Blog posts from SingleHop blog |
344 blog posts:
Oct 01, 2015
It’s here. The time has come. The moment you’ve all been waiting for . . . National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM)! For most organizations, it’s a joyous time filled with festivities like hanging up posters to warn people about the dangers of downloading random attachments and reading special blurbs from your communications team in […]
Sep 18, 2015
It’s a hybrid world - or increasingly becoming one. While there are some businesses whose IT approach stands firmly behind either cloud or colocation, it’s becoming clear that most organizations are looking for flexibility and incorporating strategies that lie somewhere in the middle. In support of this model, SingleHop just introduced ColoPlus™ - its first […]
Sep 14, 2015
Today’s blog by SingleHop senior developer Aaron Ryou is our (belated) celebration of International Programmer’s Day, which was held yesterday, September 13 – the 256th day of the year. What’s significant about that figure, you ask? It’s the number of distinct values that can be represented by an eight-bit byte. We asked Aaron to share […]
Sep 01, 2015
Over the last few years I have been focused (borderline obsessed) with honing my leadership skills and abilities. If you were to look through my library, this would be a very apparent area of interest. There is a plethora of literature on the subject, and an equal number of opinions about do’s and don’ts as […]
Aug 21, 2015
On a beautiful summer evening in June, SingleHop packed the house for another wine tasting as part of our nationwide “Wine in the Cloud” tour. This marked the second of these tech networking events held in our headquarters city of Chicago in eight months. Themed Summer Wines from Around the Globe, the event kicked off […]
Aug 19, 2015
SingleHop’s Wine in the Cloud series recently made a stop in Denver, where we hosted a group of area tech professionals for an evening of wine tasting, delicious food and engaging conversation. The nationwide wine tour is centered around creating a fun “evening out” to get to know some of the leading IT folks in […]
Aug 17, 2015
The Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Enabled Managed Hosting is out, and I’m thrilled that SingleHop is one of the 19 vendors that met Gartner’s criteria for inclusion in this important report. (Download the full 2015 report here.) Wait, what’s a Magic Quadrant? Well, Wikipedia says “The Gartner Magic Quadrant (MQ) is the brand name for […]
Aug 14, 2015
Yesterday, SingleHop and Server Intellect introduced a new managed services offering to help companies achieve more efficiency, security and control for their Microsoft Azure environments. The services are a natural extension of Server Intellect’s rich expertise in Microsoft-based private cloud and managed hosting and squarely target the growing adoption of Azure as a critical component […]
Aug 12, 2015
Today marked the release of the 34th annual Inc. 5000 – a list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. – and SingleHop, for the sixth consecutive year, is featured. This is obviously another great milestone in the midst of a busy, momentous year for the company. With the average Inc. 5000 company sporting […]
Aug 11, 2015
? SingleHop has a company culture that many people dream of working in. In fact, SingleHop has recently been nominated by ChicagoInno as one of Chicago’s Coolest Companies. The company started with a small core group of individuals breaking new ground in the hosting industry. From its very beginning, these startup roots created an environment […]
Aug 07, 2015
Today is International Beer Day, a celebration of beers from around the world and the people that make them. Craft brewing is among the fastest-growing industries worldwide. The number of brewpubs and microbreweries in the U.S. more than doubled from 2008 to 2014, and the movement continues unabated in all corners of the globe from […]
Jul 31, 2015
My name’s Topher Hawk. I’m 28, and I’m a system administrator (sys admin) for Server Intellect? the Microsoft Windows Server, Azure, and HyperV Cloud Hosting division of SingleHop. This is a really tough topic to be concise about because any particular day in the life of a Server Intellect sys admin is pretty different than […]
Jul 13, 2015
As a self-aware social media geek, I thought today’s observance of Embrace Your Geekness Day would be the perfect time to dive into the business benefits of being a geek. It is hard to believe I am already almost done with my summer social media internship at SingleHop. It has been a great investment of […]
Jun 26, 2015
I spend a lot of time in New York as a result of SingleHop’s Datagram acquisition. What a wonderful City! When I was given the opportunity to present in a city that I love, on a topic I truly believe in, I could not turn it down! I was excited to discuss public cloud’s lack […]
Apr 07, 2015
Andy Pace, COO of SingleHop, interviews Steven Coty, Chief Security Evangelist of Alert Logic. Topics of discussion include HIPAA and PCI compliance, proper security protocols, DDoS attacks, web application firewalls, and more.
Apr 03, 2015
Andy Pace, COO of SingleHop, interviews Steven Coty, Chief Security Evangelist of Alert Logic. Topics of discussion include HIPAA and PCI compliance, proper security protocols, DDoS attacks, web application firewalls, and more. Keep an eye out for part 2!
Apr 01, 2015
Your data is only as good as your last back up. And any business that’s lost its data or the ability to access its critical applications and operations can painfully attest to that fact. Today’s data is increasingly at greater risk. There’s simply more of it. Industry sources say digital data is doubling at a […]
Mar 31, 2015
Let World Backup Day Remind You Not to be a Statistic for Lost Data Have you backed up your data recently? Every day businesses are creating and collecting critical data that they must protect; data that is essential to running and growing their companies. How are you protecting your critical business data? What would happen to […]
Mar 30, 2015
Encryption, today more than ever, is a critical component of every organization's security posture. It allows for secure communication between a client and a server and allows for the transfer of such data as credits cards, social security numbers, medical data, and other sensitive information. Fortunately, the process of securing your server has never been […]
Mar 25, 2015
Executing a new disaster recovery plan for your business probably seems like an enormous, expensive, and daunting undertaking. But you don’t have to do it all yourself! Instead, you can work with a hosting provider like SingleHop that offers Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS). SingleHop has partnered with DR leader Zerto to provide DRaaS for the hosted […]
Mar 25, 2015
“Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” – Murphy’s Law Let’s face it. Bad things can happen anytime to anyone, prepared or not. Fires, floods, hackers, denial-of-service attacks, power outages, human errors, database corruption, spilled drinks, and the list goes on. That’s why we always advise our customers to plan for the unforeseeable and […]
Mar 09, 2015
There’s no doubt about it: starting a business is hard. There are many reasons why small businesses fail, even if they have a great product or service, plenty of funding, and otherwise do everything the right way. According to a study by Shikhar Ghosh, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, as many as 95% […]
Feb 10, 2015
We're extremely excited to announce our new advanced security option: Shield Plus. These new features will enable you to thwart DDoS attacks and other evolving threats to help safeguard your business and your most precious commodity: your data. The Shield security portfolio provides comprehensive security services across five layers: physical, network, server, application, and account […]
Feb 10, 2015
We're extremely excited to announce our new advanced security option: Shield Plus. These new features will enable you to thwart DDoS attacks and other evolving threats to help safeguard your business and your most precious commodity: your data. The Shield security portfolio provides comprehensive security services across five layers: physical, network, server, application, and account […]
Feb 03, 2015
Data centers get a bad rep because they’ve always been big wasters of power and cooling energy in the past. They’re 100 times more energy intensive than an office and most server racks are well in excess of 30kW. They’ve gone from using 1.3% of the United States electric output in 2011 to an EPA […]
Feb 03, 2015
Data centers get a bad rep because they’ve always been big wasters of power and cooling energy in the past. They’re 100 times more energy intensive than an office and most server racks are well in excess of 30kW. They’ve gone from using 1.3% of the United States electric output in 2011 to an EPA […]
Jan 29, 2015
We at SingleHop are always working to improve and upgrade our offerings, especially focusing on our hosted private cloud. Therefore, we're excited to roll out a brand new hardware node configuration for our hosted private cloud solutions. These new node configurations are now available across the board in all of our global data centers, including […]
Jan 29, 2015
We at SingleHop are always working to improve and upgrade our offerings, especially focusing on our hosted private cloud. Therefore, we're excited to roll out a brand new hardware node configuration for our hosted private cloud solutions. These new node configurations are now available across the board in all of our global data centers, including […]
Jan 27, 2015
Earlier today, the PR firm used by the security vendor Qualys prematurely leaked vulnerability details regarding a critical vulnerability in the GNU C library. The vulnerability exists in all versions of glibc since 2000. The vulnerability itself is a heap-based buffer overflow in __nss_hostname_digits_dots(), which is used by the gethostbyname() and gethostbyname2() glibc function call. […]
Jan 27, 2015
Earlier today, the PR firm used by the security vendor Qualys prematurely leaked vulnerability details regarding a critical vulnerability in the GNU C library. The vulnerability exists in all versions of glibc since 2000. The vulnerability itself is a heap-based buffer overflow in __nss_hostname_digits_dots(), which is used by the gethostbyname() and gethostbyname2() glibc function call. […]
Jan 27, 2015
This year promises to be a big one in terms of new and improved cloud services. That’s not just our opinion: It’s also the opinion of those throughout the technology industry. In December, we reached out to nearly 200 bloggers and experts in various technical fields and asked them what they thought 2015 would look […]
Jan 27, 2015
This year promises to be a big one in terms of new and improved cloud services. That’s not just our opinion: It’s also the opinion of those throughout the technology industry. In December, we reached out to nearly 200 bloggers and experts in various technical fields and asked them what they thought 2015 would look […]
Jan 22, 2015
A major factor in any data center is security. And CHI-3’s security levels are going to be state-of-the-art from the Digital Realty Trust campus to our own private NOC. At the most outer level, the Digital Realty Trust campus has a plethora of security checkpoints, including a perimeter fence, surveillance cameras at every turn, and […]
Jan 22, 2015
A major factor in any data center is security. And CHI-3’s security levels are going to be state-of-the-art from the Digital Realty Trust campus to our own private NOC. At the most outer level, the Digital Realty Trust campus has a plethora of security checkpoints, including a perimeter fence, surveillance cameras at every turn, and […]
Jan 05, 2015
Cyber attacks and data breaches are on the rise as we move into the middle of the second decade of the twenty-first century. Looking back at 2014, it’s clear that hacking and the compromise of personal and business information is no longer merely something that happens to one company here or there, but it is […]
Jan 05, 2015
Cyber attacks and data breaches are on the rise as we move into the middle of the second decade of the twenty-first century. Looking back at 2014, it’s clear that hacking and the compromise of personal and business information is no longer merely something that happens to one company here or there, but it is […]
Dec 23, 2014
SingleHop has big plans for 2015! We are investing in all areas of the business, with a focus on our Senior Support team, our Development team, and our Sales team. There has been an uptick in business from local Chicago companies and, while our Chicago headquarters will see the most growth, we are expanding our […]
Dec 23, 2014
SingleHop has big plans for 2015! We are investing in all areas of the business, with a focus on our Senior Support team, our Development team, and our Sales team. There has been an uptick in business from local Chicago companies and, while our Chicago headquarters will see the most growth, we are expanding our […]
Dec 18, 2014
The season for giving (and getting) is here. SingleHop once again took part in the City Santa and the Holiday Giving campaign, which sponsors Toys for Tots and families across Chicago. The SingleHop team went to Target for their holiday shopping. Some received a hand-written letter to "City Santa," while others had big lists for Toys […]
Dec 18, 2014
The season for giving (and getting) is here. SingleHop once again took part in the City Santa and the Holiday Giving campaign, which sponsors Toys for Tots and families across Chicago. The SingleHop team went to Target for their holiday shopping. Some received a hand-written letter to "City Santa," while others had big lists for Toys […]
Dec 09, 2014
We here at SingleHop are extremely excited to announce our brand new, state-of-the-art data center location in Franklin Park, IL. This $30 million facility is housed in a private, secured campus built and operated by Digital Realty Trust. We hold a single-tenant, up to 30-year lease for a private data center suite, private network operations, and […]
Dec 09, 2014
We here at SingleHop are extremely excited to announce our brand new, state-of-the-art data center location in Franklin Park, IL. This $30 million facility is housed in a private, secured campus built and operated by Digital Realty Trust. We hold a single-tenant, up to 30-year lease for a private data center suite, private network operations, and […]
