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SSAE 16 Type II Audit Completed
Posted in Company News,Security
We are pleased to announce Adhost successfully completed a Statement for Attestation Engagements No. 16 (SSAE 16) Type II audit. In previous years, Adhost passed SAS 70 audits, and this year the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts (AICPA) replaced the SAS 70 with the SSAE 16. Compared to SAS 70, SSAE 16 brings US companies up to date with the new international service organization reporting standards, the ISAE 3402.
During a week-long on-site visit in July, an independent service auditor examined the policies, procedures and business processes in place at Adhost over the previous one-year time period. The following controls related to colocation and other data centers solutions provided in our Seattle data centers were audited:
- Control Environment
- Physical Security
- Environmental security
- Availability
- Operations
Data center companies who complete annual audits are able to demonstrate a substantially higher level of assurance and operationally visibility than those companies who do not. The completion of the SSAE 16 Type II audit typifies Adhost’s continued commitment to create and maintain the most stringent controls needed to ensure the highest quality and security of services provided to our customers.
A SSAE 16 report, also known as a SOC 1 (Service Organization Control) report, is beneficial to both the service organization and its clients because it demonstrates that the service organization has implemented effective control objects and activities. All of our data center clients, including publicly traded companies and those in the financial and healthcare industries, benefit from our processes and procedures and are able to use our audit report for their required audits.
To learn more about SSAE 16 and the details of the audit, visit our SSAE 16 page.
permalink | digg this | technoratiNew Seattle Web Development Case Studies
Posted in Company News,Web developmentThis month we’re proud to announce two custom content management solutions for our Seattle neighbors across the street!
The Space Needle 50th Anniversary Site
The Space Needle needed a custom content management system to collect and display memories of the Needle’s first 50 years to be submitted by the public. In less than one month total from concept, the Adhost Dev Team worked with the Space Needle and their design firm to launch the site. Learn more and share your memories of the Space Needle’s first 50 years.
The Pacific Science Center
A lot of content and no way to manage it. Not a happy situation for the Pacific Science Center’s web site manager. So the Adhost Dev Team worked with the Science Center to select a suitable content management system (CMS) and provide a new form-building solution. Read about the solutions we implemented for them.
permalink | digg this | technoratiNew Video of Our Seattle Data Centers
Posted in Company NewsWe’ve added a new video showcasing our Seattle data centers in Fisher Plaza. Video footage includes:
- Network Operations Center (NOC)
- Fisher Plaza infrastructure
- Multiple generators
- On-site diesel tanks
- Data center security, including SAS 70 Type II Audit
- Raised floors
- List of bandwidth providers
- Interviews of Adhost team
New Seattle Data Center Is Open
Posted in Company News
We’re pleased to announce the opening of our third data center in downtown Seattle. Located in the Fisher Plaza West building, the new Seattle data center features 100 cabinets, with a mix of full, half and quarter cabinets. Construction finished in time for the stormy winter forecast for this winter in the Seattle region.
Our two existing data centers are full, and due to continuing demand from businesses looking for secure data centers with redundancy in power, cooling and bandwidth for their servers, we began construction of this third data center last summer. All three data centers are built to N+1 requirements and Fisher Plaza exceeds seismic zone four standards for earthquakes. Fisher Plaza is connected to eight multi-megawatt generators and two emergency wells that can supply water to cooling towers if city water is disrupted.
There is 24-hour surveillance of data center visitors by security guards and cameras. In addition Adhost undergoes annual SAS 70 Type II audits to verify our data centers’ secure environments. The audit covers the policies, procedures and business processes in place at Adhost. Data center clients can use this audit report for their own security compliance requirements for HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI DSS and others.
Like our second data center, the new one incorporates louvers which exchange outside air to cool the data center when the temperature outside is cool enough – the majority of the year in Seattle. In addition, the power comes from Seattle City Light which is 88% hydro-electric.
We are featuring two move-in specials:
- 42U Cabinet with 100 Mbps bandwidth and 20 Amps UPS Power
- 42U Cabinet with 1,000 Mbps bandwidth and 40 Amps UPS Power
For more information, visit our Seattle Colocation information page. To request a tour or a quote, email sales@adhost.com or call 1-888-234-6781
permalink | digg this | technoratiConstruction of Third Seattle Data Center on Schedule
Posted in Company News
Due to continued growth and customer demand, this summer we commenced construction of our third data center at Fisher Plaza. Like our Adhost West Phase 1 data center, the new data center will feature N+1 power supply, 42 inch cabinets and an outside air exchange system.
