Web Hosting Provider Uses Powerful Web Servers to Meet Customers’ Expectations
Overview
Country or Region: Germany Industry: Hosting and application service providers Customer Profile With more than a million customers, STRATO AG is the second-largest Web hosting provider in Europe. The company has more than 30,000 servers in two high-performance computer centers and manages more than 3.5 million domains. Business Situation STRATO wanted to offer its customers powerful IT outsourcing solutions and the professional environment of a highperformance computer center. Solution STRATO became the world’s first dedicated Web server hosting service to use Windows Server® 2008. Benefits Better performance Easier system management More options for customers Energy savings of 30 percent per customer
“Windows Server 2008 fits in perfectly with our efficiency strategy. It makes the hardware more efficient and at the same time has some interesting new functions.”
Julien Ardisson, Chief Technology Officer, STRATO AG
Customers continually expect more from their Web hosting providers. Web 2.0 services and the proliferation of Web services are constantly pushing the boundaries of technology. So for customers with high expectations, STRATO AG is now offering dedicated servers in its two professional computer centers. The Berlin-based IT company has taken into account aspects such as security, performance, and availability as well as energy consumption. Now STRATO is the world’s first Web hosting provider to make the Windows Server® 2008 operating system available. STRATO offered Windows Server 2008 even before it was released to manufacturing because the company was one of the first to test the new Microsoft® operating system—with very positive results. What is more, Windows Server 2008 requires fewer resources than the previous version.
Situation
STRATO AG has grown from being Germany’s Internet pioneer into a Europewide operator. More than a million customers in six European countries place their trust in Europe’s second-largest Web hosting provider. More than 30,000 servers run in its two computer centers, hosting more than 3.5 million domains and handling around four billion hits per month. The Berlin-based company has 485 employees. STRATO receives regular certification that the data in its computer centers is securely saved. And maximum availability is achieved by an up-to-the-minute hardware configuration and a direct link to the fiberoptic backbone of its parent company, freenet AG. Energy consumption is also a high priority for the company. “STRATO is a pioneer in climate protection and energy efficiency in the international IT sector,” says Markus Schrodt, Chief Executive of Product Management at STRATO AG. That is why in 2008 the company started to obtain all its power from the BadenWürttemberg company NaturEnergie AG, which generates power with TÜV certification exclusively from 100 percent carbon dioxide−free and environmentfriendly water power. The STRATO customer structure is highly varied, ranging from ordinary Web space users to technically adept private users, midsize companies, and major clients. “Around 30 percent of our customers are business clients,” says Schrodt. The hosting of dedicated servers using the Windows Server® 2003 Standard Edition operating system is a major branch of the company’s business. Schrodt explains the advantages. “The servers are operated professionally in our computer centers, and customers can keep track of
their costs. Security, performance, and service are top priorities.” STRATO offers a range of professional ebusiness services that are used primarily by companies in the B2B and B2C sectors. These services are also beneficial for technology enthusiasts for whom the cost of running their own servers would be prohibitive. With the growing number of sophisticated Web 2.0 products and the conversion of company software to Web services, many hosting customers are also raising their expectations of what a Web server should do for them. But Schrodt is aware that “hardware is only half the battle.”
Solution
STRATO viewed Windows Server 2008 as a powerful new version of a tried-and-trusted Microsoft® product. “We wanted our clients to be able to try out the new product as soon as possible,” says Schrodt. “So we put our foot on the gas pedal. Our product management team and colleagues in the technical and quality management departments rushed out a hosting-capable and standardized version of Windows Server 2008. This says a lot for the level of product development.” The conditions were right for a successful project. The engineers started with Windows Server 2008 Beta 3. “Even at this early stage, we were surprised at how stable the new servers were,” says Julien Ardisson, Chief Technology Officer at STRATO AG. Then a team of only five people set up a hosting-capable solution in one month. With Windows Server 2008 Release Candidate 0, STRATO for the first time introduced a product into its range of services before the final operating system was available. This meant that STRATO
“We have been able to reduce administration costs considerably using Windows Server 2008.”