Dec 09, 2014
The Hybrid RAID – Are You Maximizing Your Costs to Performance Ratio? Traditionally, when looking to setup a RAID array, the goal is to mix performance and size while maintaining low enough overhead to remain profitable. With this in mind, we need to figure out how to meet these different goals. A traditional SATA array […]
Dec 08, 2014
Connections. At the heart of all relationships is the desire and the need to connect. Whether it’s personal or business, friendship or romantic, we need that sense of connection. SingleHop’s Wine in the Cloud events spawned from this need. These events are not about talking shop, nor are they about selling services. They are about […]
Nov 18, 2014
Choose your own hosting adventure: problem -> diagnosis -> solution. When you come across any problem, before it can be solved, it must first be identified. Once diagnosed, the solutions often present themselves. In this series I will pose common problems facing anyone that takes advantage of CentOS/RedHat to host publicly available services, such as […]
Nov 14, 2014
Congratulations! You’ve become a new private cloud customer at SingleHop and now you’re starting the process of setting up your systems. You’re now in the Onboarding phase. As a Senior Onboarding Specialist at SingleHop, I’m not a technical resource for a new customer. I’m not a networking expert, a VMware engineer, or a technical support […]
Nov 11, 2014
My name is Trey Maclin, and I live life among a foreign peoples, like Jane Austin among the simians. (Pause briefly to let the simian simile sink in for any coworkers who happen to be reading.) I work for a cloud hosting company, you see: but I know comparatively little about the ins and outs […]
Oct 21, 2014
SingleHop is excited to announce a brand new infrastructure solution offering: Virtual Private Cloud. This new infrastructure rounds off SingleHop’s product suite, which also includes dedicated and virtual servers and managed hosting. We’ve worked tirelessly to bring this new solution to our customers because it will be a valuable asset, especially to our small to […]
Oct 17, 2014
Take a minute to think about this question: How much of your life is spent online each day? For most of us, it’s hours – and not just a few. Whether for work, education, entertainment, shopping, social media, or more personal interactions, in the 21st century humanity has become a species that spends a lot […]
Oct 17, 2014
We all deal with the dreaded spam emails that constantly flood our inboxes and take precious seconds of our lives to delete. But is spam a bigger problem than simply hitting the delete button? What can be done to prevent spammers? It may not seem like a big deal to check off a list of […]
Oct 14, 2014
Seven years, that’s really hard to believe! Today is my seven year anniversary with SingleHop, and it’s been quite a ride! I started working for Dan and Zak right out of college over at MidPhase Services, the company they owned before SingleHop. When I was brought into SingleHop a few months later, I was the […]
Oct 07, 2014
Working moms are the norm in today’s society. Long gone are the days when you could live very well on a one-income household. Especially in Chicago. Yet even with the growing number of mothers in the workforce, the sensitivity to mothers’ needs have not evolved. I was already a mom of two boys, who are […]
Oct 03, 2014
Security is something that everyone and every business should think about regularly. Losing control of your identity or accounts is a miserable experience. Luckily, there are a lot of quick and easy things you can do to protect yourself. Here are three things you can do to protect your accounts: 1. Enable Multi-Factor Authentication in […]
Oct 01, 2014
Shellshock is the latest security threat to impact the Internet and web servers. It has the potential to affect millions of users worldwide and inflict far more havoc than the Heartbleed vulnerability. Shellshock is connected to the bash vulnerability, which we mentioned in a recent blog post. The reason Shellshock is so potentially harmful is […]
Sep 29, 2014
Web sites are constantly being targeted by attackers in an attempt to steal application data, defraud users, or deny service. This is becoming a common challenge for businesses. Hackers take advantage of the poorly coded applications and databases through SQL injections, cross-site scripting, or OS command injections. Alert Logic, a trusted SingleHop security partner, published […]
Sep 26, 2014
I have worked at many companies, and at every single one, Project Management is different. Even within every project, Project Management can be different. But, everywhere I go, it relates to cats. Here are a few words of advice to follow as a Project Manager when you are taking care of your own cat (project) […]
Sep 25, 2014
In Chicago at Techweek 2014, our VP of Products, Jordan Jacobs, shares tips on how IaaS providers can greatly increase inefficiencies using standardization, processes, and reimagining your IT department as a provider. Courtesy of Techweek, we present Jordan's talk:
Sep 24, 2014
Hey guys heads up, a new bash exploit was published/patched today in linux affecting all systems. Overall it's not a "huge" issue however it can be exploited pretty easily if a client is using fastcgi or a person has shell access to a system. https://securityblog.redhat.com/2014/09/24/bash-specially-crafted-environment-variables-code-injection-attack/ As of now the fix is still being pushed out […]
Sep 15, 2014
Aug 22, 2014
Having direct experience with inbound marketing (content marketing), such as Display and Retargeting, I have intimate knowledge on how to move someone along the “buyer’s journey.” But as a digital marketer and a professional that leans on digital channels to produce tangible results, I have found it is necessary at times to take a step […]
Aug 15, 2014
Climate change is on nearly everybody’s mind, in one way or another. Becoming more aware of the effects of emissions on the environment, people are looking for “greener” ways to live, from buying local (and sustainable) food and products, traveling via lower-emission transportation methods, and building up recycling and composting programs. There are some obvious […]
Aug 11, 2014
While passwords may seem obsolete in this climate of security threats, websites will continue to ask for login credentials. There’s no getting around it. You will still need to come up with a password for any new logins, you will sometimes have strict password guidelines to follow, and sometimes you’ll even have to change your […]
Jul 18, 2014
We’ve just pushed a huge update to our LEAP platform for LEAP 3.6.0. LEAP will work much faster now as we’ve greatly enhanced its speed. We have developed a multi-threaded environment to handle LEAP data asynchronously, allowing for the execution of multiple requests that do not block remaining processes. This will lead our users to […]
Jul 17, 2014
Net Neutrality has been the topic of intense conversation recently, as the FCC solicits and considers public comments about how to regulate Internet traffic. We’ve put together the overview below to help you understand the issues and players that influence the way we use the Internet daily for business, research, entertainment, and social activities. Net […]
Jul 13, 2014
I wouldn’t consider myself a geek personally, but I do have an unhealthy obsession with video games and it is one of my largest personal hobbies. I have most every single video game console from NES all the way up to the latest generation. I also modify consoles as a hobby and have converted an […]
Jul 11, 2014
I can’t top Sam’s gaming gear, but I noticed that the OpenPandora is a glaring omission in his handheld collection. The OpenPandora is an open source (hardware and software) handheld computer running a custom Linux distro for retro gaming. It is arguably the geekiest handheld gaming device ever. I pre-ordered it and waited years before […]
Jul 10, 2014
No disclaimer, just geek…maybe just not your average one. I have some of the hobbies mentioned here, and although I gamed in my earlier years and played all the Ultima RPGs I thru IX, I never got into the MMO part because dial up was hella expensive and was I simply too poor to join […]
Jul 09, 2014
I’m a minimalist geek and it seems to leak into most aspects of my life. I’ve been using IRC/SILC and *nix since the 90s. I’ve played with many different operating systems throughout the years from plan9 to histar, but only two have really ever captured a piece of my heart: Gentoo and OpenBSD. If they […]
Jul 08, 2014
I have been putting computers together for a quarter of a century. In the beginning, I worked on Atari and 8086 builds. I built my first computer with leftover parts and with a lot of assembly required. I got pretty handy with a dremel though. In the early days, a great deal of time was spent […]
Jul 07, 2014
The Geek is Strong With This One! Geekness day is around the corner and we have decided to look inward this year at the employees of SingleHop in search of the head geek. Nearly every employee at SingleHop has a variety of subjects that geek out to. Here are a handful of the honorable mentions: […]
Jun 12, 2014
The latest version of LEAP adds IP Whitelist functionality. This functionality allows users to add, edit, or delete IPs through the Dropzone API. As a courtesy, we have imported any IPs that have accessed your account within the past 30 days to this feature for you. You should confirm these IPs and make any modifications […]
May 27, 2014
The Brethren of the Coast, more commonly known as pirates, innovated society in several ways and many of their values have continued on today. More importantly, the pirates of the New World were able to find success against overwhelming odds and thrived in an incredibly hostile environment. The stories of their courage and skill almost […]
May 23, 2014
We love our loft-style office with its green walls, exposed brick, and rooftop deck in the heart of River North. But it’s just not perfect. Everyone is split up between two different floors of the building. The elevator is always a gamble on whether or not you’ll make it to your desired floor. The dishwasher […]
May 20, 2014
I’m excited to announce that we’ve secured $14.8 million in debt financing, which is being led by Silicon Valley Bank with participation from Farnam Street Financial Inc. This round of financing brings us to a total of $42 million raised over the last two years. This funding comes at a time when enterprises are adopting […]
May 16, 2014
In honor of National Small Business week, I want to highlight the 150,000 SMBs that helped me throughout my career in the SMB world and how the lessons I learned from them influence SingleHop today. My career has been spent servicing the small business space. Prior to SingleHop, I ran midPhase, a shared web hosting […]
May 13, 2014
There are many things to consider when planning a cohesive cross-channel marketing strategy. Not only what to consider, but also when to consider it can be the key to success and getting optimum ROI on your marketing investments. These decisions and overall scope across channels can be overwhelming – even for the experienced marketer. This […]
May 09, 2014
In the latest episode of LEAP, our control panel has undergone several fixes and some added functionality. Fixes center on four main areas of functionality. These four main areas include: password changes, bandwidth, templates, and hostname validation. Password changes include a few fixes when it comes to special character issues and encryption. Bandwidth changes include […]
May 06, 2014
Next time you walk through a major electronics store, take a moment to look at the plethora of Internet-connected gadgets we can use every day. There’s an incredible amount of innovation happening here by both new upstarts and existing giants. Everything now-a-days seems to have a CPU and connection — from TVs to thermostats, smoke […]
Apr 15, 2014
We are always working to improve upon our products, even through minor updates and bug fixes. It’s important to do these seemingly minor fixes because they help keep the product working at top notch capacity for you, our end users. One enhancement we made was in the General Details section on the component management screen […]
Apr 15, 2014
To most people a data center probably just looks like a big boring building with no windows, kind of like a prison. But to the people who spend their days on the inside, it’s much more interesting—even above and beyond the electrical and mechanical engineering. There are so many components that go into the upkeep […]
Apr 11, 2014
I am a big believer when it comes to hands on experience. There are just some things that must be felt. Entrepreneurship is one of those things. You will never truly understand everything that encompasses the process of developing an idea from passing thought to fully realized product, until you go out and do it. […]
Apr 09, 2014
I’m sure many of the people reading this blog post have heard about the recent exploit released Monday labeled CVE-2014-0160 better known to the Internet as Heartbleed. Heartbleed is an exploit on OpenSSL version 1.0.1 through 1.0.1f that allows an attacker to pull arbitrary data out of a server’s memory to retrieve various information. How […]
Apr 04, 2014
Lately, our support staff has been seeing a large amount of servers compromised at the root level by a very sneaky and dastardly SSH Rootkit. Throughout the past two years, various hosting companies, security researchers, and other concerned parties have been steadily compiling more and more information about the rootkit and its related tools. As […]
Sep 10, 2013
Are you creative? Like many other people, you might feel inclined to answer this question with a “yes” or a “no”. But what you might be surprised to learn is that when it comes to creative problem solving, everyone is capable of it. Creative problem solving isn’t a trait; it’s a process. One of the […]
Sep 10, 2013
Are you creative? Like many other people, you might feel inclined to answer this question with a “yes” or a “no”. But what you might be surprised to learn is that when it comes to creative problem solving, everyone is capable of it. Creative problem solving isn’t a trait; it’s a process. One of the...