The project is on track to be completed in mid-October. To learn more about the new data center or to reserve rack space for your server colocation needs or dedicated servers requirements, contact sales@adhost.com or call 1-888-234-6781.
permalink | digg this | technoratiSocial Media Events with the PSAMA
Posted in Seattle Internet EventsThe Puget Sound American Marketing Association (PSAMA) is hosting two lunches focused on Social Media. Check out these opportunities to network in person and learn more about online networking:
1. Thursday, Oct. 29, 11:30 am-1:30 pm: Social Media at ‘the Hutch’
We’ll cover the practical and applied-side of social media – including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – at a large non-profit cancer research center. You’ll hear about what we’ve done and why, lessons we’ve learned and what we’re considering for the future. The discussion will also include metrics, ROI (return on intangibles), and advice to those getting started. Register.
2. Wednesday, Nov. 11, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm: Building Brand with Social Media: How Starbucks Does It and What They’ll do Next
Are you ready to take your social media presence beyond the occasional Tweet and Facebook post? Find out how to step up your social media strategy from a company that’s thriving in the social media space: Starbucks. By moving from experimenting with social media to actively incorporating it into the company’s brand marketing plans, Starbucks has become the most popular brand on Facebook, with more than 4.1 million fans. Starbucks’ Official Tweeter Brad Nelson will reveal how the company’s social media initiatives are intimately coordinated with traditional media. Learn more and register.
permalink | digg this | technoratiSDMA September Networking Dinner: Social Media
Posted in Seattle Internet EventsJoin the SDMA (Seattle Direct Marketing Association) on September 9th from 5:30-8 PM at the Bellevue Hyatt as they kick off the 2009-2010 season. The topic will be Transforming your Marketing and Customer Relationships with Social Media. Here’s the description:
The chorus of conversation about social media continues to grow, but many still question how best to deploy and recognize benefits of the social channel within their organization. Come and learn from four leading Northwest social media experts via an interactive panel discussion about how they are leveraging this channel at their brands. Hear first hand experiences about their best-practices, struggles and results.
The moderator is Blake Cahill, SVP of Marketing at Visible Technologies. Panelists include:
- Elliot Pesult: Campaign Management Specialist, Alaska Airlines
- Ricardo Rabago: Social Media Specialist, PCC Natural Markets
- Natalie Crain: Internet Marketing Manager, REI
- Shauna Causey: Communications Director, Comcast Cable
Register at www.sdma.org.
permalink | digg this | technoratiMITEF Dinner Forum in September: Social Media
Posted in Seattle Internet EventsThe topic of the September 16th MIT Enterprise Forum of the Northwest Dinner Forum is Social Media: Real Business Strategies for Success. Here’s the description:
How are some businesses harnessing the power of social media to differentiate and manifest their brand, scale their organization, and succeed where others fail? Our panel of experts share real-life examples that highlight successful social media strategies and executions. They’ll answer questions from the audience, and provide a glimpse into the future of how social media will dramatically change how we do business and lead our lives. Our panelists include:
• Murtaza Hussain – Co-founder and President of Peanut Labs
• Eric Picard – Advertising Technology Advisor to the Advertising Platform Engineering team at Microsoft
• Ben Straley – Co-founder and CEO of Meteor Solutions
• Jim Watson – Senior Vice President, Managing Director of Razorfish Northwest
• Mike Weaver – VP of New Business Development and Mobile Discipline Lead for MRM Worldwide – Seattle
The event will be moderated by Ethan Yarbrough, Co-founder and President of Allyis Inc. Learn more and register on the MITEF Web site.
permalink | digg this | technoratiAdhost East Data Center Update from Adhost CEO
Posted in Company NewsDear Adhost Clients:
I am writing to you to update you on the status of the power infrastructure supporting the Adhost East Data Center located in Fisher Plaza East. Adhost is committed to providing a fault-tolerant, highly available environment to support our data center operations. We are working closely with Fisher Plaza, other tenants and vendor engineers and electricians to get our data center operations back onto that footing as fast as possible. This letter is meant to provide a synopsis of both the actions taken to date as well as a synopsis of short and long-term steps that Adhost and Fisher Plaza are taking to achieve our commitment.
