AlaskanWolf
12-19-2001, 11:56 PM
Great X-mas present huh......personally, not to happy since this would be the 2nd move in (XX months)
Greetings,
The purpose of this note is to announce some upcoming Ventures Online Network Operations Center changes.
With our customers help, Ventures Online continues grow and expand our services.
Ventures Online was recently informed by Verio that their Network Operations Center, in which our servers are located in, is going to be shut down.
Needless to say, this came as a significant surprise, given that we had just moved to an expanded space within the data center, positioning us for long-term stability and growth.
After evaluation over the past several weeks and taking into consideration our rapid growth and need to increase the capacity of our network, we have decided that the best long-term solution is to move into our own data center, which will allow us to maintain our own 7x24 staff.
We have consequently looked at several facilities and have chosen one that we feel will be perfect for our customer needs, ensuring stability and future growth.
The lease has been signed and we will be spending the next several weeks getting the new center ready to go. We anticipate moving the servers between January 15th and 21st and we will let you know when those move plans are finalized.
We realize that you have many questions. Here are a few anticipated FAQs for your information:
1) What are the benefits to you of Ventures Online maintaining their own data center?
a. Eliminate dependency on 3rd party providers.
b. Diverse connectivity; will be able to contract with multiple tier-1 bandwidth carriers. Ensures redundancy.
c. Increases our ability to control and manipulate our routing request to a more efficient extent.
d. Opportunity for expansion of services such as full service co-location and managed dedicated servers.
e. Staffed control room with technicianšs seconds away from the equipment, allowing us to provide 24x7 support, versus current on-call support.
f. More control over reverse DNS routing.
g. Increased bandwidth scalability.
h. Room to expand as needed, allowing for ongoing growth and expansion.
2) Will my server be down?
Unfortunately, yes. We need to shut down the servers in order to move them. We are working out the details and will provide them within the next few weeks. We will be working hard to keep the down time to a minimum and will have a good communication plan in place to keep you informed every step of the way.
3) Will there be any impact to my data and information on the server?
No, since we are physically moving the servers, there will only be a shutdown and restart. There will be no data moves to different servers.
4) When will you be moving the servers?
We anticipate the move will be some time between the second and third week in January. We will notify you as soon as we complete our move plan.
5) How far is the building from the current location?
4.5 miles.
6) Who is going to manage your Network?
Fred Franzel is our Network Engineer and has had 8 years experience in networking, is Cisco Certified and has come to us from a large Data Center company. Fred has worked on integrating network services such as load balancing, firewalling, SAN (Storage Attached Network), tape backup, and VPNs. He has recently worked to deploy a nationwide OC-X network.
7) Do you anticipate any reduction in Network stability?
No. Our plan includes ensuring better Network redundancy. We will have multiple bandwidth providers, multiple connections into the building, and backup power services, all monitored by our in-house technicians.
8) Can you provide more information about your facility?
We will be putting more information about our new Network online within the next couple of weeks, but as a basic overview, here are some facts:
a. There will be multiple diverse connections coming into the building with multiple tier one bandwidth providers, including, but not limited to: Qwest, AT&T, Level3, Genuity, Time Warner and Yipes. We are also in the process of negotiating with other bandwidth providers.
b. We will have over 5,000 sq. ft of raised floor data center space with first rights on another 4,000 sq ft. adjacent to that same space.
c. Our technicians and office staff will be in the same location as the servers, so we will be able to provide 24x7 customer support.
d. The entire location will have all power backed up by generator as well as an in-house UPS system ensuring complete uptime and stability for our customers and equipment.
e. Space cooling is accomplished with the aid of 3 * 20 ton units, regulating humidity and temperature to keep everything nice and cool.
9) Will IP addresses change?
a. Yes, we will need to re-assign IP addresses. We have worked closely with Verio during our planning and they have agreed to allow us to use the current IP addresses for and additional three months. This will allow us time to transition you to new IP addresses and time for you to react.
10) What is the impact to changing IP addresses?
a. For normal web sites, there should be no impact as long as you ensure you have no IP based links. In that case, we recommend you change those to name based links.
b. We will take care of changing name server IPs for all of our Virtual Servers, so if you use our name servers, there will be no action required for you.
c. Resellers and Dedicated Server owners will be provided new IPšs for their name servers, which will need to be updated with the appropriate registrar.
d. If you use 3rd party DNS services (e.g. Dotster, register.com), you may need to update them with your new IP address.
11) When should we expect to get our new IP addresses?
a. We will begin to reassign IPs effective immediately and hope to have all IP addresses assigned by the end of January.
12) How many employees will be working out of the new office?
a. We currently have 13 highly qualified people on our team. Seven of us will be working on-site. Five will continue to provide off-site support. We will be adding two new on-site positions as needed during the first quarter of next year.
13) Is there anything else we need to be aware of?
a. Yes. During this opportunity our administrative office is also relocating from Oregon to Denver. We will be moving our Billing server during the last week of December. There may be delays in receiving timely updates to customer information requests and billing between December 26th and December 30th, but we will work diligently to ensure all work is caught up prior to the January 1st billing. There should be no impact to your hosting accounts or support tickets and we will be providing new phone numbers on our website prior to the move.
b. We will not be processing new dedicated server orders until our new Center is set up and fully tested.
We sincerely appreciate your business and strive to provide quality Network Connections, Support and Service. We thank you in advance for your patience during our transition and we look forward to many new and exciting things to come.
We will continue to provide more information about the move, once we finalize our plans (hopefully around the first week in January).
If you have questions, we have setup a separate area in our Customer Support Forum (http://www.venturesonline.com/forums/) where questions can be asked and answered by our staff.