Sep 09, 2013
Early this month, a new version of Vivisect was released which fixed a large amount of bugs, and added a tremendous amount of new features. While looking over the changelog and documentation, I realized that there doesn’t really seem to be a good tutorial or primer for getting familiar with the Vivisect framework so hopefully...
Sep 06, 2013
Here at SingleHop, we have 3-4 major systems that interact with each other constantly. These systems are: Manage (Our primary administrative interface and automation codebase) DropZone (Our customer-facing API) LEAP3 (Our client portal, you should know this one!) Most days, the system looks like this: You’ll notice that all of these services either expose or...
Sep 03, 2013
If you have a web site, or just about any web presence, and you aren’t using retargeting as part of your cross channel strategy, you are missing the boat. Retargeting is hands down, the most efficient and cost effective way to drive leads and e-commerce sales, while also promoting brand awareness. A handy digital marketing...
Aug 27, 2013
If the campaign for cloud infrastructure keeps failing, it’s time to try a new strategy. Too many IT heroes fall because they don’t know how to talk to a CFO. IT and finance employ languages as different as C++ and Ruby. Virtualization and cloud IaaS may be exactly what your organization needs, but you must...
Aug 26, 2013
A few days ago, just after installing some new software, I ran into a curious bug that prevented one of my favorite programs from loading after Software X had been installed (names have been changed to protect the guilty). The error I was getting way up in userland informed me that a driver could not...
Aug 23, 2013
With all of the hype surrounding cloud nowadays, it’s easy to get a bad case of tunnel vision while researching infrastructure platforms for your business. Many businesses focus so much on cloud that they sacrifice the optimum environment for the sake of using the cloud. In this blog post, I am going to make a...
Aug 16, 2013
A little part of me dies inside whenever I hear people liken cloud computing to the power grid or some other utility. There are of course some definite similarities. When we plug something into an outlet we expect the power to work. Once started, utilities offer high availability of services. Some forms of cloud computing...
Aug 12, 2013
As many are aware our CHI-2 data center had a major outage yesterday morning. The problem happened between 2:05 AM and 5:33 AM CST and affected network connectivity. We are currently looking at what exactly occurred and more importantly how to prevent it from striking again. Rest assured we are approaching this issue with speed...
Aug 11, 2013
When we left off last week, we had just gotten started with Minion by Mozilla and while we did (superficially) cover plugins, setting up the virtual machine, and adding users, there’s still a lot more we can learn about this awesome and powerful framework. For the sake of keeping things simple, let’s keep working with...
Aug 09, 2013
It’s a tough world out there. With so many important services being susceptible to hacking (the most recent target, the Ubuntu Forums), I thought it would be a good idea to educate some SingleHoppers out there with some good pointers on keeping your LEAP account safe and secure. The most important thing you can do...
Aug 04, 2013
In a previous blog post, I talked about the importance of empowering your developers with security tools, such as Arachni and W3AF. Last week, while getting caught up on some security-related mailing lists, I came across a platform created by Mozilla called Minion, which is designed to do just that. From the Mozilla Wiki: Minion...
Aug 02, 2013
Words are tools we use to describe ideas and the world around us. Often times we can find a word whose description is a perfect fit for the concept we are trying to imply. Depending on the connotation, we might believe that the word, even if it’s a perfect fit, might be a way to...
Jul 31, 2013
Daily Host News released their interview with Dan Ushman, our CMO, yesterday and it makes a good read. Here is an excerpt from the interview: DHN: I am a guy who wishes to get into hosting-reselling business, but has very little resources to do so. What additional value can ‘Tandem’ provide me with, when compared...
Jul 30, 2013
Welcome to my second post of the Finance in the Cloud blog series. In my first post, I described why CFO’s should love the concept of virtualization. With virtualization, IT infrastructure and fixed asset investments are maximized by utilizing as much of the computing power as possible. But let’s face it, the move to virtualization...
Jul 29, 2013
I am a firm believer that in the field of information security, tools are overrated. I, like all security professionals, have a long list of software that I rely on for getting work done, but make no mistake; tools do not provide security nor do they provide knowledge, and at best, they provide insight and...
Jul 23, 2013
We’ve all heard those horror stories of being a client somewhere that had terrible customer service. An unlucky few of us may have even been on the receiving end. One of the many great things about SingleHop is that we recognize this and we strive every day to make certain no one leaves our company...
Jul 19, 2013
Do the words Job Fair conjure up images of suits and sweaty palms in a ballroom or school gymnasium? Eeesh! No fun, for anyone, even the ones who say they are having fun- they’re lying. But wait, there is an alternative! SingleHop recently participated in a recruitment event that was designed to bring emerging companies and talented...
Jul 15, 2013
It’s not hard to do a quick search and find a plethora of blog posts, scholarly articles, and editorials that stress the importance of strong passwords and the importance of rotating your passwords regularly. While this is all great advice, it is largely unenforceable out outside of a corporate environment where things like GPOs don’t...
Jul 08, 2013
SoftLayer is a fascinating company in that it enjoys closing the loop. I think when the founders of SoftLayer left The Planet to form a new hosting company they probably did not believe the two companies would be back together again. And yet several years later, SoftLayer and The Planet merged. There is another circle...
Jul 05, 2013
Many marketers have lost faith in display advertising. The detractors say it is “branding” that folks no longer pay any attention to. I am here to tell you to that it is very much still viable form of advertising that every business should consider regardless of if they are B2C or B2B. Below are 5...
Jul 04, 2013
The holidays are normally reserved for taking life a little easier, meeting up with friends and family, relaxing, remembering, and, of course, holiday sales and coupon deals. However, there are coupon deals, and then there are our new coupon deals! In honor of the fourth day of the month of July, we are offering 2...
Jun 28, 2013
As in any company, our engineering team at SingleHop is the most important group of the bunch. We make the the automation happen and admins jobs scalable to thousands of servers. We provided the client initiated reboot and automated server provisioning platform. The list of tools that make SingleHop one of the best IaaS platforms...
Jun 25, 2013
If there is one thing as a system administrator that takes up the majority of my time, it is dealing with spam. Spam, unwanted or unsolicited email, has been around as long as email itself, and the manhours spent by countless system and network administrators attempting to mitigate it on their networks has been staggering....
Jun 23, 2013
I’d like to preface this by saying this post is a mile wide and an inch deep when it comes to reverse engineering on the Android platform. However, for those who are new to mobile and looking to get a quick test environment set up, this post is for you. We’ll assume you have a...
Jun 18, 2013
What? The way you would treat your dog is very different from how a farmer would treat his cattle. You give your dog a sentimental name, play with him often, and when he gets sick you take him to the vet and spend lots of time and money making him better. On the other hand,...
Jun 16, 2013
IBM’s decision to buy out SoftLayer brings a lot of interesting intersections to light when it comes to traditional enterprise level computing, merging with the fairly new business model of automated infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) computing. SoftLayer’s business model centers on two products: dedicated servers and cloud computing. From there, we add managed services and various levels...
Jun 14, 2013
I’m sitting here writing this post while reflecting over the last few years. “Wow,” I think, “there has been a tremendous amount of hype about ‘the cloud.’” And there has been, be it how it saves money, speeds up prototyping, reduces time to market and increases efficiency on a number of levels. Honestly, unlike most...
Jun 11, 2013
In my previous article, I outlined what to do in case you have an abuse complaint lodged against you. A major issue in dealing with complaints is actually locating the source of the abusive activity on your server. If you have subscribed to our Managed General Services package for your server or device, you are...
Jun 11, 2013
In the world of information security, small businesses and the security needs of small businesses are often overlooked, particularly in the realm of application security. When looking at the investment required to build a robust application security program, it really doesn’t make sense financially. For example, an “enterprise” scanning tool, combined with the required hosting...
Jun 07, 2013
This is the part where the training wheels come off and I impart a little bit of higher level paid search strategy that you can try to use on your own campaigns. If you’re not quite here, then perhaps go back and check out my previous two blog posts in this series. However, moving forward,...
Jun 05, 2013
This blog is a repost from Storage Switzerland, specifically Virtual and Physical Server SLA Deployment – SingleHop and reflects the views of their company. We thank Storage Switzerland for their independent analysis of our service. SingleHop, a US based, hosted IT infrastructure and Cloud computing provider, is capitalizing on their ability to quickly and securely automate the deployment of dedicated...
Jun 04, 2013
We have been teasing our new Amsterdam data center since April and now, the ribbon has been cut and we are now live. The opening of our European data center is not just about opening a new location. It is about making strides towards our goal of offering a global service. Also it is about...
Jun 04, 2013
Previously, we discussed the first three steps on reacting to a successful attack. This week we will finish off with the last two steps of this five step process. Step four: delegation of responsibilities Whoever owns the account is responsible for the code that they have uploaded. This means that due to liabilities it is...
Jun 02, 2013
Continuing from out last post, welcome to part 2 of our series where we’ll be covering file fuzzing as it pertains to SCAD and ICS software. You may be asking yourself why we want to look at file format fuzzing, and the answer is easy to understand. A majority of the SCADA software I’ve looked...
May 31, 2013
In the last article we started things off with the basics of paid search. Now it’s time to take a deeper dive inside the inner workings of paid search. Here is where we’ll learn the importance of quality scores, match type, and the proper way to set your bids. Knowing these elements and how they...
May 28, 2013
Some time ago I was called forth to write an article on securing a web hosting server; As web hosting Systems Administrators here at SingleHop this is a topic with which we are all fairly familiar. After enough CSF installs, SSH port changes, and package updates you find that it all becomes muscle memory allowing...
May 24, 2013
In past articles we’ve gone to some pretty good lengths to teach you search engine optimization tips for optimizing your website to rank well in Google’s organic rankings. However, organic search is just one aspect of search marketing. So that’s why I’m changing things up a little this time. Today we are going to discuss...
May 22, 2013
In the past few years, particularly in the wake of Stuxnet, SCADA and ICS software has come under heavy scrutiny from the security community for a variety of poor programming practices which has unearthed some critical security issues like as memory corruption attacks, hardcoded credentials, broken crypto, and web-based attacks such as SQL injection and...
May 21, 2013
As the demand for the consumption of computing resources becomes more relevant, it’s time to consider moving your infrastructure to a more flexible model, the cloud. I’d like to start off with a scenario: Suppose your SharePoint Solution is comprised of several physical servers: one with Active Directory, one with SQL Server, and one with the SharePoint application. Deploying...
May 17, 2013
Businesses with a professional look to them often employ a unified front. From a singular location, all of the customer’s needs are handled whether its support, billing, or purchasing initial products. SingleHop’s white label automation platform helps you present a unified front to your customer. Here are three key benefits: 1. White Label Automation “Look...
May 16, 2013
As the world wide web continues to evolve, so does search engine optimization. Techniques learned and employed over several years can be made obsolete by a single update to Google’s ranking algorithm. It pays to stay ahead of the trend so that your hard work isn’t destroyed by unexpected penalties. Here are seven ideas that...
May 15, 2013
Information Security is not just an IT issue, it’s an organizational issue. When companies attempt to address the organizational impact of information security, user awareness training is always first on the to-do list. However, in all of the security awareness training I have seen, one key component is usually left out, and that is clearly...
