We want to take this opportunity to thank you once more for choosing Touch Support.

Today marks the next step in our quest to become the largest server administration and support provider in the U.S. It is our distinct pleasure to announce that Touch Support is now part of The Planet, the world's largest privately held dedicated hosting company.

First and foremost, let us assure you that business will continue as usual. The same team handling your support and server administration today will continue to do so. And of course if you are not a current customer of The Planet, there's no need to worry. We will continue to provide you with the same support services you've always received from Touch Support, and there will be no pressure for you to move your servers.

You may wonder why Touch Support was interested in being acquired by The Planet, and as well why The Planet was interested in Touch Support; so we want to provide you with the rationale. Touch Support is recognized for the high-quality services it provides its customers. Whether it's server administration, technical support, security audits and server hardening, virtualization, migration, monitoring or managed backups, Touch Support has earned a solid reputation for its excellent services. At the same time, The Planet has also built its reputation on the high quality of its enterprise-class network and world-class data centers, the two most prominent factors for why our 22,000 customers use our services.

As you know, managing your IT infrastructure has never been more complex or more critical to your business success. At The Planet, we are interested in extending our Advanced Services portfolio, and the services Touch Support provides its customers are precisely the kinds of offerings our customers are requesting. We evaluated a number of companies, and Touch Support was identified as the ideal company to help us jump start these services for our dedicated hosting customers and to grow that segment of our business. As we see it, it's an ideal fit for both companies and for our customers.

Perhaps the most critical business driver is our shared commitment: both companies are equally committed to operating a customer-driven and customer-centric company. We live that commitment every day in our two companies.

We know you have a choice in service providers, and we appreciate the trust you place in our newly combined company. We've prepared the basic FAQ below to help answer your initial and immediate questions. We are of course always available to answer any additional questions you may have.

We welcome you to The Planet and look forward to our continued business relationship.

Sincerely,


Doug Erwin David Lindahl Sean Richards
Not sure how I feel about that. :S

Ditto. I personally like TP, though their admins are questionable at times. Maybe this is a good thing....

Let's hope they keep TP and TS separate and not try and merge it into TP. I can't see this as a good thing for TS clients, myself being one.

I had a few quotes off them for a few bits and bobs (and a bit of work in the past) but my gut feeling is I don't like another hosting company having access to all my information about servers etc

Rus

Interesting indeed, as I was looking at TS for support and I haven't really heard great things about TP's support. I'm hoping this is one of those situations that TS positively impacts TP instead of the reverse.

If both businesses are kept separate, then fine, I'm happy with that. If TP tries to merge TS into their operations, and does so to reduce costs and increase profits, then we have a big big problem. I keep thinking to myself, how is this good for me. The answer I keep coming back with is it isn't good for me.

I think you will find that the only real reason the planet did this is because they are slumping :) not selling so many servers as they used too and they need to keep those good old shareholders happy :)

I think you will find that the only real reason the planet did this is because they are slumping :) not selling so many servers as they used too and they need to keep those good old shareholders happy :)
I think you will find that facts are much more convincing than conjecture.

While a record first quarter (http://www.theplanet.com/news/pr/pr20080428.asp) following a record year in 2007 (http://www.theplanet.com/news/pr/pr012808.asp) may not seem like much, it's not exactly "slumping."

Do you have sources for your "not selling so many servers as they used too [sic]" comment? While 1,600 new customers in the first quarter may not seem like much for a company with more than 22,000, it's not nearly representative of the number of servers those customers (and the other 22,000 customers) ordered in the three month span.

Though we give quarterly updates to our customers, business partners and prospects, we are not a public company. The company's investors and internal shareholders certainly aren't unhappy with the company's progress.

I'm disappointed that an Indiana company was sold.

touchsupport used the phrase, "Do it all by outsourcing to Indiana."

will its techs/admins continue to be from Indiana? from the U.S.A. ? or......?

Seems frankly an odd move...I would be worried if I was a TP tech at present...are they moving to outsource it?

If I was a touchsupport customer I would end the relationship if I was a dedicated provider using their services as it is essentially fuelling a competitor and giving them access to a lot of your information...presents all kinds of conflict of interest issues...

Don't know how I feel about this either...

The question is wether in the long term TP absorb the staff and stop the services or if they continue to run it and offer it as a value added service to existing customers.

Either way its a very interesting development.

Some more info about this sale -
Q. Why is The Planet acquiring Touch Support?
A. As The Planet continues to grow its business, our customers are asking us to expand the level of services we provide. The Planet intends to give its customers the flexibility to match their hosted technologies and levels of service with their business needs and budget. With the acquisition of Touch Support, we gain new capabilities to provide customers with the option to select from a comprehensive portfolio of advanced services that will help them better manage their dedicated servers.

