Updated Hosting Automation System

SWsoft has added several new feautres in HSP Complete 2.1, including an anti-fraud algorithm for webhosting companies.

by ISP-Planet Staff [February 20, 2003]

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in San Francisco, SWsoft is an international company with offices in Moscow and Singapore. The company is a player in the hosting automation space with its HSP Complete automation package, and its Virtuozzo virtual server technology enables the company to simply the sale and maintenance of virtual servers.

The company has just released version 2.1 of HSP Complete, incorporating several new features, of which the most intriguing may be an enhanced anti-fraud algorithm. Craig Oda, vice president of business development, said that the company made anti-fraud a priority after conversations with key customers.

"Our customers were starting to sign on 100 or more customers each day. Credit card abuse is a big problem on the Internet," said Oda. The algorithm checks several items, some of which are not too difficult to check, and then uses the information to flag particular requests as being potentially problematic.

"For example, if the domain is in South Africa (.za) but the credit card's billing address is in the Philippines, or if the person is registering a .com, but their IP address is in Indonesia and the billing address is in the United States, we would flag these in red," explained Oda.

Other updated features include:

• Updated virtual server technology based on Virtuozzo 2.5, with new templates for additional operating systems including Debian, RedHat, and SuSE
• Improved scalability to over 100,000 accounts
• Streamlined signup requiring fewer pages of forms
• Improved support for shared and dedicated hosting with updated GUI tools
• Enhanced billing system that works with customized billing systems and now allows partially automated billing instead of forcing webhosts to choose between automatic or manual billing
• Support for new plug-ins including domain registration, online payment, and security services
• Improved control panels that are easier to understand

The overall package manages hardware, OS, applications, backups, IP pools, e-commerce applications, and customer payments. Prominent customers include the following webhosts: Oklahoma City, Okla.-based catalog.com; Ft. Myers, Fla-based Feature Price; and Hürth, Germany-based Intergenia.

SWsoft's largest customers run the software on powerful computers. "You can now get an eight processor computer with 30 GB of RAM for about $60,000," says Oda.

Pricing and availability
HSP Complete 2.1 is available now. Pricing starts at $8,500 for two nodes plus the management system. Each additional node is between $1,000 and $2,000 depending on its size.

Initial integration is free, but the customer pays travel costs from the nearest SWsoft office.

There are additional fees for updates and bug fixes after the first year.

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