May 15, 2013
When SOA World was looking for an expert to explain service level agreements they came to us and tapped Mr. SLA himself, Dan Ushman. And why wouldn’t they? SingleHop’s Customer Bill of Rights is an industry leading SLA providing operational transparency between customers and ourselves. Our Bill of Rights was designed to be our moral...
May 15, 2013
My first hard drive was a big deal. Up until that time I was running everything off of floppies and that took forever. My first hard drive was a “daughter” card that was directly plugged into one of the ISA slots in the motherboard (we are in the way back machine mind you, circa 1980?s)....
May 14, 2013
It is no longer a debate whether or not solid-state drives are ready for prime-time, or if there are any performance benefits you yourself can realize from adding an SSD to your setup. Be it a cheap, light-purpose netbook, a desktop, or a mission-critical quad-processor server, an SSD will absolutely show you some performance gains...
May 10, 2013
Hey! I’m Noah Halter, Lead Designer here at SingleHop. As you may have noticed, both our website and blog has undergone a complete and total overhaul – SingleHop v5. We are all very excited about it, and consider it the best reflection of our brand to date, so I want to give everyone a bit...
May 07, 2013
As a system administrator, one of my recurring duties is to work on fine-tuning servers our company and client servers. Fine-tuning allows us to squeezing every possible ounce of capability out of each server so they are utilized to their fullest potential. Due to its popularity as an easy to write and implement language, PHP...
May 06, 2013
It was Thursday night and I was sitting around minding my own business on the internet. While using a particular website, the UI controls started to bug out. After a few minutes of troubleshooting the obvious, I decided to open up Firebug and see why the application wasn’t behaving. After about 15 minutes, I discovered...
May 03, 2013
Unnerved, you wait in the lobby. Your hands shake and you try to stop them by grabbing your knees. Unfortunately, a copy of your resume was in your hand and has now found a new home on the floor. You smile at the receptionist, but are greeted by a raised eyebrow. You lean forward to...
May 02, 2013
It is one thing to be passionate about your own services. I would hope that this is a given. I think we should all be proud of what we do and who we work for. It is, however, quite another thing to find others who are passionate about what you provide. It is equally advantageous when others...
Apr 30, 2013
Value Added Resellers (VAR) and Systems Integrators (SI) are evaluating which cloud providers to partner with to offer a complete solution to their clients. And they have a lot of choices. We offer two ways our partners can provide SingleHop products and services to their clients. The first is by selling through our Channel Partner...
Apr 28, 2013
For the most part, I rarely indulge in CTF exercises due to a combination of lacking free-time and the fact that many of the solutions are often annoyingly convoluted. The other day, someone on the reverse engineering subreddit was kind enough to post links to their web challenges and after taking a look, one of...
Apr 26, 2013
Though fairly knew when looking at the long span of advertising in general (a few decades as compared to thousands of years), online display advertising follows a lot of the same general concepts of other forms of advertising. Let’s look at the seven best advertising practices and apply them to the online space. 1. KNOW. Your Audience:...
Apr 24, 2013
If you recall from last week, after using using DotNetasploit, we successfully injected into the application, inspected the “Unlock” button, and discovered that clicking this button calls the function TestKey.KeyCheck(). At this point, it’s time to open our program in Gray Dragon for a deeper dive. Enter the Dragon Wolf Opening and running Gray Wolf...
Apr 23, 2013
Get ready folks! We’re about to go behind the scenes with SingleHop’s Operations team, focusing on what we do (and what we do differently) when deploying a SingleHop location. Some may think that turning up a new location for SingleHop is a daunting task. However with the years of automation we’ve put in place it is actually...
Apr 22, 2013
This blog is a repost from StandingCloud’s Blog, specifically True Love: SingleHop & Standing Cloud and reflects the views of their company. We thank StandingCloud for their support and kind words. In love with a nerdy frog, and not ashamed to admit it! At Standing Cloud we’re all about our partners, and it’s not hard to figure out why....
Apr 19, 2013
This is thought to be common knowledge by most, but there are quite a few tech people out there that still do not know what happens when you trace to an IP address. And troubleshooting traceroutes can even be more complicated. We will cover the basics here, and if you are looking to delve into...
Apr 16, 2013
In 2011, I was fortunate enough to attend OWASP’s AppSec USA conference in the wonderful city if Minneapolis, MN. While both the training and talks I attended were very good, one talk in particular stood out and that was “Hacking .NET (C#) Applications: The Black Arts” given by a very bright individual named Jon McCoy. ...
Apr 12, 2013
Welcome to the first edition of finance in the cloud. This will be the first of many posts in what I hope will be an informative and interesting series. First, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Chris Locke and I am the CFO of SingleHop. I have been a Hopper since May 2012....
Apr 09, 2013
So far, you have updated your packages and configured your firewall for statefully packet inspection, now we get to the final step. The last, and by no means the least important, step would be some manner of obfuscating your SSH access. There are a few great ways to do this, many of which far beyond...
Apr 07, 2013
When it comes to software security testing, fuzzing is both an effective and efficient way to exercise a program’s inputs and outputs. An introduction on fuzzing techniques and methodologies extends well beyond the scope of this post, so if you’re new to the subject, I highly recommend picking up Fuzzing: Brute Force Vulnerability Discovery and familiarizing yourself...
Apr 05, 2013
There are over 30,000 web hosting providers in the world, with over 18,000 of them in the United States alone. And that only counts web hosts. That figure doesn’t count other types of providers, such as those who specialize in applications or simply e-mail services – and that’s just today. The competitiveness of the industry continues to...
Apr 03, 2013
The big news around here is that we’ve just opened our fourth data center—this one located in Amsterdam. Ahhh! Amsterdam! What a city! It’s called “Venice of the North” for good reason with its 165 canals (about 15 more than Venice) and about 90 islands. Trees and tulips, and all sorts of other beauties and charms that...
Apr 02, 2013
Last time we discussed updating your packages. Now it’s time to setup your firewall. In this step we are going to install a SPI (Stateful Packet Inspection) Firewall program, CSF. It is worth noting that CSF is by no means the only option, however it offers a robust feature set along with some fantastic management...
Mar 29, 2013
It’s 3 am. Your phone goes off. An urgent e-mail from [email protected] is claiming that your server is sending large amounts of spam. How did this happen? How do you handle it? What can you do to prevent it? Here is what you can do to ensure that your server stays clean and problem free. Our abuse...
Mar 28, 2013
A few months ago, when Joe McKendrick over at Forbes.com wrote his 7 Predictions for Cloud Computing in 2013 That Make Perfect Sense, his #1 prediction was “More Hosted Private Clouds.” And his #6 prediction was “Cloud Talent Shortages Loom.” Based on these predictions, if he were picking stocks, I’d pay attention. The enterprise has...
Mar 26, 2013
It is often said that the only manner in which a server can be secured would be to disconnect it and power it off. Kevin Mitnick, a rather well known Cyber Security Analyst, has gone so far as to add that all I/O devices should be removed from the hardware and the server should be...
Mar 22, 2013
Awhile back my boss asked me to lead up creating a blog program for our company. Having only written a few posts in my time, I immediately realized I had a lot to learn. After-all, if I was going to be advising other people at my company on how to write great blog posts, then...
Mar 19, 2013
What a year! Things went by so swiftly we’re all just catching our breath. So I thought I’d put down some thoughts on 2012 which was our best year ever, and marks another step along the path of growth we’ve been on since creating the company back in 2006. Our revenue grew by 35% over...
Feb 20, 2013
This is a security advisory regarding the Array Networks SSL-VPN service that we provide to some of our customers. If you use this service and happen to use Windows 8 on your computer, please read this advisory and the attached files carefully. Advisory: If you have accessed the SingleHop SSL VPN and installed the SSL...
Feb 19, 2013
All of us here at SingleHop are excited about our our new SingleHop Public Cloud, powered by VMware. VMware provides a wealth of features that SingleHop is embracing to power our move into the world of utility-based cloud computing. With our new resource-based computing platform, you’ll be able to adjust your resources like turning the...
Feb 14, 2013
Analyst are predicting 2013 to be about the expansion of cloud computing and the challenges for enterprises to meet a higher level of security standards while taking advantage of the power, elasticity and cost effectiveness of IaaS. Securing the cloud to meet standards such as PCI and HIPPA remain challenging for even the most resourceful...
Feb 08, 2013
The needs of a small or medium sized business with expectations for rapid growth usually incorporate three main factors: security, scalability and simplicity. Think about it. A small business typically lacks the necessary resources to build out real infrastructure. Those limited resources are centered around both the required personnel and cash flow to implement what...
Feb 06, 2013
Avoiding single points of failure has been part of our philosophy—and design—since the origins of our company. The philosophy includes avoiding single points of backhoes and diggers as well. Avoiding backhoes is no laughing matter, as the actions of heavy equipment operators, whether in front of your building or miles away, are beyond your control....
Feb 04, 2013
Everyone here at SingleHop enjoys talking about transparency—which is good because we get asked a lot about our innovative and apparently industry-leading approach to transparency and accountability. Much of the attention began early last year when David Strom, writing in the highly regarded tech pub ReadWrite authored an article about our policies that carried the...
Jan 31, 2013
For those of you familiar with the craft beer industry, you know we have some amazing breweries here in the Midwest, and arguably one of the best in the country – Three Floyd’s Brewing. Three Floyd’s is located in Munster, Indiana, and what’s particularly fascinating about this brewery is that every year they release a...
Jan 28, 2013
A few months ago, I was asked by Bill, one of our Channel Partners to be a guest lecturer at DePaul University’s College of Computing and Digital Media. Bill is a partner with Telecomedic.com, a technology and telecommunications consulting firm that specializes in helping business with IT and communications challenges. Telecomedic recently become a Channel...
Jan 26, 2013
We’ve always been a fan of lofty office space. We love the exposed brick walls. We love how the wiring and ventilation infrastructure is wide-open up-above. In our opinion, older buildings are better. But functionality and productivity are still number one. So when we ran out of space last year and needed to find a...
Jan 23, 2013
Anyone who has been anywhere near a television over the past 20 years has probably at one time or another seen the hapless cartoon character Homer Simpson: “D’oh!” That phrase may come to mind when you consider the logic of going beyond providing hosted infrastructure to also providing hosted applications. “D’oh!” While the super techies...
Jan 22, 2013
A bunch of us here at SingleHop are looking forward to our trip south to ITEXPO East 2013, which runs from January 30 through February 1 at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Sure, blue skies, warm water, white sand, and palm trees sound nice to anyone—especially after experiencing the last few weeks of winter up...
Jan 22, 2013
Over the years, we’ve been fortunate enough to receive a lot of attention for the way we leverage automation in the data center to operate efficiently, provide a better quality of service and improve the customer experience. When we first set out to automate our business, we weren’t trying to set any records or anything...
Jan 10, 2013
Regular readers know that I’ve previously written about the basics of cloud computing. In a sense it is something that most of us know backwards and forwards—yet it is a topic that we receive a lot of thanks for covering. From the enterprise space . . . as well as from small to medium-sized businesses...
Jan 07, 2013
We’ve got some great news for anyone interested in security—which of course means that we’ve got great news for just about everyone. Today we launched our SingleHop Security Accelerator service, which provides the security that everyone knows they need, but that too few organizations properly deploy and maintain on their own. We created Security Accelerator,...
Dec 21, 2012
Hey everyone, unfortunately it would seem that this holiday season someone has decided to take it upon themselves to be a Grinch and make it appear as though we are invoicing clients for tablets from apple.com. Trust us, we’re not. But we are looking into whoever is. Please be sure not to click any links...
