Colocation Prices Slashed at Netwise Hosting
As many of you may already be aware from our recent market reaction tests, we are currently in the process of repositioning our applauded Server Colocation services.
The team here at Netwise have always been known for radically rethinking the company's approach to the market. From our unique facility, right through to our unparalleled personal support network, we have always done things a little differently here. This restructuring of our colocation pricing takes this notion a step further, solidifying our position as the premium data centre of choice in London across all of our service sets (dedicated servers, server colocation, and online backup).
Our acclaimed colocation packages are now the highest value offerings available in the capital, bringing true affordability to London's retail colocation marketplace. Combining our existing world-class enterprise level service quality with these new price points places Netwise Hosting at the very forefront of the high-demand retail colocation sector.
A snapshot of the new pricing can be seen below, with particular attention to be drawn to our full rack offering, which is just £699 / month until January 2013;
Full Rack Colocation > £799 £699 / month + £0 Setup
- 40U Lockable Enclosure
- 8 Amps of Conditioned Dual Feed Power (32 Amps available per cab)
- 20Mbps of CDR Bandwidth (advanced global connectivity options available)
- 1Gbps Network Connection
- 16 APC Remote Reboot Ports
- 16 IP Addresses
- 24x7 Enclosure Access
- Redundant UK Connections
- Live 'My Netwise Hosting' Bandwidth / Power Monitoring
- Read More...
Our Half Rack and Quarter Rack offerings have also seen dramatic readjustments, with prices now standing at £399 and £199 per month respectively.
If you would like to know more about our Server Colocation services, and how Netwise Hosting can provision the perfect solution for your business, please do not hesitate to contact us for further information, or to book a tour of our private London facility.
And... don't forget about our award-winning Colocation Calculator - live, real-time colocation prices with dynamic slider control, based on your own unique colocation requirements.
Everything You Need to Know About Microsoft Windows Server 2012
The launch of Microsoft's new Server operating system is upon us, presenting server administrators with some rather exciting developments going forward into 2013, with a particular emphasis on virtualisation and the control system admins have over each virtual machine. This short guide will help you understand the various new developments on offer, introducing you to a new way of interacting with your services.
User Interface
The first thing you're going to notice is the interface. This is the first major departure Microsoft has made from its trusted desktop environment for its server operating system, adopting the new tile layout (Metro) first seen in Windows 8 earlier this year. You can opt to stick to a more traditional desktop environment if you wish, but we certainly feel this will add some variation to how administrators control their machines. This new user interface has been said to make it far easier to manage multiple servers more quickly and efficiently.
Server Core
Server Core is a new function of the Windows Server operating system. It is a command line only version of the OS, perfect for more advanced users who have no need for the advanced graphical user interface. The most important function of Server Core is that it can be enabled/disabled without a reinstall.
New Editions
Microsoft have reinvented their range of editions for this new release, scrapping Enterprise, Small Business Server, Web and HPC versions in favour of a more concise 4-edition setup. The new versions are Foundation, Essentials, Standard, and Datacenter (listed here in order of price/feature set, lowest to highest).
Licencing Changes
Linked to this is a new way of licencing the operating system - Server 2012 is now licensed per server as usual for the lower end Foundation and Essentials editions, and per CPU for Standard and Datacenter. The Datacenter edition becomes more cost effective as the number of instances grow. Standard and Datacenter editions of Server 2012 have advanced virtualisation options;
The New Home of Hyper-V
One of the key features of Server 2012 is its in-built server virtualisation functionality. While the two entry level editions have very limited virtualisation options (as they are designed primarily for basic single server deployments), Standard and Datacenter both have powerful Hyper-V functionality built right into the core, meaning the base operating system can form the basis of a virtual cloud server setup.
The Cloud OS
Having already been dubbed as Microsoft's 'Cloud OS', Windows Server 2012 Datacenter can support very large virtual environments, supporting up to 1024 virtual machines per host server. Each virtual machine in this version of Hyper-V can access up to 32 virtual processors, up to 512 gigabytes of random-access memory, and up to 16 terabytes of virtual disk space per virtual hard disk.
IIS 8.0 is Here
Microsoft's latest version of Internet Information Services supports a range of new features, including per-site CPU capping - another indication of the shift towards shared cloud computing.
Impressive Scale for the Data Centre Environment
Windows Server 2012 supports 640 logical processors, 4TB of RAM, and can work inside a cluster of up to 64 nodes.
Optimised for the Cloud
This latest version of the Microsoft Server operating system has been built from the ground up to support cloud platforms. As such, it is perfectly suited to those looking to host virtual machines, databases, applications (SaaS), web hosting, and even desktop hosting. Microsoft's in-built System Center 2012 handles much of the cloud service management, managing the computing, storage, and network components of the server.
There is no doubt that Microsoft have made giant leaps forward in releasing this new server operating system. Is is perfect for dedicated server operators, cloud service providers, multi-use clusters, and general data centre operations. The user experience has been drastically simplified, despite the number of features within the OS growing dramatically.
