The following is an interview with Gil Vidals, CEO of VM Racks.
Tell us about VM Racks. How did you get started in the hosting business?
We started consumer hosting in 1997. This was simply vanilla hosting with nothing special. As the competition heated up, it became apparent that competing based on price alone was a formula for razor-thin margins, if any profit at all. Instead, finding a bonafide niche with a growing demand seemed like a better path. VM Racks was born to serve such a niche. Taking the hosting experience of over a decade and retooling that towards secure cloud hosting for companies that require HIPAA Compliant hosting was a better business model.
Why did you choose to focus so much effort on HIPAA Compliant hosting?
Cloud hosting is a very competitive market space. Competing on price alone won’t get you anywhere. Instead, VM Racks focuses on providing secure HIPAA Compliant hosting at an affordable price and we win customers with our amazing technical support. We answer the phone when clients call, we include support at no additional cost in all of our plans and we do this at an affordable price. HIPAA clients tell us how important it is to have a higher level of service and we deliver on that with our products and service.
What are some unique things you do to ensure HIPAA Compliant hosting that many other hosting providers don’t?
Typically, HIPAA hosting providers do not offer or sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with their customers because they don’t want to be held liable in case there is a security breach; VM Racks offers and signs BAAs with all of our HIPAA clients. Amongst the competition, VM Racks also has a competitive edge as we offer HIPAA Compliant Hosting services to government agencies from the City, all the way up to the Federal level.
Beyond price, what other things should people consider when looking for a HIPAA Compliant Hosting Provider?
Unfortunately, the marketplace is looking for HIPAA Compliant hosting providers that are accredited as such. Since there is no governing body that issues accreditation, it isn’t possible to provide a certificate that officially signifies that we are a bonafide HIPAA host. This can be confusing to those looking for a legitimate solution. Instead of trying to find a “certified” HIPAA Compliant Hosting Provider (as there is no governing body that issues such an accreditation), those in need of HIPAA Compliant Hosting should look for a company that is responsive and will fulfill their obligations for the sake of security and well-being of the information to be protected. Such methodologies used for this process include (but not limited to): offsite backups, two-factor authentication, log management, vulnerability assessment scanning, web application firewalls (WAF), anti-DDoS protection, network perimeter firewalls, and multi-tenant isolation. In addition, HIPAA organizations should also ensure that their hosting provider maintains the following audits and certifications: SSAE 16 SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2, and SOC 3 Type 2.
Is VM Racks a better solution for smaller healthcare IT startup companies, mid-sized companies or large enterprise hosting solutions?
VM Racks is the hosting company-of-choice for both commercial startup customers as well as multi-level, high-dollar government agencies. For a healthcare startup, our $199/month HIPAA plan is the best in the industry. This pricing model allows new healthcare businesses, who don’t have a huge initial infrastructure investment and are still concerned about being HIPAA compliant, to quickly get off the ground at a reasonable price.
As a leading provider of HIPAA hosting for the Affordable Care Act, we are experienced in Federal, State, and Local hosting solutions. Our government and large enterprise hosting customers are typically looking for well-designed and constructed virtualization solutions.
Why should an organization consider going with a HIPAA Compliant Hosting solution as opposed to “in-house” hosting?
Hosting in-house is generally suited for enterprise-level organizations that already own/lease space from an existing data center. Building cutting edge servers is expensive. From a strategic perspective, it’s usually better for a business to invest in their core competencies and lease the IT infrastructure. We provide the infrastructure they need in the cloud and allow organizations the flexibility to add or remove resources on demand.
What new things are happening with hosting, servers, and data centers that we should keep an eye on?
Virtualization is no longer a “new” technology or unknown territory. It has been vetted and widely accepted for quite some time now. This process has become more readily available with ease-of-use by way of managed services allowing these virtual resources to be quickly adapted and molded to conform to each and every customer. We continue to focus on providing our customers with the latest in cloud infrastructure technology to transform the capabilities of doing business in a virtualized environment.