Dec 19, 2012
Welcome back to the third and final phase of your keyword strategy training. In this epic conclusion of phase I and phase II of this keyword research series, we’ll focus on the import discipline of keyword management. After all, managing your keywords and monitoring your ranks is an important measure of success in SEO. So...
Dec 13, 2012
Welcome back to phase II of your keyword strategy training. In this continuation from the last post, we’ll focus on how to perform keyword research. Research is crucial to the success of your website, and it is here where you will need to determine which keywords are right for you. But make no mistake, the...
Dec 13, 2012
The holidays are busy! Seriously, between trying to finish up work before taking some time off, shopping for gifts, cooking elaborate meals and kicking back with family & friends, it’s pretty easy to forget exactly how fortunate you really are. Sponsoring families for the holidays. Last week a group of about a dozen SingleHoppers went...
Dec 11, 2012
It’s easy this time of the year to get caught up in the holidays and all the celebrations you have with your family and friends. However it’s also the season of giving, and that’s why every year at SingleHop we take the time to help out and sponsor Christmas for families in need. This year...
Nov 29, 2012
Welcome back to the world of Search Engine Optimization. This time around we’re going to dive into the art and science of keyword research. Yes, that’s right, by the time you’re done with this 3 part article you will be a Keyword Research Ninja… OK maybe not quite a ninja, but you’ll be a lot...
Nov 27, 2012
Earlier today, our CEO and Co-Founder, Zak Boca, took a few minutes out of his insane schedule to do an interview for TastyTrade’s Bootstrapping in America series. He talks about how we got started, what we do and whats made us successful at it. It came out to be an excellent look at the earlier...
Nov 23, 2012
Hi Everyone — It’s my pleasure to announce our annual Black Friday & Cyber Monday promotion has launched. Between now and 11:59 PM CST on Monday, we’re offering 50% off any Dedicated, Dynamic or Cloud Server. Here are the coupons: SO50OFF1MO to save 50% off 1st month on any Dedicated Server from the Outlet RO50OFF1MO...
Nov 22, 2012
Hi Night Owls, This will be going up on our website in a few minutes. But as a reader of our blog, you can get a head start. To celebrate Thanksgiving, we’re rolling out three very cool coupons. Pick whichever one you like and use it on any Dedicated Server we sell. Without further delay,...
Nov 21, 2012
Every year the news reports are full of major websites going down on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In 2008, Amazon.com went down for hours on the biggest shopping day of the year. Last year, Target.com experienced problems as well. These outages are bad enough on their own, any day, but when you factor in...
Nov 21, 2012
Congratulations to Sam McMullen, the Co-Founder & CTO for FiveGen, LLC. for winning our November 2012 iPad Give-Away. Sam has been a SingleHop customer and reseller for a number of years. The timing for Sam couldn’t be better, as his company, FiveGen, which offers a variety of hosting solutions, is about to relaunch it’s new website in just...
Nov 20, 2012
Just a quick holiday update. This past weekend, a team of eight brave SingleHoppers competed in the Braintree Chicago Tech Dodgeball Tournament. Our brave warriors (yours truly, included) played long and hard, but were unfortunately defeated. Nonetheless we are proud to have participated in the charity focused event which raised $1,000?s for KIVA.org to help new entrepreneurs around...
Nov 15, 2012
I am very proud to announce that the Web Host Industry Review has selected SingleHop’s LEAP Mobile application as one of the 5 best mobile apps for managing hosting systems on the go. The Web Host Industry Review, or WHIR as it is commonly known within the industry, is the leading industry news and information...
Nov 01, 2012
Dear Customers, We just launched our new monthly specials for November and list off the offers. Here are a few: 25% Off 1st Month on any Intel Xeon E3, E5 or 5400 series servers! Free RAID when you buy the appropriate number of hard drives. Save $100 per month forever on Quad Processor Dedicated Servers...
Nov 01, 2012
If you’re reading this, then we can only assume your survived the night and are back for more! So today we’ll wrap our series (and promotion) with these two final gut wrenching stories of hacking, mishaps and tricks. So brace yourself, because we’ve saved these two for last. And remember, just because Halloween is over,...
Nov 01, 2012
Happy Halloween everyone! We’re continuing our series (and promotion) today with these two additional stories that touch on more hacking, mishaps and tricks. We hope you enjoy them. Have a safe Halloween everyone, and make sure to lock up your computer before heading home tonight. Found You Five years ago, he got rich. He’d managed...
Oct 31, 2012
If you’re in NY, NJ, a website, a business, a server in a data center there, and you’re down, or afraid of going down soon – give us a call; we’ll hook you up with as similar as solution as possible; on our dime. For 3-4 months, or whenever you’re ready to move back, whichever...
Oct 30, 2012
Executive Summary: Infrastructure as a Service consists of physical or virtual computers. The virtual machines form what is commonly known as “the cloud” through simulating the processes of physical servers. Estimates of the space savings from the virtualization of physical servers range anywhere from a factor of 20:1 to 40:1. This software simulation allows the...
Oct 30, 2012
Dear Readers: welcome to the first of three posts in the “SingleHop’s Scary Server Stories”. We’ve rewritten some of this year’s noted server failures, hacks, and general “OMG what have I done” moments by giving them a little “seasonal spirit”. We hope you enjoy the stories as much as we did writing them. -Team SingleHop...
Oct 26, 2012
This is Part Two of a two part series – to see the first article, “Making the Business Case for Infrastructure – Part I: Rent or Buy? (Capex vs Opex)”, click here – In this section, we’re going to discuss the world that CFO’s live and breathe in. But don’t be alarmed – even if...
Oct 15, 2012
There’s a rent or buy dimension to infrastructure decisions, and the direction you go has significant long term implications for a company, so it’s important to know the difference between the two. You can think of it like a car. Should you buy or lease? There are reasons why you’d do either. It’s a similar...
Oct 08, 2012
Summary: 10/8/2012 — Chicago, IL., SingleHop, LLC., a leading provider of cloud hosting, kicked off the Channel Partners program on Thursday 10/4/12. The program is designed specifically to help systems integrators, IT consultants, value added resellers and other IT related service providers to drive revenue and growth from the cloud. – Full press release: http://www.singlehop.com/about/singlehop-channel-program-launch.php
Oct 03, 2012
Summary: 10/3/2012 – Chicago, IL – SingleHop, a global leader in cloud hosting, launched a new and improved Data Center Outlet at singlehop.com/outlet – the Data Center Outlet has several unique features, including exact real time inventory from SingleHop’s data centers. The inventory figures are updated hourly on the page and there is also a countdown...
Sep 20, 2012
Come and kick the tires on SingleHop’s new trendsetting transparency. One of our core strengths is in our network uptime and rock solid data centers, and we’re willing to back that up with real-time, public-facing monitoring, which anyone is welcome to see: http://ot.singlehop.com It includes history – this week, this month, this year: ? The...
Sep 17, 2012
It is my pleasure to introduce a new member of our team. Ted Tavrides joined SingleHop as Channel Sales Manager about a month ago. Before he joined us here at SingleHop, his career included sales management positions at Fiber, Inc., Covad, PAETEC and Global Crossing. At Fiber, a company specializing in fiber optic networking, collocation,...
Sep 13, 2012
by Matt Kuikman (Click here to see Part One) Alright readers, rest assured your voices have been heard. You wanted to know more about SEO; so that’s exactly what we’re going to give you. That’s why we’ve decided to publish a collection of blog posts that dive into more detail about effective SEO that you...
Sep 07, 2012
Greetings! My name is Todd Kelsey. I’m the new Social Communications Manager at SingleHop, and I’m excited about the road ahead. Please feel free to reach out to me if you’d like to connect on LinkedIn, or email me directly at [email protected]. I love to hear feedback — good, bad, indifferent, and I’m particularly interested...
Sep 07, 2012
SingleHop Joins Spiceworks! Spiceworks is a global community of 2 million IT pros, who use the site to do their jobs and learn about the products and services they need directly from the tech vendors who provide them. It’s the fastest growing and one of the most widely used network management web based tools on...
Sep 07, 2012
CHICAGO (SH) — We have officially transitioned our entire affiliate base to our new affiliate tracking system, internally developed. The new system is completely integrated within our award winning LEAP client portal and will result in faster payouts, better tracking, simpler reporting and an overall superior affiliate system. Here are some of the many advantages of the...
Sep 04, 2012
I’ve been waiting to submit this post for a while now. So without further ado, let me jump into it. Introducing a New Server Line-Up After several months of exhaustive research, planning and execution, I am very proud to announce to the world that we have launched a major new refresh to our line of Dedicated...
Aug 31, 2012
Over the past few months a lot of new people have joined SingleHop. New faces have appeared in almost every department, from human resources to systems administration to channel sales, programming/development & design. Every department has grown. So, to help bring everyone together, to help everyone get to know the new SingleHoppers, we hosted a...
Aug 28, 2012
As you may already be aware SingleHop works hard to remain on the cutting edge when it comes to our network infrastructure. We invest a lot of money in upgrades in order to supply our clients with as little latency as possible. After all, what good is Infrastructure without reliable transport to connect it to...
Aug 27, 2012
Here is an overview of a recent design project completed by SingleHop designer Lisa Margetis. Lisa created the look & feel of the SingleHop: “The Platform You Can Depend On” campaign entirely using real photos of the SingleHop Chicago-2 data center and a new, simple typography based servicemark. Below, she details the task and the...
Aug 24, 2012
When working with servers, there comes a time when you will always have to make the tricky decisions: Do I need to use what’s known to be the “right” wheel or rather go with a more advanced option. The advanced option is compiling from source. That means more control, but also more time invested. Lots...
Aug 20, 2012
In the Internet infrastructure world, technical dependability has always and will always be king. The importance of reliability is akin to the very existence of a provider in the first place. Nothing can trigger the equivalent of a run-on-the-bank like an extended outage or frequent pattern of downtime. We know that is important, but to...
Aug 17, 2012
As a system Administrator at SingleHop, one common type of scenario that we run into almost every day is when a client will call or send us a ticket saying “Help! My server is slow and we’re not sure why!” Depending on the server OS, there are a lot of different ways to approach troubleshooting...
Aug 09, 2012
Welcome to Part II of the Lost in the Cloud blog series. In today’s entry, we will go over the Public Cloud or shared cloud, in more detail. As a quick refresher, let’s look at the general description of the Public Cloud first: Public Cloud Refers to what could also be called a shared cloud....
Aug 06, 2012
Whether you’ve noticed it in the news or felt the results first hand, a lot has been changing in Google’s search engine results. They’ve been cracking the whip hard and many of their algorithm updates may influence your site’s rankings if you’re not careful. Therefore, here at SingleHop we’ve put together a short little summary...
Aug 02, 2012
At SingleHop, we are always looking to the future of the web hosting industry; which almost certainly brings you face to face with the term “cloud computing”. Being new to the industry can be quite the challenge, so learning the proper meaning behind such terms and technologies is top priority. I’m lucky enough to work...
Jul 30, 2012
When you need to build a website, or expand on a current website, there are many things to consider when buying. Choosing the right hosting provider is the most prevalent, but there are also many other things to keep in mind. Like choosing the proper data center with the hosting provider, for example. Data center...
Jul 25, 2012
The past year here at SingleHop has been one to remember. We have seen a rapid growth in business, a move to a bigger office, we’ve brought in over 20 new employees, and we opened our third data center in Phoenix just a few months ago. We couldn’t be more excited about the future of...
Jul 23, 2012
After a week away, I am pleased to bring you the newest installment in our Geek of the Week blog! This week, we are moving away from the land of fairy tales and super heroes, and bringing you to reality. You may have noticed at the end of each of the Geek of the Week...
