Level 3 acquires TW Telecom

In a move finalized this Halloween, October 31, 2014, Level 3 finalized their acquisition of TW Telecom in a deal valued at $5.3 billion. The deal was first announced in June of this year and the companies have spent the last four months working on making the acquisition as seamless as possible. In an email sent to Level 3 customers today, the Regional President of North America and APAC, John Blount, wrote:

Current Level 3 customers will benefit from thousands of new connected buildings, which will enable a higher quality, more reliable on-net experience. And tw telecom customers will benefit from Level 3’s extensive local-to-global footprint in more than 60 countries, substantial undersea networks and access to our data centers around the world.

Based in Broomfield, Colorado, Level3 now has about 4,000 Colorado-based employees and about 13,000 more worldwide. Level 3's valuation post-acquisition was approximately $27 billion and it turns over an annual revenue of $8 billion. Level 3 says that it plans to be able to cut about $200MM in operations costs, while cutting as few jobs as possible. It says the integration will occur over the next year and a half, but will be made significantly easier since both companies were based out of the same metropolitan area in Colorado.

What Is Cloud Computing || QuadraNet In The Cloud

                                                           

                 InfraCloud, Virtualized Computing, Instant Storage CPU and RAM growth!

What Is Cloud Computing||QuadraNet In The Cloud

QuadraNet is going to be releasing their cloud hosting solution very shortly so we wanted to bring some clarification on exactly what “cloud computing” or “cloud hosting” is. Cloud computing is really how this paradigm should be referenced as it encompasses a relatively diverse field of technology which has several implications but with an underlying baseline infrastructure.

To understand cloud computing it is necessary to wrap your head around a basic concept. The “Cloud” comprises an infrastructure (hardware) aspect which is different than traditional hosting (dedicated server, virtual private server, and shared hosting) and a software aspect that sits on top of the hardware which brings the different components and capabilities of “Cloud” technology together (the on demand availability and scalability of resources and environments to host in). It is really a combination of how the hardware is setup and how the software allows the hardware to function that makes cloud computing new and exciting within the hosting industry.

For those of you who are still fuzzy on what cloud computing is the NIST which is the National Institute of Standards and Technology has provided a solid definition.  The NIST is mandated by the Federal Government’s U.S. Department of Commerce branch with developing standards and guidelines including minimum requirements for providing adequate information on subject matter of this type.

As with everything in the technology industry cloud computing is an evolving paradigm. This article will assist in characterizing important aspects of cloud computing. The intention of this article is to serve as a baseline for discussion by offering a means for broad comparisons of cloud services and deployment strategies.

The NIST defines cloud computing as “a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models.”

The Essential Characteristics of cloud computing is broken down into five definable characteristics which include: On-demand Self-service, Broad network access, Resource pooling, Rapid elasticity and Measured Service.

Service Models include Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

The most revealing description of cloud computing is summed with amazing precision by the NIST “A cloud infrastructure is the collection of hardware and software that enables the five essential characteristics of cloud computing. The cloud infrastructure can be viewed as containing both a physical layer and an abstraction layer. The physical layer consists of the hardware resources that are necessary to support the cloud services being provided, and typically includes sever, storage and network components. The abstraction layer consists of the software deployed across the physical layer, which manifests the essential cloud characteristics. Conceptually the abstraction layer sits above the physical layer.”

The NIST recognizes four Deployment Models: Private cloud, Community cloud, Public cloud and Hybrid cloud.

1. Private cloud. The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a single organization comprising multiple consumers (e.g., business units). It may be owned, managed, and operated by the organization, a third party, or some combination of them, and it may exist on or off premises. 


2. Community cloud. The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a specific community of consumers from organizations that have shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations). It may be owned, managed, and operated by one or more of the organizations in the community, a third party, or some combination of them, and it may exist on or off premises. 


3. Public cloud. The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for open use by the general public. It may be owned, managed, and operated by a business, academic, or government organization, or some combination of them. It exists on the premises of the cloud provider. 


4. Hybrid cloud. The cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more distinct cloud infrastructures (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities, but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load balancing between clouds). 

The QuadraNet Cloud will offer unparalleled capability for cloud computing!

• Virtualized Computing


• Deploy additional resources on the fly!


