About Our Network

Introduction -  ExpressWebHosting.Com is part of the NAC regional Internet Service Provider (ISP) network, stretching from Massachusetts and Washington DC to London, UK.  The greatest factor in our success is the quality of our network, and this rests on two foundations - structural diversity and technological excellence.

Backbones and Unreliability -  A backbone is a large-scale network, usually one that offers services to other backbones or ISPs.  It is standard for a beginning ISP to rely on one backbone provider (such as Level Three, Telia, or AT&T) for its connection to the rest of the Internet.  As the ISP grows, it usually buys more bandwidth from its existing backbone provider.  This has the advantage of simplicity and consistency, but it has an unfortunate side effect - the ISP is only as reliable as the backbone provider it has chosen.  If the backbone goes down, the ISP and all its users go down with it.

Can regional, national and international backbones really be so unreliable?  The sad fact is that they can.  Even top notch networks occasionally go down because of factors beyond their control.  Network outages happen all the time, for varying reasons, and there will probably never be a time when they don't happen.  It also happens that backbones, even ones with names you've probably heard of, may not be using the best equipment or the most knowledgeable people to build their networks, even at the national or international levels.

NAC's Solution to the Unreliable Internet -

Structural Diversity -  NAC started in 1995 as an ISP with a single connection to the Internet via one backbone provider. As NAC grew, instead of buying larger access to a single provider, they started to inter-connect with many other backbone providers, and other Internet Service Providers as well. In fact, with NAC's recent service extension to London, Net Access is now an international backbone provider itself.

Technology -  ExpressWebHosting.Com realized early on that the best networks are made with top-grade equipment and skilled network engineers.  This seems like a simple observation, but it is surprising how many companies either overlook it or decide that it's safe to economize.  Economy is always nice until your network goes down, at which point you are likely to lose many times the money you saved.

NAC uses quality network hardware and technicians work around the clock, using such technologies as ATM and BGP dynamic routing to ensure that all systems run efficiently and smoothly.

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More Reasons Why We're Proud of Our Network -

Equipment -  NAC has made significant investments in equipment from major vendors such as Cisco and Lucent, We feel that using industry leading equipment that has a proven track record is the best choice, and is well worth the extra expense.

Backbone Connectivity -  NAC connections to multiple backbone providers, and peering with many carriers on a regional and international basis, allows us to easily reach remote networks even in the case where a NAP may be unhealthy, or when a specific backbone connection is down.  It also allows us to make intelligent routing decisions; for example, if we are trying to reach a remote network which is on the Level Three network, there's no reason to send it out to AT&T first.

Node Reliability -  By placing our core nodes at places like Equinix and Telehouse, we are guaranteed a level of competent service.  All of our core nodes employ SONET networks, which essentially provides a dual-redundant, counter-rotating ring technology, and in the event of a fiber cut, the SONET will automatically heal itself.  We also divide our circuits among several telecommunications providers, such as Level Three, Telia, and AT&T.  To view our network map, click here.

Expertise -  We invest a significant amount of time and money in our staff to make sure that they are knowledgeable and are capable of helping and handling our customers.  A network is only as good as the people who manage it!

Monitoring -  The NAC staff is working around the clock to ensure that the network is operating at optimum state.  We continually review collected statistics to watch for traffic trends so that we can react with the proper routing adjustments and bandwidth addition.

Honesty -  We are honest with our customers, and keep them informed of all problems we're having (and, just as importantly, how to solve them).  We continually update our Outages and Upgrades page so that users and customers are fully aware of all network situations.

Take a virtual tour of our Data Center with NAC.

Summary -  With a combination of technical experience, the latest technology, and quality network hardware, Net Access has created one of the most reliable networks in the region.  We have deployed and continue to develop our network to provide the speed and reliability the businesses and consumers demand, at an affordable price.

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