Hi all.

I'm trying to find a reliable hosting provider for my domain that can do the following:

-e-mail hosting via IMAP over SSH or "equivalent" secure transport for IMAP
-also SMTP should be secure via SSH
-use an advanced MTA like qmail or postfix
-"simple" web hosting, with Tcl or PHP-based CGI scripts at most (no SQL/DB stuff, etc.)
-preferably use servers that are *BSD or Solaris-based
-have really helpful, friendly, _available_ (e.g. beyond 9 - 5 hours) tech support that can custom-configure the relevant software

other relevant things:

-bandwidth requirements will not be that high, and I'm not necessarily concerned with "unlimited" bandwidth offers
-mailbox space will be the bulk of the storage requirements, I'd probably like 4-6 boxes with 10-20 MB each
-web storage requirements and CGI overhead will be fairly low
-a "dedicated" server is by no means a must, but I'm really interested in (security-oriented) custom configurations for the software, e.g. lockout SMTP/IMAP traffic unless it comes over an SSH tunnel, etc.
-I'm perfectly happy with a "small" operation as long as they're reliable; I'm just wary of fly-by-night type operations, or the dozens of "free"/gimmicky places you can get through a Yahoo search
-I understand that quality costs and I'm willing to pay for it

I would really appreciate all your suggestions. Please. I've been pretty unsuccessful trying to find this kind of info by doing keyword or category web searches, and I'm certain at least some of you would know relevant hosts. Additionally, if you know a better place to ask about this, I would also appreciate your letting me know.

Thanks a lot in advance.:)

I would seriously consider Voxel.net IMAP solution:

http://www.voxel.net/?svc.mail

I have been using it with my dedicated server there and have been very pleased. The inhouse support and programming are excellent and they have a truly top-notch inhouse email control panel (AWESOM) that handles the IMAP/POP accounts flawlessly. I am more than happy with them.

As for support, they are round the clock. In fact, I get support emails responded to at 3:00 a.m. and had bugs fixed on their inhouse systems within minutes of my mentioning them ;) The network and servers are also top of the line. Plus, they are just so excited about they are doing - they really devote themselves to linux, hosting, and their customers.

aka happy customer

Thanks for the recommendation, zsmith928.

If this helps anybody else, I think I may have found a few other candidate companies. Since I knew I specifically wanted IMAP e-mail hosting, I went to www.imap.org, and on this page:

http://www.imap.org/products/providers.html

is a list of providers supporting IMAP. I'm sure that's not an exhaustive list of hosts supporting IMAP, but it's a start (and it lists hosts that have taken the trouble to register with imap.org, so their IMAP support is less likely to be an "afterthought").

I'm still open to other recommendations though. Anyone else?