BurstNET™ announces NOCSTER product line. NOCSTER expected to change market
with low-cost, high bandwidth, fully managed solutions.


BurstNET™ Launches NOCSTER; High-Bandwidth, Low-Cost, Managed Services Division

SCRANTON, PA, May 15, 2002 /BUSINESS WIRE/ -- BurstNET Technologies, Inc.™ (http://www.burst.net), a leading provider of managed dedicated web hosting services, today announced NOCSTER (http://www.nocster.net), a new low-cost, high bandwidth allotted, managed services division.

NOCSTER service plans include a 1Ghz processor, 60GB hard drive, 512MB RAM dedicated web server, with a 300GB monthly bandwidth allotment for US$299.95 setup, and US$99.95US per month. Other hardware configurations are available for similar pricing, including SCSI storage solutions. Reseller packages are another NOCSTER service offering, with plans starting at US$29.95 per month for 1GB disk storage space and 20GB of bandwidth. An unlimited number of domains/websites can utilize the space and bandwidth, allowing for a huge profit margin after resale markup.

“The NOCSTER family of managed services will allow BurstNET™ to take the industry lead in low-priced, high-bandwidth services,” said S. Matthew Arcus, CEO of BurstNET™. “Competitors have been releasing sub-$100 dedicated servers based on very inexpensive backbone providers, and providing little-to-no support with such. NOCSTER will take such offerings to the next level, including full system administration and tech support, delivered over industry leading backbones; including Qwest™ - one of the Internet’s premier bandwidth providers.”

“Although the new low-end service portfolios the competition are now offering is on the right track, they are failing when it comes to providing support for these offerings,” states Matthew McCormick, Customer Service Manager at BurstNET™. “By including management and support with our new product line, we have created a managed hosting solution that is unrivaled in today’s market.”

The core of the managed services provided by BurstNET™, is powered by Cpanel™ and WebHostManager™, a web-hosting software automation suite from DarkOrb Communications™. BurstNET™ is the largest Authorized Data Center & Distributor for Cpanel™ (http://www.cpanel.net), the fastest growing hosting automation package in the industry. “The growth of Cpanel™ installations has increased phenomenally in the past 6 months…to the point that we can see the public has made their choice to the most end-user friendly and feature-rich administrative functionality solution available on the market,” said J. Nick Koston, BurstNET™ Chief Technology Officer, and CEO of DarkOrb Communications™. “ I see a huge install base potential for Cpanel™ due to it’s selection as the management solution for the NOCSTER product line.”

NOCSTER is scheduled for release on June 1, 2002, however BurstNET™ is currently accepting advance orders due to anticipated high demand. Call 1-877-BURSTNET for more information, or view the NOCSTER service portfolio online at http://www.nocster.net.


About BurstNET™ (http://www.burst.net)

BurstNET™ is a Managed Hosting & Internet Service Provider hosting over 47,000 websites, maintained on over 600 servers, for clients in over 150 countries worldwide. The company was founded in 1991, and entered the Web Hosting market in 1996, making it one of the oldest and most respected providers in the industry, as well as one of the longest remaining privately held companies in the sector. The BurstNET™ Network Operations Center, located in Scranton, Pennsylvania is a telco-grade facility with diesel generator backup, temperature and environmental control, high security monitoring, and fully redundant UPS power backup systems. The data center is the largest co-location facility, and the only carrier-neutral hotel in the Northeast PA region. The company also provides nation-wide dialup access, regional T1/DS3/OC3 connectivity, and is currently rolling out Wireless Internet (WI-FI) in the local market. The BurstNET™ network is powered via Cisco 12000 and 7200 series routers connected to the Internet via three diverse-path fiber providers carrying OC3 connectivity from both Sprint™ (http://www.sprint.net) & AT&T™ (http://www.att.com), DS3 connectivity from MCI/Worldcom™ (http://www.worldcom.com), and 100MBPS Metro Fast Ethernet from Cogent Communications™ (http://www.cogentco.com) & Qwest™ (http://www.qwest.com), for a total available capacity of over 400MBPS.

Call 1-877-BURSTNET for more info, or visit the company online at http://www.burst.net.


Editorial Contact:
Jason Brozena
BurstNET™
(877) 287-7863 Ext # 32
prdept@burst.net




View WHT Discussion (http://webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?threadid=43787)

Visit BurstNET™ website (http://www.burst.net)


Request Notification as soon as NOCSTER website, service info, and ordering is available (http://www.burst.net/nocster/notify.shtml)

Pfff finally we know :D

Looking great t me! I mailed you for some additional info :)

includes Cpanel for $99.00 a month I am there. So me where to sign.

Monte

It most likley does, all burst servers come with cpanel for no charge.

