Rochdale Online takes advantage of bespoke solution through Zen Internet

Ian Kimber, Technical Director at Rochdale Online

Zen Internet has announced the development of a unique dedicated server for one of their highly valued partners, Rochdale Online. This has involved the building and management of a dedicated server to host Rochdale Online’s own web presence and multiple customer web sites.

Rochdale Online is an important source of local information in the Rochdale area, and the Rochdale Online web site covers many areas from local news to sport and entertainment.

The web design and development side of the business is extremely successful and had outgrown the database functionality available with their current hosting space. Rochdale Online therefore turned to Zen Internet with their request for a bespoke dedicated server solution, due to their long-standing relationship with the ISP and position as a Gold ZenPartner.

This is the first contract of its kind at Zen, but after reviewing the requirements, the Zen Hosting Team were able to meet the expectations of the Rochdale company. This involved producing a managed server that would have the capability of supplying a full range of web hosting solutions from a single central management facility.

Ian Kimber, Technical Director at Rochdale Online, explained: “Complex e-commerce sites sometimes require a combination of different hosting packages which can make management of these a headache. The managed server solution from Zen brings all these together in one place and simplifies administration. Rochdale Online can therefore concentrate on what we do best, designing and building web sites, remaining confident that our business can continue to grow and our future hosting requirements are protected."

Zen’s dedicated hosting team keeps the system patched and up to date with all security fixes. Maximum server performance and availability is also provided by Zen through a fully managed and maintained operating system and server hardware. Microsoft SQL Server was the obvious choice, and is a key component of the managed server. Rochdale Online now has complete control over the full range of database functions including security, stored procedures, triggers and user defined functions through the SQL Server.

Iain Johnstone of Zen Internet commented: “Rochdale Online is a highly valued ZenPartner and our dedicated Hosting Team worked to provide them with this unique managed solution. As they are connected to Zen’s award winning Internet backbone, via TeleCity’s state of the art data centre in Manchester, they can be assured of a high quality and reliable service. With increased control over their server, they can continue to grow as a successful web site design and development business.”