Jul 20, 2012
One of my most often talked about topics is the wonderful world of backups! Last week I spoke at HostingCon on this very issue, so I wanted to make sure I took the time to let those who were not in attendance know everything that was discussed. I spoke a lot about great information you...
Jul 16, 2012
HostingCon begins today in Boston and SingleHop will be in attendance for all the week’s festivities. As one of the bigger web hosting conferences in the United States, we are excited to get to the expo and check out all that is going on. At this year’s conference be sure to come check us out...
Jul 09, 2012
For week two of my weekly Geek of the Week blog, I decided to highlight a very special person who was near and dear to my heart as a kid. This particular geek was one that consumed my television, and therefore my attention growing up. From his boisterous curly mop on his head to his...
Jul 02, 2012
Hello. And welcome to the first edition of my new weekly blog post, cleverly dubbed the “Geek of the Week.” Yes I know, this is exactly what you have been waiting for, and the genius of the title is unmatched. All hail the mighty blog king…okay, maybe not, but it could be fun, scratch that,...
Jun 27, 2012
SingleHop Founder and CEO, Zak Boca, was recently named to the Techweek 100 list in honor of the event. Anytime a SingleHopper is acknowledged like this, and especially when it’s the head honcho himself, we love to shamelessly brag! The Techweek 100 is a list of 100 Chicago leaders impacting today’s technology landscape on a...
Jun 26, 2012
Now that Techweek is wrapping things up on its final day, I thought it would be a good idea to review some of the happenings in the past week. Everything from the expo, to the start up city competition, Techweek supplied a fun, and fact-filled week at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. While opening day...
Jun 25, 2012
Since starting here, I’ve probably typed the following sentence a hundred times, but that doesn’t make it any less true. So here it goes one more time…We LOVE our customers! Trust me I wouldn’t type it, if it weren’t true. Not only are we running a lottery contest for current customers, where you can win a entire...
Jun 22, 2012
Over the past month, SingleHop has been extremely busy. With the new investment from Battery Ventures, the move to the new office, and the addition of many new SingleHoppers, including myself, we really haven’t had the time to just sit down and enjoy our new space. That’s why our great office administrator, Trey Maclin, thought...
Jun 20, 2012
It’s conference time, and SingleHop is gearing up for TechWeek 2012, right in our Chicago backyard. These types of events are important to the industry, we get the chance to learn new technologies in the business, check out the competition, and more importantly, we get to interact with our clients. Meeting the people that make...
Jun 14, 2012
Attention all SingleHop customers! We were so excited about our move to the new office, we decided to celebrate that excitement by hosting a lottery! We know SingleHop wouldn’t be where it is today if it were not for our fantastic customers, so we’ve decided to give a little something back. That’s why we’re going...
Jun 13, 2012
Welcome to the ever expanding world of web hosting, a self introduction to the industry I have been thrown into. Being the newbie to a company is never an easy transition, but when you are a newbie to a company who works in the complex world of web hosting; the transition seems to be a...
Jun 07, 2012
As many of you may know, there has been a confirmed hack of over 6.5 million Linkedin/eHarmony accounts. So if you are on Linkedin or eHarmony and happen to use the same password for your LEAP account, it would be in your best interest to change your password promptly, for security reasons. If you believe...
Jun 07, 2012
Connecting with customers is key to gaining their trust as a company. At SingleHop we are constantly looking for new ways to better communicate with our clients, and deliver the best experience possible in the web hosting industry. SingleHop has enlisted the help of LiveChat, to do just that, create an easy way to talk...
Jun 06, 2012
Quality customer service is hard to come by these days in any sales type atmosphere, including web hosting. I cannot count how many times I’ve been left on hold, listening to the dreadful elevator music, waiting for an actual person to speak with. Not to mention, when a person finally gets on the line, they...
Jun 01, 2012
Here at SingleHop, we like to get to know each other. Not only are we colleagues, but we embrace our friendship as well. We find each other so interesting; we think you should be able to know us too. Meet SingleHop’s SEO specialist, Matt Kuikman, just one of the many amazing people in the SingleHop...
May 23, 2012
Launching a web application has never been an easy. Regardless of what it actually is, if it will be used by people, it has to be reliable, scalable, and functional. The infrastructure that it lives on has to be affordable, easy to use, and appropriate for both where it is today and where it will...
May 11, 2012
Everyone meet Matt Berry, Matt Berry meet Everyone. Where are you originally from? St. Louis, Missouri… Creve Coeur to be exact. How long have you worked for SingleHop? About a year and a half although, I did start in the hosting industry from this end (support), at midPhase in 2006, which was previously owned by...
May 11, 2012
Everyone meet Matt Berry, Matt Berry meet Everyone. Where are you originally from? St. Louis, Missouri… Creve Coeur to be exact. How long have you worked for SingleHop? About a year and a half although, I did start in the hosting industry from this end (support), at midPhase in 2006, which was previously owned by...
May 07, 2012
Here at SingleHop, we work very hard to maintain the reputation of our network. This includes of course, quickly and efficiently handling abuse complaints to ensure that our servers and services are not causing a problem for anyone else out on the Internet. Our abuse team makes sure that every valid complaint that is submitted...
May 03, 2012
There’s a new sheriff in town, and its name is SingleHop. That’s right; we are excited to announce the opening of our new data center in Phoenix, AZ. And since every sheriff needs a deputy, we have partnered with IO, our data facility management company and the leading provider of next-generation modular data center technology...
Apr 30, 2012
Marc Bollinger, our Senior Project Manager takes a few minutes to recover some of the new features of our Tandem Reseller program. Two Minutes On Tandem
Apr 25, 2012
I am proud to announce that we have closed on our first outside investment, with Boston’s Battery Venture Partners. To date, we have been 100% self-funded, so this quite an exciting event for us and represents great things to come! We greatly appreciate your loyalty and we look forward to continuing to improve our services....
Apr 20, 2012
I am happy to announce that the industry’s best SLA just got better! When we launched the Customer Bill of Rights earlier this year, the goal was to not only offer complete transparency but to literally offer savings and value to each client. The fundamentals of the Bill of Rights are the exact same as...
Apr 11, 2012
We have some big news from our Tandem program! As you know, we completely redesigned and launch a subsite earlier this year as well as added new products. But we’re happy to announce there is even more now. The entire idea behind our Tandem reseller program is to give those customers every possible advantage and...
Apr 06, 2012
I am happy to report the good news does travel fast and far! I am even happier to report that good news does not always mean dollars and cents. Our two co-founders have been extremely generous over the past 5 years donating to a number of charities. The best part is, they do it because...
Apr 04, 2012
I am thrilled to announce that we will have a third data center opened and ready for business sometime in May 2012. Currently, our two data centers are located in the Chicagoland area but that is about to change! It looks like our fearless mascot, Poindexter is heading west. The newest data center will be...
Mar 26, 2012
I am admittedly and proudly a Mac user. And like all Mac users, I know that when an issue comes up, whether it is a hardware and/or software problem, I can always find answers at the Genius Bar. Sure, the name might be a little too much but I will tell you that I have...
Mar 19, 2012
In a previous post I alluded to a recent victory our data center technicians and development team captured. Now maybe I’ve been watching too much March Madness, but this was an absolutely unbelievable accomplishment by some of the hardest working guys in the industry. I am very grateful that our Director of Facilities alerted the...
Mar 15, 2012
It’s that time of year again! The time of year when you find yourself cheering for school you’ve never heard of. This time of year for buzzer beaters and Cinderella stories. It is March Madness! We apologize for the late notice but it was a creative spark that happened at the 11th hour from our...
Mar 13, 2012
Most of us work on a computer or even computers, throughout the day. We move from application to application, website to website, and all of this is happens without a second of thought behind how it all really works. I remember my first week on the job when one of our co-founders said “the hosting...
Mar 07, 2012
If you’ve read my post on the value of good statistics-gathering, you may have guessed that SingleHop is gathering a lot of statistical data for our clients. In fact, we have very extensive performance data on VMs and their nodes — so extensive that it was overwhelming our ability to deal with the flood of...
Mar 01, 2012
We have all been disappointed with a product or service we have purchased at one time or another. I think the value, from a monetary standpoint, has a lot to do with the amount of disappointment felt when that product or service doesn’t quite work as advertised. For instance, if you get one bad peanut...
Feb 28, 2012
We have always had a very successful reseller program within SingleHop. The goal from its creation was to always enable our resellers with the greatest amount of resources and complete autonomy. We want our resellers to look and feel like enterprise companies while being able to take advantage of our wholesale prices and white label...
Feb 21, 2012
I recently came across a great article on company culture entitled “Your Perks Aren’t Motivating Your Employees” via Inc. Magazine. Being a relatively young company, our culture is a constant discussion topic. Don’t get me wrong we have management meetings, marketing meetings, and product meetings just like any other rapidly growing company because those are...
Feb 10, 2012
Who doesn’t love a good party, right? Well you’ll be happy to know that SingleHoppers know how to party! A few months ago when we attended Cloud Expo in Santa Clara, CA we threw a rather large release party for LEAP3! Not only was LEAP3 the largest product launch in the history of SingleHop, we...
Feb 02, 2012
Any time you go into a new experience there is an adjustment period. This could be purchasing a new car, changing financial institutions, or starting a new job. The bottom line is that change takes time, patience, and understanding. At SingleHop we recently created a team of specialists that help our new clients adapt to...
Jan 30, 2012
I recently wrote a blog post about the all important Net Promotor Scores (NPS) and how we use it to evaluate what our clients think of our products and services. It really has become an amazing tool we have now built into our daily schedule. We even have the real time NPS feed on a huge...
Jan 25, 2012
It is officially awards season! First it was the Golden Globes and next will be the Oscars. But fortunately for us, between the two star-studded events we have been able to pick up some hardware ourselves (and we didn’t even have to rent tuxes). I’m thrilled to announce that SingleHop won the award for Best...
Jan 24, 2012
If you saw our website on Internet Blackout Day or read Sam Bowling’s excellent blog post on SOPA/PIPA, you know that Singlehop is not afraid to take a public stance to protect the Internet. We love what we do, we’d like to continue doing it, and this is impossible without an Internet where we can...
Jan 20, 2012
I am pleased to announce that we have been able to once again, help an amazing organization with a charitable donation – The Center for Courageous Kids. We as a company have always tried to take an extremely active role in giving back to those in need, and not for the positive press, but because...
Jan 18, 2012
If you look at tech blogs or most any technology-related website these days you will see people ranting against two major pieces of legislation that are on the table in American congress – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act, Protect IP...
Jan 11, 2012
In order to stay ahead of the curve and hopefully our clients needs and wants, we at SingleHop hold product development as a top priority. Keeping our hand on the pulse of industry changes as well as competitors’ innovations is how we have continued to grow at such a rapid rate (Over 7,900% over the...
Jan 09, 2012
I recently had a chance to talk to Dave Szczur, our Director of Facilities here at SingleHop. Or as I like to call him the “Man Behind the Machines!” Where are you from? Chicago, born and raised. Were you a computer kid? What was your first computer? Absolutely. First used was a Commodore 64. First...
Jan 05, 2012
The term “crowdsourcing” has been a huge buzzword for the past few years and I think it will continue to be one as we move through 2012 (Google returned 10.7 million results for the term). I also think it’s a safe bet that crowdsourcing is far more common in small and medium-sized businesses than in...
Dec 28, 2011
Anyone who has spent any amount of time in the web hosting industry will most certainly tell you that it is an extremely competitive space. Not only are there literally, tens of thousands of companies who offer web hosting, the needs and wants of potential and existing clients are rapidly changing. It’s because of these...