(or so I was told...):D

It is really a nice offer, I am very surprised and pleased. But why are there so many people voting they won't user nocster services? What turn them down?

cheers,
:beer:

So let me get this straight....a fully managed server including CPanel, 300GB bandwidth, 60GB HDD and a 1GHz processor for $99.95/mo. If this is true....I will take a stroke :eek:

Originally posted by dektong
It is really a nice offer, I am very surprised and pleased. But why are there so many people voting they won't user nocster services? What turn them down?

cheers,
:beer:

maybe because of this? :eek:

The BurstNET™ network is powered via Cisco 12000 and 7200 series routers connected to the Internet via three diverse-path fiber providers carrying OC3 connectivity from both Sprint™ (http://www.sprint.net) & AT&T™ (http://www.att.com), DS3 connectivity from MCI/Worldcom™ (http://www.worldcom.com), and 100MBPS Metro Fast Ethernet from Cogent Communications™ (http://www.cogentco.com) & Qwest™ (http://www.qwest.com), for a total available capacity of over 400MBPS.

Compare to Rackshack
Rackshack Network (http://www.rackshack.net/aboutus/networks.asp)

For $99, with cpanel... and managed hosting... I can see how can they make the profit but for the managed service I don't see any, $200+ is what i think acceptable for managed hosting and i guess they'd be more reliable for what people needs (people who need managed service).

I guess there will be more so-called low-cost hosting plans and reseller plans.

Its called "weve got to much bandwidth sitting around, and we cant get rid of it becuase were contracted to it. So if we cant sell our services at the prices we buy it at, how about we mark it down so low no one can refuse, and hope that no one utilizes all of our resources, and when they do we say "HEY! what do you expect for 99.00/month" anyways thats way a little bird told me...

Its a nice offer no doubt.

Im sick and tired of companies coming out and slamming other companies who offer some budget systems who actually use good hardware and good carriers.

Burst did this in there release and a few other companies have. There are some companies out there that use top notch parts and a good backbone and are still in the budget range.

Joe

With regard to interest in Nocster services, I am not interested until Burst can prove they can manage their network effectively, cut out DDoS attacks, and gain a decent network uptime - after that, then I may reconsider.

These are extremely good deals. I just cannot see how they can make any profit though, even if it was all cogent.

The only thing I would be concerned with is if I was a current customer of Burst. There will be a lot of new customers coming to Burst, and with managed servers they'll need to hire more workers. If they don't current customers paying 5 times(estimate) what Nocster is charging will get slower respinse times etc...

I'm pretty sure a current Burst server with 300GB bandwidth and all these features is over $500.

These are great deals though, we'll see how it all works out.

I almost pay this much a month for a single CPanel license.

Just configured same from Burst.net site and got
Setup Fee: $ 613.60 Monthly Fee: $ 808.55 .

A new aggressive approach although $600 of my amount was bandwidth. Certainly cogent plays an important role in this service.

<< weve got to much bandwidth sitting around, and we cant get rid of it becuase were contracted to it. So if we cant sell our services at the prices we buy it at, how about we mark it down so low no one can refuse >>


Not quite...
We actually ordered enough bandwidth to double our current capacity just for the NOCSTER project. We definately do not have too much bandwidth sitting around, and ordered Sprint & AT&T upgrades just because of this....to support our fast growing regular BurstNET services.

Sean R.
BurstNET

<< It is really a nice offer, I am very surprised and pleased. But why are there so many people voting they won't user nocster services? What turn them down? >>

If you are happy with your current provider, or a competitor yourself, of course you would vote "no".

<< With regard to interest in Nocster services, I am not interested until Burst can prove they can manage their network effectively, cut out DDoS attacks, and gain a decent network uptime - after that, then I may reconsider. >>

We are working on a system this week that automatically corrects all server attacks and floods, without us having to manually find the source of the problem.

<< Just configured same from Burst.net site and got Setup Fee: $ 613.60 Monthly Fee: $ 808.55.>>

That is from the BurstNET network, including all our providers, from the self-config script. NOCSTER will be using only Qwest & Cogent to start (other Tier 1's to follow...). The self-config script pricing is being lowered as well this week...more on par with regular BurstNET Special Offers pricing levels. Regardless, this is totally different service than the NOCSTER product line...


Sean R.
BurstNET

Just out of pure interest, what kind of price range would you put on a box with the following specs?
Dual 1Ghz processor, 2 *60GB hard drive, 512MB RAM dedicated 300GB/mo.

Well this is definately one way to piss off all the people who buy cpanel.

Originally posted by SplashHost.com
Well this is definately one way to piss of all the people who buy cpanel.

lol

...very nicley put Alan!

Originally posted by SplashHost.com
Well this is definately one way to piss off all the people who buy cpanel.

True.

Would you be able to buy a server, transfer the Cpanel license to a different machine and use the server as a backup device?

Originally posted by JBIZ718
Its a nice offer no doubt.

Im sick and tired of companies coming out and slamming other companies who offer some budget systems who actually use good hardware and good carriers.

Burst did this in there release and a few other companies have. There are some companies out there that use top notch parts and a good backbone and are still in the budget range.

