Last year we pioneered South Africa’s first true Cloud hosting platform, allowing users to deploy and provision fully operational Linux servers in seconds. Our customers have deployed more than 1,250 Linux Servers to date.

We value all the feedback we receive from our loyal customers, and we have seen an unprecedented demand for our Linux Cloud Servers, but Microsoft Windows still remains the most requested features. So, after several months of internal trial and testing phases, we are very excited to finally release Microsoft Windows on the platform.

The technology behind our Cloud Servers allows users to buy Linux or Microsoft Windows servers from the web with full control over the server resources and operating system. CPU, RAM and SAN Storage can be added to the servers on the fly as usage or demand requirements change. Users are also not bound to lengthy contracts with us, and servers are purchased on a month to month basis.

Our Cloud Servers with Microsoft Windows are available in the following configurations or resources – all of which include FREE setup:

*Pricing excludes monthly Windows licensing fees, which are as follows:

• Windows Server Std 2008: R141 p/month
• Windows Web Server 2008: R171 p/month

Our Cloud Servers give you – the user – complete control with full administrator access to your server, allowing you to select you choice of operating system, applications and configuration.

We’ve got a special little something for those of you who are curious to experiment with Cloud Servers – a free trial! Simply click here and sign up.

We received an overwhelmingly positive response when we announced our ADSL line price-cuts – an indication that the broadband war is still raging. Well, we’re taking it to the next level – we’re taking the price cuts to the businesses.

In addition to lowering the line rental costs, we’ve also adjusted our data prices to be more competitive, and we’ve implemented extra features. Our Business DSL products offer a true business-grade service, with lower contention ratios, higher redundancy, network prioritization for business uses and business features like static IPs and soft-capping.

Here’s how our new pricing compares to the competition:

*Telkom prices as of 17/10/2011 & include VAT.

We’ve noticed that the majority of the customers who have moved across to us since we launched our cheaper line rentals, are frustrated Telkom users who are looking for a better deal; and we fear that a large portion of the market is unaware that they can have their ADSL line hosted with an ISP other than Telkom… like us, for example. Transferring your ADSL line to us is quick, easy and involves no additional costs, simply speak to one of our Helpdesk Consultants and they’ll take care of the rest.

These new prices are effective immediately, so it will apply to all our existing customers on 30GB and 50GB Super DSL packages. If you’re not an existing customer, feel free to hop over to our website to check out our latest offerings.

If you already are a RSAWEB customer, and this offer seems particularly enticing, you can upgrade in MYRSAWEB or contact our Help Desk and one of our friendly consultants will take you through the process.

Super low line rentals

Don’t forget, we also offer SA’s lowest ADSL line rental prices, with savings of up to 30% per annum over our competitors.

Want one point of contact? Why not transfer your line over to us.

Moving your ADSL line from Telkom to us is quick and easy, with no additional costs involved. We’ll fully support your line and save you money. Simply contact us and we’ll do the rest.

Today we are proud to announce the release of our new ADSL line rental prices, featuring the lowest ever line rental prices seen by the South African market since the service was introduced in 2002. The new prices offer savings of up to 30% and R1 092 per annum which we’re sure will come as welcome relief to local consumers plagued by a fragile economy, rising inflation and sky-rocketing fuel and electricity costs.

We firmly believe that the high cost of ADSL line rentals is the last barrier to providing affordable broadband access to all South Africans. Consumers have benefitted from the recent price wars over data, but when you add the cost of line rentals, the barrier still remains too high – especially for the lower income groups that have been hardest hit by recessionary pressures and rampant inflation.

Despite the steady fall of ADSL and mobile data costs due to healthy competition over the past two years, the cost of ADSL line rentals has not followed suit.

It’s true that ICASA is making strides in the right direction with LLU (Local Loop Unbundling), but the progress is too slow and too late in the game.

These new prices will not only benefit consumers, but the industry at large. By removing the barriers of high line rental costs, broadband penetration can grow at a faster pace, creating a much larger pool of Internet users. The new prices will also put pressure on the existing incumbents to lower the wholesale prices of line rentals, as we’ve seen was the case with the recent broadband data price wars.

The new prices are available on our consumer Capped ADSL products.

Moving your ADSL line from Telkom is quick and easy. Why not chat to one of our support consultants to get you started?

Check out the full details of our ADSL packages here.

Check out some of the new features:

Improved navigation

The new, slick, drop-down menu system highlights our key services in – Cloud, Hosting Solutions, Web Hosting and Broadband – and makes finding the perfect solution for your needs a breeze.

New design aesthetic

The look-and-feel of the latest version of rsaweb.co.za is more streamlined, cleaner, and represents our commitment to fast, friendly and efficient customer service.