Q. What does The Planet bring to the game?
A. The Planet offers deep resources to both Touch Support and to our own company. We are one of the largest dedicated hosting companies with more than 22,000 customers who trust our 500+ employees to offer the best hosting experience available on the market. We are backed by more than $2 billion in capital, and we operate six wholly owned, enterprise-class data centers that are N+1 redundant. We often hear from our customers that they choose our company based on the quality of our data centers, our world-class network and our commitment to customer satisfaction. As such, you should expect to gain these benefits for your company.

Q. How do Touch Support services compare with services offered by The Planet?
A. Touch Support services are absolutely complementary to the services provided by The Planet. In fact, The Planet's customers have frequently asked us to offer more advanced management services, so Touch Support accelerates our ability to respond to those requests. As a result, Touch Support is the perfect complement to The Planet. Conversely, Touch Support customers require the best in hosting products, which we provide.

Q. Will I still be billed the same?
A. Yes.

Q. Will my contacts change?
A. No.

Q. Who do I contact for billing?
A. You will continue to contact the same people regarding billing.

Q. Who do I contact for support?
A. The same as usual.

Q. Do you plan to discontinue any Touch Support services?
A. No.

Q. Will my sales contact change?
A. No.

Q. Will The Planet demand that I change my hosting to their data centers?
A. No. We respect the decisions of our Touch Support customers and will support them in any data center they choose.

If both businesses are kept separate, then fine, I'm happy with that. If TP tries to merge TS into their operations, and does so to reduce costs and increase profits, then we have a big big problem. I keep thinking to myself, how is this good for me. The answer I keep coming back with is it isn't good for me.


Well, you can't tell.

My guess on this is they will surely pull some admins from TS and vice versa... They owned it so they can do it :-)

I can see this causing them to lose a few customers if not many due to the competition issues that may arise.

I personally wouldn't go with TS now, I wouldn't want another hosting company dealing with my customers or having my customers contact details.

I seam to remember seeing a post a while back where hostgator dedicated server clients where contacted by theplanet about transfering their dedicated server over to theplanet, basically "poaching" their customer (hostgator) clients.

Or am I mistaken?

If I'm right I hope they've learnt their lesson, and do not do it with ts clients.

if tp is running the show, i wouldnt trust ts anymore.

I seam to remember seeing a post a while back where hostgator dedicated server clients where contacted by theplanet about transfering their dedicated server over to theplanet, basically "poaching" their customer (hostgator) clients.

Or am I mistaken?

If I'm right I hope they've learnt their lesson, and do not do it with ts clients.


That is absolutle rubbish as far as I know.

Do you really think HG would still be there if they did that ?

I'm sure Kevin from the planet or Brent from HG can confirm its not true.

While I can understand the concerns many of you have, I wouldn't begin to worry unless we see some form of "merge" of the services. If what they're saying is true and we can continue to use TouchSupport just like we have been then I'm perfectly fine with this.

To me it just sounds like they'll direct clients who want management to the TS website. In the end it's their money now :D

Just don't make me open tickets to get TS support. Nothing better then sending a quick email!

I seam to remember seeing a post a while back where hostgator dedicated server clients where contacted by theplanet about transfering their dedicated server over to theplanet, basically "poaching" their customer (hostgator) clients.

Or am I mistaken?

If I'm right I hope they've learnt their lesson, and do not do it with ts clients.

To do this would require TP to track down an email address off the server, I see this as rubbish as well..awaiting comment from Brent :)

Maybe they want to add a bunch of tech support, and figure it would be better to bring on a whole crew that already pays their own wages. No better way to add support techs than find some that ADD to the bottom line rather than subtract from it.

I seam to remember seeing a post a while back where hostgator dedicated server clients where contacted by theplanet about transfering their dedicated server over to theplanet, basically "poaching" their customer (hostgator) clients.

Or am I mistaken?

If I'm right I hope they've learnt their lesson, and do not do it with ts clients.
Just found the post that I was thinking of http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=595758&highlight=theplanet+hostgator

I was not right about them contacting hostgator's clients, it was a sales person from theplanet contacting various people who rent servers from other suppliers trying to get them to switch to theplanet.

It was over twelve months ago that I read it, and wasn't positive that it was hostgators clients, thats why I said "I seam to remember", and "Or am I mistaken?"

. . . Just don't make me open tickets to get TS support. Nothing better then sending a quick email!
You can still email, as they pipe email through the helpdesk.

Just found the post that I was thinking of http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=595758&highlight=theplanet+hostgator

I was not right about them contacting hostgator's clients, it was a sales person from theplanet contacting various people who rent servers from other suppliers trying to get them to switch to theplanet.

