Hosting: a fast, global service

New Zealand may be a long way from anywhere, but we ensure our clients get fast Internet services globally, via our California-based servers which connect to major US Internet backbones with superfast T3 links.

When you host with us, Your site visitors enjoy superb access to your site and you are assured of continued site operation with built-in site redundancy. Our high-performance Web server connects independently at the T3 45 mega-bit/second fiber link provides a huge capacity means excellent access times for site visitors and back-up in case of any problems on any of the backbones.

No matter where you are, you can be sure of fast access and reliable service (and lower costs) by using our US hosting service. To cover tha range of needs, we offer a variety of hosting packages and prices, full secure server hosting for ecommerce applications, and can provide a range of related automation services.

We host many sites keen to gain the advantages a US-based server gives them, from small-scale community-oriented efforts through to major commercial enterprises. All sites receive fast, courteous, helpful attention from our support staff.

Site development will be easier and cheaper, because we provide free standard services such as FormMail and SendMail functions for you or your site developer to use.

Security is well covered, with our secure server and mail encryption services.

Site updating will be less effort, thanks to our automated Web page uploading and downloading, which uses built-in compression for all file transfers.

Microsoft FrontPage support is also available, for those who want the simplest possible approach to site design.

The value of your site will be easy to measure if you select our optional monthly log analysis, which will tell you (among other things) what pages were visited and where surfers came from to get there.

Your site can be a sophisticated money-earner, not just a promotion vehicle, thanks to our custom automation, electronic commerce and dynamic Web site design services.

Your special needs can be handled — our long experience in creating and managing remotely-administered Web sites means we are attuned to particular requirements you may have, such as hosting WebHub-based automated sites.

You'll get quality service, all the time.We're not an ISP catering for thousands of dial-in users — instead, we specialise in Web hosting and automation, giving it our full attention.

Secure server

Although the risks of sending sensitive information (such as credit card details) over the Internet are often exaggerated, they are not zero. A secure server works together with the visitor's browser, using data encryption techniques (known as SSL) to help ensure that even if someone is trying to get at that information, they will be unable to read it.

Consequently, many visitors to Web sites prefer to be able to submit their information via a secure server rather than an ordinary one. To help you provide this capability for your own Web site, we offer the following optional services:

Secure submission for your forms, using forms from your own HTML directory on our secure server
Encryption of emails sent to you from the site (after all, there is limited point in protecting the visitor's form submission if the site is then going to forward it to you in a "plaintext" email)
Credit card validation service, which will ensure that credit card details provided by the visitor have a valid card number and expiry date.
Online transaction processing service, where the card details will not only be validated, but also checked with an online service to ensure it is not stolen or faked. This can be extended to carrying out the transaction itself, depositing the funds in a US bank account.

Hosting prices

Every Website has different needs, but we appreciate you'd like to know the ballpark figures involved before you proceed. Here is a general run-down of the prices relating to our hosting services. We are happy to talk with you further about adapting these to suit your circumstances, whether negotiating a quarterly or annual support contract.

Basic Web Site
Advanced Web Site
Optional Services
FTP Site

Basic Web Site

This package includes:

Storage of up to 10MB of Web pages and support files
Up to 1GB of Internet data transfer per month
Standard server configuration for your site, including provision of private FTP access for site creation and updates
A free registered copy of our WebQueue site management utility, pre-configured to work with your site
Free use by you or your site developer of our standard automation services

Setup Cost: $240
Quarterly Cost: $340 (annual or monthly payments can be negotiated)

There are a variety of optional services available.

Advanced Web Site

This package includes the items noted for the Basic Web site above, plus the following Options:

Storage of up to 50MB of Web pages and support files
Up to 2GB of Internet data transfer
Seven-day-a-week, 24-hour monitoring of a nominated page on your site (a service provided by our Webwatch application). You will be automatically emailed if your site is ever unavailable or "down" when Webwatch checks it
Either:
1. An application "slot" for one WebHub site automation program (WebHub is the advanced site automation framework which we use for our standard site services, as well as most of the highly-automated sites and Web page generators we create)
2. Microsoft FrontPage server extensions installed for your site's maintenance
3. The ability to run your own approved Web automation application

Setup Cost: $350
Quarterly Cost: $720 (annual or monthly payments can be negotiated)

FTP Site

This package includes:

1 GB of data transfer
Storage of up to 5MB of files
Public FTP site (at ftp://webcentre.co.nz/yourname)
Private read/write FTP access to your directories to permit updates

Setup Cost: $150
Monthly Cost: $50

Optional Services

We can provide a broad range of related services, including:

domain management — we will manage your master domain record, pointing it at the Web site for web access, and at your local ISP for email
Website design, for static, automated or fully dynamic Web sites
custom site automation for electronic commerce, online databases or search engines
volume discounts for large-scale storage or traffic
24/7 monitoring of your site with pager notification of our staff for mission-critical monitoring and response
Monthly site log analysis, including the most popular pages and/or downloaded files, how visitors got to your site, visitor country, daily and weekly traffic trends
private FTP access to our secure server
hosting of high-end database-driven applications
multiple currency and realtime transaction processing for ecommerce applications
fast, responsive maintenance operations

Special Notes for New Zealand Clients

Do host on with us on our US servers if:

Your target audience is primarily international or US-based
You want maximum performance and accessibility.
You want a local point of contact
(our Web server may be in California, but we're on hand in your back yard).
You do want to pay in New Zealand currency, but you don't want to pay high charges for international hits on your pages.
You want experienced Web professionals hosting your site.
We're not a month-old startup company, nor are we a vast organisation with a poor grasp of the technical issues involved. We've been satisfying demanding clients since 1989, and creating and hosting complex and extensive Web sites since 1995.

Don't host on our US-based servers if:

Your target audience is only (or largely) New Zealanders. On average, a New Zealand visitor will get better access to a slow NZ-based site than to a fast US-based site (this is not always the case, but is sometimes so at certain times of day). Thus, hosting on our US-based systems won't make life easier for your "average" visitor if they happen to be a New Zealander.
You want us to provide ISP (dial-up and email collection) services as well. As Web specialists, we don't offer dial-up services. However, we'er happy to host your site while your local ISP handles your dial-up and email services.

We can offer hosting with comparable services in New Zealand (including mirroring in New Zealand and the US), so if you want aNew Zealand-based site, please contact us.

If you are looking for server co-location options, our co-location host, HREF Tools Corporation, have some good deals on offer.