Space to breathe

Full-width column layout and larger, easy-to-read matrixes makes reading up about any RSAWEB product an absolute pleasure.

Get support faster

We’ve paid close attention to improving our support mechanisms on the site – particularly the live chat function – now both our Support and Broadband Sales teams are ready to assist you as you browse.

Integrated blog

Our blog (previously at www.shoutout.co.za) is also fully integrated into our site – you can now see all our latest blog posts on the home page in the ‘News’ banner or click through to our blog to see what we’ve got to say. We often chat about new products offerings, latest developments, news about our sponsored cycling teams – Team RSAWEB, and sometimes we just like giving away some of our Geek Gear  to our loyal followers and fans.

We’d love to hear your feedback/comments on the new site. Leave a comment on this post, or drop us an email.

“We did not change as we grew older; we just became more clearly ourselves.”

- Lynn Hall

This week we are giving away a pair of these social-media-meets-real-world tees, which come with a guarantee to help you add friends in both the real and online world.

As usual, winners are randomly selected from various peeps that we’ve interacted with via twitter or facebook during the course of the year.

The acquisition comes as a result of a increased demand for Cloud services. It’s clear to us that South African businesses are waking up to the advantages of Cloud hosting as opposed to traditional hosting models like in-sourced Data Centres and dedicated servers. We also believe that the prolific emergence of innovative technology companies and supporting community-driven bodies such as Silicon Cape are also factors spurring the growth of Cloud services in the mother city.

Earlier this year we introduced South Africa’s first true Cloud Server product, offering consumers needing to host locally a Cloud hosting experience only available through overseas Cloud giants such as Rackspace and Amazon. To date, over two thousand Cloud servers have been provisioned on the RSAWEB Cloud!

One of the most significant aspects of the new DC is the ability to enable dual Data Centre redundancy. The geographic location of the new facility in relation to our flagship Data Centre in Cape Town is a huge competitive advantage. Both Data Centres are directly connected by fibre links – enabling us to replicate data and provide unparalleled redundancy for mission-critical hosting solutions. Further redundancy is added as both Data Centres operate on separate Eskom power grids, and are connected via separate Telkom exchanges. The new facility also boasts high-speed fibre links to Telkom, Neotel and RSAWEB’s own fibre network.

As has been the case historically, our strategy going forward is to build and own our own Data Centres. Looking to the future, we have Johannesburg in our sights for future acquisitions, and are currently looking for suitable opportunities.

The new DC is currently being upgraded, and is set to come online in late December 2010.

A good website is never finished. The fluid nature of the web & technology in general, demands that you need to be constantly upgrading, redesigning and publishing if you want to stay on top.

We often advise clients to adopt a continual improvement philosophy when it comes to their website, encouraging them to keep content fresh and to make a few small improvements every month. However, from time to time a major change is needed, we felt that time had come.

It’s also important to be listing to your users. The site is, after all, for their benefit.

One such example of where we applied this principle was in expanding the pixel dimensions of our site. Based on older web-standards, our website was design to fit within an 800 x 600 pixel PC screen resolution. Usage statistics however, showed us that only 4.5 percent of our users were still using the 800 x 600 pixel resolution, with the majority using 1024 x 768! Consequently, we changed the site to fit the 1024 x 768 resolution, which not only catered to the majority of our users, but also gave us the extra space to add more content and improve the overall usability and aesthetics of the site.

Other noticeable improvements included:

Improved SEO capabilities. this helps users find us easily using search engines such as Google or Yahoo.

More informative. More content around our products and services was added to aid users in making informed decisions.

More Helpful. Various help mechanisms such as our Online Broadband Consultant help users to find what they’re looking for without having to spend money on a phone call.

Refined usability. It’s the little things that improve usability. Accessible menus, adding extra links, removing unnecessary pages/steps.

Got an opinion? go take a look at the improved site here, and let us know what you think.

RSAWEB formally launched it’s new Partner Program at a breakfast event held at the exquisite Ambassador Hotel in Bantry Bay, Cape town Monday. The launch was well supported despite the prevailing hazardous weather conditions (see previous blog post!) Capetonians have been contending with of late. The launch was the culmination of a lengthily process of refining and streamlining the former the program to make it more efficient, partner-friendly and include new product opportunities.

Attendees were treated to a presentation on the current & future opportunities for Internet service providers in South African markets and the complementing range of exciting new products available through the Partner Program such as: Server Virtualization, Hosted Zimbra, Online Backup and Dedicated Servers and how these services can be best leveraged to offer added value to clients.

The program is now available to all entrepreneurially minded businesses looking to build on their existing offerings and create new revenue streams and business opportunities.

To find out more or sign up for the program, click here.