1. Possible Colocation Service Providers

Currently, the Hcoop Inc. group planning the next server architecture is compiling a list of companies that we will contact with our quote request letter, detailed on the page ProspectiveHostsQuoteRequest. All members are invited to submit new companies to the pool that will be considered for hosting our next architecture by the deadline of April 14, 2006. You may also petition to remove hosting companies from consideration by that date.

In order to remove or add companies from consideration, you may modify the list of companies below. If for any reason you would prefer not to modify the wiki page, email JustinLeitgeb at justin@phq.org and he will modify the wiki page for you.

Also, JustinLeitgeb will be the default representative from the group to send out the quote requests, unless anyone else volunteers. If certain members would like to contact any of the hosting companies below, perhaps to maintain continuity of a relationship, add a comment stating this next to the name of the appropriate company below.

Once we begin to receive requests from the companies concerned, the results will be posted for member review on the page ServiceProvidersReview. The hcoop discussion email list will be mailed to indicate when results are ready for review as we lead up to a vote.

1.1. List of Providers we will send our Quote Request to

This is the list of providers, in alphabetical order, that we will send our quote request to, once the letter on ColocationPlans has been finalized. All will be contacted by JustinLeitgeb unless noted otherwise to the right of the company name.

• [http://www.gaiahost.coop/ GAIA Host]

• [http://www.he.net/ he.net] Large colo provider with two? data centers and a solid reputation.

• [http://www.inreach.com/ InReach]

• [http://nyccp.net/ New York Community Colo Project] -- This seems to be run by riseup.net, but it is closer to where I am located, which means I could potentially show up in an emergency or for upgrades. Nathan, can you see what the status of this project is as well?

• [http://www.peer1.net/ Peer1] Another large colo provider, with about 5 data centers. Perhaps slightly larger than he.net.

• [http://www.riseup.net/ riseup.net] (riseup.net seems to be the sponsor of [http://seaccp.org/ The Seattle Community Colo Project], which may be a more updated information source) Not sure if they are a viable option but interesting. I have sent a quote request to Riseup.net --NathanKennedy

• [http://www.simpli.biz/ Simpli] (my personal favorite so far --AdamChlipala)

1.2. Service providers no longer in contention, unless members have valid reasons for including them in the pool

• [http://www.monkeybrains.net/ Monkey Brains]

  • This is a one-man shop renting cabinets from a real datacenter. I don't think this guy is capable of providing the support we need. Very disturbing FAQ line:

    Is there a hidden bandwidth limit?

    I haven't had any 'heavy' users, so the limits have yet to be tested.

    In other words, he's not much bigger than we want to be, soon. --NathanKennedy

    (FYI - I think that most of the colo providers we are looking at here are small companies or individuals renting from data centers. Even Simpli still just rents two "cages" or rooms from a larger data center. The only exceptions to this might be bigger shops like [http://www.he.net he.net] that have their own data centers. -- JustinLeitgeb)

1.3. Previous information that was gathered about existing service providers who may be helpful to us

Who should we consider for hosting our next hcoop architecture?

Some providers that have come recommended:

• [http://www.gaiahost.coop/ GAIA Host]

• [http://www.inreach.com/ InReach]

• [http://www.monkeybrains.net/ Monkey Brains]

Responses to an e-mail AdamChlipala sent to the [http://communitycolo.net/ CCCP] mailing list:

• [http://www.simpli.biz Simpli]. The owner of the company told me via e-mail that, as a 501(c)12 corporation, we could pay "30-40% off of our list prices."

  • That would be awesome if they actually did that. Their list prices look reasonable to begin with. Hopefully they understand what 501(c)(12) is and aren't assuming our organization is a charity. Of course we would still need to compare their service etc. Also this is assuming we *do* get tax-exempt status...it will probably take a while yet. Best case scenario is that we get an acceptance letter sometime next month--I will call them in a week or so anyway to see what the status is. Statistically it is likely they will bounce some questions back at us requiring a few more rounds before approval. Worst case scenario is they deny it outright with prejudice, leaving administrative appeal as the only option (which tends to be a losing option). --NathanKennedy

Other possibilities for hosting that have been mentioned:

• [http://www.he.net He.net]. He.net has been around a long time and has lots of redundancy in terms of connections. There is no special discount for coops or not-for-profits, but their prices seem to be reasonable. Specifically, I was given an unofficial quote on 9/11/2005 for 7U of space (12"). Using 1Mbps would be $300 per month, or 2 Mbps would be $250 per Mbps per month up to 4Mbps. I believe that if we went with He.net we would probably end up buying and configuring our own servers, configuring them and sending them to the facility. In case of hardware issues, we may want to check out their hourly cost for "remote hands". This service was cited as a possibility by JustinLeitgeb to the hcoop mailing list.

Response from Riseup.net:

• You should see the seattle community colocation project at http://seaccp.org/. SCCP is a separate and mostly autonomous project of riseup.net. It functions as a democratic colocation cooperative, although the riseup collective has final say because we are fiscally liable.

  Anyway, you should contact the sccp at colo@riseup.net. This ticket system is for riseup.net specific questions, and sccp is largely separate. The colocation donation is sliding scale, but generally our costs are $50/server/month, depending on power usage. SCCP asks people to pledge to donate more if their server is using more than 1Amp. -elijah

• I have written to SCCP and NYCCCP for quotes. --NathanKennedy

1.4. See Also

Pages that are related to this are ColocationPlans, which is the main page for discussion of the new architecture, and SystemArchitecturePlans, which provides details and diagrams on hardware and software configuration issues related to the new hcoop network.