Recommend Canadian managed hosting provider

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Posted by MikeMuha, 06-23-2009, 10:33 AM
Hi. Canadian customers are asking about where we host and primarily do we host our SaaS offering physically IN Canada. One prospect says that under no circumstances would they host their data outside of Canada due to the Patriot Act, which allows the US government to (theoretically) search or confiscate their data. We're in the Detroit area, and would like some recommendations for a Canadian hosting company to manage multiple application and Oracle database servers. We pretty much have a standard config for servers - we could either send them preconfigured servers to mount or have them bought on our behalf. We mostly need the provider for hardware installations and repairs (along with bandwidth, power, and racks...). Recommendations? Thanks! Mike
Posted by Smoking, 06-24-2009, 08:45 AM
Webserve, I believe is Canada based. I would suggest to have a talk with them. I am assuming that there should be some review threads on them if you dig this forum. All the best
Posted by ramshgeorge83, 06-24-2009, 09:29 AM
Why doubt? I can only recommend iweb.com, Canada's no:1 host. iWeb comes under the top class webhosting companies in the world. Just do a google search for more exciting information
Posted by UnderHost, 06-24-2009, 09:36 AM
i would recommend you netelligent.ca/en/ca or iweb.com both based in Montreal.
Posted by wb-Jay, 06-24-2009, 07:36 PM
Definitely get in touch with the friendly folks at upscalehost.com. They have been in the business for a while now and provide excellent service.
Posted by tcstatic, 06-25-2009, 08:25 AM
Just to let you know. The Canadian government will provide access to that data/servers in a heartbeat if asked by the US government. Same goes for the other way around. If there are other reasons for needing the data in Canada that's fine, but if the client(s) actually believe this would protect them...they are incorrect. [b]Added: [b]Do a little research on the Canadian Anti-terrorism Act and the work between that and the Patriot Act. Last edited by tcstatic; 06-25-2009 at 08:40 AM. Reason: added
Posted by hhw, 06-30-2009, 02:12 AM
Certainly, the Canadian government will co-operate when warranted, but they are likely to follow due process quite diligently, as there would be a major public outcry over any misstep. The Anti-terrorism Act also has some major differences from the Patriot Act, and is not nearly as permissive. http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/li.../prb0583-e.htm We Canadians can be very critical of our government at the federal level, and a minor scandal is enough to put a party out of power for multiple terms (just look at the Grits right now).
Posted by mwatkins, 06-30-2009, 02:27 AM
The primary reason for preferring Canadian hosting, for any Canadian entity - be it a corporation, non-profit or even an individual or small business - is to aid in fulfilling their obligations under various provincial and federal personal information protection legislation. The U.S. Patriot Act introduces sufficient cause for concern about invasion of privacy of Canadians that a great many organizations will state point blank that they will not tolerate non-Canadian hosting. This fear - justified or not - is real enough and particularly for local / municipal, provincial, and federal government departments and organizaitons, you will find that records management specialists and managers in general will generally want to err on the side of caution and choose solutions which are guaranteed to have subscriber and site data housed and held in areas under Canadian jurisdiction... Canada in short. In a past life I marketed primarily to large Canadian corporations and municipal governments and federal government departments. Even pre 9/11 I found a marked preference for hosting in Canada despite what where often significantly elevated prices here. Over the past decade public awareness over privacy issues has risen dramatically and so too have concerns over electronic data leaving Canadian shores. Many politically sensitive organizations are unlikely to want to risk disclosure that their data is held elsewhere. In the right hands, this is a good marketing angle for Canadian domiciled and operated hosting. I'm not sure many do go after this business segment intentionally. Perhaps some should. I'm betting hhw has a few clients who care.
Posted by plumsauce, 06-30-2009, 02:40 AM
Maher Arar. www.maherarar.ca www.ararcommission.ca en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maher_Arar
Posted by serkank, 06-30-2009, 06:39 AM
just check myhosting.com (.ca) they have been in business since 1997.
Posted by hhw, 07-02-2009, 08:15 PM
That incident reflects more on the US than Canada. Certainly, Canada co-operated with the US by disclosing information about Arar, but they hardly required any special provisions from the Anti-Terrorism Act to do so.