• World-class networking
  
  DWDM powered multi-10 Gigabit Ethernet backbone.
• Connected to multiple diverse upstream providers totaling 9 Gbps of Tier-1 Internet Bandwidth.
• Full BGP peering with all providers.
• Fully redundant (N+1) power and air conditioning system.
• Advanced fire protection, suppression, and detection systems.
• Power and network connectivity have two diverse paths into our facility.
• Fully integrated Monitoring System for all critical building, server and network systems
• State of the art Security Technology and 24x7 on-site security staff.
  
• 24x7 Network Operations Center and on-site Data Center Staff.
  
  

• Best-of-breed equipment for routers, firewalls, and servers.
• Full network redundancy.
• 24x7 dedicated/prevention systems ensure network perimeter remains secure.
• Automatic email scanning for virus detection and cleaning provides complete protection.(hosting plans only)

• Enterprise-class backup and restore technology protecting your data. *
• Weekly full backups and daily incremental backups. *
  
• Long term off-site retention. *
  
  *(shared hosting plans only - dedicated server plans require additional purchase)

• Hardened operating system builds. (hosting plans only)
• Host based security. (hosting plans only)
• Vigorous patch management. (hosting plans only)
• In-depth 24x7 monitoring help to ensure that our systems are secure. (hosting plans only)

Some Other Tid-Bits To Keep In Mind About Web Hosting

"So you have that website you’ve always wanted and now you’re looking for any old web hosting provider, right? WRONG!!! There are thousands of web hosting companies out there, all with different levels and types of service, and for the average Joe, it’s impossible to know what web hosting company to choose."

"DON’T DROWN in a SEA of LIES!!! There are tons of hosting companies who want YOUR BUSINESS and they’re SAYING ANYTHING to get it…"

"WE ARE THE BEST, WE ARE RELIABLE’…all that is useless to you. YOU NEED REAL INFORMATION and YOU NEED to do RESEARCH…"

"The GOOD NEWS is we’ve DONE it FOR YOU so you don’t have to."

"Here are the TOP 12 FEATURES that YOU MUST look for when choosing a web hosting provider…"

1. Money Back Guarantee – Don’t get stuck with something you’re unhappy with. If the web hosting provider truly offers what they say they do, they should have no problem offering a full refund policy.
2. 24/7 Customer Technical Support – This is important. There is nothing worse than having your website go down in the middle of the night when you have a big promotion going on. Make sure there is someone to HELP you all day, every day.
3. Control Panel – This area will allow you to control all aspects of your account, such as email accounts, statistics, and configuring things like autoresponders. Make sure your web hosting company has a centralized control panel for you to manage your account.
4. Website Statistics – For your success, it’s important to know who is visiting your site and what pages they click on. Your web hosting company should keep track of all of this information for you, and present it in an easy to read format.  
5. CGI - CGI stands for the "Common Gateway Interface" and is a protocol through which web pages interact with scripts on a server. Your web hosting provider should allow you to install and run CGI scripts in your account.
6. POP Email Accounts - A POP (Post Office Protocol) Email Account is an email account hosted on your site (yourname@yourdomain.com). Your hosting provider should allow you to have at least 10 POP accounts.
7. SSL Secure Server - SSL stands for "Secure Socket Layer" and is a protocol that allows for encrypted transmissions on the web. It is crucial for security when collecting private information from visitors.
8. Password Protected Areas – If you want to create a "members only" section of your site, you will need to make sure that your web hosting provider supports password protected areas.
9. Autoresponders – These allow you to set up automatic replies to specific emails you receive. For instance, if someone requests a price quote from your site, you can setup an autoresponder to immediately send them a thank you email.
10. FrontPage Extensions - Microsoft FrontPage is a web development tool that’s easy to use and it requires that there be special software installed on the URL server called "FrontPage Extensions." Most hosting companies offer them for free.
11. Mailing List Software – This is a great way to keep users and to get new customers. Make sure your web hosting provider supports mailing lists.
12. Potential for Growth – It’s important for your web hosting company to be able to grow with you. It would be a hassle to switch hosting companies because you have grown too large.

