 

BOClean can be deployed on single computer or over a network 

and can be customized for any network or institutional 

situation. The application is designed to complement traditional 

anti-virus solutions by checking executable files just before 

they run. BOClean then consults its database of 278,000 malware 

signatures (which equates to nearly 2 million malware 

variants) and instantly kills the process if malware is detected. 

In this way, BOClean delivers an extra layer of protection by 

catching any virus, Trojan, or malware that has already eluded 

the other active guards a user has installed on their system. 

BOClean was originally developed by Privacy Software Corporation 

(PSC) - a privately-owned company that develops 

malware, trojans, spyware and rootkit detection technology. 

Comodo also plans to release re-branded and upgraded versions 

of the entire PSC product family in the near future - 

which includes IEClean, NSClean, VacPac and FileVac. 

“We are delighted with the release of Comodo BOClean 

4.23”, said Nancy McAleavey, former CEO and founder of Privacy 

Software Corporation, “Comodo has demonstrated that 

they have the resources and commitment necessary to ensure 

the continuity of protection for existing BOClean license 

holders. We can move into the future with great confidence in 

Comodo’s ability to further develop and improve the already 

highly regarded PSC product line.” 

Comodo BOClean strengthens the Comodo’s commitment to 

securing the desktop for free. Other free-of-charge solutions 

include Comodo Firewall Pro; Comodo Antivirus; Comodo 

iVault (a secure password manager); Comodo Anti-Spam and 

Comodo Backup. 

All previous versions of PSC products will continue to be supported 

and updated with the latest signature databases. Existing 

BOClean customers are strongly encouraged to upgrade 

to the latest version. Users can download Comodo BOClean 

4.23 for free from the Comodo website at: http://www.comodo. 

com/boclean/CBO_download.html 

For additional information on Comodo - Creating Trust Online 

visit http://www.comodo.com 

GOOGLE PARTNERS WITH 

DOUBLECLICK DIGITAL MARKETING 

Search engine, Google, along with digital marketing technology 

and services firm, DoubleClick Inc., have inked an agreement 

whereby Google will acquire DoubleClick, for an estimated 

$3.1 billion in cash. 

Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google added, ‘’DoubleClick’s 

technology is widely adopted by leading advertisers, 

publishers and agencies, and the combination of the two companies 

will accelerate the adoption of Google’s innovative advances 

in display advertising.’’ 

Both companies have approved the transaction, which is 

subject to customary closing conditions, and is expected to 

close by the end of the year. Through San Francisco-based 

private equity firm Hellman and Friedman, along with JMI Equity 

and management, the acquisition is anticipated to combine 

Google’s leading advertising platform and publisher monetization 

services, with DoubleClick’s expertise in ad management 

technology for media buyers and sellers. 

Sergey Brin, Co-Founder and President of Google Technology 

remarked, ‘’It has been our vision to make Internet advertising 

better - less intrusive, more effective, and more useful. 

Together with DoubleClick, Google will make the Internet more 

efficient for end users, advertisers, and publishers.’’ 

The combination of Google and DoubleClick is hoped to offer 

superior tools for targeting, serving and analyzing online ads of 

all types, significantly benefiting customers and consumers: 

For users, the combined company will deliver an improved experience 

on the web, by increasing the relevancy and the quality 

of the ads they see. 

For online publishers, the combination provides access to new 

advertisers, which creates a powerful opportunity to monetize 

their inventory more efficiently. 

For agencies and advertisers, Google and DoubleClick will 

provide an easy and efficient way to manage both search and 

display ads in one place. They will be able to optimize their ad 

spending across different online media using a common set of 

metrics. 


Tim Armstrong, President, Advertising and Commerce, 

North America, Google commented, ‘’This 

transaction will strengthen our advertising network 

by expanding our access to publisher inventory 

and enabling us to serve the needs of a broader 

set of advertisers and ad agencies.’’ 

David Rosenblatt, Chief Executive Officer of 

DoubleClick added, ‘’Google is the absolute perfect 

partner for us. Combining DoubleClick’s cutting 

edge digital solutions for both media buyers 

and sellers with Google’s scale and innovative 

resources will bring tremendous value to both our 

employees and clients.’’ 

Philip Hammarskjold, Managing Director of Hellman 

and Friedman offered, ‘’When we acquired 

DoubleClick in July 2005, we saw an opportunity 

to partner with a great management team to 

further enhance the company’s capabilities and 

growth trajectory. This transaction affirms the successful 

transformation of DoubleClick, positions 

the firm for the future, and greatly benefits our 

investors.’’ 

DoubleClick is a provider of digital marketing 

technology and services. The world’s top marketers, 

publishers and agencies utilize DoubleClick’s 

expertise in ad serving, rich media, video, search 

and affiliate marketing to help them make the 

most of the digital medium. From its position at 

the nerve center of digital marketing, DoubleClick 

provides superior insights and insider knowledge 

to its customers. Headquartered in New York, and 

with 17 offices and development hubs and 15 data 

centers worldwide, the company employs more 

than 1200 people and delivers billions of digital 

communications every day. 

With the largest index of websites available on 

the World Wide Web and the industry’s most 

advanced search technology, Google Inc. delivers 

the fastest and easiest way to find relevant 

information on the Internet. Google’s technological 

innovations have earned the company numerous 

industry awards and citations, including 

two Webby Awards; two WIRED magazine Readers 

Raves Awards; Best Internet Innovation and 

Technical Excellence Award from PC Magazine; 

Best Search Engine on the Internet from Yahoo! 

Internet Life; Top Ten Best Cybertech from TIME 

magazine; and Editor’s Pick from CNET. A growing 

number of companies worldwide, including Yahoo! 

and its international properties, Sony Corporation 

and its global affiliates, AOL/Netscape, and 

Cisco Systems, rely on Google to power search 

on their websites. A privately held company based 

in Mountain View, Calif., Google’s investors include 

Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers and Sequoia 

Capital. 

www.pingzine.com 13

BITS&BYTES 


the UK’s Invensys Plc, Baan Company. Ms. Sigmar 

had prior experience in legal and consulting roles 

with System Software Associates and Price Waterhouse. 

Ms. Sigmar holds a J.D. degree from the Illinois 

Institute of Technology, a Bachelor of Law from 

University of Western Ontario (Canada) and a B.A 

from Queens University (Canada). 

Lucas Roh, CEO of Hostway Corporation, the parent 

company of RegistryPro, remarked, ‘’In Catherine, 

we have a colleague of depth, perspective, 

and global experience who also possesses the necessary 

leadership skills. Her international corporate 

experience as well as her background in the legal 

field will help enormously as we bring the benefits of 

.Pro domain names to professionals everywhere.’’ 

Ms. Sigmar commented, ‘’.Pro will represent for 

Internet users a trusted source for access to professionals 

and professional service firms. The .Pro 

extension will be the vehicle that professionals and 

professional service firms rely on to establish credibility 

as they continue to take advantage of the 

web.’’ 

RegistryPro operates the .Pro top-level domain 

(TLD), an Internet registry exclusively for professionals 

who meet specific eligibility requirements 

and undergo a verification process. All .Pro names 

are issued with a digital certificate, an online passport 

that facilitates secure communications and 

transactions. RegistryPro provides a new way for 

professionals to distinguish themselves on the Internet 

by using the .Pro extension. Initially offered to 

doctors, lawyers, accountants, and engineers, the 

.Pro domain name provides a solution for professionals 

who require heightened confidentiality and 

security in their online communications. 

Hostway has been recognized as a leading web 

hosting provider by online hosting resources. 

TopHosts has ranked Hostway as the number one 

hosting provider from 2000-2006. Hostway has also 

been rated the number one E-commerce Hosting 

Provider by Web Host Directory, the most reliable 

web hosting provider web site by Netcraft and the 

best web hosting company by HostReview. Hostway 

Corporation provides domain registration, web 

hosting, web design and online marketing services 

to more than 400,000 customers worldwide. Hostway 

helps individuals, small businesses and large 

enterprises achieve more value from web-based 

technologies by reducing their complexity and cost. 

Founded in 1998, Hostway is one of the five largest 

web hosting companies in the world with offices in 

North America (Chicago (HQ), Austin, Tampa and 

Vancouver), Europe (Belgium, France, Frankfurt, 

Hannover, London and Netherlands), Asia (Korea) 

and Australia (Sydney). 

HOSTWAY APPOINTS 

NEW DOMAIN NAME 

REGISTRY PRESIDENT 

14 Ping! Zine Magazine 

Hostway Corporation, a web hosting and managed 

technology services company, has recently appointed 

Catherine Sigmar, to the position of President of 

RegistryPro, the exclusive operator of the .Pro top 

level domain (TLD) for professionals. 

Ms. Sigmar will lead in the registry’s relationship 

with ICANN, as well as all aspects of the registry’s 

operations including strategy, marketing and sales, 

registrar support, legal affairs, and policy. In addition, 

she will contribute to setting policies for the 

promotion of the growth of the .Pro domain name 

as well as manage the general environment of the 

.Pro domain name. 

Prior to joining RegistryPro, Ms. Sigmar held a 

number of international senior executive positions. 

Most recently she successfully led the strategic 

consulting group for the Americas at Intel Corporation. 

Before joining Intel, Ms. Sigmar held several 

senior sales, legal and operations positions with 

HOSTINGCON 2007 

TO FEATURE CRUISE 

Hosting resource TopHosts.com, along with managed 

dedicated server firm FastServers.Net, will host a business 

networking cruise for representatives of leading 

businesses, at this year’s premiere web hosting industry 

event, HostingCon 2007. 

HostingCon 2007 will be held July 23-25, 2007 at the 

historic Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois, set in the heart of 

downtown Chicago, just a short distance from Michigan 

Avenue shopping and many other Chicago features. 

Scheduled to take place on the evening of July 24th, 

the business networking cruise participants will begin 

boarding at 6:00 p.m., at the Navy Pier. Participants 

in the cruise can combine business with pleasure, 

mingling with hosting executives, technical managers, 

sales managers, marketing managers, systems administrators, 

investors, and press representatives, while 

enjoying a panoramic view of the Chicago skyline. 

As sponsors, FastServers.net and TopHosts.com 

have arranged to subsidize cruise tickets, so participants 

may purchase them for a minimal fee. The cruise 

will be a serious business event, offering the opportunity 

to network with top level executives, as well as 

media outlets and a wide range of hosting based companies. 

Aaron Phillips, Vice President of FastServers.Net, 

said, “This cruise will be one of the major networking 

[continued]

www.pingzine.com 15

BITS&BYTES 


events at HostingCon 2007. We are delighted to be teaming up 

with TopHosts.com to provide such a great business opportunity 

in such an enjoyable setting.” 

The cruise line for this event is Mystic Blue Cruises, known for 

providing a delightful cruise experience on Lake Michigan. The 

Mystic Blue Cruise vessel offers three enclosed climate-controlled 

decks plus a relaxing open-air deck. The ship sports newly remodeled, 

sleek, silvery-blue interiors and provides breathtaking views 

of the Chicago skyline. The cruise will include light appetizers, and 

an open bar will be available for three hours while cruising Lake 

Michigan. 

Tickets may be reserved at www.hostingconcruise.com, or by 

directly contacting either FastServers.Net or TopHosts.com. Because 

the cruise can accommodate a maximum of 400 persons, 

early registration is strongly recommended. Once maximum capacity 

has been reached, no further reservations will be made. 

FastServers, Inc is a dedicated server and managed hosting provider 

with over 3,000 servers in production. It operates enterprise 

level data centers that allow organizations to reduce IT expenditures 

and rely on their team of hosting experts for managed hosting 

services. Founded in 1996, FastServers.Net is considered one of 

the Top 10 Leading managed hosting providers in the world. Fast- 

Servers.Net maintains a primary data center in Chicago, IL with 

secondary Data Centers in Cedar Falls, IA and Fremont, CA. 

Toronto, Canada-based VerticalScope Inc., the parent of 

TopHosts.Com and HostCompare.com, is an international media 

company that creates authoritative industry portals, directories 

and content services, covering a wide array of vertical industries. 

The firm’s verticals offer the latest news, articles, and analysis. 

BECOME A HOSTING 

GLADIATOR AT CAESARS PALACE! 

Reserve June 20th-22nd for this hot LAS VEGAS 

hosting event. 

Ping! Zine and Layered Technologies (LT) invite all hosting industry 

players to LT PACT 2007:::LAS VEGAS. This 2nd annual 

event will be in Las Vegas, Nevada from June 20th to June 22nd. 

Hosting customers, resellers, vendors, media and industry players 

will converge on Caesars Palace once again for the event that 

will take everyone to the next level. Come early to Las Vegas and 

stay late! 

“What is this LT PACT all about?” 

LT PACT 2007 will provide “street” information that really works, 

will advise industry stakeholders on what others in hosting won’t 

tell them, and will guide all players into hosting’s future. Andy 

Schroefper, Founder of the respected Tier 1 Research, will kick 

off the event with new fresh insight into hosting’s future. Register 

Now (links to www.ltpact.com). 

“Prove it!” “What street information is so valuable that I 

need to attend?” 

For example, marketing is one of the top three issues facing every 

hosting company in this highly competitive arena. Your business 

will not grow unless you are doing more than managing your 

client’s infrastructure needs. You need a business development 

effort, which requires marketing insight. No one is born with keen 

marketing power in and of themselves. Yes, you know about and 

are probably applying various marketing techniques including 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click Search Listings 

(PPC), Email Marketing and Forum Marketing. However, are you 

really getting the maximum results you want? Only two ways exist 

to increase your marketing knowledge: learning daily through 

trial and error attempts, and tapping information from experts. At 

LT PACT, Alchemist, one of the top five SEO and PPC firms in 


the country, will present you with quick insights on how to outwit 

your competitors, especially those who do not attend. Since any 

industry player will be able to tap the marketing power taught, 

three players who register before May 4th will receive a Website 

Marketing Make Over from our experts during their live presentations. 

Register Now (links to www.ltpact.com). 

“What are the other hot top issues being addressed at LT 

PACT?” 

Cutting edge topics include: “Understanding Grid Computing and 

the Utility Hosting Model.” “SaaS and Your Revenue Future.” “Is 

Your Business Web 2.0 Ready? Web 3.0 Ready?” “Permission 

Based Messaging as Part of Your Marketing Communications.” 

“Blogging and the Marketing Potential.” “Managed Services vs. 

Hardware-as-a-Service: what is the difference?” Many of our 

Industry sponsors (Microsoft, HP, AMD, Savvis, SWsoft, 3Tera, 

cPanel and others) as well as Ping! Zine are currently preparing 

insightful information for you to learn, implement and turn into 

profit! 

Fight your way out of the coliseum of hosting competitors with 

real industry power: Gain industry insight to use at your command! 

Register Now (links to www.ltpact.com).

YAHOO! EXPANDS NEWSPAPER 

CONSORTIUM FOR UNIQUE LOCAL CONTENT 

Yahoo! search engine and Internet destination is expanding its 

growth alignments with twelve leading U.S. newspaper company 

partnerships for local news and advertising, by inking a definitive 

worldwide agreement. 

Robert W. Decherd, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of 

Belo Corp. remarked, ‘’This ground-breaking partnership creates 

the newspaper industry’s first full-fledged integrated online advertising 

network and significantly expands consortium members 

Internet presence. The consortium continues to gain momentum 

and will play a central role in the emerging media landscape.’’ 

