Thursday, December 27, 2007

Why It’s Crucial To Have A Dedicated Server

by: Stu Pearson

A dedicated server is a single web server or computer on the internet that hosts websites and shows pages as viewers request. A dedicated server is within a network of computers, exclusively dedicated to one costumer or a large business, since it can meet many needs.

Dedicated servers are most commonly used in the web hosting industry; hundreds of sites are hosted under one dedicated server. A dedicated server is considered to be the next step on from shared hosting environments. Having your own dedicated server makes you free of worry about other websites slowing you down or crashing your server. Dedicated servers also give you total control, and allows for installing software on your website that opens doors for gaining extra performance.

The advantage of having a dedicated server is that the clients of the server can customize both hardware and software setup so they meet needs like faster data access and effortless accommodation of traffic on the site.

These dedicated servers come with good costumer service. The web host works with the client in making sure that the dedicated server meets the needs of the client. In cases of companies having several divisions like a chain of outlets, it is still crucial for each to have their own dedicated server because they can create many domains on a single server easily, which results in more efficiency rather than having to lease host space on different web servers for each division or outlet individually.

For large companies having websites for every dealership such as motorcycle manufacturers, the advantage of having a dedicated server is that the parent company can put all of the websites for each dealership under the same server.

Here’s how it works. Assume a company named “Taurus Cars Corp.” is running a series of dealerships, the parent company could host an individual website for every dealership. Each website may look like this; for the parent company “www.taurusmotorscorp.com”, for the dealership in Florida “www.taurusmotorsflorida.com “, for the dealership in Colorado “www.taurusmotorscolorado.com” and so on.

The advantage of this setup is the dealership in Florida is using the same online tools as the dealership in Colorado. Making the online presence of the company Taurus Motors Corp. very streamlined and cost-efficient, while making things significantly easier for the company’s administration and support, also known as customization and uniform of point of sale software. Considering the websites of each of the different divisions or dealerships residing on one dedicated server, makes this advantage beneficial in terms of increasing sales.

In some cases other business want to use dedicated servers for the sole purpose of customization, costumer service, and fast access. They host websites themselves or better yet sub-lease the extra space for interested companies to set up their websites and domains. The advantage derived by any business under a dedicated server is the ability to enhance security.

All these advantages imply that dedicated servers are the best option for most large companies or businesses. Hosting personal websites or small business websites in general doesn’t require a dedicated server, instead for this purpose you can lease from a standard web host.

source : articlecity

NetSuite IPO generates $185 million

NetSuite's initial public offering raised $185.4 million, close to double the amount the company originally forecast the IPO would generate and a positive sign for the market of hosted, software-as-a-service business applications.


NetSuite, a provider of hosted applications for small and midsize organizations, sold 6.2 million shares of common stock at $26 per share via auction and its underwriters acted on their option to buy an additional 930,000 shares, the company said Wednesday.

The $185.4 million is a gross amount from which underwriting discounts and expenses will be deducted, the company said. Moreover, 365,000 of the shares bought by the underwriters were owned by stockholders like NetSuite's CEO and chief technology officer, so the proceeds from those shares -- about $9.5 million -- won't go to the company.

In the final IPO prospectus, NetSuite had estimated that, if the underwriters exercised their option in full -- as they did -- NetSuite's IPO net proceeds would be approximately $161.9 million.

NetSuite initially set a range of $13 to $16 per share for its IPO but subsequently raised it and eventually set the price at $26 per share on Thursday of last week, the day when the stock started trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the "N" symbol.

At midmorning Wednesday, the stock was trading at $34.85, down about 10 percent from its previous close. Its highest point so far is $45.98.

Incorporated in 1998, NetSuite sells ERP (enterprise resource planning), CRM (customer relationship management) and e-commerce applications on a hosted, subscription-based model, in which customers access the software via the Internet and don't need to install it on their premises.

This software-as-a-service model, championed by companies like Salesforce.com and Google, is considered a significant threat to the traditional approach from vendors like Microsoft of having customers implement software on their own PCs and servers.

As of Sept. 30 of this year, NetSuite had over 5,400 active customers, according to its IPO prospectus . In 2006, the company had revenue of $67.2 million and a net loss of $35.7 million. In the first nine months of this year, it generated $76.8 million in revenue and racked up a net loss of $20.6 million, according to the prospectus.

NetSuite plans to use its IPO proceeds to pay off an $8 million balance on a line of credit with Tako Ventures, an entity controlled by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, and to possibly make acquisitions.

As of Nov. 30, Ellison controlled about 60 percent of NetSuite's outstanding stock -- some 31.9 million shares -- but Ellison transferred those shares into a holding company, NetSuite Restricted Holdings. The move is meant to "effectively eliminate" Ellison's voting power and avoid potential conflicts of interests, according to the prospectus.

NetSuite also plans to devote between $10 million and $15 million for capital expenditures, including the purchase of property, plant and equipment and the addition of a second data-center facility, and for working capital and other general purposes, including its international expansion. NetSuite currently provides its hosted applications out of a single data center, which the company admits in the prospectus is a risk that could harm its business should there be any service disruption at this facility.