Julien Ardisson, Chief Technology Officer, STRATO AG
customers could test the migration paths for their applications even before the official launch of Windows Server 2008.
Benefits
STRATO found that Windows Server 2008 offers many improvements over its predecessor. The company and its customers are benefiting from better performance, simpler management, and energy savings. Better Performance Customers now receive more power for the same price. By using Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 in Windows Server 2008, STRATO can offer better performance using the same hardware—or can use fewer resources to achieve the same performance. Intensive users of the PHP scripting language also benefit from FastCGI support because scripts run under IIS 7.0 itself. Easier System Management Now that IIS 7.0 is included in the Server Core installation option of Windows Server 2008, it can simply be selected as an installation option. As a result, Web servers are ready for use considerably faster. Also, the Windows PowerShell™ command-line interface simplifies the configuration of IIS 7.0. This means that administration can be automated to a large extent. “Of course, we have a lot of experience with Windows Server hosting, but we did benefit greatly from functions such as Windows PowerShell for making command-based configuration of IIS 7.0 easy,” says Ardisson. A server can now be put into service in around 30 minutes. Before, STRATO engineers took four times as long to do the same job. “We have been able to reduce administration costs considerably using Windows Server 2008,” says Ardisson.
More Options for Customers STRATO now offers dedicated servers with Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008. “We have put together four different packages to meet individual needs from private individuals, right through to the highly exacting requirements of major companies,” says Schrodt. STRATO expects the new solution to be particularly interesting to midsize companies because STRATO is ISO 9001- and 27001-certified. Such certification is important for outsourced projects. “The dedicated Windows Server is used in particular by customers who want to work in a familiar environment,” says Ardisson. “We have made this even easier and have built up a complete package of applications.” This means that a customer with a program installed on Windows Server can set up services such as PHPs or databases with just a few clicks of the mouse. Energy Savings of 30 Percent per Customer Because energy consumption and price have risen drastically and are set to rise further, power is a major cost factor in the IT sector. To remain competitive in the long term, IT service providers will have to improve their power efficiency. STRATO is doing this in three areas: hardware, building technology, and software. “Windows Server 2008 fits in perfectly with our efficiency strategy. It makes the hardware more efficient and at the same time has some interesting new functions,” says Ardisson. Schrodt continues, “And that, too, is a big advantage for our clients as we are the first to use the latest Web technologies.” STRATO is already a fast-growing supplier of dedicated servers. “We expect demand to increase still further with Windows
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 4269400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 5682495. Customers who are deaf or hardof-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com For more information about STRATO AG products and services, call 0180 5 007677 or visit the Web site at: www.strato.de
Server 2008,” says Schrodt. “On the one hand we are innovators, offering the best conditions for outsourced IT services and ambitious Web 2.0 projects. On the other hand, the energy balance is very important to us. Windows Server 2008 is the right software in both respects.” STRATO has achieved a 30 percent energy savings per customer to date. To increase this percentage, continuous modernization and power-saving developments are being implemented in the computer center. This has positive effects on the corporate balance sheet, on the customers’ purse, and on the environment.
Windows Server 2008
Windows Server 2008, with built-in Web and virtualization technologies, enables you to increase the reliability and flexibility of your server infrastructure. New virtualization tools, Web resources, and security enhancements help you save time, reduce costs, and provide a platform for a dynamic and optimized datacenter. Powerful new tools like IIS 7.0, Server Manager, and Windows PowerShell, allow you to have more control over your servers and streamline Web, configuration, and management tasks. Advanced security and reliability enhancements like Network Access Protection and the Read-Only Domain Controller option for Active Directory® Domain Services harden the operating system and help protect your server environment to ensure you have a solid foundation on which to build your business. For more information, go to: www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008
Software and Services
Microsoft Server Product Portfolio − Windows Server 2008 Standard
Technologies − Internet Information Services 7.0 − Windows PowerShell
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Document published May 2008