Tech Companies Support National Missing Children's Day - Observed Every May 25th.

Today is National Missing Children's Day. From the MissingKids.org website:

"Every May 25, which is the anniversary of Etan Patz's disappearance, the nation observes Missing Children's Day. For over three decades, NCMEC has continued to help search for children like Etan. We never forget a child and never give up hope no matter how long a child has been missing. National Missing Children's Day honors this commitment to help locate and recover missing children like Etan by reminding parents, guardians, families and communities that every child deserves a safe childhood.

To that end, there are many ways that people can show their support for NCMEC. On Twitter, the hashtag #RockOneSock has set a goal of raising $25k.  You can find out more about this effort at http://rockonesock.org.

BUT, for all of us that are in the Internet and Hosting Industry there is something VERY IMPORTANT that we all can and should do.  U.S.-based companies providing electronic communication services or remote computing services to the public should pre-register with the CyberTipline.  While there is no requirement to do so, Hedgehog believes and will continue to push within our industry that registration be considered a "Best Practice" allowing our individual companies to be prepared to move on any reporting that may need to be submitted.

From the MissingKids.org website:

"You may register with the CyberTipline by providing your name, your company’s name, your telephone phone number and email address to espteam@ncmec.org. If you are an ESP, please visit http://www.missingkids.com/CyberTipline if you wish to register with the CyberTipline. A representative from NCMEC will contact you to complete the registration process.

Please help us support this great organization and make our industry better for all.

Hedgehog Technology Services Celebrates Female Founder Month

Hedgehog Technology Services is proud to honor one of our founders, Amanda Bean, as we help celebrate Female Founders Month.  Amanda is one of the original founders of Hedgehog and over these past 16 years she has been a large part of the warmth that we strive to provide in a very high-tech industry.

Hedgehog would not be the same without Amanda.  While everyone has their niches, Amanda can help in any aspect of the business,  She runs the administrative side of the business,  She actively works on marketing and strategy.  She gets her hands dirty at the data center moving and racking servers.  It seems that anywhere you look at Hedgehog you can see her stamp.

Now, what many of you may not know is Amanda is also the proud mother of four beautiful children which essentially means she has two full times jobs. (Happy Mothers Day!)  As our clients know, all of the partners at Hedgehog are very close.  Over 16 years our families have had the joy of watching each other grow and grow.  It has surely been a pleasure to watch Amanda's family grow.  And did we also mentioned that she is a doggie foster mom.  There is almost nothing that she cannot do.

In an industry that continues to strive for diversity in every different way, I, and I know I speak for my business partners, am so proud of our roots and even more proud to have a business partner like Amanda.  May every company be as fortunate as we are.

DDoS Attacks and Their Real Impact

DDoS attacks are nothing new to hosting and technology companies, but over the past 16 years, Hedgehog has seen that the number of these attacks as well as the scale of these attacks has grown and grown to levels that even the largest of companies cannot handle. 

Just last year, an absolutely massive DDoS attack that surged bandwidth well over 660 Gbps directly at the website of a prominent cyber security journalist forced Akamai to drop the website www.krebsonsecurity.com from its Prolexic DDoS mitigation service.  Since that time many other large DDoS attacks have continued to be seen across the hosting industry.

These DDoS attacks have essentially become the most effective form of censorship.  One major impact to the organization under attack is having to spend excessive time and money on the technical remediation of these attacks and that also shifts focus from their real work. But even more egregious is that many of the organizations that Hedgehog works with use their sites for advocacy and many times that advocacy is very time sensitive.  Massive attacks that cause site interruptions can render a campaign absolutely powerless.  These losses, while often measured on a balance sheet, can have far greater implications.  Any organization that has experienced an attack during a critical moment, either an election cycle or any other time-sensitive campaign, can tell you that the loss of traffic can yield far greater damage.