With the addition of The McClatchy Company and four other 

new members since November 2006, the newspaper group now 

stands at 12 newspaper publishing companies. This represents 

a critical mass of more than 264 newspapers across 44 states, 

along with multiple distribution channels that will benefit advertisers, 

readers and the participating companies. 

Sue Decker, Executive Vice President; Head of Advertiser and 

Publisher Group, and acting Chief Financial Officer at Yahoo! Inc. 

commented, ‘’The continued expansion of our relationship with 

the newspapers will deliver a best-of-breed local experience for 

advertisers and audiences. By working with top-notch, well-respected 

media companies, this relationship represents another 

step forward in our strategy to build the most robust ad network 

on the Internet.’’ 

The strategic partnership revolves around four key opportunities: 

Enhancing newspaper online advertising revenue using 

Yahoo!’s graphical advertising technology. For more than a decade, 

Yahoo! has been a leader in online graphical advertising. 

Advertisers and newspapers will be using Yahoo!’s sophisticated 

ad-serving, targeting and inventory management capabilities. 

This strategic alliance creates the newspaper industry’s most 

comprehensive and integrated online advertising network. 

Leveraging leading local and national online sales forces. This 

relationship creates an all-in-one buying opportunity for local advertisers, 

allowing newspaper sales representatives to offer the 

combined aggregated reach of local newspaper and local Yahoo! 

online audiences. Yahoo!’s sales force may sell newspaper 

inventory to their portfolio of national advertisers and newspapers’ 

sales forces can sell Yahoo!’s local online inventory to local 

advertisers. 

Integrating Yahoo!’s paid search technology across newspaper 

[continued] 

At WingSix, we believe there’s more to being a leading web hosting provider than just 

offering reliable high performance servers. What really sets WingSix apart is our focus on 

the network connection between our company and our customer base. That’s why WingSix web 

hosting and reseller plans include features that aren’t available on even the best carrier grade 

servers—like our commitment to providing outstanding levels of customer support and experience. 

WingSix: Hosting plans engineered for individuals, small businesses and resellers—complete with 

dedicated people. Welcome to the WingSix network. 

Toll Free 888.WINGSIX • International 312.698.5800 

www.wingsix.com 

www.pingzine.com 17

sites. Yahoo!’s search functionality will be deployed across 

hundreds of newspaper web sites and exposed to more than 

50 million users on a monthly basis. Additionally, users will 

benefit from having access to a customized Yahoo! toolbar 

which will be distributed on local newspaper web sites, providing 

newspaper web site users with easy access to the most 

comprehensive Internet search. 

Distributing high-quality newspaper content broadly across 

the Yahoo! Network. Newspaper content will be fully integrated 

within local news modules and delivered to Yahoo! 

users interested in local news, sports, finance and other content 

in Yahoo! vertical areas. This will give readers superior 

local content developed by credible news professionals and 

community contributors across the country. Additionally, this 

strategic partnership paves the way for mobile distribution of 

newspaper content. 

The number of members working with Yahoo! in the group 

has nearly doubled since its formation in November 2006 

when it announced an agreement to enable the newspapers 

to post their jobs on Yahoo! HotJobs. The consortium includes 

more than 264 papers across 44 states. The consortium members 

newspapers have a combined Sunday circulation of 18.5 

million, and their web sites attract a combined total of more 

than 50 million monthly unique visitors. 

Gary Pruitt, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer 

of McClatchy added, ‘’This milestone deal represents far more 

than an advantageous, win-win business deal for Yahoo! and 

participating newspapers -- although it certainly is that. The 

consortium also demonstrates that our members recognize 

this plan delivers significant benefits to our advertisers and 

readers, starting almost at once. We expect other newspaper 

companies will be joining in the near future, and they will be 

welcomed as allies whose participation will increase the benefits 

we can deliver.’’ 

The McClatchy Company is among the latest newspaper 

groups to join the consortium, currently participating in all aspects 

except the HotJobs component. Other new members 

since November 2006 include Calkins Media, Inc.; Media 

General, Inc.; Morris Communications Company, LLC; and 

Paddock Publications, Inc. 

Consortium members announced last November include: 

Belo Corp.; Cox Newspapers; The E.W. Scripps Company; 

Hearst Newspapers; Journal Register Company; Lee Enterprises; 

and MediaNews Group, Inc. The newspapers in this 

consortium include major market dailies such as the Atlanta 

Journal-Constitution, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis), 

The Dallas Morning News, The Denver Post, The Florida 

Times-Union, Houston Chronicle, The Miami Herald, New Haven 

Register, Rocky Mountain News, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 

The Sacramento Bee, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose 

Mercury-News and The Tampa Tribune. 

Yahoo! Inc. is a global Internet brand, as one of the most trafficked 

Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo!’s mission is to 

connect people to their passions, their communities, and the 

world’s knowledge. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, 

California.

BITS&BYTES 


MODERNBILL 

WORKSHOP V3.0 

On April 5-6, 2007, ModernGigabyte held their 3rd annual 

ModernBill Hosting Workshop at the Marriott Hotel in downtown 

Louisville, Kentucky. The Workshop was another success following 

in the footsteps of the two previous years. A great deal 

of focus this year was in the areas of New Revenue Generation, 

Domains, Reseller Hosting, Reselling ModernBill, Exchange 

Hosting, and Windows Hosting. Over 100 attendees flocked 

from all parts to participate in the workshop. 

The sessions this year were split into two tracks, which at 

times were combined, allowing attendees the ability to choose 

the sessions based on in depth technical information, or support 

with other software companies and integration. Track One 

started with Customizing the Look and Feel of ModernBill followed 

by a session on Modern Accounting. ModernGigabyte’s 

own Sean Stafford, Jon McCarrick, and Kris Bailey covered 

Installs and Configurations in depth. This Track also featured 

coding and working with MBAPI, and migrating from previous 

versions as well as other billing applications. A session was 

also in place presented by Dan Kimball and David Stadler covering 

new developments and the future of the reseller program. 

Track One was concluded with a Developer Roundtable where 

future features were discussed with the entire development staff 

through input by the attendees toward their own needs in the future. 

Track Two consisted of sessions by Dave Koston of cPanel, 

Dennis Hopp of Ensim, Todd Crumpler of SWsoft, Michael 

Johnson of Microsoft, and Domain Sponsor by Jothan Frakes 

of Oversee.net. Both tracks were combined in special sessions 

to cover Exchange Panel by William Toll of Intermedia.net, Domains 

of a web host by Jude Augusta, the Executive Director 

of The Internet Commerce Association, as well as Tom Murphy 

of BuyDomains speaking on names, revenue, and customer 

satisfaction in the domain aftermarket. David Snead spoke on 

legal issues surrounding the Web Hosting industry, followed by 

Jon McCarrick, VP of Operations for ModernGigabyte, covering 

chargebacks in the Dark Side of Fraud. The sessions also 

featured a reseller panel moderated by Isabel Wang with voices 

from some of ModernBill’s top resellers including HostNine and 

MBLiscenses. 

A social session sponsored by BuyDomains was held at The 

Pub on beautiful 4th Street Live in Downtown Louisville. Here, 

attendees and company personnel alike were able to converse 

in a wonderful laid-back environment. This was a definitive 

chance for old colleagues as well as for new faces to break the 

ice and integrate with one another. Many discussions on the 

future were had, along with many a business card exchanged. 

If you are a current or potential ModernBill user, the workshop 

should be first priority in order to get the most out of the package 

as well as to keep in the know on the issues involved with and 

surrounding the industry to date. 


New A Opportunity 

for Web Hosts? 

By Reece Sellin 

Several months ago, in an article here in Ping!, I explored 

some of the technical aspects of VoIP (Voice Over 

IP) technology, and reviewed some ways in which VoIP 

could be used as a supportive technology for web hosting 

companies. Areas explored included click-to-call 

technology and virtual call centers, items easily supported 

and implemented using current and often very inexpensive 

VoIP technologies. In that area, not much has 

changed – VoIP remains a powerful technology category 

that can (sometimes dramatically) increase the quality 

and scope of customer service offered by web hosting 

providers. [continued] 


www.pingzine.com 23

In that article, I also suggested 

that there was a 

growing range of opportunities 

for those wishing to 

enter the VoIP marketplace. 

In the few months since 

that article was published, it 

appears that these opportunities 

continued to develop. 

It is this topic that I will 

explore in this article. 

VOIP VS. TRADITIONAL 

TELEPHONY 

The benefits of VoIP over Traditional 

Telephony are numerous, and largely beyond 

the scope of this article. However, 

VoIP empowers an extremely wide range 

of features normally unavailable (or very 

difficult or expensive to implement) using 

traditional telephony. Moreover, issues of 

the past, such as lower call quality on VoIP 

calls have largely been eliminated through 

improved technologies. Further, substantial 

cost savings for traditional services 

such as long-distance and 1-800 calling 

have added to VoIP’s appeal. Finally, VoIP 

hardware and software has progressively 

become easier to use – making most conversions 

to VoIP technology an efficient, 

uncomplicated process. 

More interesting from a business perspective, 

however, is the seemingly excellent 

alignment between rapidly growing 

VoIP markets and traditional web hosting 

markets. For example, a range of studies 

were cited in a recent whitepaper from 

Rack-Soft, LLC (www.4psa.com): 

According to Forrester, small and medium 

businesses are “2.5 to 3 times” more interested 

in a hosted VoIP solution than large 

businesses. 

According to IDC, “39.1% of corporate 

home offices and 23.7% of home-based 

businesses are interested in or using 

VoIP.” 

Also according to IDC, individual consumers 

also represent substantial opportunities; 

they project 62% of broadband users 

will also use VoIP services by 2010. 

And, perhaps most significantly, a Yankee 

Group study indicated that Hosted 

VoIP solutions “will continue to experience 

growth and fuel the industry by offering a 

solution for enterprises to save on capital 

expenditure.” 

many web hosting 

providers also have 

the infrastructure and 

type of client base to 

be competitive in the 

VoIP arena. 

Although full-fledged ISPs are the most 

commonly mentioned type of business in 

terms of having the capabilities of entering 

the VoIP market, it appears, on the surface 

at least, that many web hosting providers 

also have the infrastructure and type of client 

base to be competitive in the VoIP arena. 

The main reason for this is a result of 

VoIP now being a relatively simple technology 

to implement from a hosting perspective. 

I will explore a few of the possibilities 

in terms of offering VoIP services. 

A DO-IT-YOURSELF 

APPROACH 

With a bit of technical “elbow grease,” it is 

not difficult for a technically-inclined hosting 

provider to combine technologies into 

full-fledged VoIP solutions integrated with 

the PSTN (public switched telephone network). 

For example, a full corporate solution 

complete with custom extensions, 

voicemail, local and 1-800 numbers, and 

a variety of advanced phone features can 

be rapidly implemented using a combination 

of (freely-downloadable) “softphones” 

(software-based VoIP telephones, often 

utilized with a basic headset) as clients, 

open-source Asterisk PBX software (www. 

asterisk.org) as the underlying “server,” 

and an inexpensive SIP trunking service 

(available from a wide range of vendors, 

sometimes referred to as “VoIP carriers” or 

“media gateway providers”) as the “glue” 

that connects all of this to the PSTN. All of 

this can have a foundation on conventional 

dedicated servers, and in some cases, 

even on VPS platforms. Clearly, it is thus 

possible for many hosting providers who 

already offer dedicated hosting solutions to 

offer VoIP as a value-added service using 

the above configuration. 

Dedicated hosting providers looking to 

enter the VoIP market may not have to wait 

long for an easier solution, however. At 

press time, Digium, the primary developers 

of Asterisk, released the 5th Beta version 

of their new AsteriskNow product – a software 

appliance that integrates Asterisk, a 

Linux installation, and an “Asterisk GUI,” 

making it possible for end-users to configure 

their VoIP platform in an easy-to-use, 

graphical interface. 

According to Mark Spencer, creator of 

Asterisk and founder and chief technology 

officer of Digium, “Our objective with AsteriskNOW 

is to bring the power and flexibility 

of Asterisk to a far broader group of 

customers. Companies that want a real alternative 

to phone systems that cost thousands 

of dollars can download and use 

AsteriskNOW—without any knowledge of 

Linux or programming skills.” And, given 

the flexible (GNU Public License) licensing 

terms of AsteriskNOW, there is little doubt 

that many dedicated hosting providers will 

be able to provide stable, affordable AsteriskNOW-based 

VoIP solutions upon the 

product’s final release, expected later this 

year. 

Beyond the realm of software appliances 

are hardware appliances for implementing 

VoIP solutions. One of the most promising 

seems to be the trixbox Appliance (www. 

trixbox.org/appliance), a dedicated server 

that comes preloaded with the popular 

trixbox telephone application (itself an extremely 

popular application that makes it 

easy to configure even advanced Asterisk 

features). Planned for release in June, 

pricing will range from $999 for a base 

model through to $3199.00 for advanced 

configurations. [continued] 


SIMPLER SOLUTIONS? 

A perhaps obvious question is if there are simpler options 

available – in other words, is there anything in the VoIP world 

akin to web hosting reselling, that doesn’t involve having to operate 

and maintain a dedicated server? In a growing number of 

cases, it appears that the answer is yes – with a few caveats. 

First, something along the lines of a reseller “control panel” 

tend to be proprietary; the VoIP reseller industry simply isn’t 

developed enough to have “mature” technologies of the type 

we’re used to seeing in the web hosting market. 

That said, a few companies are now enabling individuals and 

businesses to resell various technologies, such as Hosted PBX 

technologies. For example, Pennsylvania-based Junction Networks 

(www.junctionnetworks.com) offers a reseller solution 

that is in many respects similar to what is seen in reseller web 

hosting. For example, akin to private-label nameservers and 

control panels, Junction Networks offers a “white label web 

site.” PBX package customization is also possible, as is utilizing 

a Web Services API. 

Interestingly, despite the seemingly rapid growth of the VoIP 

industry, reseller solutions such as those offered by Junction 

Networks remain relatively uncommon. Although the main reason 

for this appears to be a combination of reseller VoIP solutions 

being a relatively new niche in a relatively new industry, 

there may be more factors at play. I will now discuss a couple 

of these possibilities. 

A MATTER OF TRUST? 

Despite the inherent flexibility of VoIP solutions, virtually all of 

the companies involved in the VoIP industry have one common 

disadvantage – they are dwarfed in size, financial resources, 

and history by telcos and other firms with a long history of 

providing non-VoIP services to their customers. The gap, of 

course, can be even wider when one is discussing those who 

are reselling the services of VoIP providers. This disadvantage 

may affect the VoIP services industry in two significant ways: 

First, for most people, the companies they are most familiar 

with in terms of providing telephone services are those they 

use as their landline and mobile/cellular providers. Considering 

that, for many, their experiences with a given telephone company 

have been practically life-long, it is perhaps only natural 

to conclude that these same individuals are likely to explore 

their telco’s options whenever a specific solution is needed. 

And, although many of these individuals have likely heard of 

VoIP technology, there is a good probability they do not sufficiently 

understand how it works, or they may simply have other 

concerns with VoIP (such as worries over 9-1-1 emergency 

services) or dependence on broadband internet connectivity. 

Moreover, it’s tough to deny that familiarity is often comforting, 

particularly when making important decisions. Thus, it would 

seem that in both the case of residential and business telephone 

service, decisionmakers may tend towards going with 

the status quo – their telco – rather than an upstart VoIP provider 

or one of those upstarts’ resellers. 

