Posts filed under 'Inside 59Box'
We had been quiet for a while but we had not been idle. Last week, We just launched our hosting service in Singapore. We have a local presence in Singapore through a partner so it is not just a virtual presence but physical as well.
As previously posted, our VPS servers are based in Singapore. Singapore is an excellent option (beside Hong Kong) China users. It does not have the registration requirement (备案) for website and yet fast enough for most China users.
If you like to try out our VPS, drop me a line and I can setup a test server for you.
More service improvement are coming your way, so if you don’t see them, just ask.
August 10th, 2007
We had integrated PayPal as one of our hosting payent option so customer who do not transact in Chinese Yuan can simply pay us in US Dollars through PayPal.
With PayPal you can also use your credit card for payment, simply make the appropriate selection as you check out.
We believe this removes a huge obstacle in purchasing hosting in China for foreigners.
On the credit card payment front, after much struggle we decided to drop ChinaBank (网银在线) in favor of EximBay a Singapore-Korean online payment solution. The integration is well underway, so expect yet another payment option soon.
With so many payment options, there is sure to be one that suits you. (Let us know if there is a particular payment option that you like us to have)
Online Payment in China had come a long way, but there are still nitty gritty details that get into the nerves of merchants. This is one reason why there are many individual payment using solution like AliPay but not many merchant solution using credit card.
One of our goal is to facilitate ecommerce setup in China. Talk to us if you are planning ecommerce in China.
May 23rd, 2007
We are great fan and supporter of the open source movement. When getting ready our hosting service, one of the questions we asked was whether to go open source or buy commercial softwares.
We like to go for open source, but it means more work. The extra work probably cost more than if we just pay for the commercial products. But we thought, since we are at it - bring new ideas to hosting in China - we might as well introduce and promote something we believe in - open source.
Open source is huge in the hosting space. For example, eight of the ten most reliable web hosters run their sites on the open source operating system Linux. (Someone should start a similar measurement within China but not surprised if there is one already.)
But Windows hosting is huge in China. Just about every hosting company provide Windows hosting. And just about any small, medium website is hosted on the Windows platform. Not sure how many of those are licensed copies, though. Ever notice in China Linux hosting seems to cost more than Windows hosting? Looks like some cost is missed out somewhere. Imagine BSA going into the datacenter and start shutting down each server that does not have a license. Gives you a grin thinking about it doesn’t it.
We decided to stand behind what we believe in and use open source control panel for hosting as well. Sorry cPanel and Plesk fans, we like them very much too, save us lots of energy, but it is open source all-the-way this time.
Virtualmin is the control panel we will provide by default because we know and use it for a long time. There are a couple more open source control panel around and we like very much to partner with people who can support these panels.
Please get in touch if you like to showcase your favorite control panel to our China hosting users. We can work out a win-win-win business model for you, we and the open source project.
March 10th, 2007
Many things are cheap in China unfortunately web hosting is not one of them.
I not saying this so that we can get our customer to pay more. (And we will never do that, ever.)
Before we became a hosting company in China ourselves, we tried to find hosting with rock-bottom price like those American hosters (for like $5 a month, unlimited everything!). After talking to people and understanding the market, we learnt that the are factors with make cheap hosting very unlikely.
On critical factor is IP scarcity (more on this topic another time). Economic 101, scarcity increase, demand increase, price increase. There are just too few IP to go around. I recall a source mentioning the whole of China has as many IP address allocated as Stanford University.
Monopoly of infrastructure. Again Econ 101, monopoly or oligopoly props up prices. Datacenters, backbones are owned by a few powerful players. There isn’t any real competition to drive down price or push up service level.
Finally, surprise, surprise, server hardwares are not cheaper (and often more expensive) in China. For example, check out Dell’s price for the PowerEdge 860 in US and in China.
So with a high base cost, the price can only go so low. As price goes lower, service and reliability suffered.
Our journey to drive down cost and improve reliability for our own hosting usage led to the decision to set up a new hosting company and share our effort with customers.
As we grow, we are committed to find innovatives way to push the standard and value of hosting services.
March 2nd, 2007
For those that are in China, I hope you have a great Chinese New Year holiday. It look like not many people took our China hosting survey over the holiday period.
So if you haven’t, head over and give us your thoughts on how we can be the hosting company that you want to do business with. Do let your friends in China know about us too.
Technically we are operational, however the holiday season delayed our work somewhat. Frankly we underestimated the holiday disruption. So it will take a little longer to test and get ready.
But if you have any hosting requirement right now, please give me a buzz. (021) 54243435 or email sales (at) 59box dot com. I will help get your website up and running.
February 27th, 2007