Our Hosting Data Center
Industrial-Grade Equipment Ensures Ultimate Performance and Reliability

We recognize that uninterrupted service is important for your web site and email.  That's why we maintain top-rated hardware and facilities to keep you on-line.  Below are details regarding the network operations center and equipment.

Security
The Network Operations Center ("NOC") has numerous security features.  It is located in a secure, monitored, class "A" building.  Only a select few approved personnel have access to highly sensitive areas and equipment.  A detailed record of employee and visitor entry is maintained at all times.

The facility is equipped with a fire suppression system which immediately extinguishes fire to protect equipment and personnel.  The command center is controlled via automatic doors to further secure and protect the equipment. 

Uninterruptible Power
To guard against power failures, there are two industrial-grade, Liebert UPS systems that maintain uninterrupted power in case of surges or outages.  Our network can run indefinitely without relying on external power.

Automatic Failure Switching
Your web site is dynamically copied and updated to several servers in real time.  If your server goes down, the switching system temporarily redirects incoming traffic to another server that has a copy of your web site and email.  Your site could still be down for 3 minutes while the switch occurs, but you won’t be down for long periods.  Of course, there are other reasons why your site could be off line, but these problems are almost always due to failures at major internet traffic carriers across the United States that are out of the control of any hosting company. 

Standby Servers
We keep spare servers of all configurations online and ready to go in case of an unexpected emergency on any server.

Force Filtered Cooling
All web servers are equipped with a positive-pressure filtered-air system. Four large fans pull filtered air into each server's protective case, and the components within are cooled by fans that circulate purified air. This constant force of clean air into the case creates a positive pressure environment ensuring that dust and particles remain outside the servers.  Sturdy Link's NOC features raised flooring that provides a constant flow of conditioned air to maintain uniform room temperature at all times. In addition, it reduces static electricity and ensures a professional, computer-grade environment for our servers.

Connected to Three Backbones (Network Redundancy)
We are on the net with GlobalCenter (GC), Qwest Communications and GTE through three separate bandwidth-on-demand connections that enter our building.

GC, a Tier 1 provider with a 13,000-mile fiber optic network and Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology provides a huge 460 gigabytes per second (GBPS) of capacity worldwide, has an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) fiber node located just a few floors below our center.

Qwest comes in with an OC-12 line and plans to upgrade to an OC-48 in the near future. They also have an ATM fiber node below our NOC.  The Qwest connection enables us to offer additional redundancy and better routes to Europe, Latin America and Asia. With our carriers, our router has up to 150,000 possible routes to send each packet of traffic.

AT&T is our third Tier 1 Internet backbone. AT&T Managed Internet Service provides a reliable, dedicated, high-speed Internet connection and industry-leading Service Level Agreements (SLAs). The business IP services reside on AT&T's world-class OC-192/OC-48 IP backbone, providing managed, state-of-the-art hardware and software, smart routing capability, and continuous performance monitoring.

Because of these multiple connections, we don't need to link to the Internet through OC3 or T3 Telecom circuits. Instead, independent cables run inside our building directly from the NOC to all three carriers.  These lines can handle the bandwidth of a T3 or an OC3 with DWDM.  Plus, they handle several times the bandwidth of an OC3. 

Network Reliability
Industry analysis shows that 70% of downtime of over 10 hours with any ISP is caused by telephone circuit failure.  We have virtually eliminated circuit failure because our NOC is in the same building as GlobalCenter, Qwest and GTE.  There is no phone circuit between us and our providers.  Instead, there is a direct connection between our routers and theirs.

Having a Tier-1 provider means we don't link to a backbone, we are actually on a backbone.  We don't use a Internet Telecom link either; instead, we have an in-house connection directly to FGC's ATM fiber node, located a few floors below our servers in the same building. This fiber optic line can handle the bandwidth of a T3 or an OC3, and with FGC's Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology, it can handle several times the bandwidth of an OC3.

Our providers also have peering connections with other major Tier 1 providers that allow traffic to be switched to alternate backbones should the need arise.

"Sometimes the Net is slow.... "
What happens when your pipe is hooked up to a faucet that just trickles? Sometimes even though your ISP and web host are both functioning properly, you may still have a slow data transfer rate. The Internet sends information all over the world through a dozen or more computers on its way to you -- and something is always getting serviced somewhere in that long chain.  Here's what we've done to speed up things:

Route Optimization
We have a large investment in BGP (Border Gate Protocol version 4) technology which allows your site traffic to travel more efficiently by finding the best data route.  On a typical server, traffic always takes the same route from your web site to a user.  For them, if there is a bad node, traffic does not get through at all.  Because we use a BGP protocol, different and more efficient routes are taken between client and server depending on traffic loads and broken nodes. This means our servers automatically look for the fastest route available to you and your users.



Low Latency/High Throughput
Often providers operate their networks at three to four times responsible capacity.  As a result, corresponding transfer times reach over 300ms for each hop along the net.  Our network daily average is 6.5% of its capacity, with mid-day peak spikes reaching only 15.5% capacity.  Our transfer times range from 15 to 80ms routinely. If we see that responses to your web surfers aren't being delivered in less than 1/10 of a second, we start finding out why.

In summary, we strive to implement state-of-the-art technology and take every reasonable precaution to ensure the highest reliability.  Our motto...