Second, companies with strong histories in other services are 

also well-leveraged to enter the VoIP market. For example, 

Shaw Communications Inc. (www.shaw.ca), a Canadian firm 

that has been a long-established force in cable television and 

later cable-based broadband internet access, continues to expand 

into the arena of telephone service. Shaw Digital Phone, 

their premier product in this space, is now offered in most major 

communities in which Shaw provides cable television and 

internet service, and is extremely competitively priced when 

compared to traditional telco services. It is thus possible that 

as the VoIP industry grows, companies like Shaw, who have 

established client bases and hefty resources, will possibly lead 

expansion in both residential and business VoIP services. 

In other words, in both of these cases, the entities who ultimately 

score the most VoIP business may be those who are 

most trusted in other areas by current clients, or who at least 

have strong market recognition among possible clients. Thus, 

it is entirely possible that conventional web hosting companies 

looking to expand into wide-scale VoIP offerings may need to 

extremely carefully consider their business strategies, and be 

prepared for difficult market battles with very experienced, resourceful 

large companies. 

All may not be lost, however, for the small-to-medium-sized 

hosting company looking to take advantage of VoIP as a valueadded 

service for their clients. Although the business environment 

remains precarious regardless of the situation, a few 

relatively obvious approaches seem advisable: 

As with conventional hosting, VoIP may be another area where 

distinguishing service offerings from the competition may be viable. 

For example, many of the points raised in Dave Young’s 

article in this issue may be directly applicable to this industry 

as well. In other words, niche markets may ultimately prove to 

be the “bread and butter” of hosting companies moving into the 

VoIP arena. To take Dave’s example, a VoIP solution designed 

for chiropractors may be something immensely profitable but 

something totally untouched by larger firms. 

Directly offering VoIP as a value-added service with conventional 

shared hosting may also provide some significant oppormany 

web 

hosting 

providers 

will be able 

to find their 

place in this 

rapidly growing 

industry. 


tunities. For example, although broadband ISP companies 

have the advantage of being able to piggyback VoIP offerings 

on top of existing infrastructure, and offering services 

directly to clients who have already committed to the 

companies in question (often in the form of service “bundles), 

many hosting providers may be able to take a similar 

approach. This is one approach that may very well be 

strengthened by the fact that things like click-to-call functionality 

are directly integrated into websites – potentially 

giving the hosting provider, not the large ISP, an advantage. 

-- Substantial VoIP opportunities that also do not require 

marketing directly to end-users may very well be available 

to hosting providers. What I mean by this is that with the 

advent of technologies such as AsteriskNow, it is becoming 

much easier for hosting companies to sell and market solutions 

that easily and affordably extend conventional VPS 

and Dedicated server platforms, turning those platforms 

into full-fledged VoIP-based telephone solutions suitable 

for resale. Companies engaged in dedicated server and/or 

VPS hosting may wish to carefully consider these options. 

-- Lastly, it is entirely possible that still more companies 

will begin to offer reseller VoIP solutions, marketed in a 

similar fashion to reseller web hosting solutions as the industry 

continues to mature, and as items such as reseller 

control panels for VoIP become available. 

CONCLUSION 

In this article, I have discussed some recent developments 

in implementing VoIP technology from the perspective of 

those seeking to market VoIP solutions. I have also provided 

some analysis on how provisioning VoIP may prove 

challenging for hosting providers, while also discussing 

some possible ways in which hosting providers can effectively 

leverage VoIP to expand their enterprises. 

At the end of the day, the future for VoIP vis a vis the conventional 

web hosting provider appears somewhat unclear. 

In reality, the situation is perhaps very similar to that facing 

many web hosting providers in their conventional service 

offerings. The type of consolidation that some indicate may 

occur in the hosting industry (i.e. a move towards a few 

larger players rather than many smaller firms) may already 

be at play in the VoIP industry. Just as is the case in the 

web hosting industry debate on that front, when it comes 

to VoIP, there are a huge range of factors at play that turn 

it into a situation where truly only “time will tell.” What is 

obvious, however, is that VoIP is here to stay. And, even 

in industries that are dominated by large entities, there are 

almost always opportunities to be found. Assuredly, many 

web hosting providers will be able to find their place in this 

rapidly growing industry. P! 

Writer’s Bio: Reece Sellin is Senior Editor of Ping! Magazine 

and a freelance web hosting industry consultant. He 

lives in the Great White North known as Canada along with 

his yellow Labrador Retriever dog, Jill.

CUSTOMER SERVICE 

Q&A 

By Douglas Hanna 

Q: What’s the best way to say no to customers? 

A: Saying no to customers can be tough. 

Customers rarely want to hear the word “no” and in 

an ideal world, everything they want can become a 

reality. In competitive industries like web hosting, 

many companies want to bend over backwards for 

their customers. However, some requests simply 

can’t be met. When such requests are made, what is 

the best way to say “no”? 

First, you don’t want to use the word “no” directly. 

You can sugarcoat it with words or phrases like 

“unfortunately, I don’t believe that is possible”, “I don’t 

think that is feasible”, etc. This helps get rid of the 

immediate problem – the word “no”. The sentence 

may mean the same thing, but the simple wording change can 

make a big difference. 

Next, you want to offer some alternative solutions. Saying 

something like “Unfortunately, we don’t offer Microsoft SQL Server. 

However, we do offer MySQL, which in many cases, allows you 

to do the same thing.” helps ease the “no”. Alternative solutions 

make it better for the customer and have the possibility to generate 

sales, upgrades, etc. Be sure to outline any relevant costs, though 

– customers will not appreciate being charged down the road. 

The last step is to offer to help. Including a phrase at the end of 

your message like “Let me know if you’d like to proceed getting 

your account setup with MySQL.” shows the customer that you are 

willing to help. An offer to help will usually comfort the customer. 

Here’s a good example of a “no” question and answer: 

Customer Question: Do you support Ruby on Rails? 

Company Answer: Hi – (name) -, 

Thanks for your interest in –(company)-. We’re glad you took the 

time to email us. 

Unfortunately, at this time, we don’t support Ruby on Rails. 

However, we’re looking to start offering it within the next couple 

of months. In the mean time, though, you may want to consider 

some alternative programming languages like PHP or Perl, both 

of which we support. They are automatically installed on your 

account. 


You can also consider a dedicated server. We are more than 

happy to install Ruby on Rails on dedicated servers. In fact, we 

have several customers successfully running Ruby on Rails on 

their services. 

If you’d like me to send you an email when we start to offer Ruby 

on Rails on our shared hosting accounts, I would be more than 

happy to do so. Thanks again for your interest in our company and 

please don’t hesitate to let me know if I can be of service. 

Q: Our company has some outsourced support staff members. 

What are some good ways to deal with language barriers? 

A: Language and communication barriers are among the biggest 

complaints relating to outsourced customer service. Fortunately, it 

isn’t impossible to try and reduce some of those barriers and make 

communication easier for both the customer and the company. 

Here are some tips: 

- Use operating procedures. Don’t use scripts, but instead, have 

operating procedures outlining what to do in certain situations. 

Operating procedures still provide the representative with an 

outline of what to do, while at the same time making them seem 

less mechanical. 

- Teach them English. This only works if you hire the people 

yourself or deal with the same people on a day to day basis. If 

you do, though, it helps to teach the outsourced representatives 

English. Go over which words or phrases they may get wrong and 

how to improve. Record some calls or go over email logs and pick 

them apart. There is almost always a better way to say something 

and the outsourced representatives are usually happy to receive 

tips on how to improve their English. 

- Make elevations easy. If customers are getting frustrated, 

make elevating the call to someone who speaks better English 

easy. If you only have to elevate a small percentage of calls, it 

shouldn’t be too taxing on resources, and will make for happier 

customers. 

- Use outsourced staff appropriately. In my experience, a 

majority of outsourced technical support representatives do know 

their stuff. Make use of their skills and consider having outsourced 

staff do backend things like server upgrades and account moves, 

installations, etc. This almost eliminates the language and 

communication barriers (these tasks usually don’t involve much 

customer interaction) and still allows you to effectively utilize their 

skills. 

- Ask for feedback. Ask your customers to send you their 

feedback. You may be surprised at what you hear and customer 

feedback is almost always useful. If you want to clarify something 

or ask a question, contact the customer and ask for some more 

details. 

If you start with those, in time, it’ll be quite clear what you need 

to do to improve your customer service. P! 

Writer’s Bio: Douglas Hanna is the Customer Service Editor 

for Ping! Zine. You can send your customer service questions to 

qanda@pingzine.com. 

www.pingzine.com 29

By Amy Armitage & Joe Whyte 

With our combined experience over the years, 

we have seen the best and worst of web hosting 

companies. Here’s a light hearted but rather jaded 

list of reasons for when it’s time to leave your web 

host [present company excluded, of course]! 

u know 

its time to 

leave your 

web host 


1. Calling into customer support and 

waiting on hold for 40 minutes... and the 

hold music is Marilyn Manson! 

2. You ask for RoR (Ruby on Rails) and 

the tech on the phone assures you he can 

provide that and yells “RWAAAAR!” 

3. Your hosting company just got bought 

out by the web hosting company you just 

transferred away from. 

4. They claim to be a member of the BBB 

but later you find out their BBB is The 

Birmingham Bizarre Bazaar (quality fetish 

suppliers). 

5. You call in tech support and the 

gentleman on the other end says “Sir, is 

your computer plugged in?” .. but you’re 

a woman. 

6. You sign up for domain privacy and 

later do a WHOIS and see your credit 

card information and Social Security 

Number. “I was told I would get domain 

privacy!” “Miss, we thought you requested 

domain piracy” ... and you’re a man. 

7. You ask the tech if he has a TOS and 

he says yes. You later find out he meant 

totally offensive smells. And, when your 

site has been suspended unexpectedly, 

you have no leg to stand on. And the 

tech’s response is “Oh, THAT TOS!” 

8. The same tech who told you he has 

backups on your pre-sales call turns 

out to be a wannabee singer and his 

“backups” are his twelve-year-old twin 

sisters who “doo-wop” when he busts a 

move in the bathroom. 

9. You ask him how big his file size 

limit is and he responds “That’s kinda 

personal... but what I can tell you is I 

leave the ladies smiling”. 

10. The same tech (let’s call him Hubert 

since there’s a whole theme happening 

here) answers yes to your questions 

regarding shared server offerings. You 

later find out that Hubert is a very giving 

and generous guy and he “shares” your 

server space, bandwidth allocation and

esources with all the clients hosting on 

the same server as you… along with your 

personal information and e-mail address! 

11. When you ask Hubert how long they 

have been in business his response of 15 

years reassures you that they are a legit 

and solid company. When you phone in 

to challenge this (as the WHOIS on their 

domain says 2006) he replies “Ohhhh, I 

thought we were talking DOG years!” 

12. When your server goes down right 

before a big marketing campaign goes 

out. 

13. Calling into support to ask a question 

and the rep cannot find your account 

because somehow it got deleted -- OOPS! 

14. Your host asks you to verify your 

account by repeating your password over 

the phone. Every time you say it, you 

hear a stifled giggle and they say “I’m 

sorry sir can you please repeat that?” 

Your password is IamTheBe$tLOVER 

15. Your web host has automated 

support. After 23 minutes of keying in 

your SS number, last 6 digits of your 

credit card and your domain name (37 

characters) you finally speak with a 

real person who requests the SAME 

information AGAIN! 

16. After canceling your hosting account 

you are continually getting billed, but now 

for two dedicated servers instead of your 

$100-a-year hosting account. 

17. After 36 straight hours of working 

on your new sites, web design, and 

meticulously putting every image in 

its place you find out that your server 

crashed and there is no backup. 

Nooooooo!!! 

18. Getting a deal on your first year and 

then having to renew at a more expensive 

price. 

19. You have never been on the internet 

before and you decide to buy a hosting 

account and set up an e-mail account 

through them. And, within 20 minutes you 

already have spam! 

20. Your host experiences power failure 

and they have no backup generators! 

21. When you call your hosting company 

and ask why your servers went down. 

They respond with “No they didn’t. It must 

be a propagation issue or something with 

your ISP.” 

22. You call support because your site is 

down and they say “We are going through 

an upgrade”. That works once but when it 

happens every week sporadically during 

the middle of the day and they keep 

saying “it’s an update to help better serve 

you.” SUUUUCKS!!!! 

23. Your hosting company has a problem 

with spam and the filter score is up so 

high that no mail is getting through, but 

when you are in a meeting and check 

your mail, all there is in your inbox is porn 

spam and everyone is looking at you like 

you’re a sicko. 

24. Every time you go to your website, 

it’s down but when other people go to it, 

it’s fine. Sometimes you will sit your friend 

down at his computer and you at yours 

and you phone conference each other 

to see if it comes up and it does for him 

but not for you. You decide to go to his 

house and he to yours and see if it’s just 

your home computer but wherever you 

go your website will not be displayed. 

SUCKYVOODOONESS!!! 

25. You call your web host support team 

because something is wrong with your 

site and they tell you that a widget 2.0 

socket 5 cloud storm hit their data center 

and that’s why a page got deleted. IDIOT 

SUCKFEST!! 

26. After many attempts at being patient 

with your web hosting provider’s customer 

support techs’ inability to fix any problem, 

you get frustrated and a little upset. Later 

that day you find the following things 

wrong with your site. 

• Your real estate site is unexpectedly 

not selling real estate anymore. You are 

selling liquor stores now. 

• You just put up a very professional 

picture of yourself on your site and 

the next thing you know someone 

photoshopped your photo with a 

mustache, a black eye and teeth missing. 

27. When you bought your website and 

domain name through a sales rep at 

your first hosting company, the hosting 

company used the CEO’s name to 

register your domain name. Now you want 

to leave but they own your domain name. 

TRICKY WEB HOSTY!!! [Editor’s Note: 

Any connection between the above and 

a web hosting company who has recently 

faced action by ICANN is completely 

coincidental. No, really.] 

28. You bought a hosting account 

through a template hosting agency 

because you don’t know HTML and their 

backend admin area looks cool. After you 

purchase this you find out that they don’t 

support their templates! 

29. You are talking to smooth salesman 

Timmy over at a hosting company and 

he promises you four add-on’s, forum 

management, bulletin management, 

free e-mail marketing and a 200 Google 

adwords credit. After you sign up for their 

premier account for $5,000 a year, you 

notice that the freebies are not included 

in your package. You call back for Timmy 

but no one knows who Timmy is and a 

“Timmy” has not worked for them... EVER! 

30. You do not have log files! 

31. Your log files are never accurate. 

32. You started a lead generation site 

where people fill out forms for products/ 

servers/newsletters and in return you get 

there e-mail addresses. Someone decides 

to give your site a virus and take over your 

mailing list and your web host cannot do 

anything about it. 

33. Your built-in traffic stats never work. 

[continued] 

www.pingzine.com 31

34. Your built-in traffic stats are always 

wrong. 

35. You purchase a large hosting 

account with a lot of extras but when you 

need small things done, you are nickeland-dimed 

until you are broke. 

36. Your hosting company charges you 

to park domains. 

37. You buy a hosting account with a ton 

of space but cannot put up multiple sites 

on it. 

38. The only way you can put up multiple 

sites on your account is via your .htaccess 

file, but you have no freaking clue how 

to do that and your web host does not 

support that anyhow. GREAT -- that’s 

awesome -- good work!!!! 