Joe

Good hardware? Hmm...I'm not so sure about that.

I would not use NOCSTER services. :( I am very happy with my current provider, and when I was with BurstNET, it was not a happy experience. :( I also do not want a managed server.

Would you be able to buy a server, transfer the Cpanel license to a different machine and use the server as a backup device?


I doubt they would let you do that.

Originally posted by SplashHost.com
Well this is definately one way to piss off all the people who buy cpanel.

I agree with you Alan. With CPanel prices for 'other' companies sold for $70-$100 monthly, it's a quite unfair :angry:
Quite interested if I can use the Cpanel license on another server instead :stickout

I am sick and tired of BurstNET offering cheaper and even more offers, trying to grab new clients while their long-time clients are suffering from constant network downtime, which can easily be proven if needed.

The connections are completely maxed out mostly to 98%+, performance is slow during most of the day with packet loss and they die every 2 days, sometimes sooner, for 30 or more minutes, since weeks! Once they call it a DOS attack, then a virus flood, then a connectivity upgrade - the fact is that the connections are completely maxed out and now they're selling even more!

Before you look for new customers, make sure your current ones are happy. Overloading the network causing hours of downtime just causes us to look stupid in front of our customers.

I am sorry, but i had to say this. Believe me, its the truth.

Asked a question that was already answered.

Originally posted by voxtreme-matt


True.

Would you be able to buy a server, transfer the Cpanel license to a different machine and use the server as a backup device?

I really like this idea. You could get a CPanel license, and a server with 300GB for only a few extra dollars a month over normal CPanel prices, and for only a $300 setup. Using the CPanel license on another server shouldn't be a problem, but they will most likely not allow this. They might not mind though, because if you don't use the server much, they might actually make money on the deal.

It thought by your new release that you were offering several different providers. "BurstNET™ network is powered via Cisco 12000 and 7200 series routers connected to the Internet via three diverse-path fiber providers carrying OC3 connectivity from both Sprint™ (http://www.sprint.net) & AT&T™ (http://www.att.com), DS3 connectivity from MCI/Worldcom™ (http://www.worldcom.com), and 100MBPS Metro Fast Ethernet from Cogent Communications™ (http://www.cogentco.com) & Qwest™ (http://www.qwest.com), for a total available capacity of over 400MBPS. "

If this is only the BurstNET portion and not the Nocster then it seems your current customers do take a step down with connectivity also, while still paying that price way above Nocsters price. I thought you were in your own data center, not a carrier neutral hotel? Seems stuff is mixed up in the last paragraph of your news release if I'm not mistaken.

theres no way you will be able to do that.

Lol, wishful thinking....

Originally posted by BurstNET
<< It is really a nice offer, I am very surprised and pleased. But why are there so many people voting they won't user nocster services? What turn them down? >>

If you are happy with your current provider, or a competitor yourself, of course you would vote "no"Actually I think you'll find that the reason a lot of people are voting no is because BURST have been letting a lot of their customers down left right and centre.

It's also pretty obvious that you're not going to be flavour of the month with any of your own customers given that you're now going into direct competition with them on a number of fronts.

Anyway... bottom line, I'd take a long hard look at the poll results you're now accruing and consider that they might not be down to sore losers... My own vote was based on 1st hand experience...

Yep. The "free" licenses are with inhouse servers anyway.

Originally posted by dektong
It is really a nice offer, I am very surprised and pleased. But why are there so many people voting they won't user nocster services? What turn them down?

cheers,
:beer:

Lack of confidence in Burst

Originally posted by WebSnail.net
Actually I think you'll find that the reason a lot of people are voting no is because BURST have been letting a lot of their customers down left right and centre.

It's also pretty obvious that you're not going to be flavour of the month with any of your own customers given that you're now going into direct competition with them on a number of fronts.

Anyway... bottom line, I'd take a long hard look at the poll results you're now accruing and consider that they might not be down to sore losers... My own vote was based on 1st hand experience...
Ditto.

any current costomers speaking? :rolleyes:

what are you uptime and the service you receive?

As i know, you won't be able to use cpanel on another datacenter, the cheapest you can get for the cpanel is $25 per month, I believe burst got it even cheaper because of long term costomer.

How can they provide such low service fee? simply because of they expect the large amount of vol.

But I do not believe anyone will get any standard managed service... I want to see if they provide any SLA like rackspace do...

Just my 2 cents.

what are you uptime and the service you receive? http://www.webhostingtalk.com/search.php?action=showresults&searchid=380098&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending

Originally posted by RackMy.com
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/search.php?action=showresults&searchid=380098&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending

enough said :rolleyes:

Originally posted by CoreFighter
any current costomers speaking? :rolleyes:

what are you uptime and the service you receive?

As i know, you won't be able to use cpanel on another datacenter, the cheapest you can get for the cpanel is $25 per month, I believe burst got it even cheaper because of long term costomer.

