First Option Chooses Invision to Host System i Hosting Business

Published: October 16, 2007

by Alex Woodie

First Option, a provider of System i server and application hosting expertise, has picked Invision, which runs a big data center near New York City, to house the iSeries and System i servers it runs for its clients, the companies announced last week.

First Option has been running i5/OS servers and applications for customers since it was founded in 1995. Today the company, which is based in Mansfield, Massachusetts, provides i5/OS expertise to customers like Consolidated Communications, a telecommunications company serving rural Illinois and Texas, and DAPREX, a developer of i5/OS accounting software that's based in Stamford, Connecticut.

The fact that Invision's data center on Long Island, New York, is compliant with the SAS 70 Type II auditing standard, which assures customers the capability to fulfill HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley requirements, was a big plus for First Option, says Paul Fuller, president of the company. "This was one of the main reasons we chose Invision to house our equipment," Fuller says.

While First Option counts Java, WebSphere, security, and high availability as key differentiators in its offering, the company doesn't overlook the basics, including helpdesk and operational support, providing quick response times, "and just plain day-to-day dependability," Fuller says.

First Option's managed hosting services start at about $950 per month.

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