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What is your name and position with ServInt?
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Christian Dawson, Vice President of Operations
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Please tell us the year established and brief history of ServInt?
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ServInt was founded in 1995 by then 19 year old Reed Caldwell. At that time, ServInt consisted of a single Pentium-100 web server running Linux in a college dorm room. Today, ServInt has grown to include thousands of business customers in most U.S. states and more than 100 countries worldwide.
ServInt was one of the first providers to offer a Dedicated Server Solution. Before that time people could scarcely fathom needing more than a single account on a shared server. ServInt knew that businesses needed more power than that and innovated to create a platform on which the Internet could grow.
Years later ServInt saw another opportunity to pioneer by taking the relatively new VPS technology and using it to launch a platform worthy of Enterprise Level businesses. Our Dedicated Server Replacement™ VPS line has allowed people to shed their non-redundant, low-end servers for something significantly more powerful and certainly more redundant. ServInt continues to keep an eye on the future of Enterprise level hosting.
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What do you offer your customers that are unique to your company?
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I don''''t know if it''''s COMPLETELY unique, but we provide one thing that is very rare in this Industry. We give them what we promise. We meet our obligations. We don''''t oversell. We don''''t say we offer things we can’t deliver. In my experience, that can be a unique trait in this industry.
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What is the most challenging aspect to offering Virtual Private Servers?
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The most challenging aspect is being heard over the slew of VPS providers who have been around fewer months than we have years. There are lots of providers out there offering ‘killer deals'''' who aren''''t providing anywhere close to an Enterprise class service. It''''s difficult to explain how much experience matters – and how much using solid infrastructure is - I''''m also sympathetic. We were young and hungry once too, so we understand the temptation of trying to go out there with the cheapest products with the best specs, whether you are ready or not. But ServInt has succeeded because we never gave in to those temptations.
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What is it that makes ServInt a competitive company in the VPS market?
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When people come to us we do everything we can to make sure that they do not have to worry that their business is up and running. We keep a watchful eye on the technology so they don’t have to.
Our support staff is what sets us apart. No matter how big we get we will never forget that we
started as the small guy on the block, making our next sale through the referrals of happy customers.
We have a commitment to excellence that dictates we use only the best equipment and only
offer enterprise level solutions. There may be a lot of money in budget hosting, but most
products in the market today would not meet our standards for reliability, redundancy and resources.
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What new features have ServInt added for its customers in the past year?
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Just recently ServInt substantially updated each of our VPS packages. We doubled the RAM and significantly bumped up the storage and bandwidth specs too. We made great tweaks to our custom code in order to highly optimize our VPS packages to take advantage of the massive jump in resources. Unlike many of our competitors who make upgrade features available to new customers only, ServInt invested significant capital to immediately provide those same upgrades to all existing customers at no additional charge. We have done broad, sweeping upgrades such as this four times in the past three years and we will continue to do so to make sure that a veteran ServInt customer is never left behind in favor of the new guy.
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What would you say is ServInt #1 asset to its customer base?
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Experience is ServInt’s greatest asset. We have been in this game since 1995. We have seen it all and can take care of any customer need you can think of. Our next asset is directly related to that – it’s our people. Whether you are talking about their experience or their skill level we have the best. We put them on the front line and make sure the individuals our customers deal with are the ones that can fix their problems. Ultimately ServInt can employ the best people for the same reason that we have been able to satisfy customers for nearly 15 years. We treat all the people that work with us as if they are family.
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Where do you see ServInt and the web hosting industry in three years?
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ServInt currently sells a lot of VPSs, but we are not a VPS company – we are a company that provides expert hosting with the best support in the Industry. VPS is the best envelope right now though which to offer that hosting. In the future, another envelope may supplant it. We have our ear to the ground and we''''re always exploring new technology, but we''''re not bandwagon jumpers. People throw words like ''''cloud'''' and ''''hybrid'''' hosting around a lot – some of it is good and some of it will soon fade away. Trendy hosting gimmicks come and go – we are focused on what will provide customers with secure, stable hosting with excellent uptime. When the next solid evolution comes ServInt will be at the forefront of it yet again. But though I have my strong beliefs I can''''t state definitively what that evolution will be. For now, while we look towards tomorrow I''''m pleased that the products we provide showcase the best of today.
