With regard to the financial difficulties experienced by some of the larger collocation providers, how can I be assured of Alchemy Communications' stability?
Alchemy was incorporated in 1995 and is a privately held growing and profitable company. During our more than ten year history of operation we have always kept the bottom line in mind without compromising service to our customers. Our philosophy has been of control growth to meet the needs of our customers while still allowing Alchemy the ability to give each customer the best in personal attention.
Your facilities are located in Southern California, how safe will my equipment be during an earthquake?
Alchemy's Internet Data Centers (IDCs) are located below ground in seismically qualified buildings. Our Downtown IDC is located in a building built to withstand most natural disasters including magnitude earthquakes; according to county reports the LAX IDC is located in a building that is not near any know earthquake faults.
Is there a meeting room at Alchemy's IDC?
All Alchemy IDCs have facility boardrooms that seat eight and are available for customer use. Although the boardrooms are often available for impromptu meetings, Alchemy's customers can schedule meetings in this room by contacting their Alchemy representative.
For wireless needs, does Alchemy have experience utilizing building rooftop access?
Alchemy is experience utilized rooftop access for wireless technology and has done so for many customers.
What is the level of expertise of the NOC Technical Staff?
Alchemy's diversely trained teams of Technicians and Engineers have expertise in most major technology disciplines, including: Linux, Sun Solaris, SGI IRIX, Windows NT/2000 Server, Cisco Hardware, Extreme Networks, Foundry Networks, and Oracle.
What are the standard products included in your data center space offering?
Alchemy sells the following:
Single server space
1/4, 1/2 or full rack
1/2 or full cabinet
Private cage space (standard & custom)
Do you offer Internet connectivity?
All of the above data center space can be purchased with or without Internet connectivity and bandwidth (we are "carrier neutral'). We offer very high quality blended bandwidth made up of top providers. Utilizing our network architecture and advanced routing technologies, we are able to route data through the Internet in a manner that minimizes the use of congested public exchanges and peering points. This optimal routing of data over the matrix of networks that makeup the Internet enables higher transmission speeds, lower instances of data packet loss and greater quality of service.
What type of managed services do you offer?
Alchemy’s managed services include server monitoring, site network administration, firewall services, backup services, load balancing services, storage services and custom designed customer specific services.
What Web streaming services do you offer?
Alchemy offers end-to-end video and audio web streaming services that include Storage, Encoding, Web Site Integration, Live Streaming, On-demand Streaming, and detailed Reporting.
What level of expertise do the Network Operations Center (NOC) technical staff have?
Alchemy's technical staff has a very high level of expertise and experience. Years of working with a large variety of customers from high traffic well know sites to smaller lesser known sites has allowed Alchemy’s staff to gain useful cutting edge real world knowledge of servers, equipment and the Internet. Alchemy uses this knowledge to deliver an outstanding operational record for our customers.
What type of fire suppression system does your data center have?
Alchemy's data centers utilize fire suppression systems that are multi-zoned, dry pipe, pre-action fire suppression systems. They are activated via under-floor and over-head smoke detectors. Only when zones have been activated by smoke do the pipes fill with water. If caps get melted by heat, water will only be sprayed in the impacted areas. The systems are monitored 24x7.
Does your Data Centers have security?
Around the clock personnel control access to Alchemy's Internet Data Centers. Additionally, on site personnel monitor our data center 24x7 through security cameras inside the facility.
Does your IDCs have back up power back?
Yes they do. Our buildings have UPS systems backed up by diesel generators.
Questions for Dedicated Servers
Are there standard dedicated server options?
Yes some of the standard option available are:
1. Firewall - $50.00/month. The firewall offers the following: 30 Mbps Firewall Throughput, 5 Mbps VPN 3DES Throughput, 5,000 Concurrent Sessions, 1,000 New Sessions/Second, 5 Site-to-Site IPSec VPN Tunnels.
2. Online Backup - 30 Gigs of storage at $30.00/month. Customer is responsible for transferring their data to the online backup storage via ftp. Tape backup of online storage is done with the following schedule: weekly full, daily incremental, with 2 weeks retention. Any data not on the online storage will not be backed up. Additional backup storage is sold in 30 gig increments at $30.00/month for each additional 30 gigs.
3. KVM over IP - $35/mo. with a one year commit, or a one-time three hours period of use for $150. KVM over IP device allows users to control computer equipment using the remote users consoles (keyboard, monitor and mouse).
How long does it take to set it up the service?
1 to 4 business days.
If I pre-pay for the first year, after the first year, can I renew each year for the same initial price by again prepaying for the whole year?
The answer is probably yes, but in this economy it is not possible to project with absolute certainty what our cost (power etc.) in the future will be.
If I first choose to purchase using the monthly option, can I later choose to prepay for one year at the special one year pre-pay price?
No.
Can promo code discounts be applied every month?
Promo code discounts are applied only one time toward your first payment. Our regular pricing thereafter is still a very good value.
Do you have options for people to install their own hardware into your facility?
Yes, Instead of ordering a dedicated server you can choose to order colo services from us. Alchemy has years of experience offering colo services to our customers. Our data centers are audited under the high SAS 70 type 2 standard required by many of our colo customers that are public companies.
Do you have an automated remote reboot system for your dedicated servers?
We do not have an automatic reboot system, but our staff would be happy to reboot your server.
What OS do you offer for your Basic Dedicated Server?
CentOS is the standard OS that our dedicated servers comes with by default, but Ubuntu, FreeBSD and Debian are free options upon request.
Will there be any control panel such as CPanel, WHM, Confixx or Plesk installed on the server?
A control panel does not come free with the standard offering but can be purchased at an additional cost. All you need to do is request a custom quote.
What is the SLA for these servers?
See our "Dedicated Server 100% Uptime Guarantee".
Can I have additional features such as a bigger hard drive, more memory, more transfer TB, MS SQL or different processor added to the standard dedicated server?
Yes, all you need to do is request a custom quote.
What if I only want the server for 6 months?
Choose the month to month option.
Will I have root access to the box?
Yes, this is standard.
Will you be responsible for security patch updates or will this be my responsibility?
This will be your responsibility.
Will I have Console Access?
No. You will need to purchase KVM at $35/mo. with a one year commit, or a one-time three hours period of use for $150.
What Type / Level of maintenance do you offer with this solution?
Hardware only. For additional support, our NOC staff can be contracted for on an hourly basis ($150.00/hour) billed in 15 minute increments.
Will I be able to run more than 1 IP address if required?
Yes, up to 5.
On the standard dedicated server who will be responsible for backups?
You are, but you can purchase online backup from us at an additional cost.
How easy will it be to upgrade (scale up) if my requirements increase?
Custom upgrade options are available.