• Instant Storage, CPU, or RAM growth


• Integrated with Dedicated Servers over the Private Network!

 

InfraCloud Coming Soon!

 

 

 

For additional questions regarding any of our services or any information provided in this article please contact our Sales department or visit us at http://quadranet.com/

1-888-578-2372 ext. 2 TollFree

1-213-614-9371 ext. 2 International

 

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U.S. Department of Commerce. The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing: Recommendations of the national Institute of Standards and Technology. By Peter Mell and Timothy Grance. Available at: http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf Accessed: 5/29/2013.

What Is Cloud Computing || QuadraNet In The Cloud

How To Add A Credit Card: In QuadraNet Ubersmith Client Portal

How To Add A Credit Card: In QuadraNet Ubersmith Client Portal

 

#1. After logging into the secure QuadraNet Client Portal click View Invoices. (Note: You will not be able to pay your invoice until you add a credit card. Please follow the tutorial).

 

 

#2. From the View Invoices: Unpaid Invoices page click View Invoices|Pay Online.

 

 

#3. From View Invoices|Pay Online page click the blue hyperlink  where it says “Click here to add a credit card.” (Note: if you are paying with PayPal select PayPal from the drop down which reads by default “Charge Credit Card”).

 

 

#4. The fourth and final step is to add your credit card information to the form fields and click Save at the bottom of the page. Now you can pay your invoice!

 

* By default when you add a credit card to pay the invoice you agree to automatic renewal (see above screenshot). If you do not want your credit card to stay on file please contact our Billing department to remove the credit card from automatic renewal.

QuadraNet Billing Department

 1-888-578-2372

Disclaimer: Prices shown in tutorial are for sample purposes only and do not reflect the actual cost of products being shown.

How To Add A Credit Card: In QuadraNet Ubersmith Client Portal

How To Complete IP Justification In Chinese

How To Complete IP Justification In Chinese

How To Complete IP Justification In Chinese

QuadraNet Ubersmith Client Portal Tutorial

 

QuadraNet has partnered up with Ubersmith to provide a Data Center Automation, Billing, and Customer support application. The Ubersmith platform delivers powerful device management, monitoring and automation tools integrated with a fully featured client relationship and support manager, and will provide a single centralized POV.

 

This Ubersmith tutorial is going to walk you through with screenshots and instructions starting with the first email you receive.

Upon signing up for an account with QuadraNet you will receive the very first of three Welcome emails, your QuadraNet Client Management System Welcome email…

 

This first email is going to provide you with a link to follow in order to access your Client Management System. You will also be provided your QuadraNet Login ID and Password as seen in this screenshot  Please make sure you save this email in a safe and secure place as it grants full access to your account details.

 

 

 

The second email QuadraNet Advanced Invoice Notification lets you know that the invoice has been created and contains instructions on how to make your payment, it contains invoice details as well as payment directions. Paying your invoice promptly helps expedite the provisioning process  QuadraNet offers two easy payment methods. You can pay your invoice(s) by credit or debit card that is a VISA, Mastercard, or American Express or by using PayPal.com. For larger purchases QuadraNet may require wire transfer. If you are required to make a wire transfer QuadraNet will notify via email of the process.

Follow the instructions in this email and reference the first email for your Login ID.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the invoice has been paid, payment is verified and the provisioning of the server is expedited you will receive the third and final of the Welcome emails. The third email is called the New Server Order, this email welcomes you to QuadraNet, lets you know the server has been provisioned and provides you access to the all-inclusive client portal of Ubersmith.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can now click the hyperlink in the New Server Order email to access your all-inclusive client portal. You are now in the Ubersmith client portal where you have full control over just about every aspect of your account (see screenshot below). On the right hand side locate and click Billing & Services > View Services. From here you have a great overview of your account.

1). Is the Service Information and lists the services you currently have, you also get an overview of your billing cycle.

2). Is your Child Services these services include any additions you may add to your account such as larger network connection, more IP addresses, an operating system(such as Windows), another hard drive, or softwares such as cPanel and WHM. Your Child Services will also show a breakdown of these charges and how much more per month they cost.

3). Your Devices section shows how many servers you have and  lets you know at a quick glance that your servers are up and running indicated by the green icon. You can click each device to drill down deeper and get more specific information about each service. Here is an example.

