Succeed.net defeats power outages for its Internet customers
Friday, April 20, 2001 For Immediate Release

Contact: Robert Lavelock for additional comment or information at (530) 674-4638
E-mail: lavelock@succeed.net

Photos of the generator, Robert Lavelock and text of this release are available at www.succeed.net/newsreleases/generator.html
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(Yuba City, CA)--Yuba-Sutter's most technologically adept Internet service provider won't get shut down by any more power outages, whether they're rolling blackouts due to electricity shortages or weather-related losses of power.

"We've installed a 10 kilowatt generator and automatic switchover system this week, which will keep our customers and the web sites we host on the Internet, regardless of P-G-and-E's situation," reports Succeed.net President Robert Lavelock.

"We tested it for more than half an hour on Wednesday afternoon, and the entire process was smooth and automatic," Lavelock said. "The generator is powered by natural gas, so we don't have to worry about running out of fuel in a tank," he adds.

The new GENERAC generator joins a healthy package of battery-powered uninterruptable power supplies (UPS's in the computer business) that provide continuous power to the racks of servers, switches, modems, office telephones, wireless internet transceivers and satellite receivers in the server room.

The UPS's also filter incoming power to remove spikes, which could damage the equipment. Prior to the generator, the UPS system would keep various pieces of equipment operational for up to thirty minutes when the power went out, "but it would take us an thirty minutes to re-boot the various servers and totally restore service to our customers," Lavelock described. "That wasn't acceptable, especially in light of rolling blackouts expected this summer," he emphasized.

"The generator fires up whenever there's a loss of P-G-and-E power," Lavelock outlined, "and automatically switches over to generator power within 30 seconds. That means we're only on battery backup for a short time, and can keep our entire system on-line and in business for as long as the outage lasts."

The GENERAC also powers the office lights and plugs, so Succeed.net can remain open for business while others are in the dark. The system automatically tests itself every month, turning on the generator, switching over to generator power, then back to P-G-and-E after an hour or so.

The alternative power addition has sparked queries from several of Succeed.net's business customers who want blackout protection. "The generator company also wants to make us a dealer," Lavelock grinned.

The generator is the latest in an ongoing series of Succeed.net customer service improvements. Since the year began, the company:

• Implemented statewide dial-up service, with local numbers in all California area codes. That means customers can use their Succeed.net accounts without long-distance calls when they're anywhere in the state;
• Installed new billing software which allows customers to change e-mail addresses and passwords without a phone call to the Succeed.net office, and make payments on their Succeed.net account through their computer using credit cards, and direct debiting from their bank accounts;
• Completed installation of three Akamai content servers, which replicate most major web sites and make them available locally to Succeed.net users at the fastest possible speeds. "Symantec and Apple are two," Lavelock noted.

Video and audio streaming sites often use Akamai's facility, since it provides distributed service around the world. The system uses a 45Gigabit per second satellite feed and Cidera servers. This technology is installed in only 300 or so data center locations in the world, which means Succeed.net continues to be a provider of leading-edge service.

In the last part of 2000, Succeed.net installed a new 3COM 3300 10/100 Ethernet switch to increase network speeds. It also put in a new high-end UNIX cache server from www.swelltech.com, which stores frequently requested pages. That speeds delivery of those pages to Succeed.net users, since the page is sent from the new local cache server, rather than coming through the Internet pipeline. The server is the fastest Swelltech has ever built.

"Overall," Lavelock said, "these improvements mean faster page loading, more convenience and great reliability for our customers."

More gains are ahead. Succeed.net is rolling out Yuba-Sutter's first high-speed wireless internet service, which provides an economical way to get much faster connection speeds than ordinary dialup modems, common DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) or ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) services. --End--

Call Ted Langdell when you have something new at your business.
We'll help you let people know about it!

From: Debbie Chen
To: Ted Langdell
Date: Tuesday, April 24, 2001 4:06 PM
Subject: Great!

Hi Ted! Just want to share with you that your article was FANTASTICALLY done/written. The pictures complimented the article very much! Everyone here at Succeed.Net totally enjoyed your article. Keep up the good work for us! Sincerely,
Succeed.Net Debbie Chen Account Manager
1634 Starr Dr. Yuba City, CA 95993
Tel: (530) 674-4638 Ext.100 Fax: (530) 674-4329
Email: debbie@succeed.net