It was over twelve months ago that I read it, and wasn't positive that it was hostgators clients, thats why I said "I seam to remember", and "Or am I mistaken?"

I remember that ;)

They tried to rope me in too.

I had a few quotes off them for a few bits and bobs (and a bit of work in the past) but my gut feeling is I don't like another hosting company having access to all my information about servers etc

Rus

Indeed. But what could be the reason behind the acquistation. :confused:

I'm disappointed that an Indiana company was sold.

touchsupport used the phrase, "Do it all by outsourcing to Indiana."

will its techs/admins continue to be from Indiana? from the U.S.A. ? or......?

everything will stay the same, they'll just drop the "na" from Indiana.

Maybe they want to add a bunch of tech support, and figure it would be better to bring on a whole crew that already pays their own wages. No better way to add support techs than find some that ADD to the bottom line rather than subtract from it.


ThePlanet is supposed to be a 500+ people company. TS, I believe is 20 or so techs. Not sure why adding 20-30 people to a 500+ people organization is a such a big issue for TP.

I am also trying to figure out the motive from ThePlanet's side. As TouchSupport is our competition, I am trying figure out how to deal with our support clients who has servers at ThePlanet.

everything will stay the same, they'll just drop the "na" from Indiana.

The first time I hear an indian on the other line when I or a customer calls TS, I will definitely cancel my contract. I am definitely not a fan of TP and am not happy about the sellout at all. I think TP has gone down the drain since they got bought out as well.

everything will stay the same, they'll just drop the "na" from Indiana.

I really think people need to stop and put some more thought into this. What benefit would there be in moving it all from Indiana to India? The Planet is based in the US, just as Touch Support is.

In regard to what would promote such an acquisition, consider it for a moment. Current Touch Support clients know what quality of service Touch Support provides. Some have commented on the small size of the staff. While I can't disclose any figures, I can tell you that the small staff sized, combined with the knowledge, service quality, and sheer volume of work the techs complete should be more than enough reason.

Please, for the sake of humanity, stop making such absurd assumptions about this. Touch Support will remain Touch Support. The Planet will only add the quality and knowledge of the Touch Support staff to their team. The Planet won't take your servers, customers, or information from Touch Support, so stop sweating it.

I really think people need to stop and put some more thought into this. What benefit would there be in moving it all from Indiana to India? The Planet is based in the US, just as Touch Support is.

In regard to what would promote such an acquisition, consider it for a moment. Current Touch Support clients know what quality of service Touch Support provides. Some have commented on the small size of the staff. While I can't disclose any figures, I can tell you that the small staff sized, combined with the knowledge, service quality, and sheer volume of work the techs complete should be more than enough reason.

Please, for the sake of humanity, stop making such absurd assumptions about this. Touch Support will remain Touch Support. The Planet will only add the quality and knowledge of the Touch Support staff to their team. The Planet won't take your servers, customers, or information from Touch Support, so stop sweating it.

I see what your saying, but it DOES worry me when a larger and less than quality company takes buys out a smaller and quality company. While TP has something to benefit from, TS customers do not IMHO. Actually, in some cases, TP or TS is now going to be a competitor. Also, if my memory servers me right, the VC's that bought TP actually are not US based.

. . . Touch Support will remain Touch Support.
That's what we're hoping.

I think we will just have to wait and see how this will impact current clients of TouchSupport. It can go both ways.

They have also purchased an IT company here in indiana. The release is set for the "third quarter" so it must be some big plan.

They have also purchased an IT company here in indiana. The release is set for the "third quarter" so it must be some big plan.

details? What kind of "IT Company"?

I'm surprised Parallels didn't buy them.

Actually.. the offering of outsourced technical support by a datacenter makes a lot of sense to me. Outsourced support is a very complimentary service for a server sales company.

That being said... I think if you use TouchSupport and are NOT a client of The Planet, then this purchase/sale might not be a good thing for you.

But for The Planet customers (and future customers) it makes a lot of sense.

There are plenty of other outsourcing companies around, and imho, this will definately create an open marketspace for a niche product (US-based hosting support) that someone else will soon fill.

Nevermind i didnt realize it was the same company. Touch Support here in lafayette indiana.



A Lafayette-based information technology company that provides server administration management services to a global customer base has been purchased by The Planet, the world's largest privately held dedicated hosting company.







Financial terms related to acquisition of Touch Support LLC were not disclosed.

The deal will allow The Planet, which has headquarters in Houston, to introduce a new portfolio of advanced services for dedicated hosting customers who are looking to optimize their business results without relinquishing control of their IT infrastructures.

"The Planet offers Touch Support and our employees opportunities to grow the new advanced services business for their dedicated hosting customers, backed by solid financial resources," said Touch Support general manager David Lindahl.

