Data Center: 99.9%
Up & running Guaranteed.
Industrial-Grade Equipment for the Ultimate Performance and ReliabilityATL WebServices has Partnered with Network Operations Center (NOC).
After countless experiences with those other ISP (Internet Service Providers), like FTP
down for the weekend, limitations on emails, limitations on email names, and the list goes
on, we here at ATL Webservices knew we needed a change for supporting of our customers. If
you have been involved with the Internet the last 10 years, you know what I am speaking
on.
ATL WebServices recognizes that down time is not an option for
your web site. That's why our NOC partner has invested heavily in hardware and facilities
that ensure you are up and running on the web 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
ATL WebServices Network Operations Center (NOC) features
raised flooring. This enables a constant flow of conditioned air and helps to maintain
uniform room temperature at all times. In addition, raised flooring reduces static and
ensures a professional, computer grade environment for your servers.
The facility is equipped with a Raytheon fire suppression
system, designed to immediately extinguish fire and protect equipment and personnel. The
command center is controlled via automatic doors to further secure and protect the
equipment.
Finally, the NOC is located in a secure, monitored, class A
building with a minimum number of approved personnel allowed access to highly sensitive
areas and equipment. A detailed record of employee and visitor entry is maintained at all
times.
Uninterruptible Power System
To guard against local power failures, our partner has two
industrial-grade, three phase Liebert UPS systems. These act as back-up batteries,
maintaining uninterrupted power in case of surges or power outages. With these backup
systems in place, they can keep our network up and running indefinitely without relying on
external power.
Industrial-Grade Air Conditioners
NOC has two Liebert ten ton industrial air conditioners, which
condition the computer rooms and operations center. The computer room is kept at an
optimal temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
Custom Web Servers
Web servers are custom-built industrial machines designed for
a 24/7 web serving environment. All servers are equipped with dual redundant 450-watt
power supplies, hot swap Seagate Barracuda/Cheetah drives and force-filtered cooling
systems. In addition, the NOC is equipped with an inventory of identically configured,
burned-in standby servers.
Force Filtered Cooling
All of the custom web servers are equipped with a positive
pressure filtered-air system. Four large fans pull filtered air into each server's
protective case and the components within are cooled by fans which circulate this purified
air. This constant introduction of clean air into the case creates a positive pressure
environment ensuring dust and particles remain outside of the server.
Hot Swap Seagate Drives
The drives and drive bays of all servers are constructed from
high-grade aluminum, and rest in shock mounted drive cages, which adds to the durability
of the hardware. Our partner's drives proudly feature the lowest failure rate in the
industry.
Redundant Hot Swap Power Supplies
Each server employs dual-redundant hot swap power supplies. If
a power supply were to fail, the server would continue running with power from the
alternate supply. Meanwhile, alarms would alert a technician, who would quickly restore
redundancy. In the meantime, servers and client sites would experience no downtime.
Standby Servers
There are spare servers on-line of all CPU configurations. If
a server were to experience a hardware failure, they would turn a key, grab the handle on
the drive, pull it out, and insert it into an identical standby CPU. They would then
reboot the second machine and the server would be up and running again in a matter of
minutes.
Connected to Three Backbones
NOC is OnNet with GlobalCenter (GC), Qwest Communications and
GTE through three separate bandwidth-on-demand connections which enter Baltimore in NOC
building.
GC, a Tier 1 provider whose 13,000-mile fiber optic network
and Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) technology provide an enormous 460 gigabytes
per second (Gbps) of capacity worldwide, has an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) fiber
node located just a few floors below the NOC.
Qwest comes into Baltimore with an OC-12 line and plans to
upgrade their connection to an OC-48 in the near future. They also have an ATM fiber node
floors below the NOC. The Qwest connection enables us to offer additional redundancy and
better routes to Europe, Latin America and Asia. With our carriers, our router has up to
150,000 possible routes to send each packet of traffic.
Genuity, a division of GTE, is our third Tier One Internet
backbone. Genuity provides excellent network performance as a result of their high-speed
peering arrangements with other Tier One Internet backbone providers. The GTE global
network delivers customers directly onto the Internet via a high-speed connection to its
private, super-capacity backbone, including 17,000 miles of fiber and OC192 capacity. It
is comprised of more than 800 U.S. local access points and approximately 1,500
international local access points in more than 150 countries.
Furthermore, because of these unique connections, our NOC does
not need to link to the Internet though an OC3 or T3 Telecom circuit. Instead, independent
cables run inside the building directly from the NOC to all three carriers points of
presence. These lines can handle the bandwidth of a T3 or an OC3 with DWDM. Plus, they
handle several times the bandwidth of an OC3. Whatever your bandwidth needs may be, NOC
has the scalability to meet them.
Network Redundancy
NOC uses intelligent end-user routing software called Border
Gateway Protocol (BGP), between Qwest, GC and GTE, who use the same protocol. BGP
identifies which path is the most efficient for each data packet and then routes the
packet to its destination on the fastest path. This increases the speed at which web pages
sent from our NOC arrive at their destination.
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 three Tier-1 providers. If one experiences problems, we
can route traffic down the other one. Furthermore, because we are OnNet with GlobalCenter,
Qwest and GTE, 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 our NOC to exchange packets of data with every major backbone carrier
in a one-to-one environment quickly and efficiently.
In addition, GC has high-speed links to eight public exchanges
including both MAE East and West and several NAPS. Through these public exchanges,
customers have the ability to reach their site, no matter from where they are coming on
the Internet.
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 Global Center, Qwest and GTE, 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 7500 routers and theirs.
NOC providers also have peering connections with other major
Tier 1 providers, which allows traffic to be switched to alternate backbones should the
need arise.
Raw Performance Equals
Low Latency/High Throughput
Too often providers operate their networks at three to four
times responsible capacity. As a result, their corresponding transfer times reach over
300ms. Our partners network daily average is 27% of its capacity, with midday peak spikes
reaching only 33% capacity. Our Partner guarantees clients will be carried off our network
in less than 80ms over a five minute average at any time of day or night.