How can they provide such low service fee? simply because of they expect the large amount of vol.

But I do not believe anyone will get any standard managed service... I want to see if they provide any SLA like rackspace do...

Just my 2 cents.


The Nocster are coming! The Nocster are coming!

and i am pretty scared from it.

The reason i choose burst.net was reasonable pricing and support. but there service has been very bad since past few months with regards to network problems.

burst.net support is very good all they need is good network. Now with Nocsters coming I suspect it is going to be more bad because of cheap and inexperienced customers floating in from reseller to dedicated servers because of cpanel. Also I heard burst will be using cogent which I don't think is very reliable.

And what about those who sell cpanel license for $100 / month. Who will buy the license if you get full box for $100.

Most of these $100 servers hosted in same burst.net NOC may cause load on network and since most of $100 customers, whom I suspect, may be inexperience resellers or customer shifting from shared hosting environment, who will go with such servers because of cheap pricing may not have much experience and will cause load on burst.net support team and which will degrade overall quality of burst.net because I don't think for $100 dedicated server any one can offer quality support.

Burst.net must understand there are customers who don't consider prices as primary factor but more focus on support, good network and balanced pricing.

I am very sick of providers giving lame excusive and false promises which are never completed in timely manner.

I am sorry, if I said something wrong but this is my understanding and experience.

Just my $100 :o

This kinda makes me wonder what kind of deal Burst has worked out with DarkORB for Cpanel licenses. If the minimum any normal distributor pays per license is $25.00 per month per server, I don't see how it is even remotely possible for them to make money on this deal. Maybe DarkORB sells site licenses or something...

Originally posted by mahinder
Just my $100 :o

:emlaugh:

well said mahinder :spiny:

Originally posted by Webjunkie
This kinda makes me wonder what kind of deal Burst has worked out with DarkORB for Cpanel licenses. If the minimum any normal distributor pays per license is $25.00 per month per server, I don't see how it is even remotely possible for them to make money on this deal. Maybe DarkORB sells site licenses or something...
Aren't the 2 companies linked somehow by their CFO or CEO or something?? That might explain how they do the Cpanel licences for the prices. :confused:

Nick is an employee of burst.net, so they pretty much get CPanel for free...

took 5-10 seconds for thier burst.net logo to load for me on the nocster.net website and im on a t3... case closed :)

Everyone looking for all the information / specs of NOCSTER the site is now live. www.nocster.net

Thank you,

Sold out already?

Sold out already?

Nope, as stated in the press release, we are pre-accepting orders now, and the released date of these servers will be 6/1/02

Thanks,

I am sure I read that cpanel was included in the 99.95 deal.Now I go to their site and says that cpanel is extra.
:confused:

Site (nocster.net) loads way slow for me :bawling:
( Ping 241ms )

<< Site (nocster.net) loads way slow for me ( Ping 241ms ) >>


root@secure [/]# /usr/sbin/traceroute freestylehosting.com
traceroute to freestylehosting.com (66.54.169.40), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
1 66961921 (66.96.192.1) 4.535 ms 4.834 ms 1.955 ms
2 12.119.155.81 (12.119.155.81) 18.697 ms 25.450 ms 24.006 ms
3 gbr6-p52.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.123.192.18) 21.847 ms 14.785 ms 15.390 ms
4 gbr4-p90.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.122.5.118) 20.798 ms 20.709 ms 19.037 ms
5 ggr1-p370.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.123.1.125) 20.000 ms 37.824 ms 34.907 ms
6 pos1-1.core2.NewYork1.Level3.net (63.211.54.65) 34.178 ms 31.741 ms 25.960 ms
7 ae0-54.mp2.NewYork1.Level3.net (64.159.17.98) 34.919 ms 31.879 ms 27.644 ms
8 so-0-1-0.mp1.Philadelphia1.Level3.net (64.159.0.141) 31.267 ms 40.641 ms 40.760 ms
9 gige9-0.hsipaccess1.Philadelphia1.Level3.net (64.159.0.146) 35.690 ms 41.792 ms 35.533 ms
10 unknown.Level3.net (63.209.178.162) 36.011 ms 28.162 ms 38.327 ms
11 209.50.43.194 (209.50.43.194) 34.729 ms 36.909 ms 36.680 ms
12 66.54.144.46 (66.54.144.46) 50.387 ms 35.289 ms 31.117 ms
13 209.50.43.26 (209.50.43.26) 30.399 ms 28.781 ms 28.814 ms
14 66.7.139.82 (66.7.139.82) 31.461 ms 56.669 ms 43.063 ms
15 66.54.169.40 (66.54.169.40) 34.033 ms 36.110 ms 41.212 ms


Sean R.
BurstNET

Originally posted by BurstNET
<< Site (nocster.net) loads way slow for me ( Ping 241ms ) >>