Netwise Hosting will be rolling out Windows Server 2012 in both Standard and Datacenter guises shortly. If you would like to know more about our implementation of this new operating system, please feel free to contact a member of the team.
Business Show 2012 Article
For those who still haven't seen our exclusive company profile and interview in the Business Show magazine, please click here to view a copy of our page in your browser.
The article covers a day spent with us here at the Netwise Hosting facility in South London, giving readers a glimpse at how things are done here at Netwise HQ. It is an interesting read, and certainly went down very well with visitors to our stand at the show. It also briefly covers what a data centre is, making the subject a little more approachable for new readers to this particular topic.
3 Reasons to Find a Green Data Centre
It's about time someone dispelled the myth that you must pay more to 'go green' in the hosting industry. Being green is not something you should be paying more for. It is essentially a value-added feature of good data centre environments, and should in fact reduce the cost of hosting with a particular DC.
Below is a short whitepaper written by Netwise Hosting to feature on a partners (NextConnex) website. It goes some way in explaining just why you should consider hosting your services at a greener data centre, and why this should actually cost you less than a like-for-like traditional data centre.
1) Carbon Reduction Commitments
In 2007, the British Government took their first real step towards actively combatting the growing threat of climate change, by establishing the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (formerly the Carbon Reduction Commitment). The aim of this reduction scheme is to bring the UK’s total carbon emissions down by 80% by 2050. Large organisations, SME’s and, most importantly, Public Sector Organisations are now very conscious of the ever-increasing pressure to adhere to stricter energy policies, and lead as positive role models to the public in acting on climate change.
Most people think of ‘carbon reduction’ as switching off a few more lights, or recycling more paper; the reality is that the core, fundamental functions of a modern organisation actually consume far more energy than they should be, simply because this consumption goes unnoticed.
An organisations information technology is undoubtedly the single largest drain on resources, yet remains absolutely vital to on-going operations, and sits hidden under the radar as a key area of concern in ‘going green’. As a core function of an organisation, cutting down on usage is simply not an option. This is where outsourcing all possible IT resources to a green service provider becomes a very attractive option, as green data centres have already invested heavily in reducing their own carbon footprints.
New innovative design ideas and technologies have allowed modern data centres to drastically reduce their carbon outlay, and pass on their energy-saving credentials to their end users - something otherwise impossible (or far too costly) to achieve with in-house IT services.
2) Ethical Practice
Ethics and ethical practices have directly fuelled the movement towards greener living and greener business practices. Organisations now feel an ethical responsibility to their customers and the environment as a whole to reduce unnecessary energy consumption wherever possible. Acting in-line with the collective ethical practices of society at large helps dramatically in improving the image of an organisation, solidifying its position as a responsible enterprise in the minds of the community.
3) Reduced Costs
Colocation services housed within greener data centres are often thought to command far higher price tags than more inefficient facilities. Though this statement may have held some truth five years ago, the reality is that today’s green data centres are often far more cost effective than first thought, as their own financial savings - linked to a reduction in their energy - bills are passed directly onto end customers.
While acting towards modern day carbon commitments is very important, it must still remain financially viable to do so - thankfully, a select few UK data centres now have the solution to this very real and growing problem.
In summary, it is everyone’s responsibility to act on climate change, and public facing organisations should lead from the top in bringing about cultural and social changes, making the switch to more energy efficient ways of working.
Choosing a green data centre is by far the simplest and most cost effective way of acting responsibly for your organisation.
Feel free to contact us for more information on how green data centres can benefit your business, and for a free Green Consultation to find out how you can make your hardware deployments work more effective and save you money.
London as a Global Connectivity Hub
When deploying a service online, you want it to have truly global reach. As the world becomes ever more connected, and business becomes more borderless, having unrestricted access to the worlds internet users is a must.
The best way to ensure your services enjoy unimpeded international transit is to house them in a data centre located in a major communications and trading hub. Any city with a global stock exchange market will normally have world-class connectivity and enterprise-level data facilities, because of the demands banks place on such sites in trading day to day.
London is one of, if not the most connected cities in the world, thanks to its trading hub and its proximity to mainland Europe. It has direct links to the East Coast of the USA, and to every other continent on Earth. It is also home to some of the worlds largest data centre operators, including Telecity, Equinix and Interxion. The is no doubt that London has become the worlds premier location for data deployment. With Netwise Hosting's NH:DC1 facility in South London enjoying connectivity straight into the London Internet Exchange (LINX / HEX), global connectivity is met at the highest of standards.
We are part of a next-generation high capacity 40/100GigE network, connecting NH:DC1 directly to over 40 UK data centres, with access to over 250 UK service providers and carriers. Netwise Hosting enjoy Layer 2 and Layer 3 IP transit services to over 600 cities globally, notable including low-latency links to the United States. By strategically partnering with British Telecom through our connectivity suppliers, we peer freely with each other for the best global routing possible.
Every single service that we provide, from dedicated servers and online backup right through to server colocation, is connected to our global network, and has unrestricted access to the world at large. Your deployment is only as strong as its weakest link. Don't let that link be poor connectivity. House your mission critical infrastructure in London.