1-Net Singapore is a major driver of broadband in Singapore. It established the nationwide Singapore ONE broadband backbone and network infrastructure and has managed the network since 1997. A wholly owned subsidiary of MediaCorp Group of Companies since Oct. 2000, 1-Net serves as the country's broadband exchange, connecting ISPs, providers of broadband and hosting services, government agencies, educational and research institutions, enterprises, and other IT and telecom service providers.

Besides broadband connectivity, 1-Net provides hosting and managed services, and broadband-enabled an industrial complex that brings e-business service providers together to use the facilities of a wired-up business center. In early 2001, 1-Net saw an opportunity in the hosting services market.

"At one end of the spectrum are those businesses that either do not have Web sites or, at most, basic 'ebrochure'-type sites parked with increasingly untenable providers of free hosting services," says Luke Lee, business development manager. At the other are large enterprises that have the financial, manpower and technical resources to build and operate their own data centers.

Somewhere between the two ends are those who typically co-locate or co-share Web servers at hosting companies or Internet Data Centers, an arrangement that still requires the enterprises to own hardware and have the technical resources to manage the servers and sites. It was in this segment and the 'nil or free site' niche that, according to Lee, "1-Net saw enormous potential for a hosting service that would not require customers to actually own hardware and yet allow them to have access to dedicated hardware and other resources that are virtually their own."

For the vehicle to enable and deliver this virtual hosting service, 1-Net met SWsoft, which was then readying HSPcomplete for market, its solution for hosting service providers. Incorporating virtualization, resource management and clustering features, HSPcomplete allows service providers to offer their customers a full suite of services, from shared Web hosting for small- and medium-sized businesses to cluster configurations for large enterprises.

1-Net signed up for HSPcomplete in April and the hardware platform on which to deliver the virtual hosting service, SWsoft recommended Dell.

"Dell makes very innovative products that use cutting-edge technologies. What we found attractive were the monitoring tools, the Dell Open Manage server management software, and the ease of upgrading. Dell's Intel based servers also have very innovative designs; the built-in redundancy features allow us to actually upgrade the servers without having to remove them from the rack."

Other factors that went into SWsoft's decision to recommend Dell hardware were the pricing that Dell could offer through its 'no middlemen' direct sales model, the speed of delivery, and the availability of a leasing program that reduced upfront expenditure.

1-Net launched its virtual hosting service in August under the Virtual@1-Net brand. The basic plan costs S$15 a month, and gives subscribers their own virtual Web server on 1-Net's broadband network, Web mail, FTP server, Microsoft Front Page 2000/XP extensions and a pre-installed database.

"Customers also have their own administrative or root access rights. Each of them can log in to their own server, deploy their preferred software, and manage the server the way you want. It's effectively their own server and if they need more disk or memory space, an upgrade to a higher subscription plan can be easily performed," says Lee.

The hosting is also ideal for resellers who are providing Web design services as it enables them to have total control of the Web hosting facility without investing in any capital assets. "In fact, since we launched the service, we've had numerous enquiries from would-be resellers, some from as physically far away as the U.S. and Canada," Lee continues.

Once the customers chooses a subscription plan, pays for it, and payment is accepted, HSPcomplete automatically creates a virtual server within the Dell cluster and provides software included in the plan to the server within minutes.