"Our existing customers also will appreciate The Planet's commitment to being a customer-centric company, which reflects our own philosophies. I envision growing our services portfolio to provide even greater value for our existing companies and to those we will attract to our offerings."

Details about the Planet's advanced services portfolio will be made during the third quarter.

"The complexity of managing an IT infrastructure continues to grow, and we've had a number of our dedicated hosting customers request that we provide additional services," said Douglas Erwin, chairman and chief executive officer of the Houston firm. "These companies entrust their businesses and their livelihoods with The Planet and they come to us for our enterprise-class network and six world-class data centers.

"We looked at a number of companies in the services arena, and far and away Touch Support was the best fit. About 25 percent of their customers use our hosting services, so they have a strong working knowledge of The Planet. Equally as important is their commitment to be a customer-driven company."

Launched in 2003, Touch Support has nearly 30 employees who work at the company's facilities in downtown Lafayette.

"We bring to The Planet a highly skilled team that's been chosen for their technical ability, intelligence and problem-solving skills, as well as their natural inclination to help customers," said Sean Richards, the company's technical director.

"This is a market that continues to grow since so many companies need help but don't want to turn over their entire IT framework to be managed. We plan to quickly integrate Touch Support and The Planet and then extend our services to our combined customers."

I realize there is different views on this, however one thing is a fact. The company who now owns touchsupport is theplanet. Considering touchsupport offers services to hosting companies, there has to be some concern for all of touchsupport's clients

Hopefully this merge between TP and TS will be more successful in technical terms than the merge of Ev1 and TP (2007).. Good job, though. The Planet needs more and more tech geeks to support its Customers..

The move of The Planet is to move more into services. They dont allow colo, you have to rent servers only. The Planet was alaways a service company, now they are expanding.
They will offer more and more included services, and this is where Touch Support comes in. They will handle those customers that need management of server admins. Just think like Rackspace. I actually think what they want is to try to go after Rackspace. Rackspace has made millons be selling basically a human service. The Planet has done the same with hardware. So now they will offer both. This is good news for customers of The Planet that need those value addons. Its terrible news for hosting companies that already provide this services or to anyone that is in the server admin business. Basically they are moving away from just giving servers to give more for it. I guess they have come to a point where selling servers alone is not enough. They are putting more value addons to their servers.
I dont like this acquisition. First because i had a terrible experience with TS and second because I dont like that my provider is moving into arenas that actually belong to their clients.
I have said this before and i will say it again. With just 1 little move they can easily move into selling managed services themselfs for example managed VPS or managed database services.
They could jump right away and basically do a lot of damage to their own clients.
This is exactly where TS comes in. They are all slowly merging into proving services like Rackspace not just servers anymore. The server offers for are for long time very bad actually, you can get servers with 4 times more ram for the same price in other places. Not to mention that they still dont have new hardware and instead of lowering prices on some boxes they actually raised them. They are putting more value to their servers but for that they raise prices a little bit. They have come to a position where their names means quality so they can charge a little bit more then the rest.
Thats also why they are probably losing clients. Most people are clients because of the servers and the datacenter itself not because The Planet has a good support team or because they have great addons.
I think somewhere in the way they forgot that. They have really big hosting companies as clients, they are for sure not going to be happy to see they slowly are entering their arena and they could take over with a little move. Because thats a webhost does. They provide services, customer care, admin time, hosted services, etc. The The Planet played the role of giving you the hardware and the network, the rest was up to you. Now they are trying to give the customer all in a way you go directly to them and just host the 5 millon traffic website directly on their servers and they will handle it. Why do you think the title of The Planet website is "Dedicated Servers & Web Hosting | Managed Web Hosting Services | The Planet"

That title says it all. They are moving from a Datacenter company into a Hosting Company. Soon you will see VPS and most of Rackspace services in The Planet. Im already looking for a new home for the servers there. I sure dont like that title!!!

