ICANN identifies “established” companies as:

“Established corporations, organisations, or institutions in good standing may apply for a new gTLD. Applications from individuals or sole proprietorships will not be considered. Applications from or on behalf of yet-to-be formed legal entities, or applications presupposing the future formation of a legal entity (for example, a pending Joint Venture) will not be considered.”

ICANN feels that the “new gTLDs will change the way people find information on the Internet and how businesses plan and structure their online presence. Internet address names will be able to end with almost any word in any language, offering organisations around the world the opportunity to market their brand, products, community or cause in new and innovative ways.”

This shift towards IPv6, a numbering system for Internet addresses that expands the number of devices that can be connected directly to the Internet, and the rapidly expanding number of languages used on the Internet are listed as the main factors behind the need for a larger number of gTLDs.

Want to claim a “vanity domain”?
Be prepared for a rather drawn out procedure! Companies are required to produce an application rumoured to be 360-pages, and endure background checks on its officers and financial statements. Applicants endure a 2-month long review process where each new TLD will be evaluated for potential issues which may compromise the integrity of the DNS.

Don’t forget the cost implications…
Companies will need to hand over a cool $185,000.00, and an additional quarterly fee of $6,250 to keep the domain running.

2012: The year the Internet changes
ICANN will receive applications for new domain names for 90 days from 12 January 2012, and it’s said that the new website suffixes will appear in late 2012. We can expect to see them categorised by subjects including industry, geography and ethnicity, and will include Arabic, Mandarin and other scripts.

The availability of gTLDs is the biggest change in the Internet DNS since the arrival of .com 26 years ago.

So, if you’re interested in claiming your “vanity” domain, we suggest you save you pennies…. alternatively, you can have a look at the multitude of domain extensions we have on offer.

Following recent aggressive peering moves by local ISPs (namely Mweb), peering has once again come to the fore as an issue the ISP industry needs to grapple with.

Firstly, here are the facts concerning RSAWEB customers:

1. We peer openly

We peer openly (settlement free) with all other ISPs, including Mweb. This means that Mweb customers accessing RSAWEB hosted content will not be affected at all by recent events. All traffic between Mweb and RSAWEB is routed locally, and openly.

2. We have our own network and Data Centres

This means we are not reliant on any one single ISP network to route traffic. We are free to route local traffic in a way that ensures the best customer experience.

The end result is a higher quality of service for customers driving traffic between us and Mweb.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, peering is the mutual exchange of traffic across administratively separate networks. The purest form of peering is ‘settlement free’, meaning that neither party pays for traffic routed across each other’s network. Interconnect fees charged by local ISPs to connect to each other’s networks, are one of the reasons for the high bandwidth costs that plague consumers.

Our vision has always been for local ISPs to peer freely with one another, using the shortest route possible. Not only would this make connectivity cheaper, but it would also improve the overall quality of service. Sadly, not all local ISPs share the same view, and these incumbents do not peer freely with all other ISPs.

As a result, the recent move by Mweb to sever connections with all other local ISPs who do not peer directly with them has caused problems for hosting providers who are reliant on the local networks provided by such ISPs. Mweb customers accessing locally hosted content previously accessible via these severed networks will now see a much slower connection than before, as the traffic is now routed internationally instead of locally.

This has subsequently raised concerns amongst our customer base as to how these recent events will impact Mweb broadband customers accessing content hosted by RSAWEB, and if clients hosting with RSAWEB should be concerned for any reason. However, as mentioned before, because we peer openly and own our connectivity network, RSAWEB customers will not be negatively impacted in any way.

If your business is web-enabled in some way or form, it would be in your best interests to understand what the geeks are droning on about.

We’ve created a simple guide to Cloud Computing for those who are wanting to gain a basic understanding of the topic – a concise guide for the uninitiated.

Read it online here. Or download it and share it with friends in pdf format.

Enjoy.

Apart from great organisation, speakers, and coffee, conference delegates generally rate WiFi connectivity as one of the most important needs at a conference. So, while the word spread that the number of registered Net Prophet delegates (Net Prophet is a South African conference we sponsor) was fast approaching the 900 mark, we were meticulously plotting how we were going to provide free WiFi; whilst trying to figure out exactly how many devices would be connected on the day, and at any given time.

From last year’s conference (400 delegates), we learnt that balancing the load across eight 1mb/s connections was simply not going to cut it this time. We needed to find something that would allow 900+ delegates to freely tweet, upload, download, check emails, send emails and chat to their friends who were missing out on the conference.