So if the larger providers of DDoS mitigation cannot handle these attacks, where does it leave smaller companies like Hedgehog?  It reminds us that technology is there to help fend off attacks, but the people behind the technology are absolutely necessary to handle the real-time mitigation from any such attack.  That is what we continue to focus on at Hedgehog Technology Services.

Richard Feller attends the Innovate!Celebrate conference in San Jose, CA.

The Consumer Technology Association & Tech.Co, formerly Tech Cocktail, held their annual conference INNOVATE! and CELEBRATE this past September in San Jose, CA.  There is no better venue for businesses to come together to celebrate innovation & entrepreneurship.  This was the first time CTA and TechCo teamed up for this venture and we feel that it was a huge success.

Richard Feller speaking with Angel Investors as to potential
legislative barriers that may hinder innovation.

The conference had many different tracks, but the main focus was on the startup and the sharing economies.  The sessions were widely attended and the vibe was new and fresh as the conference played host to 50 of the best startups in technology, all pursuing the title of  "Startup of the Year."

In addition to the many startup events, most of CTA's division boards met in person to hold their monthly board meeting.  One of the greatest outcomes of this conference was the ability for more established companies, like Hedgehog Hosting, to collaborate with many of these new innovative startups.  "It was a huge honor for us to be included to mentor and support these new startups, but it was an even greater honor to re-infuse Hedgehog with that entrepreneurial spirit," says Richard Feller.  "The combination of these two groups really show where we have come from and where we are headed."

Finally, the Consumer Technology Association sent invites to the three major political party candidates allowing them to present their technology platforms in a fireside chat with CTA President, Gary Shapiro.  While only one perspective opted to attend, it was amazing to talk tech policy with such a great group.

Richard Feller speaking with Karen Kornbluh who
advises the Clinton campaign on tech issues

Innovate!Celebrate was a melding of two great groups, the CTA and TechCo.  Hedgehog is very involved with both of their efforts and we are pleased to have been able to represent our industry and our clients.

TheWhir Publishes a List of the Ten Most Connected Data Centers

The Web Hosting Industry Review recently published a list of the 10 Most Connected Data Centers and Equinix's DC2 location comes in at #9 globally.  Many of our clients have toured our operations center in DC2 at the campus in Ashburn, VA and have seen first-hand the awesome power of this facility.  What many don't know is that there are now 11 Equinix IBX's, (Internet Business Exchanges) what we know as data centers, in the surrounding area of the Ashburn campus.

Each IBX can offer different advantages.  The power density at the DC11 location is amazing and can reduced your footprint dramatically.  The ability to have custom designed, bio-metrically accessed private rooms in DC10 makes this perfect for large scale installations. But in the end, the ability to connect with almost every Internet provider makes the DC2 location highly sought after real estate.

Hedgehog's clients know the power of that connectivity.  We put our client's content as close to the end user as we possibly can by hosting our network and our servers at DC2. In a time where data center space seems to be popping up everywhere, we continue to utilize Equinix as our primary point of presence, even at a cost greater than that of their competition.

We believe that is the same decision many of our clients make when it comes to using Hedgehog Hosting and Hedgehog Technology Services.  While we many not always be the lowest cost option the benefits of working with Hedgehog are abundantly clear and are a proven value for the cost.

We will continue to explore the ever-changing marketplace that is forming as all of these new data center spaces come to market, but for now, we will continue to utilize one of the most connected data centers as our primary point of presence to benefit our clients.

Hedgehog Hosting's very own Jeff Chanesman has embedded himself with the team at NoVa Labs and become a valuable resource for the lab

When Jeff Chanesman is not working on security configurations, hardware re-configurations, or any of the multiple tasks he performs daily for Hedgehog's clients, he is moonlighting at NoVa Labs here in Reston Virgina as a jack-of-all trades. Nova Labs is a membership-driven, all-volunteer, makerspace based in Reston, Virginia that was founded in 2011 with the purpose of empowering everyone to Rediscover the Joy of Making Things!

