We only use rack-optimised Supermicro servers. By standardising our technologies on these high-quality machines, we can raise our levels of expertise. We continually monitor our servers to keep them running at their best, we are different to other hosting companies as we do actually host our sites on the same kit. We follow whats happening in the technology world and will continually upgrade our servers to use the latest and greatest technology.

We run Windows Server 2003 on all our windows machines. Coupled with Helm control panel we feel that this gives our customers performance coupled with ease of maintenance of their sites. Also Windows 2003 has improved use of Intel Xeon hyperthreading technologies, which makes our servers perform better than if they were using any other current operating system.

This is the only part we dont own, our machines are colocated with a large internet provider in Reading. They have three connections entering their building at different locations and being delivered over different fibre networks to three world-class Tier-1 ISPs. They operate full BGP4 to enable them to efficiently load balance our traffic and also provide complete redundancy. If one (or even two!) of their connections should fail, all traffic will automatically be routed down alternative connections within seconds.

They have carefully chosen their three providers. Mistral have some of the best peering and connectivity in the UK and worldwide. Level3 have over 20,000 miles of fibre in the USA and Europe, which gives us fast links across the USA. From their main datacentre, they have a dedicated 10Mbit line to their Disaster Recovery Datacentre and from there, another 10Mbit connection to Easynet.