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With the recent 300 Gbit/sec DDoS attack against Spamhaus, is making major waves, not just getting covered by technology publications and blogs such as GigaOm, but mainstream media venues like the New York Times. This attack was accomplished by using poorly configured DNS servers in a DNS amplification attack and while neither of these things are new, this story has definitely brought more attention to them.
In response, here at Steadfast we are taking multiple actions to better serve our customers. First, we have developed a list of customer IPs that have at least moderate susceptibility for DNS amplification and will be individually contacting those customers. We will be able to assist all customers in mitigating this type of issue, no matter what level of service or management they have. In addition, we have made a knowledgebase article outlining the ways to identify if you are at risk for a DDoS amplification attack and how to eliminate the risk to help give people across the Internet guidance on resolving this issue. Finally, to protect our own customers from these attacks we are working with an established DDoS protection vendor in offering DDoS protected services to all of our cloud, dedicated server, and Chicago colocation customers. These DDoS protection services should be available within a couple weeks and will be available starting at just $50/mo. Expect an announcement soon!
If you're a Steadfast customer and have any questions or concerns about DDoS protection or DNS Amplification attacks, always feel free to contact us and we're more than happy to help!
Recommended Reading:
Preventing DNS Amplification Attacks
We have now added Tata Communications to our network, adding a 10 GigE to them out of Chicago with a 10 GigE getting added in New York over the coming months. With this addition, as well as a new Inteliquent circuit in New York, our network now has 113 Gbit/sec of capacity to the Internet!
Tata Communications was added to our network due to their very strong connectivity to India as well as other developing countries and markets. Since they had acquired Teleglobe, they had continued to expand their presence into many markets under-served by other carriers, giving us better overall global connectivity. Tata Communications is also a Tier 1 global carrier and, according to Renesys, is one of the top 8 global IP networks in the world. This now means that we connect to 6 of the 8 largest IP networks in the world, Level3/Global Crossing, NTT, Inteliquent, Cogent, and now Tata. Along with our InterNAP FCP we feel that this network mix, along with our hundreds of direct peering relationships, gives us one of the highest performing networks in the industry. Combine that with our 100% network uptime SLA and we doubt you'll find a better quality network product anywhere.
Not only does this increase our network reach and performance, it also increases our network capacity, giving us 113 Gbit/sec of Internet capacity. This capacity allows us to serve the needs of even the largest demands for capacity and scalability, while assuring we do not see any of the negative affects of network congestion, even during large traffic spikes.
We have come a long way in the last 15 years, but network performance has always been a major focus of ours, and hopefully our ever-growing and expanding network is a good demonstration of that commitment.
Steadfast continues to grow as one of the premier infrastructure and data center service providers in Chicago, so does our involvement with key associations and events, including the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce.
As members of top and influential organizations such as the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, we are creating opportunities to boost top of mind awareness and connect and interact more with our clients.
The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce provides connections to over 120 networking and business development events each year, with over 40,000 yearly member to member referrals.
We are going have a very busy calendar year. We plan to attend and exhibit at a variety of events for ITA, Cloud Connect, HostingCon, just to name a few.
We already have one tradeshow under our belt this year, The Chicagoland Chambers, Exchange. This event brought in over 1,000 attendees. It’s one of the most popular business events in the Chicagoland area and provides members a chance to showcase new products and services. It was extremely successful and we were happy to have been a part of it. The best part of working these booths is being able to educate attendees on not just Steadfast, but the advantages of hosting, cloud and disaster recovery.
Our presence is rapidly increasing and because of being part of these associations like Chicagoland and FIA, it helps us create opportunities for more involvement in the community, as well as business development
Look for Us at an Event Near You Soon.
Chicago, IL (PRESS RELEASE) February 21, 2013 – Steadfast Networks (www.steadfast.net), an experienced IT infrastructure provider offering cloud hosting, dedicated servers, and colocation, announced today the addition of two new employees to its growing team: Ernest Lofton, Director of Technical Support and Dana Albano, Marketing Manager. With new hires in the company’s technical support and marketing departments, Steadfast aims to strengthen customer relationships and deliver lightning-fast assistance.
“Since 1998, Steadfast has grown into a leading infrastructure and service provider,” says Karl Zimmerman, President of Steadfast Networks. “We have achieved this by combining our technical expertise with outstanding customer service and support. As our customer base increases, we are committed to maintaining quality of service by expanding our team. Our two new hires will play a significant role in giving customers the best possible service, before, during and after an order is placed.”
The first addition to the Steadfast Networks team is Ernest Lofton, the new Director of Technical Support. Lofton has more than 10 years of experience building premier technical support teams, including a management role at Hostway for five years. Having managed large, multi-location technical support centers that provide support via phone, chat and email, Lofton understands the importance of excellent support and has a proven track record.
