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[»] Dual or Quad Xeon CPU servers for maximum performance

All our shared servers are at least dual-CPU based (Intel Xeon) with hyperthreading or multi-core configurations, for maximum performance and minimum server bottleneck when processing large volumes of transactions and to gracefully handle high visitor traffic without slowing down the server response time.  We do not believe in buying inexpensive and/or single CPU servers for the sake of providing "value hosting" - all our servers are high-end Enterprise class servers, capable of serving even very large spikes in traffic.  We buy only Dell PowerEdge and Supermicro enterprise class servers - and never desktop or gaming PC grade systems.  We understand time is money and having a slow store is not the best way to run your online business and attract your visitors to become repeat customers.

[»] Quality Server Components & Network Setup

We use only high-end dual or quad Xeon servers with SCSI or SAS hard drives, hardware RAID controllers, redundant power supplies, hot-swappable drives, fans and other components.  No cheap, desktop-grade systems, or desktop grade IDE hard drives.  We use Dell PowerEdge enterprise class servers with 4-hour on-site support from Dell.

Our network has complete bandwidth redundancy from 5 Tier-1 fiber bandwidth providers, dual power sources, APC battery backups on all servers, dual A/C units, and diesel power generators for handling complete blackout situations - good to last for over a week in cases of complete power outage.

All network routers and switches are Cisco with 4-hour on-site support, and all networking gear has complete redundancy - we have at least two of every component in place to gracefully handle failed switches or routers with zero network downtime.

[»] Urchin v5 web log analytics

All accounts hosted with us include free AWstats and Webalizer web log statistics.  For more detail and information from your web server logs, we offer industrial-grade Urchin v5 and v6 web log analyzer option.  Our dedicated Urchin cluster of servers update all statistics on an hourly basis to give you the most up-to-the-minute stats possible.  The new Urchin v6 software combines the best of both worlds from Urchin v5 and Google Analytics, all in one place, for the ultimate in web stats, trends, and ROI tracking.

[»] 30 Day UNCONDITIONAL Money Back Guarantee


If you move to us and are not 100% happy for ANY reason, let us know. We will refund 100% of your web hosting fees within the first 30 days of signup. Just tell us what you are not happy about so we can get even better in the future.  We will even assist you with transferring your files over to another host - we are that confident you'll be happy with us!


DISCLAIMER:  All refunds will be issued in full for your hosting fees, less any bandwidth used by your web site and any promotional items that may be included in your hosting package (such as SSL certificate, "Learn Miva Merchant..." book, OpenUI license, other modules or 3rd party promotional items bundled in the package price at the time of signup).  Setup fees, software and license fees are non-refundable - you can keep them or transfer them to another host, but we cannot offer refunds on software or licenses we have to purchase from other companies on your behalf. Miva Merchant licenses bundled with hosting packages are non-transferable to other hosting companies. If you'd like to purchase a full, transferable Miva Merchant license, please place an order at https://www.dotcomhost.com/go_dotcom.mvc?p=mm_lic

[»] 100% Customer Retention Ratio

dotCOM host is proud to have a nearly solid 100% customer retention ratio!  We go the extra mile to ensure all our clients have the tools to run their online business, while taking care of the back-end server related issues.  Your job should not be worrying about your server configuration or management - that's our job.  Once you give us a chance, we trust you'll be happy with our services and support and will never want to look at another hosting company again.

[»] 99.95% to 100% Uptime Guarantee, with SLA

We take server uptime very seriously.  This starts from the top of the line, enterprise class, redundant servers, RAID controllers, redundant power supplies, redundant bandwidth providers, etc.  Next, we monitor all our servers using a number of tools, with tests initiated every 30 seconds - 24/7/365 - from three different physical locations.  Lack of response automatically pages our Network Operations Team to see where the problem is.  Because of redundant hardware on virtually all our servers, even physical component failures are rarely going to create any downtime and failed components can be typically swapped out with new replacements without powering down our servers.

All downtime due to server maintenance, upgrades, security patch updates (unless deemed absolutely critical) are scheduled ahead of time and are typically limited to the time it takes for a server to reboot (2-5 minutes).

If you require higher SLA than 99.95%, please contact us to discuss your options.  We offer a number of solutions that can increase your SLA to 99.99%, as well as offer multi-server load balancing at two or more different datacenters for instant failover redundancy in case of a complete server or datacenter meltdown - to achieve virtually 100% uptime.

SLAs higher than 99.95% require a minimum of one dedicated server hosted by dotCOM host.  SLAs of 100% require a minimum of two dedicated servers at two separate datacenters, with load-balancing configuration.

[»] 100% Bandwidth Availability Guarantee

Unlike many other hosting companies which have only one backbone provider for all their bandwidth, we have multiple independent providers for the ultimate in network connectivity to all major Tier-1 networks:  Level3, SBC PacBell, AT&T, Sprint, XO Communications, UUNet and Global Crossing.  These are all Premium bandwidth providers with guaranteed SLA (Service Level Agreements), not the Tier-2/Tier-3 providers that may be less expensive, but suffer from regular outages and network congestion.  We do not use Cogent for any bandwidth - a popular and inexpensive Tier-3 bandwidth provider, but with some of the most congested network traffic in the world, with inadequate peering points in many metropolitan areas or entire countries.

In the event of any single (or even multiple) point failure or downed links from the outside world, your web site will still be accessible over alternate network routes - with zero downtime.  This also means that if in your geographical area you have one provider faster than the others, chances are your traffic will reach our servers over this preferred, faster backbone link, instead of using alternate or slower routes.  With our network connectivity, we have extremely fast direct links to most metropolitan areas in the world, not just the USA, and our international clients are served at the same speeds as they could expect from their local datacenters in their own countries.

[»] Daily and Weekly Server Backups

We back up all servers every night to ensure complete data redundancy.  Our full server backups are kept on file for an average of 4-6 weeks.  Longer backup holding schedules can be arranged on case-by-case basis.  Backups older than one week are stored at an off-site location and data restores of such files can take extra time to retrieve these files and may incur additional restore charges.  Files less than a week old are available for immediate restores at no extra cost, however excessive restores may involve additional fees.

[»] Service & Support

Our focus is on service, support and providing you with the fastest web servers we can possibly buy.  Other ISPs put hundreds of shopping carts on each of their servers to maximize their profits.  This results in your store running slowly and often timing out - not something you want to see when you depend on your site to generate income and assure repeat customers.  We proactively monitor all our servers' CPU utilization and when we see the that the average usage is reaching comfortable levels, we stop adding any more web sites to the server.  Our shared hosting servers will never have more than 15 Miva Merchant clients per server, and semi-dedicated servers are limited to no more than 5 clients.  Your site will never be slow on our servers - that's a promise!

[»] Technical Support

We monitor all servers 24/7/365 using a number of automated systems to check the status of all services every 30 seconds, from three physical locations.  In case you need to reach our technical support, it is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  You can reach us through our online helpdesk system that pages us when a new ticket is opened, through Live Chat on our web site, through any of our email addresses, as well as our phone numbers.