Data Return Focuses on Applications

By Rawlson O'Neil King

August 27, 2004 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Data Return, LLC (datareturn.com) takes a refreshingly sophisticated approach towards its business. Instead of focusing primarily on infrastructure such as pipes and servers, as many other hosting companies do, the firm preoccupies itself with enhancing its customers' applications.

Many large companies, like HP, RadioShack and H&R Block rely on the firm's experience, and proven capabilities, to manage their complex, transaction-intensive Web-based systems. Over the course of eight years, the company has developed its own comprehensive service delivery platform, digitalOps, which manages mission-critical business infrastructure on the Windows, Solaris and Linux platforms.

The power of its unified business environment gives Data Return the ability to deliver a highly tailored and flexible service to its customers, which can control any aspect of its highly complex hosting environment from a singular software interface. DigitalOps is more than a service delivery platform that simply automates server and network functions. It is also designed to optimize technical operations and business processes across the entire enterprise. As a result, the environment can afford total control over a distributed hosting and IT architecture, thereby enhancing enterprise workflow and asset management.

This approach speeds response times, reduces the possibility of error, and raises systems availability through increased accuracy, comprehensive change control, and rapid fault resolution. The system is also advantageous because it can offer such customized service, at a price more conducive to a commodity-like offering.

"Our system is different from other managed hosting services because we take a more holistic view of the complexity of the environment," states Sunny C. Vanderbeck, Data Return's chief executive officer. "We ensure the availability and scalability of our environment so that we can focus on customer applications that power large data operations with large traffic and financial transaction demands."

Based upon a strong foundation of infrastructure, expert product engineering and digitalOps, Data Return's managed hosting provides value to its customers through intelligent systems design and testing; comprehensive and systemic change management; proactive performance analysis and optimization. The firm also maintains a rapid customer service philosophy, with a commitment to full production support that includes troubleshooting custom application code.

The hosting firm is also highly experienced in powering intensive, transactional driven sites. As an example, Data Return provides a complete managed solution to Fandango, the largest online and phone movie-ticketing service in the US. Fandango sells tickets for over 1,000 theaters and 11,500 screens - which equates to nearly 70 percent of the theatres in the United States enabled for remote ticketing. Recently, Fandango's online systems processed eight percent of the total global ticket sales for the blockbuster hit The Passion of the Christ. Data Return's ability to respond to large spikes in traffic through its digitalOps platform allowed the host to effectively deal with the influx of transactions.

That ability also facilitated the firm's capacity to successfully enable H&R Block's online tax preparation service. The demanding application, which integrates with its shrink-wrapped software, recently processed over 2.5 million tax returns during the previous individual tax-filing season.

"We excel in providing a high level of technical expertise and experience to maintain highly-trafficked, transactional sites due to the operation maturity model that we have implemented," says Vanderbeck. "The model allows us to measure the quality of our operation."

The model is based on the IT Infrastructure Library framework; a set of IT best practices. Data Return also leverages its internal, in-depth knowledge of IT environments, and is recognized for its operational excellence through Microsoft, HP and SAS-70 certifications.

Due to its integrated platform and customized approach to customer service, the company has continued to grow its accounts and retain important clientele. Key new clients include PerkinElmer Inc., Landry's Restaurants Inc., and Everdream.

"While other companies take a Home Depot approach to hosting and simply provide all the parts, we endeavor to act as a custom contractor, and put all the parts together to create a full solution," states Vanderbeck. "This is why we continue to grow our business."

Over the past nine quarters the company has consistently reported a profit, while carrying very little debt. The company intends to grow its balance sheet even more by offering enhanced options to control distributed IT architecture within corporate data center facilities in the near future.