39. You actually love your hosting 

company because it’s a smaller no name 

company but the service is great. You 

tell all of your five friends to join and they 

do... and then the company’s servers are 

overloaded. 

40. You sign up for a web host by doing 

a Google search, and after you sign up 

you call their support line, and ONLY 

THEN find out they are a foreign hosting 

company in Techcadia, and all their 

support techs speak Techcadian. Foreign 

SUCKY!!! 

41. You sign up with your web host 

but you only get one MySQL database. 

[Editor’s Note: And it’s limited to 50 

kilobytes in total size.] 

42. Your web hosting company is in 

charge of sending you notification on 

domain name expiration, but you never 

get yours. Your domain expires. 

43. A cybersquatter picked up your 

domain name and is holding it hostage. 

You find out it’s the guy from your web 

hosting company’s support team... who 

you previously screamed at and called “a 

stupid [expletive] moron.” 

44. You utilize a free web hosting 


service, but they place ads all over your 

page. [Editor’s Note: Including ads for 

your competition.] 

45. Your hosting company has backup 

servers but they are in the same 

geographical location, so when the power 

goes off, the original servers go down 

AND the backups go down, too. 

46. Your hosting company cannot 

automate its billing and invoices, as its all 

done by hand. Sadly, the accounts guy 

was recently paralyzed in a freak server 

accident, and types by blowing into a 

straw. 

47. Your web host goes “down” for 24 

hour periods at a time. 

48. Your user control panel consists of 2 

options. On and Off! 

49. You forgot to check “(web hosting 

name here) sucks” in Google before 

you bought your hosting account. Only 

after you buy the account, to your great 

surprise do you discover over 1,000,000 

pages indexed for that “(company name) 

sucks”. 

50. They offer SSH on shared servers, 

but the next day you find out it’s not 

really secure at all. And, and your site 

is constantly OWNED by 12-year-old 

hackers. 

51. They advertise domains for under 

$2 but when you complete the purchase, 

your charge says $98?! 

52. You request support and they advise 

you support costs extra! 

53. You request a cPanel change and 

they escalate your request to a System 

Admin! 

54. They don’t tell the truth. They claim 

to offer a lot of services, than when you 

host with them, you find out they don’t 

offer that... Like bandwidth: they claim to 

provide x amount of bandwidth, then you 

find out they have a daily cap for using 

it and when you multiply the daily cap x 

30 or 31, it is about 1/10th the size of the 

bandwidth they claim to provide monthly. 

55. Canceling - they’ll claim they let you 

cancel anytime within the contract, but it 

turns out you can’t ever get a refund (you 

have to write a letter in your own blood 

to prove you are who you say you are, 

then send it to their office in Nome, Alaska 

that reads mail only once a year during 

the famous dog sled race). Of course, 

when you complain about these points, 

they point you to their TOS where it spells 

out the whole Nome and dog sled stuff, 

although it doesn’t mention the writing the 

letter in your own blood (apparently the 

person on the phone just made that up to 

be funny). 

56. When immediately after you sign up 

with them, they offer this great deal on 

more space/bandwidth/whatever…but 

you can’t get it because you are already a 

customer. 

57. EVERYTHING is an extra charge, 

and you feel like you are getting nickleand-dimed 

to death. [Editor’s Note: You 

thought you read that one already? Keep 

reading.] Then, when you refuse to pay, 

they really do (try to) nickle-and-dime you 

to death. He who casts the first... coin... 

[Editor’s Note: Ping! Zine in no way 

advocates or bears responsibility for any 

damage or injuries caused by throwing 

coins at humans, animals, inanimate 

objects or ICANN.] 

58. You get treated like you just won the 

“Imbecile of the Year” award. (Even if you 

do deserve that award, being treated that 

way is not nice.) 

59. They pretend to help, but can’t speak 

English….only geekspeak. And they 

refuse to repeat or explain any further. Or 

so it seems, since you’re really not sure 

what they’re saying. 

60. They don’t have a community 

forum!!! P!

July 23-25, 2007 

Navy Pier, Chicago 

T H E F U T U R E O F H O S T E D S E R V I C E S 

Are you ready? 

Are you ready for the future of hosted services? 

Hosted messaging, soware as a service, voice 

over IP ... they’re all here. Are you providing 

them? 

Aend HosngCon 2007 to learn about the latest 

trends in hosted services technologies, business 

processes and markeng techniques. 

Network with the best and brightest in the 

industry at fun and excing events surrounding 

the conference. 

Aend the largest gathering of hosted services 

professionals in the world. 

LEARN. NETWORK. GROW. 

Promote your product or service to the largest 

gathering of hosted services professionals in the 

world at HosngCon 2007. 

Hurry! Exhibit space and Sponsorships are going fast! 

Register today to save up to 40% 

using discount code PINGZINE 

Early discount pricing ends June 15th 

P L A T I N U M S P O N S O R S : M E D I A S P O N S O R S : 

w w w . h o s t i n g c o n . c o m / g o / p i n g z i n e 

P R O D U C E D B Y

100% Uptime. Is It Really Possible? 

By Rollie Hawk< 

ONE OF THE TOUGHEST THINGS about 

consulting one’s clients is answering important 

questions. It’s not tough so much because the 

answers are hard to find—after all, we’re all experts in 

our professional fields—but rather because answers 

are complex. Most of us are constantly working to 

be forthright and honest in our answers while at the 

same time starting each and every one with that 

huge sellout of a qualifier, “well, it depends.” 


When it comes to hosting websites, data, or 

applications for clients, one of the toughest 

questions we face relates to what kind of 

uptime guarantees we can give. Obviously, 

fifty, seventy-five, and even ninety percent 

aren’t good enough for any clients, but how 

many nines can we realistically provide? 

Even more importantly, if we can—as so 

many hosts do—assert guarantees of 99%, 

99.9%, and 99.99%, why not 100% uptime? 

So is 100% uptime really possible?

In the interest of being forthright and honest with you the reader, 

well, it indeed depends. 

THE REAL ANSWER 

Before going any further, let’s examine the real answer. At the 

risk of giving away the conclusion to our main question, if we 

know what our realistic goal can be, it’s easier to get there. 

The main thing that “depends” in this case comes down to 

a definition. When we say “100%” uptime, what do we really 

mean? That may sound like an absurd notion, as most people 

look at 100% as a specific concept with an exact value. But when 

arithmetical math gives way to statistics, numbers mean different 

things; and make no mistake about it, we’re dealing with statistics 

when it comes to any guarantee in the business world. 

In normal conversation, 100% means exactly, completely, totally, 

and entirely 100%. But in business, we’re looking at statistics. 

Unfortunately, when it comes to statistics there is no such thing 

as a guarantee. It follows that with the complex set of variables 

determining uptime, there is no such thing as a true 100%. Sorry, 

but that’s a fact. 

That said, the other side of the statistical coin is that guarantees 

(in the statistical sense) are not necessary. Rather, it’s a matter 

of making the calculations and adjustments required to get the 

probability of the desired result where we want it with as small a 

margin of error as possible. 

THE LIGHT-SPEED ANALOGY 

If you hate math and statistics, here’s another way of looking 

at this. If you are a fan of science fiction or ever thought about 

the possibility of mankind colonizing other solar systems, you 

eventually learned a disappointing reality: the universe comes 

with a built-in speed limit. 

Wormholes, warp drive, and string theory not withstanding, 

nothing in this universe can travel faster than the speed of light. 

Even worse, because of the effects of relativity, we can never 

reach that top speed in any vessel. We can, however, get as 

close to that speed as we want. 

Now as “out there” as that example may sound, it leads to an 

important analogy. Even though we can never literally achieve 

100% uptime, we can get as close as we want. So if you need 

99.9%, 99.99%, or even 99.9999% and on, it can theoretically be 

done. You can extend those nines as far as your infrastructure, 

budget, and other factors can possibly go. Eventually, the 

difference between your actual uptime and 100% gets so small 

that there is no real way to measure it effectively. 

ABOUT THOSE “NINES” 

Before considering any sort of uptime guarantee, it’s important 

to examine exactly what those percentages work out to in terms 

of actual minutes and seconds. There are a lot of hosts out 

there making promises that they haven’t really analyzed and a 

lot of hosting clients who have never considered how long that 

downtime can actually be, so let’s look at the actual amounts 

here. 

If we take our target uptime as a percent and subtract it from 

100%, the result is the maximum downtime we are willing to 

accept in terms of percentages. For example, 99.9% uptime 

leaves 0.1% downtime. 

An average month is approximately 2.5 million seconds long. 

Once we have our maximum downtime percentage, we can 

multiply that by the number of seconds in a month to get our 

maximum downtime in seconds. For example, 0.1% of downtime 

multiplied by 2.5 million seconds works out to 2500 seconds or 

approximately 42 minutes. 

Table 1 – Conversions of “Nines” to Approximate Downtime 

“Nines” 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

Uptime % 

90.0000% 

99.0000% 

99.9000% 

99.9900% 

99.9990% 

99.9999% 

Downtime % Downtime (Sec) Approx. Downtime 

10.0000% 

1.0000% 

0.1000% 

0.0100% 

0.0010% 

0.0001% 

250,000.0 

25,000.0 

2,500.0 

250.0 

25.0 

In looking at what our uptimes work out to in terms of possible 

downtime (see Table 1), it comes clear that uptime percentage 

becomes much less arbitrary. In fact, if you look at the resulting 

downtimes, you’ll find that adding just one “nine” to your uptime 

guarantee results in magnitudes of difference in the practical 

measurement of downtime. 

WHAT CAN REASONABLY BE 

ACCOMPLISHED IN THAT TIME? 

Now that we know what we are looking at in terms of actual 

downtime, let’s perform a mental exercise. Considering the 

downtime we have available, let’s think about what can really be 

accomplished in those increasingly small windows of time. 

While nobody today would guarantee only 90% uptime, let’s 

start there. That works out to around three days of downtime. In 

three days, a web host could overnight ship a new server, install 

the operating system and software, configure everything, and 

restore from a tape. Though this is an extreme case, it gives 

one an idea of how much time can be saved just by having extra 

hardware around. 

Moving up to 99% uptime, we are giving ourselves around 7 

hours. That’s reasonably enough time to replace a failing drive 

and restore from a backup tape. 

With 99.9% uptime, things start to get a lot tighter. Now that we 

are down to around 42 minutes, response time starts to play a big 

role. If you are a hosting company with a two- or three-person 

staff, you’d better be making sure someone is answering the 

phones and checking the email and support tickets at all times 

because in 42 minutes there’s no time for anyone to be away 

from the desk for lunch or a nap and still have time to get back 

and respond in the allotted time. Assuming you are on the ball, 

in 42 minutes you can reasonably troubleshoot a hardware issue 

and either replace a bad part or move a drive to another machine. 

You also may—and I say “may” very loosely—be able to make a 

change to DNS records and have the change propagated before 

too many people notice. 

Moving to 99.99% from 99.9% uptime is probably the most 

drastic jump in terms of how it affects a web host. In a timeframe 

of four minutes, there’s not much that can be done in terms of 

troubleshooting and repairs. At this point, any web host had 

better have some heavy-duty network management software in 

place that will page or e-mail techs as soon as there is a problem. 

About the most anyone can do in four minutes is reboot a server 

or router, and that’s assuming the problem is found in less than 

a minute or so. 

Once your guarantee moves above 99.99%, you are essentially 

moving from manned to primarily unmanned management 

of server and network issues. With only seconds to operate, 

management software could possibly edit a routing table or restart 

a single service on a server. This is where redundancy in terms 

of connections, load balancing, and clustering are absolutely 

[continued] 

www.pingzine.com 35 

2.5 

3 Days 

7 Hours 

42 Minutes 

4 Minutes 

½ Minute 

2.5 Seconds

essential; after all, it takes a human being several seconds just 

to mentally process a problem. 

The point of this mental exercise was to convert times into more 

“tangible” measurements, which may be a surprise to those who 

haven’t thought about it before. If you found that frightening, the 

situation is even worse than presented above. Most of those 

problems presented above are the kind that the web host has 

some measure of control over. In real life, you have to worry 

about datacenters, communications lines, electricity, and a variety 

of other things that the host has little to no ability to manage. 

Even when conditions are ideal, there will always be the 

possibility of something catastrophic. All the preparation in the 

world can’t totally protect a single datacenter from something 

as rare and drastic as a hurricane, a terrorist attack, or a large 

meteorite hitting your servers. To the individual host, those 

events probably lend themselves to greater concerns than 

uptime, but that isn’t going to keep your clients from taking you 

to court over losses. 

So what’s the moral of the story? If you seriously want 

to approach 100% uptime, you’d better have redundancy, 

monitoring, and automation in place, with hosting infrastructure 

spread out across large areas of the country or planet. 

THE PROBABILITIES OF INDEPENDENT EVENTS 

Now that we’ve looked at some of the math and practical 

considerations of uptime percentages, most of what we’ve 

examined has been a bit of a downer. It’s time to turn the tables 

and make the math start working for the good guys, the hosts. 

Revisiting statistics, there is an important property in probabilities 

that is going to help more to achieve huge uptimes without being 

subject to the things that web hosts have no control over. That 

property is the statistical fact that the probability of independent 

events occurring is the product of their individual probabilities. 

To translate that into English, let’s say we have two servers 

with each having a 1% probability of being down. Assuming that 

downtime is independent, then we multiply the probabilities of 

each going down to get the odds of both being down. This works 

out to 1% times 1%, or 0.01%. To describe it another way, two 

servers may only be able to handle 99% uptime, but the odds 

that at least one of them are up is now 99.99% (assuming these 

events are independent). 

Incidentally, don’t try figuring this up by multiplying the uptimes. 

That leaves you with the probability of both being up and running, 

but we want to calculate the odds of at least one being up. 

Table 2 – Impacts of Redundancy on Uptime 

Uptime % 

90.0% 

99.0% 

99.9% 

1 Server 

90.0% 

99.0% 

99.9% 

2 Servers 

99.0000% 

99.9900% 

99.9999% 

3 Servers 

99.9000000% 

99.9999000% 

4 Servers 

99.9900000000% 

99.9999990000% 

99.9999999% 99.9999999999% 

If you examine the results of these probabilities (Table 2), there 

are some striking results. While a particular server may only 

provide 99.9% uptime, four independent servers working in 

tandem increase that uptime to 99.9999999999%. That’s going 

from three to twelve “nines,” which works out to going from 42 

minutes of downtime to mere milliseconds. 

The word that can’t be emphasized enough in this case is 

independent. That’s the only way this works.

HOW DO WE GET THERE? 

If you are sold on the idea of using the probabilities of independent 

events in your favor, you’re probably wondering how that’s done. 

It’s actually not that hard in terms of skill to pull this off, it’s more a 

matter of resource allocation. 

To demonstrate independence, let’s first look at statistically 

dependent events. This doesn’t mean that one necessarily causes 

the other, but just that they are affected by common factors. Load 

balancing and clustering servers in the same datacenter are 

helpful, but probably aren’t going to result in independent servers. 

If they share the same internet connection, power provider, router, 

Sorry kids, 

there’s just no 

such thing as 

100% uptime. 

dedicated database server, or anything else that could cause a 

general failure, then they are statistically dependent. 

To create statistically independent servers that will improve your 

uptimes, there are two categories of issues that must be tackled. 

