Our Data Center features high level security, raised flooring, climate-control, UPS power supply, fire suppression system as well as multiple redundant connections to major backbones such as AboveNet, Verio, Williams, UUNET, Level3, Sprint and Verizon. The Data Centers are also equipped with backup batteries and diesel generators, Cisco routers and switches; and is staffed 24x7 by qualified system administrators and engineers. All servers are secured in a state of the art Smart POP; monitored by both on hand technicians, IP cameras and door security via Hand geometry reader; OC3C connections are physically diverse and Sonet protected; dual power feeds backed up with UPS, Rectifiers, Batteries and Generator to ensure our customers have near zero down time. Our Data Centers uses industry-standard SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) and provides round-the-clock monitoring of all hardware, including routers, switches, UPS systems, and servers. The Data Centers also monitors power, environmental factors (such as temperature and humidity), generator status, and network connectivity. All critical services/ports are monitored, including FTP, HTTP, SMTP, HTTPS, SSH and POP3.

What is BGP4 & how does it work?
BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) is a protocol for exchanging routing information between gateway hosts (each with its own router) in a network of autonomous systems. BGP is often the protocol used between gateway hosts on the Internet. The routing table contains a list of known routers, the addresses they can reach, and a cost metric associated with the path to each router so that the best available route is chosen.

Hosts using BGP communicate using the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and send updated router table information only when one host has detected a change. Only the affected part of the routing table is sent. BGP-4, the latest version, lets administrators configure cost metrics based on policy statements. (BGP-4 is sometimes called BGP4, without the hyphen.)

BGP communicates with autonomous (local) networks using Internal BGP (IBGP) since it doesn't work well with IGP. The routers inside the autonomous network thus maintain two routing tables: one for the interior gateway protocol and one for IBGP. BGP-4 makes it easy to use Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR), which is a way to have more addresses within the network than with the current IP address assignment scheme.

What does this mean to you, the customer?
This means that the network data is analyzed and built into a custom BGP table that is the fastest possible route to you. This is done every 4 seconds and the BGP tables are updated every four seconds to keep the network running at a top notch speed! This gives visitors' to your website the fastest access to the content while ensuring the connection remains redundant. In simpler words this means that your server will remain available without any interruptions incase one of our bandwidth providers does go down.

Data Center Features

Security System: Keeping your server secure is our number one priority. Our datacenter is monitored 24/7 by our security station in the lobby. Our guards are required to make routine physical checks of essential systems and perimeter entrances.

Backup Power Generators: The building is supplied with double power feeds from the utility company. In the event of a power outage, the data center is equipped with a 750 KVA diesel generator. The generator is tested every week. When a power outage is detected, the generator will start automatically within 15 seconds. With one tank of gas in the generator, it can power 10000 servers for 72hours. Fuel can be added to keep the network up and running indefinitely.

The data center also uses Powerware power conditioning units and Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS). This UPS has been installed to constantly monitor and regulate the quality of power coming from the wall so that equipment always receives the clean 120-volt power it was designed for.

Cables: Through combining bundles of fiber optics with the redundant network engineering, we're able create alternate routes through which data can travel. This effectively maximizes the throughput speed and capacity of each strand of fiber-optic cable. The result is an ultra-fast, ultra-reliable network connection on which you and your customer can rely on.

Technical Support: Our customer technical support center knows no time zone and no time limits. No matter where you are or at what time, our chat, support email system and phones give you access to technical support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Feel free to email our support with any network related questions you may have.

Understanding network speed, security, and stability is one of our driving forces; and have invested heavily in hardware and facilities that ensure your sites are up and running on the web 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Network Connectivity
PlanetHTTP utilizes connections to multiple backbones to ensure that data reaches the end-user in the fastest, most efficient manner possible. Our world-class data centers are powered by an OC-192 (10 Gigabits per second, 220 times faster than a T3) nationwide backbone and a new 155mbps OC-3 (100x faster than a T1) connection with Level3. Because of this we're able to provide lightning fast connectivity. By utilizing direct access to each of the major backbone providers we can deliver you unsurpassed speed & reliability. Here is a brief overview of a couple of our connectivity providers:

Cogent's end-to-end optical network consists of multiple metropolitan IP-over-WDM fiber rings located in Cogent's major markets throughout the United States and Europe. Cogent currently has a presence in over 86 markets throughout the United States and Europe. Cogent's network provides each building or colocenter with up to 5 Gbit/s of dedicated bandwidth. Layer 3 edge routers in each building are connected to Cisco Layer 3 Terabit core routers over two diverse optical paths. These core routers are tied together via a a multi-national backbone network consisting of multiple 10 Gbit/s DWDM optical links. With a currently implemented capacity of 80 Gbit/s in the United States and 40 Gbit/s in Europe, Cogent's multi-national IP network is the largest in the world and is scalable to a total capacity of over one Terabit.