Sincerely,
Ventures Management Team
Greetings,
The purpose of this note is to announce some upcoming Ventures Online Network Operations Center changes.
With our customers help, Ventures Online continues grow and expand our services.
Ventures Online was recently informed by Verio that their Network Operations Center, in which our servers are located in, is going to be shut down.
Needless to say, this came as a significant surprise, given that we had just moved to an expanded space within the data center, positioning us for long-term stability and growth.
After evaluation over the past several weeks and taking into consideration our rapid growth and need to increase the capacity of our network, we have decided that the best long-term solution is to move into our own data center, which will allow us to maintain our own 7x24 staff.
We have consequently looked at several facilities and have chosen one that we feel will be perfect for our customer needs, ensuring stability and future growth.
The lease has been signed and we will be spending the next several weeks getting the new center ready to go. We anticipate moving the servers between January 15th and 21st and we will let you know when those move plans are finalized.
We realize that you have many questions. Here are a few anticipated FAQs for your information:
1) What are the benefits to you of Ventures Online maintaining their own data center?
a. Eliminate dependency on 3rd party providers.
b. Diverse connectivity; will be able to contract with multiple tier-1 bandwidth carriers. Ensures redundancy.
c. Increases our ability to control and manipulate our routing request to a more efficient extent.
d. Opportunity for expansion of services such as full service co-location and managed dedicated servers.
e. Staffed control room with technicianšs seconds away from the equipment, allowing us to provide 24x7 support, versus current on-call support.
f. More control over reverse DNS routing.
g. Increased bandwidth scalability.
h. Room to expand as needed, allowing for ongoing growth and expansion.
2) Will my server be down?
Unfortunately, yes. We need to shut down the servers in order to move them. We are working out the details and will provide them within the next few weeks. We will be working hard to keep the down time to a minimum and will have a good communication plan in place to keep you informed every step of the way.
3) Will there be any impact to my data and information on the server?
No, since we are physically moving the servers, there will only be a shutdown and restart. There will be no data moves to different servers.
4) When will you be moving the servers?
We anticipate the move will be some time between the second and third week in January. We will notify you as soon as we complete our move plan.
5) How far is the building from the current location?
4.5 miles.
6) Who is going to manage your Network?
Fred Franzel is our Network Engineer and has had 8 years experience in networking, is Cisco Certified and has come to us from a large Data Center company. Fred has worked on integrating network services such as load balancing, firewalling, SAN (Storage Attached Network), tape backup, and VPNs. He has recently worked to deploy a nationwide OC-X network.
7) Do you anticipate any reduction in Network stability?
No. Our plan includes ensuring better Network redundancy. We will have multiple bandwidth providers, multiple connections into the building, and backup power services, all monitored by our in-house technicians.
8) Can you provide more information about your facility?
We will be putting more information about our new Network online within the next couple of weeks, but as a basic overview, here are some facts:
a. There will be multiple diverse connections coming into the building with multiple tier one bandwidth providers, including, but not limited to: Qwest, AT&T, Level3, Genuity, Time Warner and Yipes. We are also in the process of negotiating with other bandwidth providers.
b. We will have over 5,000 sq. ft of raised floor data center space with first rights on another 4,000 sq ft. adjacent to that same space.
c. Our technicians and office staff will be in the same location as the servers, so we will be able to provide 24x7 customer support.
d. The entire location will have all power backed up by generator as well as an in-house UPS system ensuring complete uptime and stability for our customers and equipment.
e. Space cooling is accomplished with the aid of 3 * 20 ton units, regulating humidity and temperature to keep everything nice and cool.
9) Will IP addresses change?
a. Yes, we will need to re-assign IP addresses. We have worked closely with Verio during our planning and they have agreed to allow us to use the current IP addresses for and additional three months. This will allow us time to transition you to new IP addresses and time for you to react.
10) What is the impact to changing IP addresses?
a. For normal web sites, there should be no impact as long as you ensure you have no IP based links. In that case, we recommend you change those to name based links.
b. We will take care of changing name server IPs for all of our Virtual Servers, so if you use our name servers, there will be no action required for you.
c. Resellers and Dedicated Server owners will be provided new IPšs for their name servers, which will need to be updated with the appropriate registrar.
d. If you use 3rd party DNS services (e.g. Dotster, register.com), you may need to update them with your new IP address.
11) When should we expect to get our new IP addresses?
a. We will begin to reassign IPs effective immediately and hope to have all IP addresses assigned by the end of January.
12) How many employees will be working out of the new office?
a. We currently have 13 highly qualified people on our team. Seven of us will be working on-site. Five will continue to provide off-site support. We will be adding two new on-site positions as needed during the first quarter of next year.
13) Is there anything else we need to be aware of?
a. Yes. During this opportunity our administrative office is also relocating from Oregon to Denver. We will be moving our Billing server during the last week of December. There may be delays in receiving timely updates to customer information requests and billing between December 26th and December 30th, but we will work diligently to ensure all work is caught up prior to the January 1st billing. There should be no impact to your hosting accounts or support tickets and we will be providing new phone numbers on our website prior to the move.
b. We will not be processing new dedicated server orders until our new Center is set up and fully tested.
We sincerely appreciate your business and strive to provide quality Network Connections, Support and Service. We thank you in advance for your patience during our transition and we look forward to many new and exciting things to come.
We will continue to provide more information about the move, once we finalize our plans (hopefully around the first week in January).
If you have questions, we have setup a separate area in our Customer Support Forum (http://www.venturesonline.com/forums/) where questions can be asked and answered by our staff.
Sincerely,
Ventures Management Team