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C I Host expands its "live-answer, no-wait" support to colocation customers

 

Same top level engineers who work with higher end server customers will now support those with colocated servers

 

BEDFORD (May 29, 2003) - You can stop using the speaker phone as a way to keep on working while you are on hold, and on hold, and STILL on hold, waiting for tech support to untangle your Web site problems.

 

C I Host, in another industry-leading move, is now offering "live-answer, no-wait" technical support to all its colocation customers.

 

Until now, that level of service was reserved for those who had higher end servers, usually large companies. And in the Web hosting world outside of C I Host, that's still the way it goes.

 

"We decided that we wanted to give all of our customers the advantage of being able to talk to a Level 3 or Level 4 Network Operations Center engineer, in person, immediately," said Christopher Faulkner, CEO of C I Host. "This is a huge leap above the service offered by our competitors, who continue to make many colocation server clients wait on hold to talk to a lower level and less experienced technical support person."

 

The expansion of this top quality service and support is just one more of C I Host's efforts to provide the best in customer service, whether it involves technical support, billing inquiries or processing orders.

 

C I Host has made top quality customer service a priority since it was founded. An aggressive quality control program, monitored by Faulkner, provides immediate feedback on how well or how poorly divisions, departments or staff members are performing.

 

Steps are taken quickly to correct any problems. Each new development - from reseller programs to the technical side of administering a Web site - is made with the customer as the focus.

 

Such insistence on keeping the customer at the center of the business has been the foundation of C I Host's success in continuing to grow and maintaining one of the lowest churn rates in the industry.

 

A survey taken in 2002 of 175,000 C I Host customers, in which 30,000 responded, showed that C I Host's emphasis on putting the customer first is paying off.

 

Survey respondents gave C I Host an average rating of 5.2 on a six-point scale, in which "5" meant "satisfied," and "6" meant "extremely satisfied."

 

Customers were asked about their satisfaction level in the following

categories: overall experience, customer service, scalability; latest technology, value, brand name, overall performance, Web site design services and billing support.

 

"Our customers are our most important resource," Faulkner said. "From their first contact with us to the daily maintenance of their Web site and the growth of their business, we want our customers to feel that they are in safe hands and that we are there to help them in all their business endeavors."

 

C I Host offers four levels of colocation, from Family Colocation that starts at $99 a month to Private Data Vaults that starts at $1,900 a month.

 

All four levels give clients a choice of having their server housed at the Bedford, Texas; Los Angeles or Chicago data center. Within the past year, even as competitors have cut back or shut down, C I Host has expanded its Bedford and its 18-month-old LA centers and has added a full-service, state-of-the-art center in Chicago.

 

When a company has a colocated server, that server is placed on a shelf or mounted to a rack at one of the three centers and is powered by an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). The server will be on a 100Mbps Ethernet segment, with a GigE segment available for $100 a month above the normal cost, and connected to C I Host's core Juniper m40e routers.

 

Clients can manage their servers remotely by telnet, ftp, PCAnyWhere, SSH/Timbuktu or other programs, and have 24/7 access to visit C I Host's data centers to work directly on their server. C I Host offers free "remote hands" for server reboots and monitoring notifications.

 

Because C I Host knows that moving a server from one location to another can be a strain on a business, anyone moving from a competitor will have the free use of a C I Host "transition" server for up to 30 days. Clients using this seamless method of moving  will mirror all their data on a C I Host server, change the DNS, ship their server to the C I Host data center, then re-sync their data. This procedure ensures that the client's site never experiences any downtime.

 

All four levels of colocation offer the following services:

 

·        Complete scalability to accommodate your needs as your company

grows

 

·        Multiple POEs (Point of Entry) for fiber, electricity and generator

inputs - 100% uptime.

 

·        Personal treatment - We know the needs of the SMB and we cater to

that every need.

 

·        Highest level of security to protect your data

 

·        24x7 Live Answer (no wait time) technical support

 

·        Complete control of access to your data

 

·        Private data center rooms

 

·        Secure Cabling and Power Runs

 

·        Your choice of Los Angeles, Dallas or Chicago data centers

 

·        Personal account representative and toll-free support line that

will be answered directly

 

·        Unlimited bandwidth capabilities

 

·        Carrier-neutral facility

 

·        Facilities coordinator on staff 24/7 for build-outs and private

bandwidth installations

 

·        All exchange points and bandwidth carriers monitored 24/7 to

protect against service interruption to your facility

 

·        Access to your equipment all day, every day.

 

·        Complete reports on bandwidth utilization and port connection made

on a weekly and monthly basis.

 

·        Quality assurance area complete with build tables, tools and

testing equipment

 

·        Administrator on duty 24/7 for emergency maintenance

 

·        Ability to build-out private, 3,000 sq. ft data center complete

with our personnel and security

 

·        Bar code inventory system for tracking and securing your equipment,

complete with equipment receiving and storage controls

 

·        Closed-circuit video surveillance

 

·        Authorized users have 24/7 unescorted access

 

·        Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps), and GigE (1,000 Mbps) handoffs

 

·        Custom power, cross connects, and private interconnects

 

 

--About C I Host--

 

C I Host (www.cihost.com), is a Web hosting and Internet solutions provider, domain name registrar (DNR) and application service provider (ASP) serving 190,000 individual consumers and businesses in 182 countries worldwide.

 

C I Host creates business-class Web hosting solutions for the small- and medium-enterprise (SME) market, with the broadest portfolio of managed hosting and value-added services in the industry. C I Host is accredited by ICANN to register domain names.

 

C I Host has been consistently ranked among the Top 5 Web hosting companies out of 16,000 around the globe by c|net's Ultimate Web Host List, HostPulse, WebHostsOnline.com and HostChart.com. C I Host offers turn-key services ranging from initial domain name registration to custom dedicated servers for e-commerce on today's Web. The company offers innovative packages and services to the Internet community.

 

C I Host operates three diverse data centers across the United States, with its main facility and Network Operations Center in Bedford, Texas. C I Host also has offices in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Chicago and London.

 

All telco-grade, tier-1 data centers are wholly owned and operated by C I Host and consist of redundant diesel generator backups and a temperature-controlled secure environment with fully redundant UPS capability. All server hardware is fully tested and configured for optimal performance. Daily Web server backups and full fire protection guard against any data loss. To deliver speed and reliability, C I Host's servers are connected to two OC-12 fiber connections, five DS-3 and two OC-3 lines from five diverse Internet backbones for a total of more than 2,000 Megabits of available bandwidth.

 

Editorial Contact:

 

Nancy St. Pierre

C I Host

(888) 868-9931 x 7006

nancys@cihost.com