The first includes technical issues, such as getting load balancing, 

clustering, and overall redundancy in place. This can be handled 

at the operating system level by most modern server OSes like 

Linux, Windows, and BSD and even at the control panel level with 

software like the Interworx-CP. 

The second includes more practical matters, such as telecom 

providers, climate control, and electricity. Unless you can get 

independent, redundant systems for providing internet connectivity, 

electricity, and the like, there’s probably not going to be a safe way 

to have everything hosted at one datacenter. Even then, those 

catastrophic events mentioned above could come into play. If you 

want to play things as safely as possible, you are probably going 

to need to have multiple datacenters with different internet and 

utility providers. 

CONCLUSION 

Sorry kids, there’s just no such thing as 100% uptime. But 

with planning, preparation, and investment in your network 

infrastructure, it’s possible to get downtime as low as you need 

it to be! P! 

Writer’s Bio: Rollie Hawk is a consultant, writer, husband and 

father living and working in southern Illinois. 

A Few Words on Grid 

Hosting – A 100% 

Uptime Solution? 

As is pointed out in the adjacent article, although a 100% 

uptime solution is theoretically impossible, it is possible 

to get extremely close to 100% uptime through the use 

of multiple, independent servers. (In other words, if the 

hosting situation is based on combined servers configured 

in such a way that they can tolerate the outage of certain 

servers and still effectively maintain hosting capabilities, 

then it is possible to get very close to 100% uptime). 

Of course, many things are well and good in theory, 

but not very good at all in practice. Unfortunately, this 

is sometimes the situation when trying to create a highuptime 

hosting solution. Although things like clustering 

and load-balancing are well-developed and available, 

implementing them into a hosting solution tends to be 

complex and expensive. 

A relatively recent introduction to the web hosting industry 

is a concept that aims to make high-uptime, enterprisegrade 

hosting solutions extremely cost-effective and easyto-implement. 

Perhaps the most salient example of this 

are so-called grid computing hosting solutions (although 

perhaps more accurately described as distributed 

computing). One of the leading examples is Rackspace’s 

venture, Mosso (located at www.mosso.com; and known 

by the tagline “the hosting system”). 

Essentially, the main difference between a system such 

as Mosso and conventional hosting is that a cluster of 

servers, combined with enterprise-grade, redundant 

storage technologies such as NAS (Network Attached 

Storage) are mated to an extremely high-quality, redundant 

network. Because of the multiple levels of redundancy 

in terms of drives, actual machines serving pages, and 

network uplinks, it is possible to obtain an extremely high 

uptime. In other words, such solutions come quite close to 

satisfying the independence requirement that can ensure 

uptimes in the very “high nines” -- effectively creating a 

virtually 100% uptime solution. 

Such solutions can be affordably provided largely as a 

result of economies of scale. In other words, companies 

like Rackspace have the ability to invest significant 

amounts of capital and other resources into things like 

giant server clusters, high-redundancy NAS configurations, 

and specialized software to make it all work together. By 

enabling a large number of clients to use these resources 

via a fairly conventional web hosting model (i.e. buying x 

amount of space and y amount of bandwidth for z dollars), 

initial capital costs are spread across a broad range of 

users. Moreover, such solutions tend to be designed to 

allow easy scalability. It is likely the situation that as Mosso 

grows, Rackspace will simply need to add additional 

servers and drives to their existing architectures to provide 

the same level of service to their Mosso customers. 

In sum then, although developing one’s own distributed/ 

grid hosting solution is certainly not for the faint-hearted 

(nor those without deep pockets), it is rapidly becoming 

possible to utilize extremely redundant, distributed/grid 

architectures in much the same way as a conventional 

web hosting solution, with costs that are very competitive 

compared to other enterprise-grade hosting services. 

www.pingzine.com 37


“ ” 

The Best Guy 

On The Web 

By Amy Armitage 

BRIAN PRINCE is a digital marketing visionary, and 

he has been intimately involved with shaping the landscape 

of the internet revolution since 1994. For some of us, that’s 

almost the olden days! 

As CEO of Best of the Web, Brian Prince relaunched the 

original web awards portal as a best-of-class, humanedited 

web directory and search engine. Keeping up with 

the internet’s dynamic growth, Mr. Prince orchestrated the 

creation of the Best of the Web Blog Directory, a robust, 

tag-driven, searchable directory of the best blogs available 

on-line. He also recently spearheaded the launch of Best 

of the Web Media, a proprietary collection of more than 20 

niche subject matter blogs on topics including politics, food, 

health and activism. He is also co-founder and president of 

Hotel Hotline.com LLC, and a heck of a nice guy! 

Brian, thanks for being so brave 

and agreeing to an interview. Past 

interviewees like Eric Meyer CSS Guru 

and Craig from Craig’s List are still 

recovering so I’ll try and be gentle, but 

let’s face it... We love controversy and 

public humiliation here at Ping Zine! 

We should start with those dreamy 

blue eyes. Meeting you in Vegas last 

year I can remember two things. Your 

eyes and Brandy commenting that my 

makeup was still looking good after 

eight hours of conferencing. But what 

do YOU remember about me? 

Good question. Although I was a bit 

banged up from the Vegas nightlife and 

not in top conference form when we met 

(sadly I rarely am), I vividly recall a jolt of 

energy from meeting and speaking with 

you -- something akin to human caffeine. 

You came across to me as this sincere, 

engaging, fun-loving, to-the-point, speakyour-mind, 

intelligent-yet-sassy Aussie 

from down under -- with just a twinkle of 

mischief in your eyes. My kind of gal... 

Yes it’s all about me 

Tell me some interesting stuff about 

yourself, Brian? 

I am a left-handed Capricorn, which, 

from what little I know about horoscopes 

and cerebral analytics suggests that as 

a result of this rare combination I am 

at a significantly higher risk of suffering 

Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC 

for the medical crowd). So with that 

possibility ever-present, I try live every 

day to it’s fullest... 

I actually Googled that... totally 

gullible, huh? 

I ride a Harley and have a private pilot’s 

license. It is alleged that I once flew under 

a bridge at night (a very unintelligent thing 

to try) but I don’t talk about those days 

anymore... 

When I was twenty-nine and just 

married, I was diagnosed with colon 

cancer and given a 70% chance of 

survival. I had great support from friends 

and family, beat the disease down, and 

[continued] 

www.pingzine.com 39

today [I] am a successful cancer survivor 

with a great wife, two awe-inspiring 

young sons, and two successful business 

ventures. Life is good. The greatest things 

I learned from this experience were the 

importance of friends, family, and health; 

and that a fighting spirit and perseverance 

to endure (both good and bad times) are 

a must to achieve your goals in life and 

business. 

I have two full-time executive roles: 

I serve as the President of a hotel 

reservations network called Hotel Hotline 

as well as the CEO of Best of the Web. 

It’s a pretty exhausting task, but I dig the 

on-line industry, the great people that I get 

to interact with daily, and the energy of 

internet marketing so it keeps me driving 

passionately forward. 

This is a picture my oldest son and I 

after his first ride on my Harley – notice 

the stunned look of disbelief after just 

experiencing sheer, raw, hair-raising 

horsepower for the first time... 

I was too busy looking at the bike.. really 

So Vegas... Give us the down and 

dirty – what was the craziest thing you 

did there? 

Hmmm – Vegas. Fortunately for my 

ego, I have a pretty poor memory and 

I typically don’t remember most of the 

truly “stupid” things I do (in Vegas or 

elsewhere). Nevertheless, during the 

Affiliate Summit show in January, I woke 

up one morning with no money left and 

thought I was pick-pocketed or lost my 

money outright walking around the night 

before. I was quickly informed by my 

friends that I had indeed “lost” all my 

money – but not due to a pickpocket. 

Rather, it seems that I was playing Texas 

Hold ’em Poker at the Palms at 5am in 

the morning with my eyes closed and my 

head on the table. Not a good recipe for 

gambling success, and justice was swift 

and efficient. A fool and his money are 

quickly parted, as they say... 

How old were you when you first 

ventured on-line? At this point, were 

you immediately enamored with the 

internet, or a bit “weirded-out” by it? 

And, can you tell us a little about your 

first website creation? Is it still on-line? 

In 1994, I was working for AT&T as a 

Director of Training for the Manhattan 

business sales force, and I was tasked 

with rolling out AT&T’s first business ISP 

and web hosting product called Easy- 

World-Wide-Web (EW3). It was anything 

but easy, and proved to be a monumental 

task to introduce, as the internet was 

so new for commercial purposes that 

businesses saw very little benefit in going 

through all the trouble to create and 

set-up a website that was nothing more 

than a costly digital brochure or business 

card. So, the first few sites I was involved 

with were helping these early adopters 

create and set-up these very exciting 

static brochure pages that did pretty much 

nothing. Good stuff. Fortunately, we’ve 

come a long way from those days and I 

would like to think that none of my early 

creations are still on-line today - in a 

perfect world they would have been taken 

out back and beaten down long, long 

ago... 

Lunarpages was inspired by a Star 

Trek episode. What other names did 

you pick through before choosing Best 

of the Web? What about The Very Best 

Things You Could Ever Want to Search 

For and then Find On the World Wide 

Web? That one’s pretty snazzy. 

Wow – talk about marketing prowess... 

Where were you 15 years ago when we 

needed you Amy?!? 

I was only 6 years old ;) 

Actually, we did not have the honor of 

originally choosing the name Best of the 

Web as the project was first founded by a 

group of University of Buffalo professors 

in 1994 who were trying to create a social 

media site where the web community at 

large voted on the best sites on the web 

within a variety of categories. After 5 years 

as a ‘web awards’ portal in this model, the 

project was abandoned and we swooped 

in and purchased the business. 

I do have to commend the founders’ 

marketing foresight though – “Best of 

the Web” has turned out to be a very 

marketable and memorable brand for us 

– and for that I thank them. I think we’ll 

pass on your suggestion Amy (albeit a 

great one!) and stick with what’s working 

for us :) 

Since you’re going to pass I’ll admit that 

was Tiara’s suggestion 

For many web hosting newcomers, 

it’s a daunting task to design a website, 

put it up on the internet, and then get 

it to show up in the search engines 

so people can find it. What do you 

recommend for these fledgling web 

entrepreneurs? How did BOTW begin 

this process? 

I agree that it is a daunting task just to 

create and design a quality website, let 

alone trying to get the site ranked and 

visible in the major search engines. If I’ve 

learned anything through the years, it’s 

that there truly aren’t any “shortcuts” in life 

that tend to work out. I’m a believer in the 

long-haul – meaning that new site owners 

and fledgling entrepreneurs can’t expect 

instant gratification. It’s a long process 

that takes time, attention to detail, and 

patience. 

In terms of driving traffic in today’s 

on-line environment, a webmaster has 3 

basic channels to consider: social media, 

pay-per-click, or organic search engine 

marketing. Each marketing initiative 

has advantages, disadvantages, and 

timelines, so my advice would be to 

consider a blend of all three and vary your 

expectations according to each particular 

channel. PPC marketing can bring instant 

site exposure, traffic and sales, but can 

be costly and onerous to maintain. Social 

media generation takes imagination and 

a bit of luck, but can be very effective for 

driving traffic and links, but typically not for 

sales conversions. And my favorite of the 

three, organic search engine marketing, 

can take years to pay dividends, but once 

your site starts showing in the organic 

search engine results, there is no sweeter 

tonic for low-cost customer acquisition. 

So, new entrepreneurs need to take 

the plunge, try different approaches, and 

create quality content that appeals to their 

target users. Without a good product, 

all the marketing in the world won’t help 

you in the long term, so make sure that 

both your product and business model is 

sound. 

Who is your stylist? 

Ha. If you only saw my “traditional” garb 

you would realize that the word ‘stylist’ is 

not really in my vocabulary. Outside of the 

occasional TV interview or two, you will 

rarely see me dressed in anything that 

doesn’t strongly conform to my rule of the 

“Three C’s” – Comfort, Convenience, and 

Cleanliness. And the third “C” is optional 

based upon circumstances ;-) 

My rule is the three J’s - Jeans, Jammies 

(PJs) and Jay my hubby 

I’m sure you’ve answered your fair 

share of support or trouble tickets. 

We receive approximately 30k tickets 

per month and we have our regulars 

who send in their conspiracy theories. 

My favorite is Tin Foil Man and his 

perception that the FBI continually 


wipes his site content. What’s the 

worst or most creative or delusional 

one you’ve ever received? 

We receive some beauties – particularly 

in the travel business. One of my all 

time favorites was a lady who booked a 

reservation but apparently did not realize 

that it was a pre-paid reservation and that 

she would be charged for the room at the 

time of booking, so she wrote to us and 

accused us of coming into her computer 

and taking her money. She claimed that 

she unplugged the computer to stop us, 

but somehow we still got in and took her 

money. I believe she also wanted to bring 

in the FBI to investigate... 

I feel sorry for the FBI sometimes 

In your experienced webmaster 

opinion, what is the most important 

factor in choosing a web host? 

As a business owner with hundreds of 

websites to monitor and maintain, the 

most important factor to me in choosing 

a web host is uptime reliability. If my sites 

aren’t up 100% of the time, everything 

else we do is for naught. To me – uptime 

reliability is the most important aspect for 

on-line business success. That would be 

closely followed by hosting support – both 

in means of having a robust hosting 

control panel that gives you freedom to 

customize your hosting needs on-line, 

as well as having well-trained support 

technicians available when you need it. 

Does BOTW have local, regional, and/ 

or international sections for various 

kinds of categories and businesses? 

Yes – we have all of the above. Best of 

the Web‘s mission from the beginning has 

been to create a comprehensive general 

web directory that is constantly growing 

and evolving; currently there are more 

than 100,000 categories in the directory. 

The largest branch in the directory is 

the regional branch, which gives us 

the opportunity to list sites not only in 

a relevant topical category like ‘health 

food’, but also in a regional category 

that matches the business’s physical 

location. This is a great plus for site 

owners interested in Local Search, as the 

search engines who spider our directory 

are able to glean physical location details 

from our regional site placement and this 

can help the engines rank a site for georelated 

searches like ‘Uniondale Italian 

Restaurant.’ 

Within the regional branch are specific 

sub-categories that cater to various 

international markets as well, like the UK 

branch, Europe, and Canada. Each of 

these areas of the directory is regional 

in nature and helps us assist with 

categorizing sites worldwide. 

We are also working hard on a new 

BOTW Local offering that will provide 

small business owners an opportunity 

to create a free business profile page 

on Best of the Web that includes lots of 

interesting local-specific information like 

hours of operation, credit cards accepted, 

driving directions, zip codes and regional 

areas served, return policies, phone 

numbers, etc. We’re pretty excited about 

the local product and opportunity and 

expect to launch it by mid-year – I’ll keep 

you posted. 

Is there a greater advantage to listing 

your service/company deeper into the 

site, under more and more specific 

categories? Or are there times when 

companies should list under more 

general headings? 

The best place for a site is in the most 

relevant topical and regional category that 

matches the sites content and physical 

location (if applicable). With that said, we 

do list some ‘deep content’ pages if the 

content is relevant, deep, and unique. For 

example CNN.com offers a wide variety 

of deep content, and as such, they have 

several hundred listings in the directory 

where the content relates to the topical 

category. 

In my opinion, site owners should 

consider both approaches – marketing 

their site as a business entity, but also 

building good content and links internally 

to create deep content pages that rank 

for specific content-related queries. The 

more pathways into your site for visitors 

to find you, the better your odds will be 

to show in the search engines, which 

leads to traffic growth and ultimately the 

potential for a successful enterprise. We 

have a motto around the office that goes 

something like this: “More More More 

More!” 