The move of The Planet is to move more into services. They dont allow colo, you have to rent servers only. The Planet was alaways a service company, now they are expanding.
They will offer more and more included services, and this is where Touch Support comes in. They will handle those customers that need management of server admins. Just think like Rackspace. I actually think what they want is to try to go after Rackspace. Rackspace has made millons be selling basically a human service. The Planet has done the same with hardware. So now they will offer both. This is good news for customers of The Planet that need those value addons. Its terrible news for hosting companies that already provide this services or to anyone that is in the server admin business. Basically they are moving away from just giving servers to give more for it. I guess they have come to a point where selling servers alone is not enough. They are putting more value addons to their servers.
I dont like this acquisition. First because i had a terrible experience with TS and second because I dont like that my provider is moving into arenas that actually belong to their clients.
I have said this before and i will say it again. With just 1 little move they can easily move into selling managed services themselfs for example managed VPS or managed database services.
They could jump right away and basically do a lot of damage to their own clients.
This is exactly where TS comes in. They are all slowly merging into proving services like Rackspace not just servers anymore. The server offers for are for long time very bad actually, you can get servers with 4 times more ram for the same price in other places. Not to mention that they still dont have new hardware and instead of lowering prices on some boxes they actually raised them. They are putting more value to their servers but for that they raise prices a little bit. They have come to a position where their names means quality so they can charge a little bit more then the rest.
Thats also why they are probably losing clients. Most people are clients because of the servers and the datacenter itself not because The Planet has a good support team or because they have great addons.
I think somewhere in the way they forgot that. They have really big hosting companies as clients, they are for sure not going to be happy to see they slowly are entering their arena and they could take over with a little move. Because thats a webhost does. They provide services, customer care, admin time, hosted services, etc. The The Planet played the role of giving you the hardware and the network, the rest was up to you. Now they are trying to give the customer all in a way you go directly to them and just host the 5 millon traffic website directly on their servers and they will handle it. Why do you think the title of The Planet website is "Dedicated Servers & Web Hosting | Managed Web Hosting Services | The Planet"

That title says it all. They are moving from a Datacenter company into a Hosting Company. Soon you will see VPS and most of Rackspace services in The Planet. Im already looking for a new home for the servers there. I sure dont like that title!!!

I completely agree. While I love and trust TS, they now have a new boss and owner, TP, that I do not like or trust. Its an uncomfortable situation that i really like being in. Im hoping that another quality US company fills the void that TS is going to create by competing with their own customers.

Please, for the sake of humanity, stop making such absurd assumptions about this. Touch Support will remain Touch Support. The Planet will only add the quality and knowledge of the Touch Support staff to their team. The Planet won't take your servers, customers, or information from Touch Support, so stop sweating it.

I think most of us are hoping that is so and I understand your point, some people tend to panic too quickly. But this purchase brings up many valid concerns and I think you would be foolish to at least not acknowledge them.

Besides just as it's not wise to panic it's also not wise to just put you head in a hole and insist that every WILL be fine. You don't know that and have no greater insight as to how this will play out, only time will tell.

The move of The Planet is to move more into services. They dont allow colo, you have to rent servers only. The Planet was alaways a service company, now they are expanding.


It's news to me they don't allow colo considering I know people with several racks of machines there. Or am I misreading what you put?

TP used to do colo, as far as I know they don't take on new colocation customers.

It's news to me they don't allow colo considering I know people with several racks of machines there. Or am I misreading what you put?

They allow colo for old clients. Its very expensive, so its not worth. Its almost the same as to buy a full rack with their own equipment. Also that was a basic example. What i wanted to point out is that they started as a datacenter company, everybody did colo, then they started to rent servers themselfs, then they converted themself into a dedicated server company and dont promote colo anymore but rent their equipments. And now they are converting into a services company. Every new datacenters allows colo, they need to fill the spaces quickly. That was years ago. They dont need that anymore.

They will probably not even sell unmanaged servers anymore in some years. Just managed like Rackspace. They are making a bundle of their servers. Just look at all new services they launch. They are almost all services customer based not network or hardware based.
Thats also why Softlayer has taken so many customers of them. Softlayer basically offers a full range of services for servers and network where the The Planet is offering more to hosting end clients.

Q. Will The Planet demand that I change my hosting to their data centers?
A. No. We respect the decisions of our Touch Support customers and will support them in any data center they choose.

Of course they'll support them now that they have access to tons of their competitors' servers.

I predict this will finally put pressure on web hosting companies to invest in infrastructure, rather then completely rely on a 3rd party company to do the legwork for them.

Moves like this, where datacenters shift from the wholesale market to retail, will drive a lot of the little resellers out of business; however this is a good thing for the end customer. Companies with zero control over their network and servers offer substandard service to their clients. When problems arise, web hosts are simply re-creating tickets with their datacenter to restore their service rather then using their own experience and skill to serve their clients. In the end, the barrier of entry into this market will increase, to where it should be, there will be less but better equipped companies. 90% of the reseller type hosts have zero business contingency and failover plans.

When companies post negative reviews of their datacenter vendor on this forum, all they are really doing is bragging on how ill prepared they are for (un?)expected hardware failures. Hardware is going to fail- daily. The hardware you are leasing and reselling with is years old. The disks are refurbished RMAs, with limited lifetime. Expect it to fail.

