The Case Against Running Your Own Server Room: A Pragmatic Perspective

Running an in-house server room may seem like a viable option for some businesses, but a closer examination reveals numerous drawbacks that outweigh the perceived benefits. In this era of advanced technology and evolving business needs, opting for affordable hosting services in Los Angeles or other data center solutions provided by Electric Kitten proves to be a more strategic choice.

Cost Considerations:

While hosting your own servers may give you a semblance of control, the financial implications are substantial. Servers demand a trifecta of resources – cooling, power, and space – each contributing to escalating operational costs. In contrast, utilizing professional hosting services offers a predictable pricing model, often more cost-effective than managing your own infrastructure. This financial prudence allows businesses to allocate resources to areas that directly contribute to their core competencies.

Moreover, the rapidly evolving landscape of technology means that hosting providers can leverage economies of scale, continuously updating and maintaining their infrastructure without imposing additional costs on your business. This dynamic adaptability ensures that your organization remains at the forefront of technological advancements without straining your budget.

Security Concerns:

Maintaining a server room introduces a plethora of security risks that may compromise sensitive business data. Unauthorized access to network infrastructure can lead to data theft or malicious damage. Furthermore, the concentration of traffic through a single point creates an increased vulnerability to Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, jeopardizing business continuity.

On the other hand, reputable hosting services invest heavily in robust security measures, including firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and round-the-clock monitoring. Entrusting your data to professionals not only mitigates security risks but also ensures compliance with industry standards and regulations, instilling confidence in clients and stakeholders.

Physical Limitations:

Server rooms have inherent physical limitations, accommodating only a finite number of servers. For businesses with burgeoning data needs, this constraint poses a significant challenge. Scaling up the infrastructure requires additional space and cooling capacity, often translating to exorbitant costs that could be better utilized elsewhere.

Modern data centers are designed with scalability in mind, offering the flexibility to expand infrastructure seamlessly. This adaptability is crucial for businesses experiencing growth, ensuring that their technological backbone can evolve organically without the need for disruptive and costly expansions.

Accessibility Challenges:

A frequently overlooked drawback of server rooms is their geographical remoteness, leading to increased distances between employees and their technology infrastructure. This can result in inefficiencies, longer response times, and hindered collaboration.

Professional hosting services, strategically located for accessibility, eradicate this concern. With data centers strategically positioned, employees can experience enhanced connectivity and reduced latency, fostering a more efficient work environment.

The decision to maintain an in-house server room or opt for external hosting services necessitates a thorough evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages. Embracing the efficiency, security, and scalability offered by reputable data centers in Los Angeles or elsewhere often proves to be the strategic choice for businesses looking to thrive in today’s competitive landscape.

What is the pillar content strategy?

Blog provided by Electric Kitten

The most common feature amongst the most successful content driven websites are pillar content. Take any website you like that has a focus on content and you will find large expansive articles that focus on a single high-level topic. That is an example of pillar content. Early blogging courses online laid out a plan for beginners that always insisted on at least four pillar articles before launch. Leave out pillar content and you stand to lose out on a lot of traffic and revenue. Adopting a pillar content strategy is a lot of work but is both easy and rewarding.

Begin the process by picking a topic, and most importantly, find out absolutely everything that people want to know about that topic. This part is critical. We do not want an expansive article that covers everything. We want it to cover everything that people look for online. Basic keyword research will get you a list of sub-topics.

Now create the pillar content with a basic intro and then cover each subtopic in as much detail as necessary for it to be useful to the visitor. Always include the links, citations, and credit for any supporting information used for your conclusions and statements. Creditability increases greatly when claims are backed by studies or reputable sources.

Now that you know what pillar content is, it is time go out there and put it into practice. With the right pillar content, you will see increases in traffic, revenue, and user engagement.

If you need an Los Angeles web hosting provider you can trust, contact Electric Kitten today. They’ve provided reliable web hosting services for almost two decades. If you are in the Southern California area, give them a call.

Threat modelling 101

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At its most basic level, threat modelling is the process of going through all IT systems in an organization, listing threats, and coming up with mitigations. In a sense, it is about identifying all possible issues and putting things in place to make sure you can recover quickly or prevent them altogether. Let’s look at a more detailed version of the process.

Step 1

The most important part of the process is identifying all systems. If you miss one, you leave a potential gap for future failure that can affect one or more of your other systems. Part of how you negate that risk is to include people from all departments as part of the first step. The systems in question can be internal or external, physical, or virtual, hardware or software. Get this step right and this process will be a success.

Step 2

Now that you have a list of systems, start looking at all the threats and risks associated with that system. You could have a web app to handle transport requests. That could potentially be attacked, hacked, or defaced. Those could be three different threats for each with the result being a denial of service.

Step 3

Now that you have a list of threats, start putting mitigations next to those. If you have mitigations in place, that is great, if not list possible mitigations. When organizations do this process the first time, the list can be quite large, so it is important to prioritize your mitigations. Commercial enterprises can assign dollar values to the threats to make it easier and less political when assigning priorities.

If you’re looking for colocation or server hosting in Los Angeles, contact Electric Kitten. For almost two decades, they have provided reliable colocation service, along with other web hosting options such as shared hosting and dedicated servers. Their colocation clients will have access to a state-of-the-art SAS-70 facility located in the One Wilshire Building in Los Angeles. Their hi-tech setup will ensure you recover quickly and efficiently from any technical disasters that may happen. For more information, call them today at 877-821-HOST or email them at sales@electrickitten.com.