If that doesn't sum up Jeff, I am not sure what does. In a short time, Jeff has become the the laser steward, which holds responsibility for the lasers upkeep and he is in the process of rebuilding the computer for its usage. He has helped NoVa Labs network their two buildings and now the lego robotics kids would have internet, which is much needed fore their projects. He teaches classes on using the vinyl cutter and embroidery machine that he personally donated to the lab. He hosts woodworking open shop on Wednesday nights that includes a full wood shop and CNC machines. He loves to boast that they have the rc-4 series routers.

If that is not enough he co-hosts the maker circle and arts group every other Friday which includes crafts from old world, such as book binding, to cutting edge, pardon the pun, laser crafts and 3d printing. While he was recently asked to be on the board of NoVa Labs, he respectfully declined, but offered to serve on the committee for finding new board members.

In the end, if there is a need for overall help at the facility or if they need someone to serve as a fly on the wall for things like networking and server setup, Jeff has made himself an integral part of what they do at NoVa Labs. There are many people, especially children, that are the beneficiaries of Jeff's "Labor of Love" and we are very proud of all that he does to encourage everyone to rediscover the joy of making things.

Way to go Jeff! Keep up the good work.

Richard Feller speaks to MBA students at local college about entrepreneurship and the challenges of running a 15 year old tech company.

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit and speak with a class of MBA students at George Mason University's Fairfax Campus just down the street from Hedgehog's office this past summer.

My good friend and fellow Consumer Technology Association member, Skip West, an adjunct professor who teaches MBA 752 -Turning Ideas into Successful Companies at GMU, asked me to come and speak about Hedgehog Hosting, what our company does, how we got started, what lessons we have learned during our 15 years in business and finally, what I would teach/tell today's MBA students who are interested in one day starting their own businesses.

This was such a great opportunity as I feel like I had so much to say and give.  And as many of you who know me may have guessed, I started writing my script that day.  You see, I like to prepare when it comes to these things.  If I have to make a 5 minute introduction, I write it out in advance and time it to the very last second.  If I moderate a panel, I have every last thought typed out on paper so I feel prepared and ready.

The problem I ran into was that nothing was really coming together.  I had a nice outline but it did not flow very well.  When I read it over and over, it felt too planned, too robotic.  I was nervous.  I was not sure how things were going to go and I was afraid of disappointing my friend, his class and myself.  So what was I going to do.

I looked over the notes I had made and when I came to the part about what I would teach/tell the students as they started their own businesses, it hit me.  I wrote down, "Don't be afraid to take chances.  No matter how you, or anyone for that matter, thinks it will turn out, take risks and go with your gut."

So I figured I better listen to my own advice and I threw out all of my notes, I put on my most comfortable shirt and went in and I just spoke freely with the class.  I let the talk grow organically.  If I felt like I was hitting a road block, I changed gears.  If the class wanted more about a particular topic, I gave more.  We connected and I spoke from the heart... and the gut.  After all, gut instincts have been a guiding factor for much of what we have done at Hedgehog.

In the end, the night was a huge success. I told stories of our past and in turn I heard many great ideas for new companies that the students were working on.  It brought me back to a time when I, along with my business partners, had those very same goals and aspirations for our little company.

Asking to speak about our 15 year old company to a group of young and talented students was a bit scary.  Would they think we were old fashioned?  Would they think we were past our prime?  Well, it was just the opposite.  They were just as invigorated to get started as I was to continue doing what we do.  We all want to make a difference and we at Hedgehog have always felt that we do; even when others may try to tell you differently.

Thank you to my good friend and colleague for the time to speak to his class and thank especially to all the students who are working so hard, many of them taking night classes after their day jobs, to continue making a difference through entrepreneurship and innovation.

About the class:

MBA 752 -Turning Ideas into Successful Companies is an advanced course in entrepreneurship focused on discovery and development of an achievable business concept. Students develop a formal business plan and associated presentation materials. They are assigned to teams and must hypothesize a new business, research and test their hypothesis, and develop a comprehensive written business plan.