4.) IP &Networks shows your Public Network IP Range, Private Network IP, and Private Network IPMI IP. If you want to know what IP’s you have assigned in your range just click here or type in http://quadranet.com/ip/ and copy and paste your Public Network IP Range into the field and click calculate.

5.) The Custom Data section allows you to setup email notifications for bandwidth allotments so you are notified if you approach or go over your allotment thus allowing you to upgrade your services without incurring overages.

6.) Shows your Billing Information, here you can see the unpaid balance, status of the account (active or inactive), billing period etc..

7.) Bandwidth Billing which allows you to monitor both bandwidth input and output. You can click View Graph for a visual representation and to consult the graph for additional information.

 

In summary QuadraNet utilizes Ubersmith as a secure client portal. The client portal is a friendly interface to your hosting account which gives you the ability to manage Support, Billing, Services, and much more.  QuadraNet continues to add custom modules for it’s valued clients such as automated OS reloads for our dedicated server clients.

The QuadraNet Ubersmith Client Portal Tutorial has walked you through the initial phases of signing up for an account so you know what to expect and what information you have access to from the outset of opening an account.

For additional questions regarding any of our services or any information provided in this tutorial please contact our Sales department or visit us at http://quadranet.com/

1-888-578-2372 ext. 2 TollFree

1-213-614-9371 ext. 2 International

 

 

QuadraNet Ubersmith Client Portal Tutorial

Dedicated Server Options Which Are Worth Taking Into Account

Dedicated Server Options Which Are Worth Taking Into Account

 

 

Regardless of what new technologies get integrated into the hosting industry, there is more than likely always going to be usefulness for dedicated server hosting. Hosting companies to do not the most profit from offering dedicated servers it is much more profitable to put several hundred accounts on a shared server but dedicated servers provide a market that will likely never go away.

If you are in the market for dedicated servers then you are going to want to choose a hosting company that specializes in them. QuadraNet has been specializing in dedicated and colocation hosting for over a decade. There are a lot of hosting companies out there that offer many different incentives to lure would be customers to purchase their hosting but when you are in the market for a dedicated server what features should you be looking for and which ones should not give much credence. Here is a list of some common dedicated server options that you should be aware of.

Bandwidth

Before we get to this most important of considerations let’s attempt a more basic one: What is bandwidth? Simply put, bandwidth refers to the rate at which data flows across a network over a certain period of time. Imagine it this way: bandwidth is like a pipe, and the water that flows through the pipe is the data. The larger the pipe (bandwidth) is, the more rapidly the water (data) can flow.

If you have internet at home you local ISP is providing you with a certain internet plan or offering you certain speeds at which you can access you online content. You may have been on the receiving end of your ISP throttling your bandwidth usage or even trying to charge you an overage.  The reason your ISP is trying to control how much and how fast you can access data online is because they are paying for bandwidth usage just as you are and as they say it all rolls downhill and you happen to be farther down that hill than they are. Bandwidth costs are typically the most inflexible services your hosting provider can working with and for the most part the entire industry is overselling their bandwidth in the hopes that your account only utilizes a fraction of what they offer.

So if one host is giving you a much better deal on it than another, and you think there’s a good chance that you might actually need that much, you can strongly consider going with them on this one factor alone. Most hosting companies do not own the datacenter they keep their machines in and they are purchasing bandwidth from the datacenter. QuadraNet is a datacenter and we work directly with all the major network providers which means we are able to provide a premium mix of bandwidth ensuring the network you are using does not go down and  we are able to provide the bandwidth at lower costs.

Uptime Guarantees

Web hosting companies offer various types of guarantees to attract customers, one of them being uptime guarantee which is probably the one most often used.

No host would survive long if your site went down several times a week.  QuadraNet provides a stellar uptime guarantee and ranks among the highest in the industry.

Facility Includes:

•  100% Power Uptime SLA


•  99.999% Network Uptime SLA


•  UPS Battery Backup Power


•  Automatic Transfer Switching


•  Caterpillar Diesel Backup Power Generation

Backup recovery

Backup and recovery is extremely important and is one feature you will want to place high on your value scale. If your site goes down or you data gets corrupted you are going to be in a world of hurt unless you have a backup copy of your hosting environment.