<<cut>>

Sean R.
BurstNET

Sean, I was talking about the connection @ my home ISP ( in The Netherlands )

root@secure [/]# /usr/sbin/traceroute freestyle-media.nl

traceroute to freestyle-media.nl (216.98.134.254), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets

1 66961921 (66.96.192.1) 4.466 ms 0.984 ms 0.380 ms
2 12.119.155.81 (12.119.155.81) 15.274 ms 16.573 ms 18.258 ms
3 gbr5-p52.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.123.192.10) 13.695 ms 22.848 ms 22.335 ms
4 tbr2-p012401.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.122.11.29) 39.315 ms 25.903 ms 23.679 ms
5 ggr1-p320.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.122.12.22) 15.881 ms 30.274 ms 29.403 ms
6 pos1-1.core2.NewYork1.Level3.net (63.211.54.65) 21.693 ms 33.840 ms 28.644 ms
7 ae0-56.mp2.NewYork1.Level3.net (64.159.17.162) 34.582 ms 32.186 ms 34.367 ms
8 so-2-0-0.mp1.SanDiego1.Level3.net (64.159.0.238) 87.581 ms 82.136 ms 76.097 ms
9 gigabitethernet10-0.hsipaccess1.SanDiego1.Level3.net (64.159.3.86) 88.146 ms 90.405 ms 85.031 ms
10 unknown.Level3.net (209.0.228.22) 86.443 ms 92.922 ms 84.164 ms
11 gw65-01.kmc01.sdcix.net (209.126.155.111) 84.412 ms 83.087 ms 85.476 ms
12 dns.whirlwind.nl (216.98.134.254) 89.571 ms 93.930 ms 92.403 ms


freestyle-media.nl = your email address in NL off your whois record :-)

Looks like it may go to CA though:

root@secure [/home/burst/mail/matthew]# whois 216.98.134.254 -h whois.arin.net
CALIFORNIA REGIONAL INTRANET, INC. (NETBLK-CARI-NET)
8929A COMPLEX DRIVE
SAN DIEGO, CA 92123
US

Here is another trace to NL though regardless:

root@secure [/h]# /usr/sbin/traceroute www.webhost.nl

traceroute to www.webhost.nl (62.250.130.14), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets

1 66961921 (66.96.192.1) 0.920 ms 4.397 ms 4.545 ms
2 500.Serial2-5.GW8.PHL1.ALTER.NET (157.130.223.161) 11.167 ms 10.895 ms 13.034 ms
3 552.at-2-1-0.XR2.DCA1.ALTER.NET (152.63.39.214) 13.895 ms 9.033 ms 9.194 ms
4 294.at-7-2-0.XL2.DCA8.ALTER.NET (146.188.163.30) 9.536 ms 9.850 ms 9.656 ms
5 0.so-0-0-0.TL2.DCA6.ALTER.NET (152.63.38.73) 9.133 ms 11.275 ms 10.461 ms
6 0.so-7-0-0.IL2.DCA6.ALTER.NET (152.63.9.221) 9.772 ms 10.167 ms 9.236 ms
7 so-1-0-0.IR2.DCA4.Alter.Net (146.188.13.46) 9.227 ms 17.283 ms 15.564 ms
8 so-1-0-0.TR2.AMS2.Alter.Net (146.188.3.106) 90.526 ms 90.490 ms 91.657 ms
9 so-6-0-0.xr2.ams6.alter.net (146.188.8.89) 93.487 ms 96.471 ms 97.216 ms
10 pos2-0.gw5.ams6.alter.net (146.188.5.45) 93.384 ms 91.724 ms 90.863 ms
11 versatel-gw.customer.nl.uu.net (192.16.190.122) 91.674 ms 91.791 ms 93.597 ms
12 62.58.62.194 (62.58.62.194) 94.495 ms 98.463 ms 105.566 ms
13 62.58.58.34 (62.58.58.34) 105.497 ms 92.346 ms 91.715 ms
14 www.webhost.nl (62.250.130.14) 93.491 ms 94.692 ms 96.091 ms

Probably takes another route though to your specific ISP. Can't tell anything without your IP of course.

Sean R.
BurstNET

Originally posted by BurstNET
root@secure [/]# /usr/sbin/traceroute freestyle-media.nl

Sean R.
BurstNET

Sean, that's not my ISP aswell :)

edit ; it's probably my ISP who's f*cked up again :)

Tried with another ISP on my other PC, ping 123 ms

Sorry for the 240 ms message , probably my pc/isp here who need a kick in the ass :)

No problemo. :-)

Keep in mind that our Sprint OC3 gets turned up anytime now...just waiting for software upgrade on the telco MUX, hopefully tonight, and also that the Qwest & Cogent lines aren't live yet...so when that is added...speed/capacity will be noticeably improved.


Sean R.
BurstNET

The page isn't loading for me... I can only see the title loaded in 2 minutes....

I cannot even reach it now. It's been down or very very slow most of the day for me.

