Feb, 2002 : Q9 Delivers the Goods for Grocery Gateway

📅 February 6, 2002 - When John Mozas, vice president and co-founder of Grocery Gateway (grocerygateway.com), a Canadian direct online consumer service, launched a 1950s pricing promotion on bread, eggs and milk, he knew the response would validate his company's decision to outsource its Webinfrastructure.

Shortly after the promotion was launched in January via email and radioadvertising, the Grocery Gateway site saw a 500 percent increase in the number of simultaneous customer sessions. Bandwidth usage spiked by almost300 percent.
Since early 2001, the online grocer has outsourced its Web infrastructure tomanaged hosting provider, Q9 Networks (q9.com -> equinix.com), which provides Grocery Gateway with a suite of services including managed bandwidth and physicalspace in its downtown Toronto data centre.
"We hadn't experienced any network downtime since hosting at Q9," saysMozas. "But with this special promotion, we weren't sure how much additionalWeb traffic would be generated and what the effect on our infrastructurewould be. We didn't want to lose any customers because of slow response timeor because they weren't able to access the site at all. It was critical thatthe site remain up and provide its normal level of performance. It did. Q9'snetwork delivered as promised."
Q9's service level agreements guarantee 100 percent network uptime. All Q9and customer systems are monitored from the Q9 Network Operations Centre 24hours a day, seven days a week. NOC experts are also available to customerson an around-the-clock basis to resolve issues and provide advice.
"By outsourcing their Web infrastructure to Q9, Grocery Gateway can focus onits core competency of making life simpler for consumers," says OsamaArafat, CEO, Q9 Networks. "As their promotion demonstrates, no matter howdemanding the requirements, Q9 can meet the needs of Canadian companiesseeking increased business opportunities on the Internet."
Q9's sole focus on Internet infrastructure allows it to hire, retain andtrain certified experts in Internet-specific disciplines. Key services arebacked with SLA guarantees for installation times and problem identificationand response.