One is Better than Two

Edge Web Hosting helps Tenrec make the switch from two hosting providers

About Tenrec

Tenrec is a Web design, development and management agency based in Portland, Ore., and San Francisco, Calif.The company currently hosts more than 75 websites with Edge Web Hosting, and most of its clients are law firms. On its website, Tenrec states its mission as helping businesses and organizations make the most of the Web, allowing these clients to focus on their core products and services.

The Challenge – Going from Two to One

For many years, Tenrec had chosen to host the websites it developed between two well-known national hosting providers. This solution worked well at first, but as time progressed, Tenrec, and especially its Director of Technical Services, Mike Ingala, realized the approach was adding workload without extra results.

Ingala knew it was time to consolidate his hosting needs with one provider; the challenge was determining which one would get all of the business. After fully analyzing the situation, Ingala decided to chose one of the providers over the other.

But that migration never happened. Several significant server performance and customer service issues with both companies took Ingala in a different direction – starting fresh with a new hosting services provider, presenting Tenrec with an entirely new and more complex challenge – learning to trust again.

The Solution – A Fresh Start with Edge Web Hosting

Ingala’s search for a new provider began online, using search terms such as “cluster,” “redundant” and “ColdFusion,” leading him to Edge Web Hosting. From the first conversation Ingala had with the team at Edge Web Hosting, he knew he was speaking with a company with the expertise and skills required to become Tenrec’s new hosting provider.

With dozens of mission critical assets and his own reputation on the line, Ingala knew he was making one of the largest decisions he could make. But everything he saw during the sale process helped him feel completely confident that going with Edge Web Hosting was the best approach.

The new relationship between Tenrec and Edge Web Hosting began successfully, but surprisingly, one of Ingala’s fondest memories from the migration process involved something that did not go exactly as planned.

A software change was needed early in the hosting relationship, and instead of charging additional fees, Edge Web Hosting provided it at no cost to Tenrec.

“Not everything is going to be perfect, and I understand that,” says Ingala. “I judge a hosting provider based on how they react when there is a problem, and I can guarantee my previous hosting providers aren’t giving away software as a make good.”

In addition to Edge Web Hosting’s accountability, another major difference Ingala has noticed since he consolidated his hosting has been the level of support the Edge Web Hosting team has offered.

“The team at Edge Web Hosting has plenty of problem solvers,” says Ingala. “When I pick up the phone and call them, I know that the person I first speak with will more than likely have the ability to handle my request. The support hierarchy that exists at other providers does not seem to exist so much at Edge Web Hosting.”

Results – A True Hosting Partner

For Ingala and his team at Tenrec, the results of making the switch to Edge Web Hosting have produced new found time and much less stress, two critical productivity drivers for any company, especially for a boutique firm.  

Ingala can sum up another major benefit of working with Edge Web Hosting in one word – partnership.

Tenrec can now confidently sell to his clients managed hosting services that feature a hosting environment with redundant servers, load balancing hardware, security software and 24/7 application monitoring. Most importantly, Tenrec can guarantee 99.999 percent uptime, something that wasn’t the case in the past.

“Each minute of downtime is one minute too many, but I’m no longer waiting for disaster to fall into my lap like I was in the past,” says Ingala. "When I went to put my cell phone on my nightstand one night last week, I realized I wasn't terrified of it waking me up in the middle of the night. We still have our websites on Windows servers, but one big thing has changed – the people behind them making them work."

According to Ingala, the decreased downtime and higher level of service Tenrec has enjoyed since switching to Edge Web Hosting is a direct result of the EWH team taking the extra effort to know his business and how he operates as a person.

“Edge Web Hosting understands what I really need from a hosting provider,” says Ingala. “My previous vendors treated me like a number at best. I don’t have to worry about that anymore. ”