<< It's been down or very very slow most of the day for me. >>

We had taken down that specific machine for a hardware upgrade...it is already back up. That box also houses our main burst.net site.

If you have not been able to access the site, or it has been slow, that may say something about your net connection, as we have been getting plenty of traffic to the nocster site all day long, hence the required hardware upgrade.

Sean R.
BurstNET

If you have not been able to access the site, or it has been slow, that may say something about your net connection, as we have been getting plenty of traffic to the nocster site all day long, hence the required hardware upgrade. Um, doupt it's our 2 OC3 lines :)

“The NOCSTER family of managed services will allow BurstNET™ to take the industry lead in low-priced, high-bandwidth services,” said S. Matthew Arcus, CEO of BurstNET™. “Competitors have been releasing sub-$100 dedicated servers based on very inexpensive backbone providers, and providing little-to-no support with such. NOCSTER will take such offerings to the next level, including full system administration and tech support, delivered over industry leading backbones; including Qwest™ - one of the Internet’s premier bandwidth providers.”

“Although the new low-end service portfolios the competition are now offering is on the right track, they are failing when it comes to providing support for these offerings,” states Matthew McCormick, Customer Service Manager at BurstNET™. “By including management and support with our new product line, we have created a managed hosting solution that is unrivaled in today’s market.”



Stupid question. Since bott burstnet and nocster offer "managed" servers and network seems to be the exactly same as well. Exactly what is the difference between the offer listed at burstnet and Nocster. I mean the monthly price difference is huge.

Firstly their network isn't the same, they uses cogent and qwest for nocster, while burstnet using at&t and another better backbones. I also very doubt they can provide the same service for the huge difference price thought. If they do, everyone from burst will switch over to nocster which makes no advanatage for them at all.

Originally posted by CoreFighter
Firstly their network isn't the same, they uses cogent and qwest for nocster, while burstnet using at&t and another better backbones. I also very doubt they can provide the same service for the huge difference price thought. If they do, everyone from burst will switch over to nocster which makes no advanatage for them at all.

Hehe.. The first post didn't say that. I was under the impression that cogent is one out of 4 of their backbone. But you are correct. After reading it through their FAQ. It clearly state Nocster utilize cogent + qwest only.

Originally posted by CoreFighter
Firstly their network isn't the same, they uses cogent and qwest for nocster, while burstnet using at&t and another better backbones. I also very doubt they can provide the same service for the huge difference price thought. If they do, everyone from burst will switch over to nocster which makes no advanatage for them at all.

Hehe.. The first post didn't say that. I was under the impression that cogent is one out of 4 of their backbone. But you are correct. After reading it through their FAQ. It clearly state Nocster utilize cogent + qwest only. Still not a bad deal especailly when external licnece cost $99/month.

Originally posted by Pluto


Hehe.. The first post didn't say that. I was under the impression that cogent is one out of 4 of their backbone. But you are correct. After reading it through their FAQ. It clearly state Nocster utilize cogent + qwest only. Still not a bad deal especailly when external licnece cost $99/month.


Yup it's still a interesting deal, gonna see what support service people getting before i decide the join :)

NOCSTER Reseller Packages were just added to the site...

http://www.nocster.net

Sean R.
BurstNET

<< I also very doubt they can provide the same service for the huge difference price thought. If they do, everyone from burst will switch over to nocster which makes no advanatage for them at all. >>


MAIN REASONS NOCSTER IS LESS EXPENSIVE:

1. NOCSTER uses only the Cogent and Qwest bandwidth downstream. We will probably let it run over all providers upstream. When these lines start to fill up, we will be adding a 2nd Cogent connection from a different city, as well as a 3rd Tier 1 provider....probably Level3 or Saavis most likely.

2. Phone support, including 800# support, is not being offered to NOCSTER clients. Support via email, ticket system, ICQ, AIM only....saving us on a HUGE phone bill...



Of course, the sheer bulk number allow us to purchase hardware/bandwidth/loops at large bulk discounts as well, etc...

We also took into consideration the benefits to the regular BurstNET network of adding two additional Tier 1 backbones. Even if we were to just break even from NOCSTER service sales, it will be well worth it just for the overall BurstNET route additions :-) Also, this allows us to add additional fiber capacity to our building, which improves our network and carrier neutral hotel offerings as well. NOCSTER also adds overall advertising and name-branding benefits for BurstNET as a whole.