QuadraNet has partnered with R1Soft to provide automated and scalable data backups. Data backups are configured, managed, and accessed from within the R1Soft CDP utility available via the QuadraNet customer management portal. All data backups are performed over the Private Network for secure and efficient data transfers, whilst negating Public Bandwidth usage and offering 24/7/365 support.

 

Operating Systems

There has been a lot of debate on the internet regarding, which is the best operating system for web hosting. There are people who do not like windows, there are people who love CentOS and many others. The truth is that the best operating system is the one that suits what you are doing. The servers and the software run on top of the operating system. Just like on your home computer where you probably have Windows XP, Vista, or Windows. Similar to your home computer a hosting server also requires an operating system. There are 3 different versions.

The first one powered by Microsoft is Windows. The Microsoft servers also allow the integration of SQL databases, support ASP.net and other Microsoft specific technologies. The only problem of the Microsof web hosting servers is that they are very expensive.

The second version for web hosting servers is Linux. Linux is what is known as open source which means everyone has access to the code and has the ability to alter it. Open source also indicates that the software is free. There are many companies that market Linux, like Red Hat, Debian and Ubuntu. The main advantage of Linux is that is compatible with PHP. Also it’s very stable and has a great security.

The third version of operating system for web hosting servers is Unix. Unix is almost the same thing as Linux.There are two main Unix-based operating systems: FreeBSD and OpenBSD.

Unlike most hosting companies which only offer Linux based servers or a very limited selection of operating systems QuadraNet offers all the major server side operating systems and will even install them for you.

The majority of the available Operating Systems are compatible with the automated OS install feature. The vendor supplied update servers are available over the Private Network for secure and efficient OS updates whilst negating any Public Bandwidth usage.

QuadraNet offers 32-bit and 64-bit options for the available choices:

• CentOS                                                          FreeBSD


• Ubuntu                                                         Windows 2003 Standard


• Debian                                                          Windows 2003 Enterprise


• Fedora                                                          Windows 2008 Standard


• Windows 2008 Enterprise                        Windows 2008 Datacenter


• Windows 2008 Datacenter w/ HyperV

 

 

Root access

Root Access is an administrator level log-on for Dedicated Servers, Cloud Hosting and Virtual Private Servers. Having root access to the server gives you the capability to take full control of your server. You can then use it for just about anything you wish including hosting multiple websites, third party software/applications, creating VPN’s etc…. You can also maintain it as per your preferences.

How to use Root Access:

* Linux-based Servers: You have to establish an SSH connection to your server using “root” as a username, the root password, and the IP address assigned to your VPS/Cloud/Dedicated Server. These login details will typically be forwarded to you after your server is setup. You can use any SSH Client Software (Putty, Secure CRT, etc.) to establish the connection.

* Windows-based Servers: You have to establish a remote desktop connection using “Administrator” as a username, the administrative password, and the IP address assigned to your VPS/Cloud/Dedicated Server. These login details will typically be forwarded to you after your server is setup. You can use the Remote Desktop Connection manager provided by Microsoft.

 

QuadraNet provides you with full administrative access to your dedicated server. You also get the following benefits which most hosting providers do not offer.

 

• Remote Power Reboot


• Adjustable 10, 100, 1000 Mbps NICs


• Private VLAN’s


• Private Backend Network between Servers


• Automated O/S Installs


• Reverse DNS Control


• Free Domain DNS


• Real-Time Bandwidth Graphs


• KVM over IP (integrated or on-demand)


• Locally Hosted O/S Repositories

 

For even more information visit us at http://quadranet.com/

Or contact our Sales Department

1-888-578-2372 ext. 2 TollFree

1-213-614-9371 ext. 2 International

 

 

 

Dedicated Server Options Which Are Worth Taking Into Account

Have You Heard QuadraNet Datacenter Is Top Rated!

Want to learn more about QuadraNet?

Too lazy to read?

Then check out this sweet animation. Graphics do not get better than this!!

 

For even more information visit us at http://quadranet.com/

Or contact our Sales Department

1-888-578-2372 ext. 2 TollFree

1-213-614-9371 ext. 2 International

 

Have You Heard QuadraNet Datacenter Is Top Rated!