Hey guys,
I just lost a client to these guys and I'm wondering how they can offer these prices?

How can these guys offer dedicated servers for $99 a month?
Their reseller plans are riduculously cheap aswell

http://www.serversaustralia.com.au

From what I've sniffed out, they seem to be AUS based, but jezuz $99 for a dedicated server in AUS OR the US !?

What am I missing?

its a whitebox (ie. not a brand name pc) and its on a 12 month contract
so straight up you have paid 1300 for the service..
plus you pay heaps for optional extras:
an extra 160GB hdd is 33/m
which works out to be almost 400 dollars if you are at the start of a 12 month contract.
1GB of ram is an extra 25/m which is roughly 300 dollars on a 12 month contract.

when you think that a 1GB stick of ram is around 50 bucks and a 160gb hdd isnt worth much more, they make their money in other ways.

the 99/m deal is just to get you interested. which you are by the looks of it.

Not interested in moving there, just interested in how they can offer prices like that.
I do wonder what their definition of 'account' is in their plans.

Yep, they're based here in Newcastle.

It's one of the most simple marketing tactics - enticing you with cheap upfront prices. They have been around for years and no doubt will continue for years to come. Of course, if you look at the details, those prices are for a smaller data centre, 10mbps connection, white box, etc.

It's also worth noting that many hosting companies offer more than just web hosting, so they can make money in other ways to help cover the overheads of running web servers at lower costs.

wish my clients designer had more of a clue
I guess the client will find out in the long run

And some charge $99 setup fees for RAID and $35/month.

Very true.

Other companies do the same, Dell is a good one that comes to mind with their home PC line. Same overall model of PC but with differant specs and included offers at differant prices.

Always pays to check one offer/price up as it may have what your looking for at less overall cost once you do all the 'add ons' to a inital lower cost.

IMHO the "smaller data centre" thing isn't a big deal in this case. The data centre in question, whilst not on as large a scale as other data centres, has all the features you come to expect of a decent data centre. Such as back up power with generators, proper cooling, and fire supression (FM200 in this case). Which is more than can be said for certain big boys, such as a large datacentre located in Mascot, Sydney which has no fire supression system that doesn't involve H2O.


Regards,

Voxo

I do agree

Needless to say,
Fire + Water = Good
Water + Servers = Bad

can you please tell me where you are getting that info from

the following is from the EQX website is it all lies ?

Fire Detection and Suppression Equinix

Equinix IBX centers are constructed with cutting-edge fire detection and suppression systems that limit the potential for damage in the event of a fire. Key features of the fire detection and suppression system include:

* Multi-zoned, dry pipe, water-based fire suppression systems with sensory mechanisms (sniffers)
* Dual alarms (heat and/or smoke) activation
* Water only enters the fire suppression system in the event of two cross-zone alarms, and will only disperse in the event of a broken or melted sprinkler-head.
* Any water discharge will be sprinkler-head specific, limiting the potential for damage caused by over-spray.

i understand water is used but it really is a last resort i dont think you would see security or techs running around with buckets of water throwing them on servers

it is also limited to the area the fire has broken out
i mean seriously i dont think it is a big deal

I think Voxo doesnt like Equinix so he keeps bad mouthing them here and on Whirlpool...


chances of a fire in a dc is remote.... how about the TransACT stuff up this morning

main power got cut and UPS didnt kick in.. doh!!!

AussieHQ and other providers in ACT were down...

i don't know why, i prefer EQX over GS any day of the week

but both have there positives and negatives

It's certainly not all lies, it 100% confirms what I stated. It's been this way ever since it opened and was the Pirhana data centre before EQX bought the facility.

Equinix Sydney has a VESDA system to detect a fire, however it has no gas (neither FM200 nor Inergen) fire supression system in place. The only centralised fire supression system in place is dry pipe interlocked water.

If you seriously think that the activation of a water system in a place like Equinix is "no big deal", please think again. At present it is pretty much one wide floor area of co-location space with basically no solid partitioning. The ceiling is also very high inside Equinix, and ceiling level is where the sprinkler heads are located.

So let's say that a fire breaks out somewhere, and is not put out successfully with a fire extinguisher. The dry pipe sprinkler system will be charged with water, and only when it reaches 140 degrees Celcius at ceiling level (in a HEAVILY airconditioned data centre), the water will then deploy from the sprinkler head(s) in the vicinity. By which time, the fire will already be fairly sizeable, the damage from smoke, fire, and water will be catastrophic.

Of course, it's always possible that there will never be a fire, but I wouldn't bank a whole business on it.


Regards,

Voxo

Hello dbox,

It's not "bad mouthing". Please keep personal attacks to yourself, let's stick to the facts.

It's worth highlighting the lack of fire supression at Equinix Sydney, when people are not aware, I think people just don't ask because it's a large data centre and they assume it's "all taken care of". This is nothing against Equinix in general, their overseas facilities are world class, it's just the Sydney facility that's lacking, probably a leftover from the fact that they did not design the data centre and purchased it as it was.

I'm not saying no-one should host at EQX Sydney, I'm simply saying you just need to have this information in mind when purchasing space/hosting there. I have equipment at Equinix myself, but nothing that is not backed up at other data centres as well.

Yes a fire isn't an every day occurance, however if you're paying the price for data centre facilities, ideally you want it to be able to handle most incidents. Also, the more servers, the more chances of a fire, and EQX Sydney has a lot of servers all in the same room.

Sounds like a crappy situation with TransACT today, but seriously "UPS" singular? Not a good sign


Regards,

Voxo

i guess this is why no flammable materials are found inside the data centre

what exactly do you think is in a dc that will cause a fairly sizeable fire?