Sean R.
BurstNET

how about offering some form of live support even if it isnt phone support. livechat or a web based phone solution would be a great plus point. i can understand saving on phone bills but not support staff bills. i want to be able to verbally explain a problem sometimes. an email ticket just isnt the same as chatting with a tech, for one you have someones attention. rather then being sat in a queue awaiting attention and the whim of your supplier. its one thing for hosting companies to offer a tt system as the problems are generally far easier to fix and support can be quick and effective. when your offering servers the problems are far more complex.
also when you state managed does this include installing and configuring apache modules etc and recompiling php and adding php modules, say i wanted phpcallender , gd enabled and the modules required for perldesk would you do this? for free? and also what SLA do you give on upgrades?
lol sorry for all the questions btw, just trying to get a clear picture (and beef out your FAQ).
and in your terms you do exclude 99% of the reasons for downtime i.e. dos attacks, hacks, fibre cuts, a moderate breeze, mc donalds taking longer then 30 seconds for a big mac ;) whats left? would you consider relaxing the constraints on your sla. if a site is down its down. a customer wants a refund, it doesnt matter to them it was qwest dropping a still saw on the fibre. or that a hdd fails or similar. personally i dont judge your supplier screwing up as an act of god (please dont take that as a flame, merely a potential customers point of view, constructive criticism if you will) i judge it as an act of retardedness. im sure if your bandwidth supplier do that you get a refund. i would hope you do.
are you going to consider providers such as yipes, tw, etc for metro bw. not just cogent.
congrats on a great offer.

NOCSTER Virtual Hosting plans have been released.

Sean R.
BurstNET

BurstNET™ does not allow adult content on the NOCSTER network. BurstNET™ has a seperate division, UnRestricted.NET™ set up for adult material.

argh

any chance of some answers sean ?

At the Nocster site http://www.nocster.net/ they promise 99.5% uptime. Half a percent of downtime is not industry standard.
Is that the best we can expect?

Also what kind of server management do these servers have? Are patches and security holes automatically attended to, how about software installation and trouble with included control panels?

Also at http://www.nocster.net/servers.shtml they state

"Your basic contract with BurstNET™ includes system administration, but not individualized development work unless otherwise specified. Most administration tasks that a system administrator usually handles, with a little basic training you can handle by yourself. "

If the server is being sold as a managed server why state that most administration work you can handle yourself with a little basic traning? It seems the reason people want a managed server of some sort is so they don't have to get the training and knowledge it takes to manage a server, hence they want to purchase a managed server. The statement above does not lend much credence to the notion that Burst intends to sell you a server that they will truly manage. That statement either needs to edited or augmented if Burst is trying to present this as a managed sever on any level to serious potential customers.

I think the poll speaks clearly! :D

Anyone with questions regarding NOCSTER, please email sales@nocster.net, and they will assist you...

Sean R.
BurstNET

<< I think the poll speaks clearly! >>


Yep, more than 1/2 of the voters would buy service, or consider buying it requiring more infomation. Not bad at all!
The remaining 45% of votes you can subtract out of it competitors and such, and the % of interested people just gets higher. Looks like NOCSTER is going to be a winner if we pull thru on our end of it :-)

Sean R.
BurstNET

Burst is better than 99.5 % uptime possible? Thats a lot of downtime for online sites. That means that a site hosted with you is down 1/200th of the time or the equivalent of almost two whole days or 48 hours a year spread out throughout the year.

Hello,

I figured now's about as good a time as any to jump into this thread and see if I can clear up some misunderstandings.

how about offering some form of live support even if it isnt phone support. livechat or a web based phone solution would be a great plus point.
As mentioned in the FAQ: "BurstNET™ offers NOCSTER clientele support 24/7/365 via email, web based ticket system, ICQ, AOL Instant Messanger, & website java chat. An emergency pager number is also available for dedicated server & co-location clientele"
when you state managed does this include installing and configuring apache modules etc and recompiling php and adding php modules, say i wanted phpcallender , gd enabled and the modules required for perldesk would you do this

"If you choose to install your own programs and cgi scripts on your site, you are responsible fully for installing them. BurstNET™ will provide support for any program or cgi script that we provide pre-installed with your web hosting package." It is fairy standard with Managed hosting companies to offer support of their pre-installed software / configs, however additional programming and customizing will require support charges. If in fact though it is something like when I arranged free upgrades of kernels & BIND to those people who needed them, it would be covered under the terms of support.

firstmark:
If the server is being sold as a managed server why state that most administration work you can handle yourself with a little basic traning?

Why state this, because if you are reselling a managed server, or offering hosting as a business, wouldn't you agree most should have a basic idea of how to administer a server? We are more than happy to assist people with support questions, server administration, even at times custom writing scripts for clients. The idea is that most simple problems can be fixed faster by a client realizing what may be occurring, and checking a few general items before submitting a help desk ticket. As most of you know I'm not an admin, and don't claim to be at all. I admire all of you for your vast knowledge and experience. I do at times take support request calls to help lessen the load, and have helped quite a few people out myself. Something simple such as restarting apache, or BIND. While cPanel offers a wide array of system administration tools allowing people to not have to login through the command line, it will at times require you to do so. Are patches and security holes automatically attended to, how about software installation and trouble with included control panels?

Patches and security holes are automatically updated through cPanel in its daily update script. In instances of servers found with vulnerabilities we do contact our clients, alert them of the issue, offering to update their servers if they respond with the login information, etc.