At Steadfast, Lofton will be responsible for managing an in-house team of System Administrators and Data Center Technicians, delivering prompt 24/7 technical support, monitoring, and management for more than 1,500 customers.
“We are excited to have Ernest on our team,” says Zimmerman. “We have a very strong customer service and support department, with high levels of technical aptitude. Our existing support team works to the highest standards and, now, Ernest’s skills and experience will help us maintain those high standards through our continued growth. But customer service is not just support – it is also about creating lasting relationships with new and existing customers.”
To help coordinate communications across the business, Steadfast has also hired Dana Albano as a new Marketing Manager. With more than 20 years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies, Albano is considered a “jack of all trades” in marketing. She has demonstrated diverse talents including public relations, promotions, branding, internet marketing, and social media. Often, these talents prove instrumental in company success.
At Steadfast, Albano will be responsible for all marketing efforts, including internal and external communications, brand development, strategic planning, and online marketing through the company website and social media.
“We couldn’t be more pleased to have Dana join the Steadfast team,” says Joe Bong, Chief Revenue Officer at Steadfast Networks. “Steadfast is on its way to becoming a top-tier data center services company, and Dana will be an essential asset in creating brand awareness and helping us to connect with customers.”
Despite working in different departments, the two new additions to the Steadfast Networks team will act as pillars of growth. The company is now more able than ever to provide the best possible customer service and, with marketing support, more customers will be able to see the quality of Steadfast’s services.
Customers interested in learning more about the new additions to the Steadfast team or services available are encouraged to visit www.steadfast.net.
Steadfast is a Chicago-based IT infrastructure provider that specializes in highly flexible cloud environments (public, private and hybrid), dedicated servers, and colocation services. These services are provided from fully redundant data centers in Chicago and New York. Since 1998, Steadfast has been focused on providing high quality, flexible and exceptionally reliable services at a reasonable price. While Steadfast’s core services are geared towards small and medium businesses, Internet and network service providers, and the financial sector, the company can accommodate customers of all sizes from a single Cloud Hosting account to a complex, multi-gigabit managed colocation setup. For any organization, Steadfast provides the technology and expertise it takes to maintain your IT infrastructure, allowing customers to focus on core business.
For more information about Steadfast, visit http://www.steadfast.net.
Hello,
My name is Joe Bong and I have recently come onboard Steadfast as the Chief Revenue Officer. In this role I am spearheading our sales and marketing initiatives and leverage my experiences in the world of IT to position Steadfast as the Leader in the Midwest for Data Center Services. Part of these initiatives is forming a clear definition as to what Steadfast stands for, what we offer and how we differentiate ourselves from the rest of the field.
Steadfast is an IT Infrastructure/Data Center Services Company. We offer the full spectrum of infrastructure services, public cloud, private cloud, managed dedicated servers, colocation, and disaster recovery out of our data centers in Chicago and New York. Our Managed Services wrapped around these services are unmatched within the industry and include design, implementation, managed security, day to day management of client equipment, and pro-active 24/7 monitoring. Our 24/7 support is "always there" for you with experienced systems administrators on the data center floor, not in some remote help desk that takes hours or days to ramp up or solve a problem. Even though our service levels are unrivaled, we are consistently 20-30% less expensive than our larger competitors (Rackspace, Equinix, Amazon) as our focus is on true, long term business relationships. Succinctly put, Steadfast wants to handle your IT infrastructure needs, so you can focus on your core business, making us a great alternative to any other data center service provider in the market.
I have been in this business for 25 years and have seen few opportunities to be a part of with the potential that Steadfast has. We have done a fantastic job at this point of growing by referrals and word of mouth based on our customer service and reputation. We are now aggressively taking our message to the market and are already seeing our revenue increase, as people are starting to know who we are and the services and value proposition that we bring to the table. I am committed to growing our company and becoming a fixture in the Chicago marketplace and Steadfast plans on expanding into new markets/geographies over the next couple years. This will create many opportunities for our employees, deliver broader services to our customers, and give everyone a chance to be a part of something really exciting.
I invite you to contact me if you have any questions about my role at Steadfast or would like to get involved in our partnership program. We're always looking for partners to form successful relationships with and help grow together. If you're interested please contact me at Joe.Bong@steadfast.net and I'd be more than happy to discuss any opportunities with you.
I'm very excited about everything we have going on here at Steadfast. I hope this glimpse into our operations has you excited too. Thanks for reading, and thanks for choosing Steadfast.
Joe Bong
Joe.Bong@steadfast.net
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