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/mikestopforth/status/13910019982"]
 

Some of the challenges that face conference WiFi are:

1. Providing enough back-haul Internet capacity
2. Limiting per user download and upload speed
3. WiFi coverage within the venue
4. Wireless interference
5. Wireless Access Point congestion

Net Prophet takes the form of a one day conference held in a large conference facility. We calculated that we would need an Internet back-haul link total with the capacity of about 20Mb/s down and 10Mb/s up to give the largely tech crowd a great experience. We provisioned this directly from our Data Centre in Cape Town via 2 5.8Ghz point to point wireless links to the roof of the conference venue.

Inside the venue we set up a Linux firewall to provide DHCP along with per protocol queuing to ensure that no single user was able to abuse the service and slow speeds down for others.

Quality of service needed to be assured and our techs set up a few ‘queues’ on the router. The router would evaluate traffic and put it into the relevant queue (email, Web traffic, torrents, and ‘other’), which we monitored throughout the day, allowing us to adjust the queues accordingly should any latency be experienced. We also prioritised bandwidth to websites we knew would be accessed during the day by most users like Twitter, Facebook, Twitpic, Bitly and a few others.

To cover the venue in a WiFi blanket we used technology from Xirrus in the form of 16 access points each, with the radio turned down to 50% and with a sectorized antennae to focus the signal. Due to the constraints of the 2.4Ghz technology it is important not to overload individual access points but rather try to spread the load across as many access points as possible.

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/smagdali/status/13919804313"]
 

When conference delegates arrive in the morning there is usually a surge in usage, as everyone turns on their laptops, iPhones and iPads. To manage this and ensure all delegates got a reasonable connection, we rate limited each wireless connection to 2Mb/s. During the morning session, there were on average 132 devices connected and we were downloading approximately 2Mbps – 4Mbps (30% of which was for email). After the first tea break, news obviously spread about the free WiFi connectivity, so we removed the limiting. The number of devices connected immediately increased to 165. Continuous downloading on the link then jumped to between 5 Mbps – 8Mbps (90% being Web traffic) with the maximum being 14.9 Mbps, but as much as 10Mbps for extended 5 minute periods.

Towards the end of the conference, Web traffic decreased to 4Mbps, email traffic virtually disappeared, and ‘other’ traffic increased. Interestingly enough, the lowest traffic – less than 2Mbps – was recorded during Richard Mulholland’s presentation (Social Media: The side effects), just proving that we all “Stopped. Listened and took thing in.”

Of the 900+ delegates in attendance, only 1 person made an attempt at a torrent, but that was only for about 20 minutes before we stopped him (or her). Other than that, it was a very responsible crowd!

We are very proud to announce the launch and immediate availability of True Cloud Servers – a cloud hosting platform that allows users to deploy and provision fully operational servers in just seconds. The first of its kind in South Africa, True Cloud Servers offer benefits previously unavailable to businesses hosting locally.

There are 2 key differences between our True Cloud Servers and currently competing products: (1) The speed at which servers can be deployed and provisioned; and (2) the flexibility and scalability of any given solution. The business benefits of this product explained in further detail on our website.

With True Cloud Servers new servers can be up and running in minutes, and new server resources allocated on-demand to cater for resource hungry applications or sudden website traffic spikes. This is the next evolution in hosting…. Hardware as a Service.

The technology behind True Cloud Servers allows for flexible control of server resources through the use of Cloud Nodes. Users can maintain optimal server conditions by adding resources from Cloud Nodes whenever they lack CPU, memory or other server resources. These resources can also be controlled on a day-to-day basis, as the demands placed on the server change. Users only purchase the resources they need, and only pay for what’s provisioned.

As with traditional server offerings, True Cloud Servers give the user complete control with full administrator access to their server, allowing them to select their choice operating system, applications and configuration.

A key factor for business who may consider using cloud services is the recent increase in available bandwidth and the resulting decrease in the costs thereof. This makes True Cloud Servers a viable option for businesses that need to host locally.

With regards to potential security concerns in the Cloud, users have nothing to fear. We, as the Service Provider, do not have access to any of our customers’ servers; each server is independent of the others in the Cloud. Organisations like Google and the UK Government are already utilising similar hosting platforms with great success.

True Cloud Servers are available in 256MB (@ R256 p/m), 512MB (@ R395 p/m), 1G (@ R695 p/m), 2G (@ R995 p/m) and 4G (@ R1,495 p/m), and setup for all of these options are free. Find out more about our packages here.

Curious about this new product? Try it out risk free with our free trial offer.

WordPress is a blog publishing application which may be used for basic content management and focuses on web standards and usability. Features include, but are far from limited to: a user-friendly workflow, rich plugin architecture and an advanced templating system. WordPress is free and has become one of the most popular blog software applications used. RSAWEB provides web-hosting packages suitable for hosting WordPress sites.

Bit.ly and Goo.gl are used to shorten the length of your URL, enabling you to share the link easily, Tweet and email to it to friends, with the objectives being: stability (ensuring the services have good uptime), security (protecting users from malware and phishing pages), speed (fast resolution of short URLs) and tracking (see how many people followed your link).

