ITWeb, the major South African online ICT industry news service, has taken the hosting of its mass mailing server offshore by awarding its annually renewable server hosting contract to the international managed hosting services provider, Rackspace Managed Hosting.
The ITWeb mass mailing server, which caters for 35 000 e-mails a day, is now physically located in the UK, along with another 30 South African companies that are offering mission-critical Web-based services using the Rackspace option of a completely outsourced, totally managed hosting solution.
Sinisa Jovanovic, ITWeb`s technical director, said major bandwidth was required as well as speed to cope with the e-mail volume and the limitations, poor service provision and high cost of local hosting options had led to the company being receptive to offshore alternatives.
"When Rackspace approached us and explained the depth of their offering, it just sounded too good to be true. We initially had reservations about hosting overseas, particularly because we felt that if we encountered the same problems we had experienced locally, they would be insurmountable because of the sheer physical distance.
"Nothing could have been further from reality. We were offered a total solution that guaranteed uptime, hardware on lease and rapid response, service and maintenance commitments unmatched by anything else we were aware of. If a machine went offline, Rackspace would get it back online much quicker than we could have. Their technicians are top-rate."
As a news service, ITWeb requires very high availability for its e-mail component and Jovanovic says the levels of availability now being achieved are "fantastic", particularly when compared to what is offered in South Africa. "The local Internet community, quite frankly, is not up to international standards and is five times more expensive. There were concerns about foreign exchange rates but even if the rand slides by 90% of its current value we will still be obtaining a cheaper, much more efficient service - there`s simply no comparison."
Part of the Rackspace solution is the free supply of software licensing with the leased server equipment which Jovanovic says makes a significant contribution to overall cost-savings.
Maintenance work is carried out when ITWeb experiences minimum traffic on its site, usually at 04h00 South African time, and Rackspace is able to complete the maintenance work with a total downtime of just 30 minutes, which at that time of the morning really is a minimal interruption of service.
"The Rackspace technicians are extremely well trained and experienced with a full understanding of our needs. The attention to detail is such that they match language and cultural requirements for every client. We therefore have a South African support technician who understands our language, slang, culture, background and circumstances, and this makes a huge difference in the services we receive. It is a totally different approach ... we just don`t encounter problems with Rackspace."
He concludes that Rackspace, with the efficiency and reliability of its hosting services, full commitment to service and support and highly competitive pricing, is well placed to make further inroads into the South African market for managed hosting services.
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Rackspace Managed Hosting is the fastest-growing hosting specialist. An international organisation, it offers the world`s only self-healing network, delivering 100% network availability. A wide range of managed hosting solutions and services for business revenue critical enterprise hosting platforms is offered. The company has received numerous awards for its "Fanatical Support" brand of customer service. In South Africa, Rackspace provides managed hosting services to 30 companies.
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