In conclusion, if you want your company to provide top notch service, build a solid network in a location which your company has physical access to and operate your own servers. Purchase standby equipment to cope with hardware failures. Your clients will be much more impressed, because rather then learning that you rely on a 3rd company to meet your SLA, they will know that the service you provide is actually under your control.

Sure and this is why a generator blow up in The Planets datacenter in Ev1 because it was old. The thing is simple they are lost now somewhere in the way between a datacenter and a hosting company.
You cannot take all things under the sun. If they want to enter the retail market, it will costs them millons in support. You have to start hiring staff, etc. All the work a small host is doing now.
Also, its very hard to maintain a datacenter with low paying customers. Its allot easier to fill a floor with Racks and colocation. Normally if you have a datacenter you have to sell the space quickly and that is something you cannot do selling 5$ hosting accounts, you have to sell full racks or full servers.

If you think companies did not tried this before your are wrong. Tons of companies went out of business because of this move. If you have to much clients on your head your are going to go out of business even faster then if you dont have clients.
You have to keep up with customer support, tech support, etc. Each client is a whole new world. Also, if The Planet enters this arena people are going to cancel their servers in hundreds. They can easily just move to places where they dont even sell servers like colo for example. And im sure The Planet wants to pay their 6 datacenters costs. Im not sure how they are going to do that if companies, mainly webhostings companies start to leave them. Imagine just hostgator leaving them. It would costs them a couple of thousands servers. Sure you are right, a company must invest in hardware and network but what i mean is that it will not be easy to steal the customers of their clients. Hardware and network is not the same as hosting. You probably dont even have the same staff for it. On the one side hardware and wires are not services, and hosting is.
They will not even know what hit them when people start to cancel their servers if they feel they are in risk. Allot of people put food on their tables with this so im sure they are not going to be happy, and im 100% there will be a company happy to welcome them all.
The Planet would never even had a second datacenter if it wasn't for webhosting companies and wholesaler. I do agree, it would be like stabbing their clients in the back. Now that they are big and had for years our money they dont need it us anymore. But I suppose this is something in the human being. Its called Greed

"Greed is the selfish desire for or pursuit of money, wealth, power, food, or other possessions, especially when this denies the same goods to others"

I predict this will finally put pressure on web hosting companies to invest in infrastructure, rather then completely rely on a 3rd party company to do the legwork for them.

Moves like this, where datacenters shift from the wholesale market to retail, will drive a lot of the little resellers out of business; however this is a good thing for the end customer. Companies with zero control over their network and servers offer substandard service to their clients. When problems arise, web hosts are simply re-creating tickets with their datacenter to restore their service rather then using their own experience and skill to serve their clients. In the end, the barrier of entry into this market will increase, to where it should be, there will be less but better equipped companies. 90% of the reseller type hosts have zero business contingency and failover plans.

When companies post negative reviews of their datacenter vendor on this forum, all they are really doing is bragging on how ill prepared they are for (un?)expected hardware failures. Hardware is going to fail- daily. The hardware you are leasing and reselling with is years old. The disks are refurbished RMAs, with limited lifetime. Expect it to fail.

In conclusion, if you want your company to provide top notch service, build a solid network in a location which your company has physical access to and operate your own servers. Purchase standby equipment to cope with hardware failures. Your clients will be much more impressed, because rather then learning that you rely on a 3rd company to meet your SLA, they will know that the service you provide is actually under your control.Way too generalized to be of any real substance IMNSHO. Sure there are bad hosts that choose to colo/lease servers from another datacenter. But there are also good ones that leverage their expertise to be more effective than the parent DC.

As a host that leases 100+ servers, we are able to leverage our "purchasing power" with the DC to get preferred treatment and service during issues that come up (look at HostGator during the current fiasco), which a single client that goes direct with the DC cannot do. We also have vast experience about how best to convey information to the DC for a faster resolution (we often find small networking issues before the DC and inform them). And of course employ backups / failovers at other DC's for disaster recovery, thereby adding value that the parent DC cannot do.

We'd be a much worse company if we had to manage and handle the hardware and infrastructure in-house. Instead, we understand the infrastructure our provider provides us, which helps us better manage what we have. And that is where true "business level value" lies; with smaller adept companies that can act faster and with often better results than the larger DC within which they reside.

To bring it back on topic, touchSupport being bought by theplanet is not good for other hosts that use them but do not use theplanet.

- John C.

Sure and this is why a generator blow up in The Planets datacenter in Ev1 because it was old.

A generator did not blow up. It was a transformer, and they can and do explode due to things that have nothing to do with age.

I donot like this acquisition.

Touchsupport will not support their clients as greatly as past because they will not mind if customers not satisfied, their lose will be covered by big ThePlanet. They will not say "Please contact for any question" , rather this sentence will be replaced by "Thank you" in their emails.