Imagine overnight the internet is 

gone. OMG, what would you do?! 

This one got me to thinking a bit 

– it’s something I really take for granted 

today, but I surely would miss it should 

it disappear. When I think back to life 

before the internet, I vaguely recall that 

it was fun, but I can’t seem to recall 

specifically what was fun about it... It 

just seems kind of empty without the 

internet. Nonetheless, should the internet 

disappear overnight, I think I would fire up 

the Harley, throw my trusty snowboard on 

my back, and ride off to the Mountains in 

a nostalgic haze. From there, I envision 

a glorious career in the Senior Semi-Pro 

Snowboarding tour... 

On your “BOTW Blog Directory” site, 

you have editors and the description 

reads: “the Blog Directory is an open 

project, where public editors can help 

in building the most comprehensive 

collection of blogs online.” Tell us 

a little bit about this offspring, what 

inspired it, and why editors are 

important to its success? 

We launched the BOTW blog directory 

in mid-2005 when it became apparent 

that people were searching for ‘fresh’ blog 

content, and we were serving back a mix 

of static web sites and blog index pages. 

We realized that people wanted to retrieve 

specific blog posts and content, not just 

blog topics or index pages. 

By creating a separate and distinct 

directory just for blogs, we were able 

to create a variety of blog search 

options, allowing users to search bestof-breed 

blog content multiple ways 

– by post content, by blog content, or 

by using specific ‘tags’ or keywords. 

This is a powerful combination of search 

technology that allows users to fine tune 

their search in a variety of different ways 

to find current and timely posts from the 

best blogs online on almost any subject 

available. Additionally, all blogs listed in 

the BOTW blog directory must have at 

least six months of posting history and 

show passion and expertise towards the 

subject matter. This helps eliminate many 

of the blog spam issues and MFA (Made 

for Adsense) blogs that clutter up many of 

the major blog search engines today. 

Editors power everything we do at 

Best of the Web, and in regards to the 

blog directory, there is an even more 

synergistic connection between editors 

and blog content. Most bloggers are 

typically very niche-oriented and plugged 

into their particular topical community. 

They participate, they now each other, 

they share comments. Most blogs today 

also contain a ‘blogroll’ that is really just a 

list of similar web-related resources and 

blogs. This blogroll is in essence the same 

as a blog directory category, so there 

is clear synergy between bloggers and 

subject-matter expertise. These people 

[continued] 

www.pingzine.com 41

know their topical categories, their peers 

in the space, and the best resources 

available on that particular subject - so 

who would be better to task with helping 

us to build a quality resource of the best 

blogs on the web then bloggers and 

volunteer subject matter experts? 

What did you do before BOTW? 

I attended University of Maryland, 

graduated with a degree in Business, 

moved to New York City, and started 

working for AT&T. From there I worked for 

WorldCom (before they imploded), and 

then Valueweb Hosting. After believing 

that I had enough management training 

to start my own business (I didn’t – but 

experience is the best teacher), I founded 

Hotel Hotline with my business partner, 

Greg Hartnett. Once we got Hotel Hotline 

off the ground and into profitability, we 

looked to diversify our business and 

came across BOTW and purchased the 

business from the founders. From there, 

we rebuilt Best of the Web from its roots 

as a pioneering, social media award 

site into a human-reviewed general web 

directory, and the rest, as they say, is 

history... 

Comment, clarify.. or simply choose one 

of the following [you have to… It is part of 

the “Interview with Amy game”]: 

Working for BOTW for the rest of your 

life or getting paid $1000/day to do 

nothing. 

Working for BOTW for the rest of my life. 

$1000 a day for doing nothing sounds 

nice, but I have a bit of an affinity for the 

finer things in life and I’m afraid the $1000 

a day wouldn’t cut it for too long…. 

*GASP* 

Lamborghini or Volkswagen (hippie 

style with rainbows and flowers)? 

Easy – Lamborghini. Although I dig 

hippies, I like fast cars even more :) 

Dinner with Brandy from WMR or 

Shopping with Joan Rivers as your 

personal stylist? 

Another softball – dinner with Brandy 

of course. The beautiful Brandy will 

introduce me to at least 10 potential 

business partners during a typical meal, 

while Joan Rivers would just annoy me. 

Lead Guitar or Bass? 

Lead Guitar 

Inhale or exhale? 

Both :) 

Social Media or Google? 

Google (I know where my bread is 

buttered) 

Spiderman or Cat Woman? 

If by Cat Woman, you mean Halle Berry 

dressed in a skin-tight leather cat suit 

– then definitely Cat Woman. 

Disco or Break dancing? 

Break dancing. The Best of the Web 

crew is decidedly biased to break dancing, 

so much so that last year we had to have 

a dance off in order to crown the BOTW 

break dancing champion once and for all. 

WOW the guy in the red shirt is 

awesome! 

Spam or Pop ups? 

I suffer from such an intense overload of 

spam on an hourly basis and despise it 

so much that I would welcome a pop-up 

bonanza circa 1999 as a welcome tradeoff, 

if I could eliminate spam from my 

inbox for good. 

Family Guy or The Simpsons? 

I love Family Guy, but am an even more 

fervent Simpsons fan – 18 years and 

going strong. I consider The Simpsons to 

be the most culturally influencing show to 

air during my lifetime. Who can’t relate to 

Homer, Bart, Maggie, or Mr. Burns from 

time to time? 

Lionel Richie or Barry Manilow? 

Lionel Richie, reluctantly. I would have 

preferred ‘Peter Tosh or Jim Morrison’ 

– but that would be too difficult of a choice 

I think. My mind might explode... 

What’s your fave made up word? Use 

it in a sentence. 

Kajillion. Wow – we had over a kajillion 

hits to Best of the Web yesterday – great 

success!! 

We had Eleventy Billion so pfffft ;) 

Best undeveloped domain name you 

own? 

Bestoftheweb.com We have been 

operating since 1994 as BOTW.org – the 

acronym for Best of the Web. Last fall, 

we were fortunate to finally purchase 

BestoftheWeb.com for a small fortune. 

The thinking was to grab the .com 

and add a memorable brand url to the 

company, but at current, we are operating 

a bi-polar existence and simply have the 

Bestoftheweb.com domain forwarding to 

BOTW.org. It’s on the list of development 

projects for 2007, so hopefully that will 

be changing shortly and BestoftheWeb. 

com will become a showcase portal for all 

things Best of the Web. 

If you could offer all Ping Zine! 

Readers 40% off directory listings on 

BOTW.org would you? 

40% huh? That’s a pretty tall order that 

will most likely get me into some hot water 

with our CFO, but for the good folks at PZ, 

why the heck not? 

We hereby welcome any and all 

PingZine Subscribers to submit their web 

sites to the Best of the Web web directory 

or blog directory and save 40% instantly 

using the following promo code during the 

submission process: 

Promo Code = PINGZINE 

You will receive an immediate 40% 

discount on all BOTW directory 

submissions, blog submissions, or 

category advertising sponsorships. 

Sheesh I would have settled for 15% …. 

suuuuuucker! 

Why should our community list 

their sites on BOTW? Tell us the 

advantages. 

A listing in Best of the Web has a variety 

of advantages. For one, we operate a 

proprietary database of human-reviewed 

sites, so by being included in the directory 

your site is exposed to millions of targeted 

users allowing a site owner to expand 

their audience and reach more visitors. 

Additionally, site owners have the option 

to choose from over 100,000 unique 

categories in the directory to precisely 

target their most relevant category and 

audience. 

Lastly, a listing in Best of the Web 

can help your organic search engine 

marketing efforts. As a trusted source 

of human-reviewed web sites (our 

editors work off a set of quality-indicator 

guidelines), the major search engines 

value the links from the BOTW directory 

and use them to help evaluate and rank 

your site in their respective indexes. 

OMG, where is my BOTW t-shirt? 

Check the mail – BOTW swag care 

package in route to Lunarpages as 

we speak. For any other site owners 

interested in scoring some free BOTW 

swag, please come visit us at an 

upcoming search conference and we 

will be happy to spread the wealth. 

Our 2007 conference tour includes the 

upcoming Search Engine Strategies 

NYC conference, AdTech San Francisco, 

Hostingcon, SES San Jose, and 

Webmasterworld’s Las Vegas Pubcon in 

November. We hope to see you at one or 

more of these great events! 

We’ll take pics and post them! 

Thanks, Brian! 

My pleasure – thanks for the opportunity, 

spotlight and creative questions... P! 


WANT TO 

KEEP YOUR 

BUSINESS AFLOAT? 

Five practical 

steps to 

becoming a 

‘Sustainable 

Leader’ 

GE. Allstate. Yahoo! These companies share some enviable 

traits—they’re all household names and they’ve all been in business 

for years. Not easy to achieve in today’s frenetic marketplace. 

What do leaders at these companies know that you don’t? They 

know what it takes to build a sustainable business; a business 

that will be around for years. According to USA Today, every year, 

nearly 1.5 million Americans start their own business. If they 

survive the first three years, chances are they’ll stay afloat. 

So how do you create an enduring business? For starters, put 

a ‘sustainable’ leader at the helm. That means having a leader 

who improves employee morale, workplace environment and the 

community. Forget about boosting profits with a no holds barred, 

pillage and plunder approach. Sustainable leaders strengthen the 

bottom line by creating loyalty with employees, clients and the 

community— the result of showing they value their staff and taking 

civic responsibility according to acclaimed executive coach and 

author Karlin Sloan. 

“Sustainable leaders leave the people around them, their 

company, clients and the greater community all better off from 

their service,” says Sloan. “They build organizations that are 

sustainable and can thrive for years to come beyond their individual 

contributions.” 

In her coaching seminars and her book SMARTER, FASTER, 

BETTER: Strategies for Effective, Enduring, and Fulfilled 

Leadership, Sloan encourages casting aside the old notions of 

leadership and take five practical steps to building a sustainable 

business: 

1. Measure more than the bottom line 

Think about the big picture and the impact your business has on 

the community and the environment. Then take action to improve 

in weak areas. 

2. Practice sustainable working styles 

Happy, healthy employees are more productive. Many 

companies offer employees perks such as ‘movie days’ or free 

car washes. They also advocate a balance between work and 

home life. Remember, lower absenteeism and job turnover also 

save money. 


3. Get everyone working together 

Collaborate as a company to improve sustainability and generate 

a sense of teamwork, excitement and ownership. Plus it enhances 

your ability to attract the best people. 

4. Give back to the community 

Create employee matching programs, encourage community 

involvement and corporate philanthropy. People in your community 

help keep you in business—return the favor! 

5. Reduce your carbon footprint 

Take stock of your energy usage and invest in alternative ways to 

power your operation or reduce your consumption. ‘Think green’ 

and incorporate simple changes such as reducing paper usage, 

recycling and switching to energy saving light bulbs. 

While those are just five simple steps that will help anyone 

improve their work performance, SMARTER, FASTER, BETTER 

provides leaders with even more insight that they can readily 

apply on a daily basis. Sloan uses real-life business scenarios 

to demonstrate how the paradox of actually slowing down, taking 

time to reflect and focusing on the greater good can create a 

leader who is smarter, faster and better. 

“All leaders are unique and there is no secret formula for 

success, no step-by-step prescription for greatness,” says Sloan. 

“However, any leader’s greatness can be measured by how well 

they serve the groups whose trust they hold.” Sloan’s message 

resonates loudly in an age when customers are demanding more 

accountability from companies. Leaders at some of the nation’s 

most recognizable brands, including Yahoo!, Allstate and Rodale 

Press are taking notice and implementing Sloan’s principles in 

leadership development. By asking questions, slowing down 

and searching for better solutions for the workplace, customers 

and beyond, business leaders can develop more than just their 

careers; they can carve out an enduring legacy. And it can all start 

with just five simple steps. P! 

For a review copy of SMARTER, 

FASTER, BETTER: Strategies for 

Effective, Enduring, and Fulfilled 

Leadership, by Karlin Sloan (Jossey-Bass/ 

a Wiley Imprint, 2006; 256 pp. hardcover, 

$24.95), or to interview the author, contact 

Rachel Damien at 727-443-7115, ext. 206 

or email rachel@event-management.com. 

Please include your name, publication, 

and mailing address with your request. 

Hardcover: 256 pages 

Publisher: Jossey-Bass/a Wiley Imprint, 

2006 

Available at: www.amazon.com, www. 

karlinsloan.com, Borders, Barnes & Noble 

Author’s Bio: Karlin Sloan is the founder 

and president of Karlin Sloan & Company. 

A certified executive coach with a master’s 

degree in clinical psychology, Ms. Sloan’s 

expertise in organization development 

consulting, leadership development 

programs and executive coaching has 

served clients throughout the U.S., 

Europe, South America and Asia. She is 

a founding member of the International 

Consortium for Coaching in Organizations 

and has been featured in numerous 

publications as an expert in workplace 

behavior. 

falling


Rock Out 

with Rails 

on Windows 

By Danielle Wallace 

Subsequent to a prior article, “Running Multiple 

Ruby on Rails Applications on One Domain”, 

this new Rails article involves setting up Rails 

on your Windows system. This type of setup can 

allow you to either test your rails applications 

prior to deploying them to a Linux-based Rails 

host, or alternatively can allow you to serve Rails 

applications from your Windows server. 

Baseline Installation of InstantRails 

Installing Ruby and RoR on Windows is relatively seamless. 

Unlike Ruby and Rails on the Linux platform, there is a popular 

and frequently updated, fast-install, Instant Rails solution at http:// 

instantrails.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl 

This package contains not only Ruby, Ruby gems and Rails 

packages, but it also includes Apache, MySQL and even mongrel. 

Additionally, the package is self-contained and doesn’t modify 

your system variables. 

This tutorial will go over the quick steps needed to add Ruby and 

RoR onto your Windows system using this Instant Rails package. 

[continued] 

www.pingzine.com 47

1. Go to http://instantrails.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl and click 

[Download], then select the most recent zip file. Opt to save it to 

your Windows system. 

2. Unzip the saved file, either using Windows’ own unzipping 

tool, or your favorite zip utility, such as WinZip. Extract all the 

files into your main location (such as C:\). 

Please ensure the location you have placed the rails files does 

not contain any spaces. An example acceptable path would 

be: 

C:\InstantRails 

An example poor path selection would be: 

C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop\InstantRails 

Please note that the InstantRails directory will auto create as 

the files extract, so you do not need to create this folder. 

3. Double click to open the InstantRails folder, then double click 

on the InstantRails.exe file to begin installation. 

4. During setup, you will be prompted about changing the 

configuration path. Accept the suggested change. 

Please note that if Apache or MySQL do not start upon 

installation, you should first try to kill whichever service is not 

running by clicking on the service button (Apache or MySQL) in 

the Instant Rails dialog box, then select kill in the list of options. 

You can then restart or start the service. 

Setting up the two included applications (cookbook and Typo) 

There are two applications included with InstantRails: cookbook 

and Typo. The instructions to set these up are as follows: 

1. To run the cookbook and Typo applications, simply click the 

“I” button to the left of the Apache button in the Instant Rails 

dialog box. Then select Rails Applications > Manage Rails 

Applications. 