Dec 21, 2011
With nearly 9,500 attendees at Cloud Expo in Santa Clara this year, it was a near miracle we were able to get Dan Ushman and the Conference Chair, Jeremy Geelan together for a few minutes to discuss all things SingleHop. The event was a huge success for the entire SingleHop team! Geelan is an industry...
Dec 19, 2011
Working in an industry where just about everyone you meet could be or is a potential client, can get a bit tricky at times. It’s funny how many holiday party conversations I have found myself apart of over the past few weeks that have included, “So Kevin, what do you do?” (Which I think is...
Dec 14, 2011
We’ve all heard the horror stories from friends and family members getting horrible customer service from a business. Some of us may have even been unlucky enough to experience it firsthand. At SingleHop, we pride ourselves on trying to provide the best customer service we can, and that starts with our Client Services Specialists. From...
Dec 12, 2011
Specialization. It’s everywhere. Think about it, how did you or the person behind you in line order your coffee this morning? “Grande, soy, dry, cap,” sound familiar? What happen to “I’ll take a large black coffee”? This type of specialization stretches far beyond your corner coffee shop, I promise! The chances are that your business...
Dec 06, 2011
If two heads are better than one and three heads are better the two…Well this could go on forever, but I think you get the idea. It is this type of logic that was the driving force behind the creation of our Crowdsourced Marketplace. We have an enormous variety in clients, which translates to an even...
Dec 05, 2011
Public Cloud Vs Private Cloud In being relatively new to the industry, there’s been somewhat of a learning curve. I’ve found that it’s sometimes hard to keep up when the key differentiators between public and private cloud are somewhat unclear, so I’m hoping to give some color on the topic. Hopefully this insight will help...
Nov 30, 2011
To all of our loyal readers and clients alike we need your help securing a nomination for the 2011 Readers Choice Award! 2011 has yet again been a monstrous year for SingleHop, as we have continued our rapid growth with than expected $24 million in revenue while increasing our workforce by nearly 30% over the...
Nov 29, 2011
As many of you know we recently launched the latest version of our LEAP platform, LEAP3 at Cloud Expo in Santa Clara, CA. I am pleased to say that the launch as well as the feedback thus far has been extremely positive. The web-based platform is a complete rewrite of its earlier predecessors and far...
Nov 28, 2011
As part of our recent public cloud launch, everyone in the company, and in particular the sales department, has been focused on expanding our knowledge. This includes breaking down the products that already exist in the market and comparing them to what SingleHop has to offer. Everyone on the team set out to compare our...
Nov 27, 2011
Gone is the leftover turkey. Gone are the bruises from Black Friday shopping. Gone are the countless football games, one after another. Ah, the Thanksgiving holiday…Have no fear though, you have one more day to take advantage of amazing deals. It’s Cyber Monday! For one day only, we are offering 50% off any SingleHop infrastructure...
Nov 25, 2011
What’s one more Black Friday sale, right? You’ve seen ads for weeks promoting “doors open at 3AM” or “40% off selected items,” well now it’s our turn!!!! Not wanting to be left out in the cold, Poindexter has decided to join the Black Friday madness! The Black Friday offer is for 50% off 1st month...
Nov 22, 2011
I’ve always been a fan of the winter living in the Chicago land area because like most typical northern cities in the United States you get snow, you get wind and most of all you get the amazing display of Christmas decorations down the Magnificent Mile. When the lights are going up in my mind...
Nov 21, 2011
Our very own, Andy Pace, (employee #1) Chief Operating Officer, will leading a Webinar this afternoon on the movement of Infrastructure-as-a-Service. Whether you’re a seasoned veteran of the IT business or a small business owner with questions like, “what does IaaS really mean?” you are sure to get some valuable information out of this session....
Nov 17, 2011
I recently had the chance, while at BlogWorld Expo, to sit down with a writer from Technorati. His pen name, Just para-DOX (He’s writer and music producer, which explains the unique name). As a huge follower of Technorati, I was thrilled to talk about all things SingleHop. His first question though, caught me way off...
Nov 15, 2011
We recently attended BlogWorld Expo in LA, where we experienced all things Social Media! Please check out the video to get a glimpse into the future of crowdsourcing and API development in web hosting solutions. The Crowdsource Marketplace is one of the most unique features of LEAP3. The Importance of Crowdsourcing and API Development
Nov 14, 2011
Backups are important, even in the filesystem level! I’ve been a Linux user for around 13 years now and am amazed with how progressive the overall experience has become. Thirteen years ago you were using either Slackware 3, Redhat 5.x or Mandrake usually. Being 14 I was one of the “newbies” stuck on Mandrake because...
Nov 10, 2011
What a show!!! This is by far the largest trade show we’ve been apart of in our company’s existence. I am trying to get the final number of attendees at this point, but rumors are circulating that it is around 9500! There have literally been hundreds of sessions and countless keynote speeches! In order to...
Nov 08, 2011
How we’re blurring the line between dedicated servers & managed hosting with LEAP LEAP can be many things to many people. For some folks who are not involved (spared) in daily IT tasks, it can be described as simply a hosting provider’s client portal. From an accountant’s perspective, it might just be a quick way...
Nov 07, 2011
If you are reading this, you’ve probably noticed things look a little different around here today. And by a little different, I mean dramatically different! As you can tell, we have completely redesigned the site! I know some of you may fear change, but rest assure, you’re going to love it! The site is not...
Nov 06, 2011
As we continue to grow, so does our event calendar! This was our first time attending BlogWorld Expo but I’m sure it will not be our last! The entire conference was social media driven – blogs, vlogs, podcasting, tweeting, you name it and it was discussed! It was a very unique event in that it...
Nov 03, 2011
We at SingleHop are not shy about our bootstrapped beginnings. In fact we love them! It is the take-no-prisoners attitude that allows our company to continue to grow at such a rapid rate… Sure, we might not be considered a startup anymore as we just celebrated our 5th anniversary, but that does not mean an...
Nov 01, 2011
? You’re probably familiar with many arguments for virtualizing your systems. Virtualization can make your systems more secure, by reducing the number of applications and users on a single machine. It can make it easier to scale, utilizes your resources more efficiently, reduces costs, is faster to set up, and shields you from hardware failures,...
Oct 30, 2011
Company culture is a complex subject to describe, as it’s difficult to define, design, or even to find in some companies. How does it come about? How does it grow? Is it a good or bad thing if it starts to change? Who’s responsible for it? The most important variable of the culture equation is...
Oct 28, 2011
SingleHop’s IaaS Cloud: Why Re-invent the Wheel? Infrastructure as a Service clouds have been a hot topic over the last few years. Amazon’s EC2, the most well-known example, has become almost a household name, at least in really nerdy households. Why are these clouds so popular? Well, it really comes down to some clever software....
Oct 27, 2011
Do you remember your first day of school? You get all dressed up in your best new outfit, making your hair look nice, and lacing up your brand new sneakers. As you walk up to the building a fresh wave of nerves comes over you. Are the other kids going to like you? Are you...
Oct 25, 2011
I began working on the Internet as an entrepreneur back in 1999, just dabbling around running websites. I ran an advertising network (NexAds), a web hosting directory (RateMyHost), and a few other websites before getting into the web hosting business. It was a really exciting time, because all of a sudden our generation, the PC-generation, had all of...
Oct 25, 2011
Just in case you missed it, Crain’s Chicago sat down with CEO, Zak Boca to talk about the past, present, and the FUTURE of SingleHop. There are even a couple of screenshots of the top secret LEAP3! Full Article Here
Oct 24, 2011
What fascinates me most about IT is the amount of information involved in IT. One cannot simply know everything about the industry, because there is always a new product or a new application or a new programming command that enters the arena to shake things up. Often times I feel like that underdog boxer in...
Oct 20, 2011
Dupont Fabros Technology is a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) which specializes in developing and operating enterprise level datacenters in locations across the US. They are known for their forward thinking and incredible redundancy built into each multi-hundred-million facility they create. SingleHop, through ServerCentral, leverages their Elk Grove Village location for its close proximity to...
Oct 19, 2011
A meeting of the minds for 48 straight hours! One of the best networking events in the web hosting industry. Click Continue Reading to See Video
Oct 19, 2011
We here at SingleHop, take great pride in attracting and retaining talented individuals. So with that, I give you the words of our Senior Project Manager, Marc Bollinger. Ohh, the importance of project management. You know, I came into the wonderful world of SingleHop less a month ago and quickly realized the level of importance...
Oct 14, 2011
Similar to the early days of several other industries, clients within the web hosting industry have been brainwashed into thinking that the lowest price solution is the best decision. Users have been trained by hosting-provider marketing and promotions that “less is more.” It’s simply not so. There are no absolutes in life, so there are...
Oct 11, 2011
Well, Kevin is still alive, so that must mean that my cPanel Automation Bootcamp conference navigation skills are spot on! However, I wish my RC Helicopter navigation skills were up to par! cPanel is giving out the grown-up toys to those who are able to answer industry trivia. Great idea! This is our third time...
Oct 10, 2011
If you or your company is anything like SingleHop, you’re using cloud-based technology. Depending on your company’s comfort level with the cloud, you may be crafty veteran or a relative newbie, either way, you know the cloud is here to stay. That is unless you’re on a non-Wi-Fi flight like I am as this very...
Oct 10, 2011
Hello again! In my last blog, I did my best to clear up the initial confusion between the terms advertising and marketing, and this time around I’d like to dive a bit deeper into how the two relate to each other. Believe it or not, marketing often starts with operations and service. It involves spending...
Oct 06, 2011
One of the biggest mistakes many companies make is confusing the terms advertising and marketing and assuming that they are interchangeable. Though they are practically cousins, they do have their own individual meanings and uses. I know many people do comprehend the difference between those terms, but on online forums like Web Hosting Talk I...
Oct 06, 2011
If you are a talented and experienced tech who wants to join rapidly growing company, check this out: We Want You! ? ? ? ?
Oct 03, 2011
Everything is bigger in Texas, right? Well if that’ the case, this year’s Bootcamp is going to be huge! A number of SingleHoppers will be in Austin next week for cPanel’s annual conference. If you or your company is attending, please let us know. We would love to connect. This event is always a great...
Sep 26, 2011
An insightful video of our CEO Zak Boca at the Inc. 500 Conference Click Here
Sep 21, 2011
Cloud. If I had a dollar for every time I said, read, or heard this lovely little buzzword on a daily basis, I would no doubt have enough cash to buy a pint for every SingleHopper in the office. Aside from being Mr. Popular, would I be any wiser for it? Just because it’s being...
Sep 19, 2011
We are thrilled to announce that we have just launched a new promotion with two different partners, Microsoft and Parallels! We’re always excited to feature specific products and/or services, especially this duo! Right now, we’re offering $40 in rebates each month for six months on all new Microsoft Windows Solutions with WebMatrix…And if that wasn’t...
Sep 16, 2011
To: The SingleHop Community, It was brought to our attention this morning that there was an error on our site regarding the ”Network Speed Test.” It was an extremely important find, as that feature is a quick glance tool that allows potential clients to test our capabilities, and the fact that it was giving inaccurate...
Sep 15, 2011
Not only did we get to meet over 90 startups, we brought our camera guy along too! Just click “Continue Reading” to take peak. Don’t be shy, share it with your friends! Poindexter Goes West
Sep 12, 2011
Day One: We hosted a very impromptu happy hour for our bay area clients on Thursday evening at a great craft beer spot, 21st Amendment in San Francisco. We have never been shy about our love for locally made brews, so this was a perfect place to meet our clients face-to-face. After we settled in,...