Why TP need to buy TS? They can setup such dept easily with 10-12server admins to serve their own customers internally.

Now slowly we will see the death of TS!
same like death of alltheweb, altavista..

A generator did not blow up. It was a transformer, and they can and do explode due to things that have nothing to do with age.

Then they (or their electrician) should have known not to put it next to things that would be affected by it blowing up.

Knowing that transformers blow up and is expected makes the fact one blew up and took out vital systems makes their actions look even worse.

Layered Technologies did something similar by acquiring Fastservers - from a total unmanaged provider they will become a FULLY managed one.

Then they (or their electrician) should have known not to put it next to things that would be affected by it blowing up.

Knowing that transformers blow up and is expected makes the fact one blew up and took out vital systems makes their actions look even worse.

The transformer explosion was a result of the initial explosion inside the conduit running between the transformer and the electrical room. The transformer was one side of the resulting external explosion, the other side of the conduit ended in the electrical room in the data center, causing the main distribution power equipment and the transfer switch for Phase 1 to explode. It's certainly not as simple as "a transformer blew up," and at some point the conduit from utility power has to enter the data center; that's where the second (most service-effecting) explosion occurred. Because the main power equipment was effected, we needed to essentially check and recheck the entire power grid before returning power (via generator or utility) to either phase.

Hmm - well it could be bad, could be good - just depends on how they will setup their future systems if they merge, and if they keep it seperate, that would be great too!

Some more info about this sale -

Q. Do you plan to discontinue any Touch Support services?
A. No.



I saw the Ad. banner ont this forum.
http://www3.webhostingtalk.com/click;h=v8/370b/0/0/%2a/u;204999360;0-0;1;19808376;3454-728/90;22875447/22893330/1;u=1;~sscs=%3fhttp://www.touchsupport.com/outsourced-tech-support-cpanel.php

But when I browse to TouchSupport website in the "other services" section.
http://www.touchsupport.com/outsourced-support-services.php
cPanel Licenses and Managed Backups are all dis-continued, you have to go thru theplanet now.

So they never plan to stop something, but eventually it happened.

cPanel licenses are not discontinued, they are still offered in the context of service with The Planet. It does not make sense to operate two distinct entities licensing the same product. Touch Support will continue to support its legacy clients with other providers, but moving forward, new service from the Touch Support team is being offered in our Planet Alpha's Advanced Services. We are working to integrate all of Touch Support's features and services (including Managed Backup) into our product catalog, but the full implementation may not be completed for a few months.

The FAQ about discontinuing Touch Support services was primarily in response to Touch Support's current customers fearing that their legacy service will be discontinued ... We do not plan to discontinue any active services for as long as a legacy Touch Support customer remains a customer.

cPanel licenses are not discontinued, they are still offered in the context of service with The Planet. It does not make sense to operate two distinct entities licensing the same product. Touch Support will continue to support its legacy clients with other providers, but moving forward, new service from the Touch Support team is being offered in our Planet Alpha's Advanced Services. We are working to integrate all of Touch Support's features and services (including Managed Backup) into our product catalog, but the full implementation may not be completed for a few months.

The FAQ about discontinuing Touch Support services was primarily in response to Touch Support's current customers fearing that their legacy service will be discontinued ... We do not plan to discontinue any active services for as long as a legacy Touch Support customer remains a customer.

What about current customers that need to sign new contracts for additional services, etc? I find that to be a bit scary since I do not house my servers at theplanet.

I have mixed feelings on this one as well. They raved about the merging of TP and EV1 and from what I've read it seems things for EV1 customers have been worse rather then better since the merger. If TP doesn't do things right they could end up with overworked personnel spread too thinly over their clients, which wouldn't be good for anyone.

I don't see why people are so worried about the acquisition of TouchSupport as anyone who uses them should have a written agreement with TouchSupport preventing them from attempting to "steal" clients.

It is still possible that The Planet customers may be given preference or the quality of service may decline you always can vote with your wallet by leaving.

At first I think the merger will provide more benefit to existing The Planet customers than existing TouchSupport customers. The benefit for TouchSupport customers will probably be that The Planet has the deeper pockets required to train and hold on to higher quality techinicians. Quality technicians aren't cheap.

I'm curious... how has the service been since TP took over? It's been a couple months now. Have those people using TS noticed any change (for the better or worse)?

cPanel licenses are not discontinued, they are still offered in the context of service with The Planet. It does not make sense to operate two distinct entities licensing the same product. Touch Support will continue to support its legacy clients with other providers, but moving forward, new service from the Touch Support team is being offered in our Planet Alpha's Advanced Services. We are working to integrate all of Touch Support's features and services (including Managed Backup) into our product catalog, but the full implementation may not be completed for a few months.


