Utah-based WestHost has topped the world's largest hosting companies in providing customers with the most reliable service, according to an independent survey by Internet analysts Netcraft; WestHost credits much of its success to its longstanding relationship with Utah State University
PROVIDENCE, Utah, Jan. 27, 2009 — While other hosting companies may use massive advertising budgets and catchy branding to build recognition and customer loyalty, Utah-based WestHost has quietly used its own secret weapon to become a world leader in hosting reliability. In fact, according to a recent survey by Netcraft, no hosting company on the planet beats WestHost for reliability – the single most important hosting metric.
Netcraft, which began analyzing Internet technology in 1995, publishes an independent, unbiased monthly survey of web hosting companies. It is the oldest and most respected web survey in the industry. For the past two months – November and December 2008 – WestHost has topped such industry giants as GoDaddy, Rackspace, web.com, Verio, and others. WestHost was also rated as most reliable hosting company twice earlier in 2008.
What is WestHost's secret? WestHost General Manager Brian Chambers gives much credit to a particularly talented pool of Utah State University students and graduates.
"We have been hiring students from USU for the past 6 years," says Chambers. "Many students start off with WestHost after just a year or two in school, complete internship credits with us, and have opportunities to advance in our company before they even graduate.
"It's a mutually beneficial relationship. Students get great, hands-on experience and a foot in the door with our company, while we get the benefits of their intelligence, enthusiasm and education."
Currently, over 60% of WestHost's staff are either alumni or current students at USU, who fill may key roles at the company, such as general manager, IT manager, senior technical engineer, Web design manager, and many other professional positions.
"We've been fortunate to be able to build strong working relationships with several on-campus organizations," says Chambers. "These relationships have helped us recruit talented students and graduates who are now able to enjoy successful and fulfilling careers in computers and technology without having to move away from Utah. We look forward to expanding our presence in the local community by offering more jobs to qualified applicants over the coming months."
Chambers adds that it is especially pleasing to come out on top in Netcraft's survey, because it shows that a 100% locally based company can thrive and excel in the highly competitive hosting industry.
"Our entire operation is here, in Utah, and all our staff is here, too. We haven't had to outsource any of our services, and that all tells me that despite our size and location, we've succeeded in our goal of recruiting some of the brightest and most sought after talent in the industry."
Chambers says topping Netcraft's survey twice in a row is a clear demonstration that the size of a hosting company and its ad budget are no guarantees that it provides customers with the most reliable service.
"We started out 10 years ago with the idea that focusing continually on what our customers want and need would help us refine our operations and provide the best possible service. I'm proud of the people who helped us achieve that."
WestHost currently hosts over 70,000 sites – 90% of them for U.S. customers. The company employs more than 50 people at its Cache Valley hosting site, and has plans to continue expanding staff during 2009.
WestHost's data center is less than 100 miles from its headquarters, which means customer support is locally based. Chambers says that sharply decreases response times compared to companies with support operations based in far away countries.
For more information, contact:
Nick Nelson
WestHost
164 N. Spring Creek Parkway
Providence, UT 84332
(800) 222-2165 Toll-Free
+01 (435) 755-3433 International
(435) 755-3449 FAX
About WestHost:
Since 1998, WestHost has been an affordable Web hosting provider, helping thousands of businesses worldwide to cost-effectively become more successful, efficient, and competitive online. We currently host over 70,000 Web sites. WestHost provides a variety of services, including shared web hosting, dedicated servers, reseller hosting and domain name registration. WestHost's data center is SAS 70 Type II certified and constructed from nine base isolation units bolted on top of a 3.5ft reinforced matte footing, which helps to absorb shock during earthquakes.
About the Netcraft Survey:
On its website (http://news.netcraft.com/), Netcraft states that its performance measurements are made at fifteen minute intervals from separate points around the Internet, and averages are calculated over the immediately preceding 24 hour period. According to Netcraft: "From a customer's point of view, the percentage of failed requests is more pertinent than outages on hosting companies' own sites, as this gives a pointer to reliability of routing, and this is why we rank our table by fewest failed requests, rather than shortest periods of outage."
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