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How many customers do you currently have?
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ServInt''''s thousands of clients pale in comparison to the tens to hundreds of thousands of clients hosted by ServInt''''s large army of resellers. We are running millions of websites, and we don''''at take that responsibility lightly. A lot of people trust their livelihood to ServInt, and won''''t let them down.
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Who are some of your famous clients?
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ServInt operates under NDA with most of our famous clients. We maintain customer confidentiality and only under special agreement do we broadcast or advertise our relationship. I recommend you go to a site like WhoIsHostingThis.com (hosted by ServInt) and check to see who hosts some of your favorite sites. I''''m certain you''''ll find that some of the better performing ones are hosted right here!
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Do you own your own datacenter?
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ServInt''''s datacenters are closed and private. We own and operate our own independent environments, though we do not own the real estate itself.
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Where are they located?
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ServInt maintains multiple data centers in the Northern Virginia region, and does not publish the addresses, as per the requirements of our security protocols.
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What kind of back up power do you have?
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ServInt maintains N+1 redundancy on each power back-up level. Fault-tolerant redundancy is essential in ensuring that if power is lost to a data center it will never lead to an interruption in service. ServInt’s private data facilities feature APC battery back-up systems, and multiple industrial-grade generators.
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Do you have multiple backbone connections?
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Yes.
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What connections do you have?
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ServInt maintains redundant fiber connections from multiple fiber carriers. Our bandwidth is sourced from multiple tier one providers – including Savvis, PCCW/BTN, and XO Communications. We have a Cisco based core and maintained physical and geographic provider redundancy. ServInt always maintains ample spare network capacity and is prepared for dramatically changing customer needs.
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Do you offer 24/7 support?
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Yes, and we do it using on-site trained technicians who answer questions quickly, who can physically touch the servers and are trained to fix problems. We don''''t just have a 24 hour call center. We have on-site experts available at all times.
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Do you have technicians present 24/7 or 9-5 M-F?
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Experienced technicians are available and on the premises 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
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What is your average turn-around time on a support ticket?
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In a managed environment the types of support issues that arise vary dramatically – from the tickets that can be resolved in moments to the ones that could take days of monitoring and followup. Tickets that get opened by ServInt customers get answered quickly, and then triaged to the proper level of escalation. An exact number is difficult to calculate. The easy stuff takes minutes, but the hard stuff takes longer, and we don''''t give the hard problems short shrift in order to reduce our average turnaround time. ServInt employs experts who know how to get problems resolved efficiently, and that sometimes means some hand-holding and time taken.
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Do you charge your clients for support? If so, please explain.
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No. When it comes to support, ServInt does not nickel and dime our clients. At ServInt every one of our standard products comes with Managed Services. What managed hosting means is different from company to company. At ServInt we try to go above and beyond. Basically we manage everything that we provide to you. We keep things patched and updated, secure and stable. We even do our best to help with whatever you add afterwards. We have an enormous bank of experience and are eager to help you build your business. No managed host should try and fill the role of a Webmaster; no one knows your business better than you. But when it comes to giving you the tools you need to succeed and the expertise you need to implement them our Managed Services are the best.
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Do you offer a money back guarantee?
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No, and here''''s why we don''''t: free trial offers are sometimes misused, or used for illegal purposes that might affect the performance and security of our legitimate customers'''' sites. We won''''t expose our clients to that. We do all we can to deliver reliable and trustworthy service to our customers on all levels, and we''''re sure that once you experience ServInt''''s superior environment, you''''ll appreciate why we take this stance.
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