Level3, is our second Tier 1 Internet backbone. Level3 continues to build-out the first international all IP-based broadband network that's built from the ground up. Extending from the U.S. to Europe and Asia, the Level 3 broadband network already provides the infrastructure Web-centric businesses need today. We are connected to Level3 at 155mpbs (OC-3) connection.

Williams Communications network was built to expand based on demand, WilTel’s network allows the company to take advantage of future advances in optical networking. The WilTel® network was built with a minimum of 96 fibers in every build, with multiple conduits and optical amplifiers or regeneration stations every 40 miles along the network. Utilizing OC-192 transport systems with dense wavelength division multiplexing, the WilTel network delivers up to 180 Gbps on a single fiber system. The WilTel optical network architecture also enables unheard of provisioning times frames: as little as 25 days for OC-48 (2.488 Gbps) connections.

XO™ Communications: The core of the XO backbone network is a mesh of OC-192 circuits, connecting XO Peering POPs and XO Data Centers. The XO OC-192 IP backbone runs completely across its own Inter-city facilities. Using a mesh of physically diverse OC-192 circuits, this backbone interconnects our five data centers with multiple high-capacity peering interconnections. Additionally, XO offers Dedicated Internet Access (DIA), DSL and Dial customers enhanced Internet connectivity by connecting each DIA market to the OC-192 backbone with dual OC-12c SONET-protected circuits. This network design delivers maximum end-to-end throughput as well as high levels of protection and redundancy. As one of the few fully peered, facilities-based Tier 1 network backbone providers in the U.S., XO has substantial private peering arrangements in many metropolitan areas at speeds of up to OC-12. As a Tier 1 Internet provider, XO is constantly improving its peering infrastructure to benefit our customers.

Furthermore, because of these unique connections, PlanetHTTP does not need to link to the Internet though an OC-3 or T3 Telecom circuit. Instead, independent cables run inside our building directly from the NOC to all two carriers' points of presence. These lines can handle the bandwidth of a T3 or an OC-3 with DWDM. Plus, they handle several times the bandwidth of an OC-3. Whatever your bandwidth needs may be, PlanetHTTP has the scalability to meet them.

Network Redundancy
PlanetHTTP runs the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP4) for best case routing. BGP4 is a protocol for exchanging routing information between gateway hosts (each with its own router) in a network of autonomous systems. BGP4 is often the protocol used between gateway hosts on the Internet. The routing table contains a list of known routers, the addresses they can reach, and a cost metric associated with the path to each router so that the best available route is chosen.

PlanetHTTP uses BGP4 to communicate using the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and send updated router table information only when one host has detected a change. Only the affected part of the routing table is sent. BGP4, is the latest version, letting administrators configure cost metrics based on policy statements.

BGP communicates with autonomous (local) networks using Internal BGP (IBGP) since it doesn't work well with IGP. The routers inside the autonomous network thus maintain two routing tables: one for the interior gateway protocol and one for IBGP. BGP4 makes it easy to use Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR), which is a way to have more addresses within the network than with the current IP address assignment scheme.

Also, studies have shown that the most common reason for downtime is circuit failure on Tier 1 provider backbones, the major data highways. To guard against this potential problem, we have two Tier-1 providers. If one experiences problems, we can route traffic down the other one. Furthermore, because we utilize Cogent, Williams and Level3, we share their digital distribution architecture, which includes private peering network connections to major Internet carriers such as MCI, Sprint, UUNET, EUNET, AT&T, AOL, Best, Erols, @Home, IBM Advantis and others. These private peering arrangements allow PlanetHTTP to exchange packets of data with every major backbone carrier in a one-to-one environment quickly and efficiently.

Network Reliability
Industry analysis reveals that 70% of downtime over ten hours with any ISP is caused by telephone circuit failure. Since our NOC is in the same building as Williams, Cogent and Level3, circuit failure is virtually eliminated because there is no phone circuit between us and our providers. Instead, there is a direct connection between our Cisco routers and theirs. PlanetHTTP's providers also have peering connections with other major Tier 1 providers, which allows traffic to be switched to alternate backbones should the need arise.