Five months after transferring responsibility for the managed hosting of its international Mineweb.com financial and corporate mining news site to Web hosting specialist Rackspace Managed Hosting EMEA, the JSE-listed Moneyweb Holdings group reports a dramatic improvement in user experience.
Moneyweb project manager Hilton Tarrant said the Mineweb site had previously operated with a "hybrid solution" between Cape Town and the UK, where a few of Mineweb's journalistic staff were based.
Following a recommendation from the site development partner Cambrient, Moneyweb contacted Rackspace and went with a recommendation that the Web site be administered in the UK and physically hosted in Dallas, Texas.
"The arrangements now in place are less costly and offer much greater value for money," said Tarrant. "In fact, the Rackspace solution is simply incomparable to what existed before."
Mineweb made its debut in South Africa as a publication in April 1999, and the Web site was launched in January the following year. It was the first international Internet publishing venture for Moneyweb Holdings.
"There has since been considerable growth in the business. Mineweb journalists and management are now based in London and there is a well-established network of mining correspondents worldwide, covering Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australasia and Europe, backed by offices in London and South Africa."
Tarrant added that Mineweb.com registers well over 100 000 unique users a month, and now that the head office is located offshore, the news, comment and services offered are truly international. However, he stressed that one of the most valuable aspects of moving the hosting of Mineweb.com overseas with Rackspace was a dramatic improvement in user experience.
"We have had huge feedback on the design, look and feel and the speed of the site. It loads exceptionally quickly and is proving highly reliable - since it went live with Rackspace five months ago, the site has never been down."
Mineweb has a service level agreement that guarantees 100% network uptime. Tarrant added that the experience with Rackspace has been that customer interaction is constant and consistent with services at a level "unheard of" in the general South African context.
"The international boom in natural resources has provided a platform from which the Mineweb business is really taking off, underpinned by experienced, respected editorial staff and a highly reliable managed hosting service that ensures top drawer services and experience for Mineweb subscribers and visitors to the site."
Mineweb serves a broadening international community that relies on it for education, updated information about mining and metals investment, and breaking news about or affecting mining, minerals processing and beneficiation in general. News of corporate and operational developments in mining all around the world and in all sectors of the industry is presented, and insightful comment and analysis of trends in mining, metals and related businesses, is published.
Mineweb's holding company, Moneyweb Holdings, is listed on the JSE's Alternative Exchange (Alt X) and is an integrated media company focusing on producing independent, high quality investment information. Roughly half of the company's revenue is generated by its Internet properties, with the balance generated almost equally by radio and print.
The flagship local Internet brand is Moneyweb.co.za, a dominant online source of investment information. Marketingweb.co.za is another sub-brand which serves the marketing and advertising industries.
Tarrant said the objective is to add value for these industries by offering news and relevant services. "For example, our click-a-company service offers deep drill-downs into listed companies for investors, entrepreneurs and others looking for pertinent, independent information, analysis and informed viewpoints. Our objective is to provide this without fear or favour and Mineweb's ethos, 'uncompromising independence', underlines that goal."
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