NetSuite also said it may use a portion of the net proceeds to acquire other businesses, products or technologies, although it doesn't have any agreements or commitments for any specific acquisitions at the moment. The money it doesn't spend will be invested in short-term, interest-bearing investment grade securities.
Tropos Networks has set up a network of about 70 meshed Wi-Fi routers in Mecca, providing Hajjis with free Internet connectivity during their annual gathering

The millions of pilgrims in Mecca this week for the Hajj, an annual gathering of Muslims, can stay connected thanks to a temporary Wi-Fi mesh network covering a large part of the city.

Hajjis, as the pilgrims are called, come to the city in Saudi Arabia from around the world for several days of religious rituals. More than 2 million gather each year. A network of about 70 meshed routers from Tropos Networks has been set up to provide free Internet connectivity, according to Denise Barton, director of marketing at Tropos. Users only have to register before using it. Barton believes it is the first public Wi-Fi network set up for the Hajj.

Mesh networks are well-suited to temporary deployments because they need fewer fixed-line connections than do traditional Wi-Fi systems. Packets can hop from one router to another until they reach one that's connected to a landline. The technology has also been used for permanent municipal Wi-Fi networks, including the one Google had built with Tropos equipment in its hometown of Mountain View, California.

Saudi Arabia's Communications and Information Technology Commission appointed an Internet service provider, Bayanat Al-Oula, to provide the temporary network. It was rolled out in less than 60 days with no help from Tropos personnel, Barton said. Aptilo Networks, a wireless-management software and services company based in Stockholm, is running the network as a managed service from its offices in Malaysia. This also helped Bayanat get the infrastructure up and running quickly, said Per Knutsson, Aptilo's co-founder and director of product development. Aptilo is handling user authentication, security, customer-support calls and other features, as well as setting up the portal visitors use to register for the network.

Aptilo and Tropos are no strangers to temporary Wi-Fi networks. Aptilo has managed systems for large sporting events, and in 2004 Tropos built a network in downtown Redwood City, California, for a high-profile murder case. The trial of Scott Peterson, who was convicted of killing his wife and their unborn child, drew massive public and media attention. The county court where the trial took place set up a temporary network with five surveillance cameras and five meshed routers for its own security needs and for reporters who descended on the area for several months.

The Mecca network is made up of Tropos 5210 mesh routers, which use IEEE 802.11a for mesh connections and can support users with 802.11a, b and g devices, Barton said. Such networks typically require between 20 and 40 routers per square mile, she said.


By Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service
December 19, 2007
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/19/Wi-Fi-mesh-lights-up-Mecca-for-Hajj_1.html

Cisco green plan looks beyond routers

Cisco Systems wants to turn the enterprise data network into an electricity meter.
InfoWorld InfoClipz


Using open standards, the company wants to get server and storage vendors to collect and share information about their equipment and send it to Cisco routers and switches. The data could include power consumption, operating temperature and more. It's becoming a critical job, and because the network touches all IT resources across the enterprise, data collection should happen there, according to Paul Marcoux, vice president of green engineering.

Marcoux joined Cisco from American Power Conversion only about six weeks ago after Cisco created the position to overlook energy issues across all parts of the company. Networking gear itself makes up a much smaller portion of IT power consumption than do servers or storage, but Cisco plans to go beyond just making its own products more efficient.

Power is a growing issue in datacenters as the cost of energy rises and concerns about global climate change increase. Being able to collect and analyze information about power usage is a big part of the battle and becoming more crucial in the age of virtualization, according to Marcoux. Distributing storage and processing cycles without regard for power issues is not just inefficient, it's dangerous, he said.

If virtualization software looks at a process that requires more computing power or storage space, then enlists servers or storage devices that are near to overheating or running out of power, it could send a rack of servers over the edge and shut it down, Marcoux said. For that reason, the virtualization system needs to know the power status of all the resources it may call upon, he said.

By the same token, consolidated datacenters typically serve many departments of an enterprise and consume a lot of power, but those groups generally don't have to pay for their part of the power. In fact, the electricity bill often bypasses even the IT department, going to building management instead, Marcoux said. Collecting data about the power consumed by each device, and eventually by individual transactions, would allow enterprises to bill each department for the power it uses, he said.

Software on routers and switches would collect the information and then take actions or forward it on to separate building management, energy management or virtualization control systems, Marcoux said. Given the large amount of energy data to be processed, Cisco may introduce daughtercards for its platforms to provide extra computing power, he said. He hopes the technology will be in place and collecting information in enterprises within three years.

Because datacenters contain gear from so many vendors, open standards are the only way to make such a system work, according to Cisco. Fortunately, there already are several available standards, Marcoux said. Having standards already in place will help speed up adoption, Marcoux said.

"We're not trying to reinvent the wheel, we're just trying now to utilize the wheel," Marcoux said.

Cisco's proposal would represent a whole new role for networks beyond communications, said Burton Group analyst Dave Passmore. Server vendors might go along with the plan, but Cisco can't count on smooth sailing, he said. Centralized power regulation would play a role in overall management of the datacenter, an area where Cisco is attempting to make inroads with other initiatives as well.

"Who controls virtualization in the data center is going to be the new battleground," Passmore said.


source : http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/24/Cisco-green-plan-looks-beyond-routers_1.html