Note: In case you’re wondering, 5 Shades Hosting offers ALL of the above.
"Okay, so there you have it. NEVER choose a company that doesn’t offer ALL of the above. But wait, make sure you’re familiar with these THREE terms…"

• Disk Space – The space you’re limited to for your website. The more images, media files (like Flash), and documents you put up, the more space you'll need.
• Bandwidth or Data Transfer – The limit on how much activity (traffic, downloads, etc.) can happen on your website over a certain period of time.
• Website Uptime – The amount of time your website will be up and running online. Every time your website goes down, you lose.

"AND REMEMBER…"

Always test a WEB HOSTING PROVIDER's support before YOU HIRE THEM

Don’t join a hosting company without first testing their support. The best way to test out a host's support is by calling their tech support number. You'll be surprised how many hosts with an 800 number never answer their phones, or have long hold times. E-mailing a hosting company or submitting a ticket to their sales department is not the way to test a host! Many of the companies have incredible response times when contacting their sales department, very few have good times when contacting support. After all they don't make money by supporting you. They only make money by selling to you.

The truth to why many "WEB Hosting Plans" are scams

If it sounds too good too be true it usually is! All hosts have the same basic limitations when it comes to server resources and specs. There is no magic server that has a never ending supply of RAM and CPU. If a host ever claims to give unlimited space or bandwidth DO NOT JOIN THEM. The thing to remember is that the average web site uses about 50 Megs (MB) space and less then 1 gig bandwidth a month. So what hosting companies do is they lie! They make up scam plans with tons of space and bandwidth for around $10 a month. It's a numbers game... Only one or two of every 100 people that signup on the plan are going to use all the bandwidth advertised. So what do they do? They usually terminate the sites that use it saying "your site is using too many resources." They aren't lying about the resource usage. IT'S the truth! Most people don't realize that bandwidth and space used have nothing to do with the server resources being used. Resource usage has to do with the amount of CPU and RAM a site uses. If a site uses a lot of bandwidth they aren't denied service for using their bandwidth they are denied for using up most of the servers CPU and ram. Another thing to remember is that the cheaper the plan is, and the more space / bandwidth included, the more sites per server the host will have to pack in to make their money back. So the lesson here is don't shop for a host based on their plans! You should shop based on years in business, recommendations and experience!

Be careful of hosts that force yearly payments

Another thing you'll notice is that most of these incredible scam plans force you to pay for a year up front to get the good pricing. Why would a hosting company care if you pay monthly or yearly? After all if you're happy with them you're going to end up staying much longer than a year. Merchant fees aren't that much so why? It's because most have horrible support, slow servers, or even tons of downtime. If you were paying month to month, you're not going to stick around, but if you paid for a year up front what are you going to do? You won't get your money back so you have no choice but to stay with them. 5 Shades Hosting offers a full refund for yearly purchases on a pro-rated basis. So you only pay for the months you use and receive a full refund for the balance. That's affordable web hosting.

The truth to a hosts uptime and guarantees

If a hosting company claims 100% uptime they are lying. All servers need to be rebooted every now and then for security and software updates. If they never reboot that means their server is insecure and they will eventually be hacked.

When a company guarantees an uptime, that doesn't make it true. A host has as many uptimes as they have servers. It all depends on what server they put you on, and how well they manage it from the time you're put on it. We guarantee a 99.9 uptime but that does not mean we will hit it every month for eternity. Our guarantee means we give you a 100% refund for the month if we should not hit it. Many hosting companies will give you a prorated refund based on the amount of downtime. So say you pay $10 for a month of hosting and your site is down for 24 / hours. They will refund you for one day of downtime which ends up being about 33 cents. A guarantee is worthless! What is worth something is how they define the guarantee, and if they do in fact honor it.