Google Analytics is a valuable tool which allows you to track the traffic information associated with your blog. You can view the number of unique visitors, page views, as well as how the visitors arrived at your site. This information provides you with useful insights into your target audience, hence preparing you to write better-targeted content and strengthen your marketing initiatives.

Google Feedburner allows bloggers the ability to create and manage their own custom RSS feeds and track the usage of their subscribers and readers. It is the leading tool for media distribution and audience engagement services for blogs and RSS feeds assisting bloggers, podcasters and commercial publishers to promote, deliver and ultimately profit from their blog.

Disqus expands on your blog’s discussion community through using Discus Comment as a comment system and moderation tool for your site, also allowing users to comment via their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

TubeMogul, if you decide to include video into your blog, then TubeMogul is the tool for you. TubeMogul presents the blogger with a single point for deploying uploads to multiple video sharing and media sites. Additionally, the analytic technology aggregates your video-viewing data to give users the information as to who, when, where and how often their videos are being watched.

HubSpot gets you found online with advanced inbound marketing tools and shows you how to convert more visitors into leads. The full package will burn a hole in your pocket, with the cost of packages ranging from US$250 to US$12,000 p/month. However, the 7-day free trial should give you a fair understanding into the products capabilities. There are also HubSpot free tools available at Website Grader, and Twitter Grader which will analyze your Twitter account, followers and Twitter habits.

These suggested tools are merely the entrance gate to a whole world of apps that will assist any blogger with getting the most out of their blog. There’s an app that will suit a bloggers every need, it’s just a question of: Which one is your favourite?

1. Cloud based Technologies
With the success and rapid adoption of cloud based technologies in international markets, it’s only a matter of time before this game-changer reaches our shores, offering services that are faster to market than ever before. Expect some big developments in this space from RSAWEB in the near future.

2. Modular Data Center design
A more modular approach to data centre design will be employed, only providing resources for space being utilized. Previously, newly-built data centers often had huge areas of vacant floor space, fully powered and backed by an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), water-and air-cooled while they were predominantly empty.

3. Flash Memory
Flash memory is not a new technology, but it is only now beginning to gain momentum as the price drops with increasing demand.

According to international research company Gartner, at the current rate of price drops, this technology will enjoy more than a 100 percent compound annual growth rate during the new few years and become strategic in many IT areas including consumer devices, entertainment equipment and other embedded IT systems.

4. Virtualization for Availability
Recent developments in virtualization technology such as live migration, has brought a new focus on this technology, which now provides higher availability than before. Such developments will allow for the cost and complexity systems to be reduced.

5. Mobile Applications
An often overlooked factor in a country that has 3 times more mobile internet users than broadband users. By the end of 2010, Gartner predicts that world wide 1.2 billion people will carry handsets capable of rich, mobile commerce providing a prosperous environment for the convergence of mobility and the Web.

It’s astounding, time is fleeting

But listen closely, not for very much longer

I’ve got to keep control

The blackness would hit me and the void would be calling

Let’s do the time warp again!

For more news and interesting insight cloud devices like the Amazon Kindle follow us on twitter

For the months of April & May, we’ll be giving away one of these stunning limited edition Geek t-shirts every week. To enter, all you need to do is add @RSAWEB to your ‘following’ list (not to be confused with ‘followers’) on your twitter account. Each week we’ll select a new follower to be the recipient of one of these fashion gems.

Following RSAWEB on twitter, you’ll get real time news and updates and access to industry insights from our experts. Plus, you’ll be able to join in the conversation, engaging with us and our twitter following.

Our twitter address is http://www.twitter.com/rsaweb

T’s available in #000000 only.

If your ads work, if you can measure them and they return more profit than they cost, why not keep buying them until they stop working?

And if they don’t work, why are you running them?

The time-tested response is that you’re not sure, that ads are risky, that you can’t tell. …

Digital ads are different (or they should be). You should know cost per click and revenue per click and be able to make a smart guess about lifetime value of a click. And if that’s positive, buy, buy, buy.

And if you don’t know those things, why are you buying digital ads?

We do a lot of online advertising through various providers and it is amazing how scientific you can get in order to gain real value from the medium. Online ads have totally changed the marketing landscape and we no longer rely on made up stats like “readership” and “circulation” that off line print media rely on the help justify their advertising costs.  I’m not saying don’t use “off line” media, as not all of your target audience are necessarily online, but it sure does help to focus your marketing efforts with stats such as cost per click and revenue per click.

The one thing about online advertising is that you need to actively track them.  Gone are the days of sending off an advert to your favorite magazine and then waiting for the phone to ring. Today, you can see exactly how your online ads are performing, who is viewing them and if they are delivering real business results. All in real time. Its amazing how the Internet is revolutionising marketing and the way we reach customers.