Frequently asked questions about NetStorm Hosting

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• What is the expected or guaranteed speed and up-time?

  The SLA 1 does not have an formal uptime guarantee, but the following points out what to expect:
  Our Internet service provider offers a 99,75% uptime guarantee for our line from our datacenter. The dedicated line has a guaranteed speed of 10/10Mbit, but will during almost all practical purposes deliver 100/100Mbit. The line has proven extremely stable, partly because of a mere 150 meters of optical fibre to the Norwegian NIX1 junction (international connector). So far we have never recorded a single break in the 18 months we have used the service.
  Further, we have to add somewhat below 0,02% downtime for our own SW & HW updates, but these are carried out at times with minimal traffic. SLA 3 does however have a up-time guarantee.
  And while we are at it: The threat of disaster situations is minimized by up and running failover servers, a failover site with separate lines, and of course state of the art hotswap servers with considerable margins for handling today’s requirements for app- and db-servers etc.

• How can we syncronize data with our local systems?

  Interoperability and integration with the company’s other system are issues that have worried some customers when considering hosting above a local installation.
  TopView/ShipView has a number of secure Web Service interfaces already provided for the most relevant data sync operations, and we can quickly add more, on base of need. Our AllPlay product is free for our hosting customers from SLA 2 and up. AllPlay is a small application provided with source code (install as a Windows service or a library for BizTalk etc), a client that can consume the mentioned Web Service interfaces, and exchange/sync XML data across the cloud to your accounting system, data warehouse, budgeting system and so on. Any final coding can be carried out by the customer’s IT department, NetStorm, or a third party application provider. (We think our approach using Web Services and well-defined interfaces is a whole lot better and easier than the old method of direct coding on location, leaving future messy maintenance operation under the carpet)

• Which hosting solution is the better for for a TopView product?

  None are lesser. Local and external hosting are basically equally good. We have during development put an extreme effort in making both solutions of professional quality and convenient in use. Therefore, the AllView products are suitable for all hosting scenarios, and will be of special interest for those who want to move quickly from in-house to external solutions when ones organization is ready. Still, if you are not tied by a company policy, we would say that you may want to have a harder look at external hosting right away.

• Which hosting solution is less expensive?

  Unless your IT department actually has spare resources altogether in manpower, hardware and basis software, the in-house solution ("enterprise local") is likely to come out more expensive. Specially if the system is to be configured for Internet (global) access, meaning that your IT department has to set up firewalls, public addresses and a digital web server certificate.

  A third party hosting solution (which in the end is controlled by you and/or NetStorm) may also become expensive with extreme volume, security and other quality demands.

  NetStorm base level hosting is the less expensive one. This is "NetStorm in-house", so it has an advantage in control of quality and response.

  Still, we will definitely not make an recommendation on the basis of economy. Also remember that switching host solution after a while is quite easy.

• Are there any issues with application updates and local hosting?

  Your IT department should find the maintenance work easy and safe, so you should have no worries compared to an external solution.

  Still, the AllView products are prone to be rather often updated due to a rather constant development of new features awaited by the user groups. The NetStorm hosting servers can be rather quickly updated since we can easily monitor and correct problems in-house. Enterprise local installations would most of the time have to wait a bit longer for the updates, since:

  Both the application changes and the distribution has to be tested some more.

  Your IT department will not have the opportunity to apply the updates immediately

  You can of course buy the Extended Maintenance Response Subscription to have us prioritize the testing and distribution process for you, but it will not as quickly updated as with NetStorm Hosting. (although the difference most likely will not bother you)