There are a few major differences between Nocster and Burst, different backbone providers, no phone support, no adult content, no IRC, and no unlimited IP's. We feel though that we are offering a very competative product at an extremely reasonable rate.

A lot of people have contacted me through AIM at BurstCSM and I have worked with them in great lengths to clear up any questions/concerns, or offer any assitance that I can. If you do wish for any further information, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Sorry for such a long-winded post, and if I missed anything, please contact me directly.

Thanks

P.S. Do I get to vote? :D

Any plans to improve uptime beyond 99.5%, companies usually overstate uptime, so is 99.5% the best uptime Burst can provide at this time? 99.5% uptime is about 4 hours downtime a month or one hour down time every week.

Originally posted by BurstNET
<< I think the poll speaks clearly! >>


Yep, more than 1/2 of the voters would buy service, or consider buying it requiring more infomation. Not bad at all!
The remaining 45% of votes you can subtract out of it competitors and such, and the % of interested people just gets higher. Looks like NOCSTER is going to be a winner if we pull thru on our end of it :-)

Sean R.
BurstNET


Sean,
Is the glass half empty or half full? You can interpriate your poll however you want to and throw out any results you don’t like. Obviously this poll shows a bias towards Burst and cannot be clearly seen as a true judgment of the opinion of the voters.

Hmmm I wonder how many bursties stopped by here and voted for the service skewing the poll in your direction? To me this poll says more than 48% (at the time of this posting) do not want or care about your services. Good luck and throw out my opinion if you don't care for it. :eek:

well after that my vote goes to the no. and im not a competitor. no comment as regards your sla? it precludes anything that could actually cause downtime so whats the point?

also do you offer any sla on your managed services? if a problem occurs that isnt the customers fault how quickly does it get fixed?

Knowing the burst reputation you will probably get a rude response. :D

<< Knowing the burst reputation you will probably get a rude response. >>

Care to point out a rude response posted on WHT in the past 6 months from our firm?
You won't find many, if any since we started a major internal overhaul of our company 6 months ago...

______________________________


Who is the rude one on WHT?


phpjames:
<< loosing their forums doesnt help with the cpanel image.>>

phpjames:
<< Kaka simply Kaka...What if you dont run Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP? Is there a linux port for this product? Nupe. >>

phpjames:
<< Wow yet another good report of Rackshack's quality support >>

phpjames:
<< All that hype for a Rackshack knockoff? >>


YOUR post was completely rude, and totally uncalled for!


Sean R.
BurstNET

i dont view what i posted as particularly rude. im not impressed with the wording of the sla. i think it honestly protects your from ever having to pay out no matter how muchyour down and i also had a some legitimate questions as a customer some of which have remained unanswered.

im not having a go but i would like a response please.

1 - would you consider ammending your sla so that if theres downtime we stand a chance of compensation. if you preclude hardware failure, dos attacks, hacks (remember security is your area on a managed server), fiber outages whats left?

2 - whats your sla on fixing problems?

richy:

I was referring to phpjames as being rude, not yourself :-) sales/service questions are always welcome.

I had asked several posts above for people to direct NOCSTER sales/service inquiries to us via email at sales@nocster.net, where we would be more than happy to answer anything for you.

Sean R.
BurstNET

lol thnx, i did see that but i thought it more pertitent to try and obtain a public reply.

I have a novel idea....

Why don't y'all wait until it goes live until you start whining...I mean seriously people... :)

yeah cos asking presales questions is whining. we could always be real sensible and just cough up the dough in advance and take our chances.

yeah cos asking presales questions is whining. we could always be real sensible and just cough up the dough in advance and take our chances.

Nobody is saying that, all Sean's getting at is that if you have sales or service questions, that before before assumptions can be made, why not contact us first? I've seen many times people posting on WHT before contacting the company to find out what is going on. I offered people to AIM me, e-mail me, etc., but this has gone from a product offering post, to how can we carry out this business model, what will the level of support being offered really be like, etc. We offered to answer any questions that you may have had, if you just contacted us, I think that is fair enough.

Also, I have agreed today to participate on Web Hosting Radio on 5/29/02 at 8PM to discuss NOCSTER, prior to releasing our product line. So, anyone interested many or all of your questions can be answered during this time as well.

Thanks everyone,

lol that wasnt directed at burst :) it was at the post above mine :) i should have thrown in a smiley as well as i was having a laugh.

ill be mailing you at some point, it just goes down the list of priorities. i always views forums as very useful as if a customer asks a question and i answer everyone that reads it then doesnt have to email me it saving me half an hours time writing out emails :) plus for the customers is a public reply and easier to hold a provider to.

well done on the whr and good luck, both on surviving the radio interview and in your business

So, what about existing burst.net users?

Do they get plan discounts or something?
I mean some do get less for more money at the moment :(

I hope burst will give me an honest answer to this...