Managed services on tap from HarvardNet

MEDFORD, MASS. - Web hosting company HarvardNet will roll out managed hosting services this week in an effort to meet the growing demand for advanced services, especially from small and midsize companies looking to get on the Web.

HarvardNet's managed services - firewall and security, load balancing and managed storage - will keep it competitive with companies such as NaviSite, which handles complete Web site management, leaving businesses to worry only about the content that appears on customers' screens.

HarvardNet's managed services are available on Sun or Hewlett-Packard servers. The servers are housed in HarvardNet's 20,000-square-foot, secure, environmentally controlled Web hosting center in Boston. Additional centers are scheduled to come online in New York and Pennsylvania next year.

HarvardNet is teaming with Nokia and Check Point Software to offer managed firewall and security services. In addition to configuring and installing a firewall platform, HarvardNet will provide 24-7 security monitoring, ongoing support and maintenance, and monthly incident and usage reports. The service will cost $1,800 per month, plus a one-time $1,200 installation fee, says Al DeLeo, HarvardNet's product manager.

Cisco switches power the load-balancing service and routers to give clients increased site performance by routing Web site traffic across multiple servers to find the fastest response time. The offering includes 24-7 performance monitoring, audit and analysis of bandwidth performance, and ongoing hardware and software maintenance. The load-balancing service will cost about $2,000 per month, plus a one-time $1,200 installation fee, according to DeLeo.

HarvardNet's third offering is managed storage backed by EMC. The storage is redundant across all servers to ensure the user's system is always available. HarvardNet is offering 144G bytes of storage for about $5,000 per month with an installation charge of $3,000, DeLeo says.

HarvardNet: www.harvardnet.com