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December 20, 2001 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — SWsoft, Inc. (sw-soft.com), a server and networking software technology company, today announced it has established a partnership with Dell (dell.com) and Intel (intel.com) to launch Virtual @1-Net, a new hosting service based on the HSPcomplete full-lifecycle hosting automation solution. 1-Net is able to use a combination of Dell hardware with Intel computing power and HSPcomplete to house hundreds of customers, each with their own full-featured virtual private servers, on a single physical
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server.
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1-Net Singapore is a major driver of broadband in Singapore. It established
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the nationwide Singapore ONE broadband backbone and network infrastructure
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and has managed the network since 1997. A wholly owned subsidiary of
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MediaCorp Group of Companies since Oct. 2000, 1-Net serves as the country’s
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broadband exchange, connecting ISPs, providers of broadband and hosting
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services, government agencies, educational and research institutions,
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enterprises, and other IT and telecom service providers.
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Besides broadband connectivity, 1-Net provides hosting and managed services,
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and broadband-enabled an industrial complex that brings e-business service
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providers together to use the facilities of a wired-up business center. In
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early 2001, 1-Net saw an opportunity in the hosting services market.
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“At one end of the spectrum are those businesses that either do not have Web
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sites or, at most, basic ‘ebrochure’-type sites parked with increasingly
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untenable providers of free hosting services,” says Luke Lee, business
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development manager. At the other are large enterprises that have the
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financial, manpower and technical resources to build and operate their own
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data centers.
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Somewhere between the two ends are those who typically co-locate or co-share
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Web servers at hosting companies or Internet Data Centers, an arrangement
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that still requires the enterprises to own hardware and have the technical
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resources to manage the servers and sites. It was in this segment and the
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‘nil or free site’ niche that, according to Lee, “1-Net saw enormous
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potential for a hosting service that would not require customers to actually
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own hardware and yet allow them to have access to dedicated hardware and
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other resources that are virtually their own.”
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For the vehicle to enable and deliver this virtual hosting service, 1-Net
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met SWsoft, which was then readying HSPcomplete for market, its solution for
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hosting service providers. Incorporating virtualization, resource management
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and clustering features, HSPcomplete allows service providers to offer their
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customers a full suite of services, from shared Web hosting for small- and
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medium-sized businesses to cluster configurations for large enterprises.
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1-Net signed up for HSPcomplete in April and the hardware platform on which
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to deliver the virtual hosting service, SWsoft recommended Dell.
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“Dell makes very innovative products that use cutting-edge technologies.
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What we found attractive were the monitoring tools, the Dell Open Manage
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server management software, and the ease of upgrading. Dell’s Intel based
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servers also have very innovative designs; the built-in redundancy features
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allow us to actually upgrade the servers without having to remove them from
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the rack.”
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Other factors that went into SWsoft’s decision to recommend Dell hardware
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were the pricing that Dell could offer through its ‘no middlemen’ direct
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sales model, the speed of delivery, and the availability of a leasing
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program that reduced upfront expenditure.
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1-Net launched its virtual hosting service in August under the Virtual@1-Net
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brand. The basic plan costs S$15 a month, and gives subscribers their own
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virtual Web server on 1-Net’s broadband network, Web mail, FTP server,
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Microsoft Front Page 2000/XP extensions and a pre-installed database.
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“Customers also have their own administrative or root access rights. Each of
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them can log in to their own server, deploy their preferred software, and
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manage the server the way you want. It’s effectively their own server and if
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they need more disk or memory space, an upgrade to a higher subscription
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plan can be easily performed,” says Lee.
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The hosting is also ideal for resellers who are providing Web design
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services as it enables them to have total control of the Web hosting
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facility without investing in any capital assets. “In fact, since we
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launched the service, we’ve had numerous enquiries from would-be resellers,
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some from as physically far away as the U.S. and Canada,” Lee continues.
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Once the customers chooses a subscription plan, pays for it, and payment is
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accepted, HSPcomplete automatically creates a virtual server within the Dell
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cluster and provides software included in the plan to the server within
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minutes.