2. Check the box to the left of cookbook and Typo, then select 

Configure Startup Mode. Determine what Runtime mode 

(development, test, or production) and what port (default is 

3001) you wish to use. You may want to choose port 80 if you’ll 

be using Rails for all your production and development, since 

port 80 is the default port for http sites. This area provides 

instructions and links to files you will need to edit if you choose 

to use a port besides 3001 for development. 

In our example, we will keep the default values, but select to 

Edit Windows HOSTS file. Once you select that option, add the 

following 2 lines to the bottom of it: 

127.0.0.1 www.mycookbook.com 

127.0.0.1 typo 

Select to save the file, then exit it by choosing X at the upper 

right corner of the file. 

At this point, you will receive another prompt for production and 

it will show port 3002 as the default port instead. Simply select 

OK again. 

3. Select the Start with Mongrel button back in the Rails 


Applications prompt. Since you have selected both cookbook 

and Typo, you will receive two command prompt windows that 

indicate mongrel and Rails are starting. 

4. Open your browser and go to http://www.mycookbook.com 

to view the cookbook application. This is a pseudo site on 

your local system that you created when editing the Windows 

HOSTS file earlier. It doesn’t exist on the on-line world at this 

juncture; it is only a local site on the system. 

5. To view the typo application, go to http://typo which will 

provide a signup page. Once you have signed up, this first user 

will be the administrator of the Typo application. Again, this is a 

site only available initially on your local system. 

If you would like to serve the pages to the whole world, simply 

set it up to use any domain you already have serving pages 

on-line on your system. If you do not have this setup on your 

Windows computer, please ask your hosting provider on how 

to set this up if you do not already know how to do so. Most 

dedicated Windows hosting providers set up your primary 

domain for you, and will assist in configuring your new Rails 

environment to work with that domain upon request. 

Please review documentation at http://instantrails.rubyforge. 

org/wiki/wiki.pl?Getting_Started for other details on what 

options are available for InstantRails installation. P! 

Writer’s Bio: Danielle Wallace works for Lunarpages Web 

Hosting and runs RubyAsylum.com in her spare time. She 

normally lives in Coralville, Iowa, although she travels to Las 

Vegas from time to time for her job. 

Now, you can 

rock out 

with Rails on 

Windows! Its 

easy and 

its free.

www.pingzine.com 49


www.pingzine.com 51

[raid combo number five] 

SUPERSIZED! 

I 

By Evan Kamlet 


It is apparent that the web hosting industry 

these days is all about reliability, speed, and 

price. Your potential clientèle will probably 

seek out the best of all three factors. RAID, or 

“Redundant Array of Independent/Inexpensive 

Disks”, is a technology that has existed for 

decades. In fact, IBM took out a patent for 

a storage system in 1978 that went on to 

be known as RAID in its adulthood. Today, 

most IT professionals in the hosting industry 

are familiar with it, but may not be aware 

of precisely how RAID can help reliability, 

enhance I/O speed, and even reduce costs 

when compared with more extravagant 

systems. Is RAID for you? There are an 

almost endless number of RAID levels, 

combinations, and options. Which should you 

choose? 

At its core, RAID works exactly as its acronym 

suggests -- it establishes a redundant array of 

(inexpensive) disks. With RAID, you create 

an array of two or more hard disk drives to add 

data redundancy (although it can also be used 

simply for I/O performance gains alone, but 

that’s no fun). And, with certain configurations, 

you can expect increased performance when 

the operating system reads from or writes to 

the array when compared with a single disk. 

It is critical to note that RAID should not be 

your only backup system. Daily, weekly, and 

monthly backups are essential components in 

addition to RAID. In some cases, when server 

uptime is not a huge factor, regular backups 

may be all that you need. When we have a 

client sign up for a self-managed server and 

request two drives in a RAID mirror, we will 

always recommend our network backup service, or at least come up with some alternative 

backup system. Personally, I would rather see them backup from one drive to another 

than rely solely on RAID 1. And, RAID 1 will happily mirror your newly root-compromised 

data right from one drive to the other, just as it will happily mirror certain kinds of file 

corruption, and even corruption caused by a physical problem on one of the drives! And, 

a RAID mirror does not care if you accidentally delete the wrong file and need it restored 

from yesterday. In summary: 

RAID’S ADVANTAGES 

·A simple and inexpensive way to add redundancy to your data; 

·Certain setups will allow for higher disk read and write performance; 

·Many setups allow for the hot-swapping of a bad drive; 

·There are many options to choose from that may suit your needs; 

·Reduced server downtime in the event of a single, or multiple drive failure. 

RAID’S DISADVANTAGES 

·RAID should not be considered a full backup system in ANY configuration; 

·RAID is more expensive than using standalone drives; 

·“Bare metal” data recovery from an array failure is more complicated than recovery from 

a standalone drive failure, although it is much less likely for the whole array to fail. 

HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE? 

The first option to consider is whether one wishes to use hardware or software RAID. 

Are you concerned about performance? If so, use hardware RAID. Software RAID is 

often acceptable for a simple RAID 1 mirror of two or more drives. Both Windows and 

Linux have software RAID capabilities. The difference between hardware and software 

is that your CPU will be handling the array synchronization on software RAID, which 

can reduce overall performance. In addition, if you try to install or use other operating 

systems with software RAID, they may not recognize the array. A hardware RAID add-on 

card typically runs from $150 to $400+ and can offload the data synchronization duties to 

itself rather than your CPU. 

RAID TYPES 

Although RAID setups can vary widely, generally they are based on some core “building 

blocks,” in the form of basic RAID setups. The following methods are generally used 

[continued]

on their own for basic RAID configurations, or combined to create 

more extravagant RAID setups: 

RAID Level 0 – Striping 

Requires: 2+ drives 

With only a RAID 0 setup, you have no redundancy. Striping is 

generally used in combination with mirroring to increase I/O write 

performance along with redundancy. In fact, the more disks you 

add to a RAID 0 array, the more likely it is that you will lose your 

data. All it takes is one failed drive to destroy the array and your 

data; data is segmented and written across multiple drives. A new 

write on one drive can occur before an existing write on another drive 

can seek to a new sector. The next write will go to the next drive, 

etc. If your CPU is faster than your drives, this will cause a decent 

performance gain when data is written. (If you are wondering, your 

CPU is generally much quicker than your HDDs). 

RAID Level 1 – Mirrored 


The concept of RAID 1 couldn’t be simpler. Data from one 

drive is synchronized with all of the other drives in the array. In 

both hardware and software forms, you can generally remove 

all but one drive out of the array and have the exact same set of 

data. Operating systems can generally enjoy improved disk read 

performance because they can seek to either drive at any moment 

in time or multiple drives simultaneously. 

RAID Level 3,4 – Striped with Dedicated Parity 


Now we introduce the concept of parity. No data is actually 

mirrored in this implementation of RAID. Instead, at least two drives 

are striped, and a 3rd drive is added to store parity information. 

When data is written to the array, a simple math/logic operation is 

performed to create “parity”. If there is data corruption, the parity 

information can be used to recreate the proper data. A RAID 3 

setup allows for the failure of the parity drive. Write performance 

is improved with striping across the other drives in the array. This 

implementation is not extremely popular and in most forms is not as 

redundant as a mirrored setup. 

RAID Level 5 – Striped with Distributed Parity 

Requires: 3+ Drives 

Similar to RAID 3, but in this implementation, multiple drives in 

the array contain parity information. One drive will take down the 

functioning array, but the array will rebuild if the drive is replaced. 

Rebuilding from parity can be quite slow and will expose your array 

to complete failure with the loss of an additional drive. Loss of two 

drives means loss of your data. RAID 5 is generally preferred to 

RAID 3 and is a decent choice if your limit is three drives. 

RAID Level 6 – Striped with Dual Distributed Parity 


Similar to RAID 5, but loss of up to 2 drives can occur with the 

array continuing to function. 

RAID COMBINATIONS/NESTS 

If we take the basic building blocks of striping, mirroring, and 

parity, we can create funky and exciting new combos. Yay! If your 

chassis has room for the drives, and your RAID card allows for this, 

which most do, you may find the perfect fit for a redundant, high 

performance array if you read on. 

RAID Level 1+0 or 0+1 (RAID 10) 


My favorite implementation of RAID is RAID 10. The idea is that 

you create two or more mirrored sets and then stripe data across the 

RAID 1 sets to improve performance. This practice is considered 

1+0 (mirrored, then striped). 0 + 1 is less commonly used and 

involves mirroring striped sets. It is less redundant than the 1+0 

implementation, which can allow for one drive failure in EACH of 

the mirrored sets, while each drive failure in 0+1 will take down the 

entire striped set. 

RAID Levels 50 and 51 


Not supported as much by hardware RAID cards, RAID 50 and 51 

include RAID 5 striped parity sets nested with mirrored or striped 

sets. A RAID 50 includes 2 or more RAID 5 sets as the base for 

a larger striped set for improved performance. RAID 51, which is 

more popular, includes 2 or more RAID 5 sets as the base for a 

larger mirrored set for improved redundancy. 

IMPLEMENTATION 

Hardware RAID is set up by installing a RAID add-on card available 

in PCI, PCI-x, and other bus types, or using an on-motherboard 

RAID controller. After your machine powers on and runs the POST, 

your RAID card should allow you to hit a key or key combination 

to enter the RAID setup utility. From here, you can generally add 

drives to sets, and even sets to larger sets, to create nested/combo 

RAID levels. Once the array is set up, it will build itself in the 

background, even as you install your operating system. Assuming 

the OS has the proper drivers to recognize your RAID card, it will 

see each RAID array as a single drive. 

Software RAID is configured in Linux or Windows by using fdisk or 

the disk management utility in Device Manager, respectively. This 

can also be accomplished during OS installation (or afterwards 

depending on your partitioning choices). You will create a partition 

with the software RAID filesystem type on one drive and then again 

on the other drives. Full step-by-step tutorials are available online 

(search Google for “software raid”). Once the arrays are initialized, 

they function similarly to hardware RAID in that the operating system 

sees only the whole array rather than each individual drive. Behind 

the scenes, the OS will keep the array synchronized and rebuild it 

after failures. Your CPU has to deal with the upkeep of the RAID 

array in place of a hardware RAID controller. 

CONCLUSION 

RAID controllers exist for almost any machine and hard drive 

technology available for servers today. From slower and cheaper 

7200rpm SATA drives to faster and more expensive SCSI, SAS, or 

10K RPM SATA drives, hardware or software RAID is an almost 

essential option to consider for web servers in a high-availability 

production environment. Pick the RAID level that suites your budget 

and redundancy requirements, but don’t be fooled into thinking it is 

the only technology needed to implement a solid backup system! P! 

Writer’s Bio: Evan Kamlet was employed by a local computer firm 

in 1999 and 2000 and went on to own and operate Host4Yourself 

Internet Services (H4Y Technologies LLC and formerly Host for 

Yourself LLC) since it was founded in 2001. He has more than a 

decade of experience in all aspects of the hosting industry including 

marketing, business operation, and technology. 


Advertisement


wWhen it comes to talent, some people paint pictures, some people give speeches, and some 

people entertain audiences. The great ones do it with such skill and grace that they make it look 

easier than we know it could be. When it comes to high-tech businesses, Serguei Beloussov is one 

of those people. 

In the last ten years, Mr. Beloussov has an undeniable track record. Using his management skills, 

he builds businesses from the ground up, creating enterprises with multi-million dollar profits in very 

little time. Currently, he’s focusing his talents on virtualization and automation giant SWsoft. 

Working with businesses on three continents, Mr. Beloussov is almost always headed somewhere. 

We were fortunate enough to recently interview Mr. Beloussov. He shares his thoughts on family, 

technology, and business in the following interview: 

Thank you for joining us, Mr. Beloussov. As chairman and 

CEO, how would you describe your role at SWsoft? I mean, 

other than the obvious, to what degree are you able to keep 

involved with both the development and business sides of 

things? 

Every somewhat successful technology company has a leader 

who can serve in both roles: product development and business 

development, including sales, marketing and alliances. I’m 

continuing to be involved in both. Effectively, I serve as CEO and 

CTO of the company at this point. I don’t believe this is different 

from many other fast-growth software companies. 

You must really enjoy both the CTO and CEO sides of things 

at SWsoft. 

I like my job. It’s fun and besides, I don’t know what else to do. 

So far, things have been going well. I enjoy the fact that the work 

is challenging and it’s been fun that we are able to overcome the 

challenges we’ve met. 

Spending one’s days in the board room or in front of a 

computer can take a toll on anyone. When you have those 

days that you have to “escape” the worlds of business and 

technology, where do you go or what do you do to just get 

away from things? 

I enjoy nature and going into the mountains in different parts of 

the world -- whether that is in the Alps or Colorado or Siberia. Or, 

going out to eat and enjoying some nice red wine. 

SWsoft is best known for its automation and virtualization 

products, but what virtualization offerings would you say are 

of particular interest in the hosting community? 

Virtualized infrastructure is important for service providers to 

help increase productivity and reduce costs, so Virtuozzo is most 

important. 

How about in terms of automation software? 

I would encourage hosts to look at our PEM offering, which we 

are turning into a software-as-a-service automation and delivery 

platform. We are getting significant traction with a number of 

Microsoft and non-Microsoft applications running with PEM, such 

as Hosted Exchange, Hosted Sharepoint, and hosted streaming 

services. 

So I take it you are continued expansion by hosts into the 

area of software-as-a-service? 

We believe software-as-a-service is a major trend that hosts can 

benefit from. Plesk is also headed in the direction of softwareas-a-service 

with our OPEN FUSION initiative. So, that is a third 

offering that is of particular interest to service providers. 

SWsoft offers both open and closed source software 

packages. How would you characterize the current balance 

between open and closed? 

We comply with licensing requirements for both open source 

and proprietary software models. When it makes more sense, we 

maintain proprietary software such as, for example, our software 

that runs on Windows or in high-end automation systems. We 

don’t have a specific affinity to one or the other, except that we 

started on Linux. 

Speaking of licensing, in my research I ran across your 

editorial “Rethinking Software Licensing” on CNet last 

year. In that, you described the way virtualization is causing 

more even more blurring in terms of licensing issues. While 

you offered some alternatives to conventional software 

licensing, do really you think that it’s even possible that 

software licensing can survive in an increasingly virtualized 

environment? 

Software licensing will adapt. As an example, a large percentage 

of software used by enterprises comes from Microsoft, which 

is relatively quick in adapting its licensing to accommodate 

virtualization. Over time, we’ve seen other paradigm shifts that 

have had significant impact on how software is delivered and 

licensed; such as the Internet and the PC. Licensing will adapt. I 

don’t think that’s a problem and I’m confident that Microsoft, 

which is always listening to its customers, is not done yet. 

A lot of people are still baffled by the notion of making money 

An Interview with 

Serguei Beloussov 

f SWsoft 

[continued] 

By Rollie Hawk 

www.pingzine.com 57

using free software but there are too many success stories to 

deny the potential. Would you say that even closed source, 

proprietary software will eventually adopt a business model 

more like many open source publishers, where service and 

support is the emphasis rather than licensing fees? 

I believe we’ll continue to see licensing as a way to receive 

compensation for the intellectual property represented in software. 

We’ll also see compensation for services and support, which 

represent other forms of value delivered to customers. 

I remember reading that your academic background was 

in physics and electrical engineering. How would you say 

that background led you to become such a successful 

entrepreneur? 

