BUSINESS ERA

Globat Overview

We've been monitoring Globat for over a year now. In fact, we even host a sample site with Globat for your evaluation. Their service has improved dramatically since last year. They provide a very good hosting package with great customer support at a very attractive price.

Delivery

Lets take this certain picture gallery website for example. Its been online with Globat ever since October 2002. Webmaster chose Globat at that time because they offered a large amount of disk space and bandwidth. Currently the site has 150 JPG pictures with a total size of 10 MB (pictures load very fast). With approximately 300 visitors a day, the site in question uses about 5 GB of bandwidth each month. In order to reach the 75 GB bandwidth limit, they could either improve their traffic to 4,500 visitors a day, or add up to 2,250 of similar pictures. You can see how much place there is to grow.

Company Background

Globat is the fastest growing web host today. It was founded by Ben Neumann in December 2001. We have actually spoken with Ben in order to find out more information concerning his company. Ben has been in the web hosting business since 1994. He has founded Icom (popular web host) which was later sold to Interliant (another web host) in 1998. Icom is now owned by Interland (yes, another web host). Ben has gained a lot of experience in the web hosting business and is capable of building scalable web hosting networks.

Generous Amount of Storage and Bandwidth

Most web hosting users use less than 50 MB of disk space. Therefore 2,500 MB of disk space is just too much for most users. The 75 GB bandwidth should be worth a lot more than $10. From Ben (Globat's founder), we understand that Globat is buying huge amounts of bandwidth from Verio and Level 3 in bulk, so Globat is able to provide more bandwidth to their customers. He also stated that they are not as greedy as other companies. They are able to live with a lower profit margin since they are running a very streamlined operation.

Customer Support

Getting to the their support start page will really amaze you. They have a large support staff and getting support is quite easy and effective.

1. Support Ticket - This is the most important way to get support. You just create a support ticket and they will get back to you regarding your issue. All you need is a working email address. Support tickets are tracked, so they can easily be followed up. Although sending your email directly to support@globat.com will also create a ticket automatically, it is recommended that you use the ticket submission form so you'll be reminded to include some basic information, i.e. your domain name and the category of your issue.

2. Live Chat Support - This was introduced in March 2003. Live chat is effective because you get an immediate response from one of their support staff. It is not 24/7 and available only in the business hours (Email, Tickets & Phone support are 24/7).

3. Toll-Free Support - This was introduced in July 2003. For technical support, the number is 1-877-2GLOBAT and it is available 24/7. For sales and billing, the number is 1-323-874-9000 and is available Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 5:30 pm EST. The toll-free numbers are only available to the US and Canada. For international customers, you may use 1-323-874-9000.

4. Tutorials - There are around 50 tutorials categorized into 4 different groups. They show you how to setup your email client, transfer files to your website with FTP, manage your account with the control panel and modify DNS records for your domain name. Most of the tutorials are in Flash videos while some are in text and images.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - Contains over 100 FAQ and answers under many different categories. One of the important sections you might be interested in is the 'Before Signing Up' section which contains many answers to the most commonly asked presale questions.

Highlights

1. Globat Command Console (GCC) - Introduced in February 2004, GCC is Globat's new control panel software for their customers. The 6 basic functions in GCC are file manager, web-based email, managing email accounts, MySQL database, protected directories and viewing web statistics (AWStats). GCC is based on the Plesk control panel, which they have been using since the beginning. GCC provides easy navigation and is a lot faster then Plesk. However, not all functions in Plesk have been implemented in GCC yet. We will definitely see more features added in the future. Plesk is still available and you can choose to login to either GCC or Plesk in the login page.

2. Unlimited MySQL Databases - There are no limits on how many MySQL databases you use. There is also no size quota.

3. Paypal Payments - Globat has also setup their system to accept payment by PayPal. Not many hosts are willing to accept PayPal payments.

4. Free Domain - If you prepay for 1 year, you will get a new domain name for free. If you prepay for 2 years instead, the domain name is registered for 2 years.