The Planet Blog

We’ve been talking about terabytes (TB) a lot – specifically with regard to our newest special, offering 10 terabytes of bandwidth at no additional cost. In fact, today through Aug. 31, we’re offering a deluxe version of the promo: 10 TB of free bandwidth on top of our discounted server prices and FREE setup.

We talk about how great a deal the 10 TB bandwidth promotion is, but what does 10 terabytes of data look like, anyway? We all know it’s a lot… but I decided to figure out just how much it would be in terms of other measurements.

After a little Googling, I learned that 10 terabytes is equivalent to:

• 10,995,116,277,760 bytes
• 87,960,930,222,080 bits
• The data in 800,000 phone books
• 4 billion single-spaced, typewritten pages
• 16,000 audio CDs
• The memory capacity of eight human brains (we’re not saying whose)
• The entire Library of Congress

Those are interesting, but we wanted to come up with our own visual, so we enlisted our calculators: Picture a small craft bead (an 11 mm x 8 mm cylinder), and imagine that the bead represents one bit (1 b) of data. Eight beads would equal one byte (1 B); 8,192 beads would equal one kilobyte (1 KB); 8,388,608 beads would equal one megabyte (1 MB); etc.

To hold the equivalent of 10 terabytes worth of “bit beads,” you would need more than 1.75 billion 10-gallon tanks. If you piled the beads one foot deep, they would cover 84.7 square miles. If they were used to cover Houston’s 579.4 square miles, we’d have a bead carpet 1.75 inches deep within the city limits.

It’s incredible, right?

Let’s think of it in terms of servers: What is a real-world example of what you can do with 10 TB of bandwidth every month? I’m glad you asked.

You can make an MP3 of yourself singing to your dog and make the file available on your server. When it becomes the latest viral phenomenon, your 10 TB of bandwidth would cover about 3.5 million downloads. You’d be well on your way to your own reality show by the time you got your next month’s server bill … where your 10 TB promo server wasn’t charged a penny of bandwidth overages.

No matter how you measure it … 10 terabytes is a lot.

Help us think big: How would you visualize and explain 10 terabytes?

-John

I know, I know … you’ve heard it before … but seriously. I (Katie) wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that we (The Planet) have brought back for a limited time our Double Down promotion.

What is the Double Down promotion?
So glad you asked! For no additional cost, double your RAM, hard drive, or bandwidth when you lease a new server. For complete details, see www.theplanet.com/double-down-promotion, and please note that …

It’s for a limited time only!

(How many marketing clichés can she cram into one blog post, you ask?)

This promotion ends on September 30, 2007 (11:59 pm CDT to be exact) – and if you’re sitting there at 11:45 pm (CDT) on the 30th thinking, “Awww, those fabulous guys and gals at The Planet will be happy to give me this promo tomorrow …” think again! We’re sticking to the deadline (it’s the end of the quarter folks!), so if you want to … double your RAM, hard drive or bandwidth … act now so you don’t miss out on this opportunity. After all, we brought it back because you asked.

By the way, we’re also running our Super September Giveaway … and everyone who leases a new server from The Planet is registered to win one of four major prizes, including a Dell laptop, Xbox 360 Elite, 160 GB & 80 GB iPods, and iPod nano or a Nintendo Wii … not to mention gift certificate drawings daily. It’s just our little way of saying “thank you” for doing business with us.

Oh, and by the way … happy “Talk like a Pirate” day matey!

(How many marketing clichés did I manage to get in? Four unique instances: “back by popular demand”, “limited time” x 2, “act now”, and “don’t miss out”.)

Interested in purchasing new servers to keep up with increased demand? The Planet recently launched two new server specials that deliver valuable savings on the latest technology and server solutions.

Take advantage of the Let FREEdom Ring special, with any new server order eligible for free setup, a free RapidSSL^® Certificate and free 2GB DiskSync backup.

For servers with a base monthly price of $150 or more, the special also includes free control panel software from a wide selection of industry leading vendors, including cPanel, Plesk, Ensim and Helm.

Sign-up soon. This offer is available on all new server orders from June 11 – July 6, 2007.*

Are your servers spread across a number of hosting providers? Send us the competitor’s invoice and The Planet will beat current server pricing by 10 percent. Running from June 11 – July 31, 2007, the Lowest Hosting Price on The Planet also delivers free setup and one month free to migrate the server(s).*

If The Planet is unable to beat the competition’s pricing on an equivalent server configuration, customers will be provided with a one-year RapidSSL^® Certificate.

Stop by again soon for the latest deals from The Planet.

- Katie

Looking for a cool deal on servers? Welcome to the inaugural edition of my “Cool Deals” blog, where I’ll highlight the latest and greatest server deals and contests from The Planet. Who doesn’t love saving and winning money?!

We’ve just launched the unmetered bandwidth deal – truly one of the best deals ever on bandwidth. For just $50 per month, you can sign-up for unlimited access to a 10 Mb/s uplink with The Planet’s multiple Tier-1 providers. This pricing is only available until Tuesday, June 12, or while capacity is available. So sign-up soon for this stellar deal.

With The Planet’s “Peer Pressure” referral program, we pay YOU to refer your friends (pressure your peers, if you will) to sign-up for servers at The Planet. For every server purchased by your friends, you’ll be placed in a random drawing for a $500 American Express gift card.

The grand prize? The individual with the most referrals leasing a server with The Planet wins a $1,000 American Express card! And if you’re a generous friend, you’ll use that newly minted gift card to take your friends who leased a server from The Planet out to dinner. Now that’s a win-win situation.

Start the “Peer Pressure” soon. You have until September 3 to sign-up as many friends as possible. The grand and first prize winners will be announced on October 31, 2007.

Stop by again soon for another update from “Cool Deals” central.

- Katie