I planned to buy a VPS external license ftom TS, but now its gone.

Okay, I think TS+TP becomes the Rackspace alternative.
I have no ideas the cost and services comparative to each other: PlanetNorthStar vs RackSpace.

But to me, the new services are (to my knowledge from their website)

PlanetAlpha ==> Tranditional server/unmanaged
PlanetNorthStar ==> Managed servers, strong competitors to RackSpace.

Cost of PlanetAlpha + Old TouchSupportAdmin ? PlanetNorthstar
Replace ? with which one: '>' or '=' or '<'

We are experiencing slower responses from Touchsupport since they were acquired by ThePlanet. Also, email responses from them are branded with ThePlanet's signature, not Touchsupport's, so I'm unsure if they are using The Planet's staff or still the original touch support team.

We are experiencing slower responses from Touchsupport since they were acquired by ThePlanet. Also, email responses from them are branded with ThePlanet's signature, not Touchsupport's, so I'm unsure if they are using The Planet's staff or still the original touch support team.

I figured that would happen. Both the slower responses and TP's name all over it. Hopefully they don't let the performance of touchsupport slide too much. Ideally, they should be improving response times, adding more features and adding value to the service but it generally doesn't work out that way.

What about current customers that need to sign new contracts for additional services, etc? I find that to be a bit scary since I do not house my servers at theplanet.

Additive services will continue to be available to any Touch Support user regardless of data center. If you've got monitoring on a server in another data center and you purchase a new server in that data center, you can add any of those legacy Touch Support services to your new servers. The limits on "Touch Support" services apply to anyone who was not a Touch Support customer at the time of the acquisition.

PlanetAlpha ==> Tranditional server/unmanaged
PlanetNorthStar ==> Managed servers, strong competitors to RackSpace.

Cost of PlanetAlpha + Old TouchSupportAdmin ? PlanetNorthstar
Replace ? with which one: '>' or '=' or '<'

Planet Alpha + Advanced Services is much less expensive than Planet Northstar. The Planet Northstar offering is designed as much more of an enterprise solution starting with multi-server or multi-rack accounts.

We are experiencing slower responses from Touchsupport since they were acquired by ThePlanet. Also, email responses from them are branded with ThePlanet's signature, not Touchsupport's, so I'm unsure if they are using The Planet's staff or still the original touch support team.

Touch Support's staff is still in control of those customers. To my knowledge, none of the legacy employees from The Planet have been involved in that support process.

Frankly, they are not nearly as good as they used to be. I am sure that each admin is as capable as ever, but it is clear that they have not prepared well for the increase in work load.

Response times are quite variable (sometimes not meeting their SLA), and the number of exchanges back and forth to complete a task has increased substantially.

I'm actively seeking other vendors that are better able to serve smaller clients like us.

Unless I see evidence to the contrary, I assume that their service levels will continue to be compromised by the restructuring.

Frankly, they are not nearly as good as they used to be. I am sure that each admin is as capable as ever, but it is clear that they have not prepared well for the increase in work load.

Response times are quite variable (sometimes not meeting their SLA), and the number of exchanges back and forth to complete a task has increased substantially.

I'm actively seeking other vendors that are better able to serve smaller clients like us.

Unless I see evidence to the contrary, I assume that their service levels will continue to be compromised by the restructuring.

I dont know of any US only alternatives that offer the same type of features for a similar price. =/

This definitely provides an opening for the competition. I would happily pay more if I could get a better level of service. Right now, I feel like I can't really trust them with my servers.

I have been with TP for over 2 years during which time I have found the general tech support patchy but what they call their special services at the data center in Houston has been appalling so much so that I cancelled my h/w firewall as they were always so slow when I wanted an update no matter how trivial they usually made the wrong changes and crashed my server of several occasions.
Meanwhile I took out sys admin lite with TS about a year ago and the service was fantastic BUT SINCE TP TOOK OVER the level of support has been patchy and now they stopped support to me over the weekend as I had "exceeded my ticket for the month" this was most galling particularly as some of the support involved installng ssls for me as TP has misconfigure the WHM.
Be WARNED TP SERVICE POOR AND NOW TS SEEMS TO BE GOING THE SAME WAY.

Hi chiphh,

Welcome to WHT! I'd be happy to look into your account because your experience is certainly not one that is typical nor is it acceptable. I'm not sure what special services you are referencing in our data center, but I can certainly look into the errors you reported here.

If you are not comfortable sharing the site you have hosted with us here on the public forum, you are welcome to send me that information directly (via PM or email) so I can make sure your concern is escalated quickly. My email is khazard AT theplanet.com ... I look forward to hearing from you soon.