When I grew up in the Soviet Union, people had a choice 

between a technical profession or going into politics. I went into 

science and physics, which I feel prepares you well because 

you understand how things work. In physics, you learn to create 

models, which translates well to business because you naturally 

are very analytical in your approach. 

Your track record includes starting successful companies 

in North America, Europe, and Asia. I’m sure there are many 

variations in doing business in all those places in terms of the 

business-friendliness of some governments, the educational 

level of the workforce and consumers, and the subtleties of 

each local culture. What sorts of notable differences are there 

in doing business in so many different regions of the world? 

By doing work in each region, have you learned things you 

can apply to your work in others? 

I’ve learned two things. First of all, doing business in different 

regions is really not so different. The terminology might be different, 

but the underlying principles are very similar. You just need to 

have a flexible enough model for doing things. Quite often, when 

starting a business in a new country, you expect things be very 

different, but most of the time, there are just differences in the 

terminology. The key is to find the differences and then follow the 

same model. Expanding for the first time is hard, but after the first 

country, it’s not as difficult. 

On the other hand, surprisingly, cultures that may look somewhat 

similar to people—like the U.S. and U.K., for example—are 

actually quite different. That was a revelation to me. If you want to 

do business globally, you need to commit a lot of time to traveling, 

because understanding those subtle differences is impossible to 

accomplish by email or phone. 

When I was first exposed to virtualization, it seemed like it 

was primarily a novelty for enthusiasts and a useful tool for 

developers and software testers. Then I didn’t mess with it 

for a few years and suddenly I found virtualization software 

being used all over the place, even in use on production 

servers. What innovations and necessities do you feel led to 

the prevalence of virtualization? 

There are very basic needs that virtualization fulfills, such as 

utilizing and managing the computing infrastructure much more 

efficiently. The need for such technology is so high that I believe 

eventually it will be running on every desktop and every server. 

There are cost savings because less hardware is required, less 

space is required in the data center, and less power is consumed, 

which is increasingly important in today’s world. 

So would you say it’s mostly a benefit in terms of costs? 

Not only are there cost savings, it also improves service levels 

and manageability. The first wave of virtualization technology had 

some benefits, but it wasn’t until Virtuozzo delivered the critical 

efficiency and density levels that hosts were able to deliver 

profitable offerings. 

Chief among the concerns of hosts are server uptime, 

backing up and restoring, scalability, and security. In what 

ways can virtualization be used to address these concerns? 

You can do all of those things with greater ease with a virtualized 

infrastructure. Backup and restore the server, ensure uptime and 

even perform maintenance without interrupting service to users 

through our Virtuozzo live migration function. With virtualization, 

security can actually be significantly higher, which is very important 

to service providers. In the virtualized data center, customers can 

be sealed off in separate “rooms” so to speak. It’s different when 

customers have access to the physical infrastructure, which is 

naturally less secure and can potentially impact other customers 

should something go wrong. 

It seems like it’s increasingly difficult to talk about these 

things as we all bounce between virtual and physical 

environments. Do you feel there is a need to adopt new 

terminology to start describing these things? 

Drawing mental images is very important to help people 

understand concepts, but I don’t believe the answer is necessarily 

creating new terminology. Interestingly, the meanings may 

change. 

You mean like the way that thanks to technologies like 

clustering and virtualization, it seems that the concept of a 

“server” is becoming more of a human abstraction than an 

actual physical object? 

I could argue that the term “server” was always an abstraction. 

You could have an application server or web server, so in general 

“servers” by definition were providing services to a client. 

In the last few years, we’ve seen virtualization rapidly 

influence the way software—particularly operating systems— 

is developed. Without some level of built-in support, it’s 

almost impossible to compete at the enterprise level. But in 

terms of hardware, what sorts of changes have we seen as a 

result of virtualization and what would you say is coming in 

the near future? 

There are different types of virtualization, such as hardware 

virtualization from VMware and Parallels, and operating system 

virtualization, such as Virtuozzo. In the next couple years, we’ll 

see devices, memory and CPUs become more optimized for 

virtualization. This innovation will continue for the foreseeable 

future for three to five years. Optimizing the hardware will increase 

speed and virtualization performance. 

As a result of the release of free virtualization software 

from Microsoft and VMWare, I’ve been working with many 

of my clients on consolidating servers. All of the sudden 

it’s possible, for example, to run a light-weight Linux-native 

MySQL server in a virtual machine on a Windows server, rather 

than using Windows binaries or purchasing an additional 

server. But despite the benefits, there’s something that 

still makes me uncomfortable: the fact that all these virtual 

network interfaces are sharing the same physical network 

port on each such server. How do you feel about that? 

You could actually argue that the virtual network connections are 

more secure because the interface is done through software and 

not with a physical connection. A physical connection actually has 

more potential to be harmful. 

So outside of your business life, what are some of your 

interests and passions? 

It’s all about having fun and business is my fun, along with my 

family of course. I really don’t have any hobbies, so my hobby is 

starting and managing businesses. 

It’s funny you mention family because I remember hearing 

in an interview that you enjoyed the family atmosphere of 

the first HostingCon back in 2005. I was really impressed to 

hear that comment, as the tech industry really can tend to 

be antiseptic and cold. Would you say that the our industry 

could benefit overall from more of a focus on families and 

relationships? 

Relationships are important. In any business it is important to 

think in terms of the short-, medium- and long-term. It’s important 

to keep good relationships because people’s careers are pretty 

long and the technology industry is pretty small, especially when 

you look at hosting. You tend to cross paths with the same people 

fairly often. Not everyone appreciates that. 

Well, we certainly look forward to crossing paths with you 

more in the future. Thank you again, for your time.. P! 


BE 

BE 

UNIQUE, 

SUCCESSFUL 


FIND YOUR 

NICHE AND 

CRUSH THE 

COMPETITION 

What does it take to be successful in the hosting industry 

these days? With thousands upon thousands of wouldbe 

entrepreneurs trying to build a hosting company, the 

competition has certainly become fierce. Acquiring new 

customers becomes more difficult each day, as people publish 

websites and utilize the technology of fast-growing reseller 

hosting providers. Basically, anyone with a few hundred 

dollars (or less), can start a hosting company within a few 

days. But will they be successful? 

By Dave Young 

[continued] 

www.pingzine.com 61


Not to dissuade those of you who think you’ve got what it takes 

to make it in the hosting industry, but if you lack one primary 

characteristic – namely, uniqueness – your chances of succeeding 

are dismal. Before you distress about the concept of shelling 

out a few hundred dollars (or more depending on your budget) 

only to throw it out the window, read this article in its entirety and 

then proceed with your dreams of becoming the next big entity in 

hosting! 

Sure, it takes more than guts and glory to become a prominent 

leader in the hosting industry. In fact, it takes a lot of hard work and 

dedication. Moreover, if you have bags of money lying around, 

you will certainly need it. But, there are ways around needing 

excessive bags of money to be successful with your own hosting 

business. One path to success is being unique. Everyone on 

this planet who goes into business should first start by asking 

themselves this simple question – “Does my business do anything 

unique compared to my competitors?” If you answer “no” to that 

what makes you 

different than 

the thousands of 

other companies 

question, step back and rethink your business objectives. Consider 

what it will take for your business to be unique in a market where 

thousands of people just like you are trying to compete for the 

same thing – a paying customer who stays with you. 

One way to stand out from the crowd is to pick a niche, or 

distinct segment of a market. If you decide today that you want 

to start a shared hosting business, what makes you different 

than the thousands of other companies providing shared hosting 

services? If your answer is that you offer Bronze, Silver, and Gold 

packages, think again. If your answer is that you cater exclusively 

to chiropractors, you are definitely on the right track. To prove this 

point, visit your favorite hosting directory and find a shared hosting 

business that caters exclusively to chiropractors. Better yet, find a 

hosting business anywhere that caters exclusively to accountants, 

lawyers, or veterinarians. Get the picture yet? These are all niche 

markets. And, you’re not limited to just these examples. Travel 

around your city and look for businesses that you could cater to 

exclusively. 

Next, when you create the name of your company and your 

products and services (yes, this has to do with good branding 

efforts too), utilize concepts, terminology, or keywords that 

your niche market will relate to when they view your company’s 

image, website, and company literature. For example, if you cater 

exclusively to chiropractors, you could name your packages Atlas 

1, Atlas 2, and Atlas 3, to represent the topmost part of the neck. 

And, make sure you describe each package to educate your 

audience regardless of how exclusive your market. Chiropractors 

will understand the concept of your business more if you are 

willing to sync with their mindset. For your company name, 

consider something like “HostChiro” (this may already be taken) 

and utilize “Hosting for Chiropractors” for your tagline. These are 

just examples without putting much thought into it, but you get the 

idea. And don’t forget to include an image of the human spine on 

your website (it can be an outline or cartoon drawing), or even 

better, use an image of the Atlas (cartoon figure, of course). 

Before you go and build your hosting business that caters 

exclusively to a niche market, go out and talk to your niche 

audience. Learn what they do, how they do it, and talk about 

building them an on-line presence to complement your Atlas 1, 

Atlas 2, and Atlas 3 packages. In fact, you should be willing to 

give a free consultation and an exclusive pricing structure specific 

to chiropractors when they sign up. With each package, increase 

the benefits, features, and opportunities that help the chiropractor 

succeed. For example, Atlas 3 should have more features and 

benefits than Atlas 1 and Atlas 2, and the price should be higher. 

You can do this with any of your niche markets. 

Now, think about a shared hosting company that targets 

everyone and not a niche market. Imagine your niche audience 

contacting you versus the shared hosting company that caters to 

everyone. If you are the subject matter expert and know how to 

cater exclusively to your niche audience, which company will your 

niche audience feel most comfortable with when building an online 

presence? If you answered, “my company that caters to a 

niche market,” you answered correctly. Besides, it’s much easier 

to become a subject matter expert on a niche market than it is on 

“everyone,” don’t you think? 

Make sure you do some homework before proceeding. Find out 

how many potential customers are in your niche market. Then 

develop your packages and pricing based on the potential number 

of customers you think you can acquire in your niche market. 

Once you do your research, find your niche, and build your brand 

around your niche audience, find out where you can advertise to 

your niche market. Figure out what sites or places they like to visit 

and advertise using mediums that cater to your audience. The first 

and obvious answer, as stated previously, is to travel around your 

city, town, or community and talk to them in person. If you are a 

natural born salesperson, it’s up to you on how you approach your 

audience. If sales does not come naturally to you, don’t go in and 

solicit your services. Instead, tell your niche audience that you are 

interested in what they do and find out what you can do to help 

make them more successful. Approach it as a personal, thoughtprovoking 

methodology for acquiring new customers. 

If you have been following the hosting industry for the last several 

years, you probably know that most hosting companies compete 

by offering the lowest prices and jacking up disk space and 

bandwidth. All they are doing is cheapening the hosting market 

and making it more difficult to compete. That’s really not the best 

way to build a business. Instead, when you cater to a niche market, 

you have less competition and you can charge more for your 

services. Why? Because you are the expert on your niche market, 

therefore you can offer more to your niche audience. You are the 

subject matter expert, so people will pay more for your services. 

And, when you find a niche market, you are no longer competing 

with thousands of shared hosting companies. Instead, you are 

competing with a handful of companies, if they even exist. 

You can get really creative and build a website that caters to 

multiple niche markets. However, before you do that, make it work 

for one niche market first. Establish your business model and 

figure out the formula that works best for you. Once you build up 

a solid customer base exclusive to your niche market, take your 

experience, knowledge, and expertise and go find a second, third, 

and fourth niche market. Then build a portal that showcases each 

of your niche businesses and run with it. 

Find your niche market and you will crush the competition. 

When you find your niche market, you cater to an exclusive target 

audience, and that gives you a chance to be more successful than 

you can ever imagine! Even if you are established and want to 

open a new revenue channel, find one that’s exclusive -- find one 

that’s unique. P! 

Writer’s Bio: Dave Young plays a vital role in the web hosting 

industry as Marketing and Public Relations Specialist for 

FastServers.Net, Lead Technical Writer for cPanel, Professional 

Writer and founder of Young Copy (www.youngcopy.com), and a 

Staff Writer for Ping! Zine Magazine. 

www.pingzine.com 63

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www.pingzine.com 65

By R. K. Selman 

Ping! 

Byting 

Back! 

No good issue of Ping! would be 

complete without a gut-splittingly 

hilarious back page. Of course, this 

isn’t necessarily a good issue of 

Ping!, so the following will simply 

have to do. 

Byteback #3 - A Nibble of Cheapness 

We all know at least one person of the sort--they’re so cheap they 

refuse to buy a wallet, and instead regularly steal ATM deposit 

envelopes to hold their money. (If you do this yourself, yes, I do 

think you’re cheap.) Of course, the best treatment for people like 

this is one-up-personship. With the following URL, you will not 

need an ATM envelope, because you’ll be able to make a wallet 

with, yes, you guessed it, a single piece of paper! Visit: http://www. 

instructables.com/id/E9331VJF3DES9J73YS/ 

Byteback #1 - A Byte of Cynicism 

Now, pardon me for not being an expert on the matter of rodents, 

but “car-eating rats” seems a little over the top. Car-eating rats 

that “terrorize” a city? Nice theme for a really crappy B-Movie, 

methinks (or a dastardly terrorist plot). Unfortunately for residents 

of Cambridge (the one in MA, not the one in England), it doesn’t 

seem city bureaucrats can agree on whose responsibility the rats 

are, either, but they blame that not on themselves--it’s apparently 

a problem of the rats not having nametags. You think I’ve made 

this up? Proof I haven’t: http://www.townonline.com/cambridge/ 

homepage/x1178183952 

Byteback #2 - A Bit of Coolness 

As we all know, cool car concepts are released all the time. 

But, for those among us who are environmentally friendly, anything 

that actually does make it to the market and still retains its 

concept coolness is usually a pollution-spewing smog machine. 

Toyota may just be changing that, with an awesome looking, awesomely 

fast, truly bloody awesome (sorry, the Cambridge reference 

caused me to turn British for a moment) new sports car, the 

FT-HS. Check it out: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=118933 

Byteback #4 - A Flash of the Past 

Ever stuck your foot in your mouth? Metaphorically, that is? Probably, 

but I suspect few of us could come anywhere near such 

blockbuster statements as “Heavier-than-air flying machines are 

impossible,” “There is no reason anyone would want a computer 

in their home,” or “Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military 

value.” You can read these and far more predictions gone really, 

really wrong at http://www.thoughtmechanics.com/2007/04/21/ 

some-very-funny-and-totally-wrong-predictions-of-the-past/ 

Now, some of you may ask, what does any of this have to do with 

web hosting? Those who do so clearly can’t see the obvious: 

1.) If rats and cars don’t mix, rats and datacenters don’t mix. Keep 

rats away from your servers. You’ve been warned. 

2.) Concept cars are always cool. Cool hosts drive cool cars. `Nuff 

said. 

3.) DUH! Paper wallets are a competitive advantage for reducing 

business costs. A wallet less a year translates into savings to pass 

onto your hosting customers! 

4.) And, finally, it really does pay to think before you speak, particularly 

if someone is actually writing down what you say. This 

includes ticket replies. Saying “Absolutely nobody would ever host 

anything on Linux” may, therefore, be a bad idea. 

66 64 Ping! Zine Magazine

www.pingzine.com 67

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Copyright 2007 Righteous Software Inc All Rights Reserved. 

R1Soft is a trademark of Righteous Software Inc. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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