Champion Blog

These days every business is trying to be as green as possible, but what about going green in web hosting companies? It seems almost oxymoronic that a data processing business would be able to go green. After all, it takes a lot of power to keep all those servers, PC’s and associated equipment humming along at max capacity. It would almost seem impossible. Unlike other businesses that use less energy, web hosting businesses can’t really use solar or wind power yet. Or, if they do it only accounts for a small portion of energy use.

So, how does a company go about going green in web hosting? Well, the truth is there are many creative ways for a data processing company to be green and they are all quite simple, inexpensive and can save lots of money and the environment when put in place. First of all bigger is not always better. Keeping your facility as simple as possible does a lot to keep costs down and protect the environment around you. Ask yourself, does my web hosting business really have to have an ornate entryway or waiting area? Most likely the answer is no.

Many Data Centers use additional gas or electricity to heat and cool the non-data portions of their facilities. However we’re implementing heat pumps that utilize the heat from the data center to heat the offices and generator quarters in the winter and utilize the data centers highly resourceful cooling towers to provide cooling to the offices in the summer. This not only saves us money on burning gas or electricity to heat the space, but is more environmentally friendly. Our use of well water for the cooling towers also provides geothermal heat removal since all the water being input to the towers is from the earth at a constant 55 degrees Fahrenheit which removes BTU’s from the water and the building naturally. This gives us natural BTU removal through geothermal cooling but it also gives us a big savings in water replacement and reduces the amount of electricity needed to allocate city water over long distances and the harmful chemicals used in its treatment for drinking purification, as well conserves potable water in the city’s watershed.

Going green in web hosting businesses is as easy as using some common sense. For instance it is well known that newer machines are more efficient. So, take some of that money you would have used for dressing up your facility and replace your servers and PC’s. Then make sure you have a good solid replacement program put in place so you can keep your facility efficient by replacing machines when newer models come out. What about those old machines? Why, recycle them of course. We recycle all of our cardboard, metals and our old computers. Nothing goes to landfills except non recyclable garbage. We’re serious about our commitment to the environment. As a customer, you can be sure that we’re doing our best to be the least wasteful, most energy efficient Web Hosting Company.

One other thing to consider when going green in web hosting businesses is the manner in which you cool down equipment. Take a good look at your cooling systems and make sure you are using the most efficient equipment in the best possible manner. You can save a lot of energy and a lot of money by just making some minor adjustments. Packaging materials are a real bane to the environment so come up with a program for reducing your use of packing materials. You will find it is easier than you may think. Can a web hosting business go green? You bet it can! It’s been proven.

It’s critical that businesses complement their servers with an investment in a high-quality backup and storage solution.

By Andrew Champion

Businesses of all sizes are increasing their use of the Internet on a daily basis. They are using the Internet to communicate, publish content and store and process data with the help of web-based applications. With all of this content and data being created and stored on servers, there is a corresponding need to ensure its safety. Hard drives can fail, servers can be hacked, human error can cause data to be deleted, and the data centers that house these servers could catch fire or become victim to natural disasters or even terrorist attacks. All of these are plausible scenarios that can threaten the integrity of the data stored on a server.

Because of these realities, it is absolutely critical that businesses complement their servers with an investment in a high-quality backup and storage solution. This will guarantee that mission-critical data and content is backed up regularly and protected against technical failure, human error or disaster. All types of organizations need this type of insurance. A single hard drive failure can result in the permanent loss of important content, contact information, sales records and financial data. Such a disaster would be a death sentence for any organization conducting business on the Internet. There are other good reasons to have a backup plan. With the right protection in place, customers can be free to experiment and push their servers to do more without having to worry about the negative ramifications. It also brings peace of mind that contributes positively to an organization’s operations.

Buy data protection from a hosting company

It makes a great deal of sense to buy storage and backup solutions from a hosting company. They already host the customer’s server and data protection is a logical extension to web hosting that can be integrated and run off the same network. Customers also benefit from a single bill for all their IT hosting services and by working with their hosting company, have a single point of contact, a high degree of familiarity and comfort and the ability to manage their environment from a single unified interface.

Customers should understand that backup and storage is typically not included with a standard dedicated server. It is usually purchased as an optional add-on service. However, a problem in the market is that many hosting companies are not aggressive about educating and selling customers about the importance of data protection. Even worse, many hosting companies do not even have an affordable, fully functional and easy to use solution. Customers that value their data and want backup and storage services should look for a hosting company that has the breadth and quality of services they are looking for.

Champion Consulting’s Data LockBox

Champion Consulting has been in the hosting business for over a decade and offers its customers Data LockBox, a backup and storage solution built on R1Soft’s industry-leading Continuous Data Protection (CDP) software. CDP enables customers to back up their servers by providing near real-time replication of their data. Champion Consulting installs the CDP software on the customer’s server and it takes snapshots and duplicates the content and data onto a separate backup server. Because the data replication process is continuous, customers are able to restore their servers to a designated point in time in the event of hardware failure or disaster. CDP provides bare metal restore capabilities – bringing back the original state of the server, complete with the entire operating system, settings and data. No re-configuring or re-installation of the operating system is required.

Data LockBox brings a number of other features and capabilities to the table.
CDP backs up incrementally, copying only sectors of a disk that have changed since the previous backup. Combined with standard compression technology, this reduces storage utilization and CPU overhead significantly and enables the replication process to be completed within minutes. CDP also features full data encryption during transmission and in storage, ensuring robust levels of security. Other features include a MySQL database add-on, true database in-memory backup, event logs, reporting capabilities and support for both Windows and Linux-based virtual machines.

With Data LockBox, customers receive access to a web-based control panel, which allows them to manage their data protection capabilities and instantly restore content directly from the backup systems. Customer can also set backups to take place on an hourly basis. The level of control provided through the management tool gives customers that prefer to be hands-on the flexibility they are looking for and enables them to access their solution remotely and on a 24/7 basis.

Data LockBox supports servers running on both the Linux and Windows platforms and can be used to backup hosted servers, on-premise servers, office workstations and personal computers. Champion Consulting also provides back up servers – powered with free versions of R1Soft – to other hosting companies on a white label basis.

Champion Consulting has been in the backup and storage business for several years, having been one of R1Soft’s beta testers and original hosting partners. With a long history hosting for the SMB and enterprise community, and a strong technical grasp of storage technology, Champion Consulting is uniquely positioned to meet the data protection needs of customers.

About Champion Consulting

Champion Consulting, founded in 1995, is an industry-leading provider of web hosting services to small and medium-sized businesses, government agencies and non-profit organizations worldwide. Customers enjoy the flexibility of choosing from a full suite of hosting solutions, ranging from shared hosting and virtual private servers to dedicated hosting and managed hosting. Champion Consulting also operates a reseller program, helping smaller organizations jump into the hosting business or augment their current offerings. Each Champion Consulting hosting plan is backed by a world-class data center infrastructure and network, and supported by a rock solid customer service operation. With over a decade of experience, Champion Consulting helps organizations realize their full potential by capturing the power of the Internet.

To learn more, please visit: Champion Consulting dot com