Why aren't the servers located in Japan?
In theory, there is no restriction on where a data centre can be located, but we understand the practical limitations very well. And, when you take those limitations into account, Japan turns out to be a poor choice of location. In a netshell, connectivity is poor, prices are outragious and resolution of technical support issues can be a real test of patience.
We choose Toronto, Canada as our data centre location for the following reasons:
- No earthquakes! Some Japanese hosting providers brag that they have housed their data centres in "earthquake resistant" buildings, that's not going to help if the servers them self are not earthquake resistant or if all the communication lines to the building are damaged. Our servers are located on the North American Craton, which one of the most tectonically stable regions in the world.
- Performance. The Toronto data centre is housed in the same building that houses a major eastern Internet traffic hub. We have multi-point access to several tier-1 networks (some with direct lines to Asia) and peering arrangements with local networks.
- Support. We have selected our service provisioner on the basis of support. The data centre provides 24 hour monitoring and prompt repair of hardware failures.
- Security. In these days of terrorist attacks and political oppression, being able to operate a business in a safe, secure environment is a challenge. Canada is a politically moderate country with a fair judicial system. The security of the data centre is among the top rated in the country.
- Price. Although Japanese ISPs provide reasonable price/performance on end-point, consumer-grade Internet access (such as ADSL and FTTD), North American data centres lead the way in price/performance for commercial grade, outsourced hosting and server services.
Do you really want to host your website in Japan? Perhaps you should reconsider. If you've already had experience trying to host in Japan or trying to get features, performance and level of support you need, at a reasonable price, then you already know that it is difficult. If you are still not convinced, try to even find a hosting service providor in Japan that is not actually just an ISP offering minimal webhosting services.
