Web hosting provider Aplus.net said today that it had remained online throughout a 12-hour power outage in San Diego on May 20-21. "There were no surprises because we are always prepared for this sort of things," said Ivan Vachovsky, CEO of Aplus.Net. "Our subsystems and the backup generator in our data center are routinely tested and kept in top working order."
That's how it's supposed to work, and what the customers are paying for, right? Sure. but no matter how many times you test the equipment, there's nothing routine about an extended power outage, which is why hosting companies issue press releases when backup systems perform as expected. Staying online through blackouts and disasters is a critical piece of data centers' USP (unique selling proposition), and the "we stayed online" press release sends an important message to self-hosted businesses whose web sites were unavailable for 12 hours.
