Hi, I'm Joe Payne and I'm the president of AbleMods Hosting LLC.
Running a web hosting business has been an idea of mine for several years. As you may notice from my AbleMods Programming website for AbleCommerce, I have a passion for eCommerce systems.
Time and time again, I've come across well-meaning AbleCommerce users who simply aren't getting a quality site hosting experience. It's not easy to host an eCommerce website. There's PCI compliance, encryption, database indexes, security rules and more. That's a lot for a business owner to learn through the school of hard knocks. Even more for a hosting company that doesn't specifically develop in ASP.Net.
Since I came from a career in IT and Windows Server deployment, coupled with my massive experience in ASP.Net programming, fixing these website issues came easily to me. So I decided it was time to do things right. I decided to set up a web hosting environment that is specifically tailored to eCommerce and AbleCommerce. ASP.Net is a rich environment for programmers. But an ASP.Net website must be hosted a specific way if it's going to work well.
Back in July of 2012, I sat down and put together a wish list of the things that make a great web hosting experience. I listed everything I would need if I wanted to set up a client without assistance from the hosting company.
First and foremost, the client needs all the self-help tools they can get their hands on. This includes a well designed control panel for managing sites and domains. This includes a DNS editor, a way to maintain email accounts and a way to manage FTP accounts. All of these components of a web hosting environment must be managable by the client if they so desire.
Second, no hiding behind support tickets. Do we still use support tickets? Absolutely! They keep us organized and focused on the tasks required. But I want my clients to reach a live person any time you want. I'm a big believer in personal service. There's no doubt we are in an age of robo-support. And there's nothing more frustrating than a boiler-plate ticket response that doesn't even apply to the question I asked.
Third, security. Security is everything in the eCommerce world. Without solid security, we all face increased risk of corporate embrassment, litigation and fines. So my hosting environment has to maintain sound security protocols. Is it bullet-proof? Of course not. The evening news should be enough evidence to prove even a multi-million dollar security budget isn't enough. The secret to great web hosting security is not believing you are secure, it's knowing you've minimized the exposure when a breach occurs.
Finally, performance. My web hosting company has to be fast. Web sites have to be snappy. If my clients are willing to trust me to represent their businesses in the public eye, then it's going to be done right. Period. I won't stand for laggy pages or 'painting' as we call it in the computer world. So the hardware and networking I implement needs to be business-class or better.
And so, AbleMods Hosting was born. Top-of-line servers, the latest software, high-capacity switches and reliable firewalls all securely tucked away in a SAS 70 Class II data center. You won't find overloaded servers or slow response times. Just quality and responsible eCommerce hosting that rocks !