As many of you know, on July 2nd, 2009 there was a significant event in the main electrical switchgear room located in the parking garage. While we are still awaiting final forensic analysis of this event, at this point we know that two 5000 amp bus ducts were severely damaged and that enough heat was generated to activate the pre-action sprinkler system in this room. Of course, the introduction of water into a live electrical switchgear room had predictable results – namely that all of the gear in that room became inoperable. Unfortunately this room was where the automatic election is made between utility and generator power. The loss of this room resulted in a loss of power to the Adhost East Data Center for approximately 27 hours.
The Adhost West Data Center was unaffected during this event and remains in its standard operating configuration of utility power backed by N+1 generator plant.
For approximately one month following the event, our East Data Center was powered by generators as its primary source. We announced several maintenance windows to upgrade the reliability of that generator power including moving from the single-riser/single generator configuration that we initially brought the building back up on to an N+1 generator plant that allowed for continuous operation and accommodated a regular maintenance schedule for the individual generators.
On August 1st and 2nd, we announced and successfully completed another maintenance window to switch-over to a temporary configuration that features utility power as the primary electrical source backed by the N+1 generator plant for emergency backup.
Meanwhile, we are working to develop a long-term permanent solution that will take this event into consideration and which will allow Adhost to operate continuously through a similar loss. This solution entails the following components:
- Diversifying the Adhost East critical equipment loads across the two switchgear rooms that service (or will service) Fisher Plaza East.
- Working with Fisher Plaza to ensure that catastrophic loss of one room will not inhibit our ability to operate.
- Working with the various regulatory agencies to put into place non-water-based fire suppression systems in all critical electrical areas.
These solutions take time to engineer and they also take time to source and install the appropriate equipment. Right now we are working to have the permanent solution in place by the end of October. As we get progress down this path, we will have better timelines which we will make available to our customers.
One other lesson that we have learned and which we are addressing is to implement a better emergency communications plan (ECP). Our previous ECP was shown as inadequate during this event and we already have implemented parts of this plan. Highlights of the plan include:
- An off-site (completely outside of the Adhost network and facility) maintenance mailing list server which is automatically synchronized with our main maintenance mailing list. We will also be introducing three primary lists over the coming months:
- East Data Center Operations
- West Data Center Operations
- Shared Hosting Operations
Once in place, we will announce to all lists events that impact the entire infrastructure such as power, cooling, network, DNS, and email. We will also announce major events that primarily impact one of these subgroups to all three lists with follow-up details being posted to the affected lists.
- Adhost is committed to using Twitter as a quick, off-site communications tool to announce not only information on major events, but also other Adhost news. You can follow our tweets at http://www.twitter.com/adhost
- An off-site Web server which will act in several capacities:
- Allow customers to get status messages on our major services.
- Provide a chat-style interface for customers with status questions and support needs.
- An off-site phone number that will give status updates to callers.
- Moving our phone systems to a more fault-tolerant system that will allow us to communicate via phone with customers during significant events.
Once again, we apologize for the extent of this event. We want to assure you that we are integrating the lessons that we learned from this event into our on-going operations and policies and procedures.
We appreciate your business, patience and understanding as we work to improve our services. If you have any questions or suggestions, please email support@adhost.com.
Will Riffle
President and CEO
Adhost Internet
Adhost Seattle Data Centers Pass SAS 70 Type II Audit
Posted in Company News,Security
We are pleased to announce Adhost successfully passed a SAS 70 Type II audit for the time period July 16, 2008 – July 15, 2009. During a week-long on-site visit in June, an independent service auditor examined the policies, procedures and business processes in place at Adhost over the one-year time period. The following controls related to the colocation services provided in our Seattle data centers were audited:
- Control Environment: discipline and structure are a key component of the organization and influence the control consciousness of its personnel.
- Physical Security: business premises and information systems are protected from unauthorized access, damage and interference.
- Environmental security: critical information technology infrastructure is protected from certain environmental threats.
- Availability: colocation facility is available and accessible to its customers
- Operations: Operations department identifies and resolves problems affecting the colocation facility or customers in a timely manner.
The examination was performed in accordance with standards established by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Existing Adhost clients, as well as potential clients, can request a copy of the SAS70 audit report by emailing sales@adhost.com.
To learn more about SAS 70 and the details of the audit, visit our SAS 70 page.
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