Sep 06, 2011
Hello San Francisco! We are thrilled to announce we’re coming to you! We will only be in the city for two days, but would love to personally thank you for being, well, you… The reason for our trip is to take part in a huge startup event, aptly named The Pitch Event on September 8th...
Sep 01, 2011
I am admittedly very new to the world of web hosting but am playing the role of SpongeKevin SquarePants in terms of soaking up every bit of knowledge my fellow SingleHoppers throw my way! Fortunately the other guys around the pond here have been amazing when it comes to making sense of intergalactic-like world of...
Aug 23, 2011
And it’s all thanks to our clients, literally! Without you we would have two massive data centers with nearly 9,000 very lonely servers! “Making the Inc.500 list for the second year in a row is a tremendous honor. Our company has historically focused on automating the management of Internet infrastructure, so we find this be...
Aug 22, 2011
I just popped by Poindexter’s Pond to introduce myself. My name is Kevin Swan and I am the new Director of Communications for SingleHop, Inc. I am a relative newbie to the world of Web Hosting but come from an intense media background in NYC where I worked on a wide range of clients, from...
Jul 18, 2011
Shared hosting is one tough nut to crack. Go ahead; ask anyone who’s worked in hosting before. I’m confident that everyone will tell you that it’s just NOT an easy business to be in. It’s not quite as challenging as, say, hunting wild alligators in the swamps of Florida might be, but it’s tough. I...
Jul 12, 2011
The purpose of TechWeek 100 is to give credit to those in technology that are impacting the business landscape, from managing fast growing technology companies to investing new technologies. Check out the profile on Zak along with others here: http://techweek.com/conference/techweek-100/
Jun 16, 2011
SingleHop founders, Zak Boca and Dan Ushman have built two world-class companies, in less than a decade, with just $1,500 seed money. An astonishing accomplishment! If you want to learn how they made it happen and even apply some of their business principles to drive your own success, make sure to read and listen to the...
Jun 02, 2011
A few weeks ago David Snead, one of the foremost legal experts in all things hosting offered us his first suggestions on how to get your web firm’s legal house in order. In this second and last part he dives deeper in to complex issues including liability and security. You would imagine that most of...
May 27, 2011
SingleHop is full of energetic and inquisitive people. They generally like to take the road less traveled and tend to think about the world in slightly off angle terms. Most recently a few SingleHoppers began studying how to best take advantage of the bitcoin virtual currency phenomenon. They studied the different exchange rates, the difficulty in...
May 12, 2011
The startup scene in Chicago has been under the radar for quite some time, but thanks to organizations like Technori.com our city’s great entrepreneurial stories of determination, risk taking, and team building, are coming to light. Today we are very excited to have one of SingleHop’s co-founders featured on Technori. Seth Kravitz, a fellow Chicago...
May 06, 2011
It has been more than three months since we launched Cascade, SingleHop’s IaaS cloud platform. The reliability and durability of the platform has come a long way since then. As a result, I’ve had more time recently to focus on optimizing the performance of the virtual machines (VMs) running in the cloud. For most applications,...
Apr 26, 2011
Making less mistakes is what experience gifts us. And helping others make less mistakes is what learning from others experience’s is all about! That is why SingleHop is proudly sponsoring today’s Entrepreneur’s Unpluggdd conference where three Chicago based business leaders share their experience in building successful companies. It is a small, intimate environment focused on...
Apr 15, 2011
A large portion of our clients would define themselves as business customers, and while they depend on us to ensure that their data, application, or website run without a glitch, our abilities to provide them with world-class business advice are limited. Even so, as one of the fastest growing IT companies in the nation we...
Apr 08, 2011
The web and all its participants are in many ways just like a city, there are good ones, bad ones, welcoming ones, and unsafe ones. Thankfully there are a few guides on the web that help you find those safe, good, and beneficial places- webhostinsearch.com is one of those guides. Their job is to help...
Apr 07, 2011
Jump with an expert, that is the promise of our Tandem reseller system. Because we understand that our resellers success is tied to our own success, we have created an entire program that offers resellers as many advantages as possible to ensure that they can attract, gain, and keep great new clients. We do this...
Apr 01, 2011
What do pizza, high-school, and business have in common? Our SingleHop co-founders Zak Boca and Dan Ushman! These guys have worked their butts off to put together not just one, but several world-class companies including SingleHop. Checkout this interview by Lisa Leiter from Chicago Crain’s magazine, it will give you a good insight into our...
Mar 31, 2011
We are a hosting company obsessed with service- this means we are also ‘tweakers’. It is only through incessant and consistent tweaking of all our processes and procedures that we can ensure that our customers are taken care of correctly, all the time, every time. So, as we go into the second quarter of 2011...
Mar 31, 2011
We are a hosting company obsessed with service- this means we are also ‘tweakers’. It is only through incessant and consistent tweaking of all our processes and procedures that we can ensure that our customers are taken care of correctly, all the time, every time. So, as we go into the second quarter of 2011...
Mar 21, 2011
To the untrained eye, a server cabinet is nothing more than a tall, black metal box with locking doors on it. To the trained eye, however, it is a vessel of incredible potential. In my last post, I described how SingleHop installs core cabinets and other support equipment when we add new datacenter space. Today,...
Mar 03, 2011
Building a new data center, or expanding an existing one, is a monumental task. When it’s done right, our clients don’t notice a thing, other than the influx of available dedicated servers. But behind the scenes, it’s a real labor of love, with a lot of excitement and a lot of hard work. As SingleHop’s...
Feb 28, 2011
Just a quick note here- the startup scene in Chicago is pretty hot right now, so we’ve put together a list of resources if you’re looking to get involved: http://chicago-concat.gathers.us/ http://groups.google.com/group/hn-chicago http://www.chicagocanoeclub.com/ http://www.exceleratelabs.com/ http://www.chicagoleanstartup.com/ http://www.theincubator.com/ (weekly gatherings, can’t find info on their site though) http://www.meetup.com/Bootstrappers-Breakfast-Chicago/ http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3525887 http://www.bigfrontier.org/ http://www.technori.com/ meets up every friday @ Frankie Z’s...
Feb 25, 2011
At SingleHop we are well aware that a large portion of our customer base is made up of small to medium size businesses, in many ways not unlike us. With this in mind we have asked some industry experts to shed light on tricky subjects that all businesses our size need to grapple with sooner...
Feb 15, 2011
One of the most exciting things about life at SingleHop is the challenge of designing complex web hosting solutions for our customers. Many of our customers who take advantage of our managed server offerings fall into the “complex” category, which essentially means that we’re providing hardware and services that go beyond our standard managed server...
Feb 04, 2011
This week we announced our 2010 year-end financial results. They are excellent. You can find a copy of them here. Of special note is the fact that during 2010 your hosting provider increased in size about 112%. That is great news for us, but in all honesty what does it really mean for you, our customers?...
Jan 24, 2011
SingleHop wouldn’t be where it is today (have we mentioned that we’re the fastest-growing hosting company in America?) without the people who build our systems and assist our customers, but our hardware is almost as important. After all, we’re a company that provides dedicated servers, and the beating heart of SingleHop is in our datacenters...
Jan 19, 2011
Life is full of difficult decisions. What to eat, where to go, what to buy, and so forth. When it comes to hosting, these choices don’t get any easier. In fact, they seem to get even more complicated. The broad array of technologies and software that through a multitude of combinations promise to fulfill your...
Jan 07, 2011
Cascade is here!
After months of development and intense testing, we’ve officially launched our revolutionary new cloud hosting service. Whether you’re a Cascade beta tester, a current SingleHop customer, or an interested observer, we think you’ll be amazed by what Cascade has to offer.
If you’re new to the Cascade concept, here’s a quick rundown to get...
Jan 03, 2011
Congratulations, you made it through 2010. It was a tough year as the stock market seemed to barely get back on a growth track, Facebook came of age, wikileaks engrossed us with anger or curiosity, and the smartphone became the new must-have gadget. 2011 is now upon us and we promise you that as far as...
Dec 29, 2010
If you’re looking for a way to give back to the community, there’s no shortage of worthy causes. In fact, it can be difficult to narrow down the options and choose the organizations you want to help. At SingleHop, we’ve had the opportunity to donate to many different social service groups and charities. We feel...
Dec 22, 2010
Ever tried to get something done on a five-year-old computer? It’s one of the world’s most frustrating experiences. Software won’t run, web pages freeze, and every hour or so the operating system shuts down entirely. Fortunately, we don’t have those problems at SingleHop—having state-of-the-art technology, for ourselves and for our customers, is one of our...
Dec 20, 2010
We’ve had an amazing year here at SingleHop, experiencing phenomenal sales growth, winning national awards, forming new partnerships, and adding lots of new employees. We feel especially fortunate to have experienced so much success at a time when millions of families are still recovering from the worst recession in decades.
Lately, we’ve been trying make the...
Dec 02, 2010
It’s hard to believe how much business communications have changed in a few short years. And I do mean a few years—let’s just forget that there was once a time when people used fax machines or typewritten memos to communicate, and consider that in the early 2000s, most workers could only access business email from...
Nov 29, 2010
Black Friday this year, yes that would be just a few days ago, we decided to throw some holiday cheer into the mix by offering a first-time ever 30% off deal! Some people called it crazy, some others didn’t believe it. But, it was true and it only lasted for a very few short hours.
So...
Nov 26, 2010
Ahh.. Black Friday. The day retailers go black for the year, and customers go crazy.
Imagine the cold and weariness that early morning camper/shoppers had to endure this morning! They had a goal, a purpose, a vision- and by golly they were going to succeed. They were probably thinking that the TV for aunt Jemima will...
Nov 22, 2010
Lets talk Load Balancing. No, not the food kind where you struggle to get turkey, gravy, biscuits and everything else on your plate.
Lets talk high traffic internet bandwidth. So, your business is growing, your web site is getting more and more popular, and the single server you’re currently running is starting to get overworked. What do...
Nov 15, 2010
We don’t know about you, but when the weather turns cold and we get close to Thanksgiving, we start thinking about good food, shopping, and the occasional bad pun. So without further ado, feast your eyes on SingleHop’s latest promotion…
The Triple Turkey Special!
We think we’ve really cooked up a good one here. While the promotion lasts, each...
Nov 01, 2010
A few months ago SingleHop was honored to be included at #58 in this years INC 500 list of the fastest growing companies- we came in at 3800% in growth between ‘06 & ‘09!
Well, behind each of the great companies honored in the INC 500 there are thousands of hard working employees who make the...
Oct 28, 2010
A few years ago while SingleHop was still a very young company a friendly outfit calling themselves “TECH Cocktail” approached us and suggested that we sponsor some technology focused mixers around Chicago. Both companies were in their startup stage and a partnership seemed pretty natural. SingleHop needed to gain a lot of brand recognition and...
Oct 26, 2010
What happens when you combine the industry’s best server reseller program with one of the best online billing system on the web? One free year of HostBill’s exceptional billing system for all Tandem server reseller clients. That’s more than $160 in savings!
We’re excited about SingleHop’s new partnership with HostBill because HostBill was designed by system administrators to help system administrators manage the...
Oct 13, 2010
Until recently, choosing a control panel for your dedicated server was a fairly simple process. If you were using a Linux operating system on your server, you used cPanel, and if you were using Windows, you used Plesk. In theory, you could also choose to run your server without a control panel, but there’s very...
Oct 07, 2010
Whether you’re operating a reseller business or running your own website, your data is of utmost importance. You can’t take chances that it will be lost or corrupted, and if anything happens, you need absolute certainty that you can restore what you lost. That’s where backup systems come in, but how often should you back...