One of the thing that I pride myself the most with as an IT consultant is doing in-depth research of all the options available before recommending a solution to my clients. In some case, I’ll even have used the product or service myself for a while before it hits my BUY list. So it’s fair to say I’m not after the cheapest option, but the best solution.

In fact, looking back, my decision is always based on a combination of product reviews, vendor viability, future expandability and especially ease of use. The last factor is critical, if I’m to explain to my client how to use it themselves, so I can move on to working with other clients. As for vendor viability, I consider years in business, product portfolio and support options for hardware, while for software, I include frequency of updates in the mix. Finally, future expandability ensures that my client is somewhat protected from rapid obsolescence.

On that last point, one product that I recommended and installed over the course of the last year was the HP MediaSmart server which uses Windows Home Server. This small-footprint server from Hewlett Packard provided a great platform to manage backups for SMB clients by providing a fully-automated solution, even providing remote access when needed. Unfortunately, Microsoft has announced this week that a key piece of technology behind Windows Home Server, Drive Extender, would be faded out in the next upgrade of their OS. Given that Drive Extender is the major differentiator this server brings to the table, I can no longer recommend products based on Windows Home Server. I could live with the problems that running a NAS on a Windows OS brought to the table, but now that the ability to easily add & remove drives to the backup array without knowing a thing about RAID is gone, well, so am I.

In the interest of helping you benefit from some of my research, I’ve recently started adding to my website some banners/links to the services and products I can recommend without hesitation (some of which I’m an affiliate for). Here is an overview of some of them, and why I use and in some cases, resell them:

• Web Hosting: Hostgator *
  I’ve tried a number of web hosting services, basing my decision on the look of their website and the way they presented themselves. Yeah,  that was foolish… So I started digging into discussion forums, reading up on data centers, and uptime. In the end, I chose HostGator based on all the positive reviews I read, about 2-3 years ago.
  My server uptime is practically 100% across 15-20 websites distributed on a few servers. And everything is redundant by default, no extra costs. I now exclusively use Hostgator for myself and ALL my clients. You can click here to purchase web hosting from HostGator.
• Domain Names: Netfirms *
  Same goes for Domain Names, I’ve used a few registrars over years and I’ve seen huge discrepancies in prices for what are essentially commodities. In the end, I was looking for a registrar based in Canada that offered an easy-to-use management panel for my many domain names. Bonus: it provides auto-renewal of domains, so you can never forget to register and lose your property. Click here to purchase your domain names from Netfirms.
• Backups: Cloudberry Lab *
  I discovered this vendor while looking for a way to help my clients back up their critical data to their Amazon S3 account. These clients are running HP MediaSmart servers for backups, and Cloudberry Lab offers a plugin for Windows Home Server that can schedule backups: simple, efficient, problem-free. Now that one of my client will use a NAS for their workstation backups, I was looking for a solution to backup to network drives… again, Cloudberry Lab has a solution. Click here to purchase simple and reliable backups from CloudBerry Lab.
• Storage: Data Robotics
  I have lots of data and I need lots of storage. But my business is also multi-platform, as I use Apple OS X, Microsoft Windows and Linux. I also tend to prefer networked devices because it makes them easier to share and remotely access if needed. After having used USB, USB2 and Firewire external drives, I was looking for something that could expand as my storage needs grew. Network Attached Storage provides this capability. And the Drobo line of products from Data Robotics adds to this their BeyondRaid technology which allows me to add or remove hard drives in the storage array at will. And like RAID, it provides me with 1 or even 2 drive failures. I was sold. Click here to check out the Drobo product line.

* Disclaimer: I am part of an affiliate program for this company and will receive a commission if you buy after having reached their website through one of my links. Thank you in advance, if you do.

So there you go, a bit of the rationale behind some of the product decisions I’ve made and stuck with over the years. I hope this helps you, whether you’re in the market for such products and services, or simply to better understand the logic behind why I recommend one vendor over another.