Server and Bandwidth Fees -

I have put this simple and slightly over priced budget together to help with understanding the roll-out needs with running a 1000+ Network of Community Sites- This is based on leasing the servers. Unless we have several million from an investor it does not make sense to purchase servers. We would need to still pay for someone to manage the server farm, especially in different data-centers. Further if one of the servers goes down then we can have the leased servers changed in a few hours time because it is part of the leasing plan.

OPTION-1

$1,100- Woodcrest 1U Server with 2x250 Gig SCSI Drives with 32 GIG ram (can reduce cost by having less RAM)

$2,500- 7.2 Terabyte Storage Device

$600 - Load Balancing Hardware for up to 100 servers-

$1,000 - Unmetered 100mbps sustained

$75 - Tech Support per server (admin of Redhat, Mail, installs of Apache mods, gen. tech)
Were using Totalserversolution.com (they ROCK!! but I will write about them in future)

$7,450 USD Monthly Total

Expect 2 servers minimum but cost can be reduced and RAM can be raised as we need it. With this model the monthly cost would start at:

This can be lower but it should be budget to cover this cost when running Social Community Sites-

OPTION-2

$324 --Xeon 3060 Dual Core 2.4 - 4-250GB - 2GB DDR2 RAM (Tower so takes more rack space)

$600 --Load Balancing Hardware

$1,000 - Umetered 100mbps Sustained

$75 - Tech Support per server (admin of Redhat, Mail, installs of Apache mods, gen. tech)
Were using Totalserversolution.com (they ROCK!! but I will write about them in future)

$3398 -Total Monthly

With our current server setup of $324 +$1000 for unlimited +$600 load balancing cost for 2 servers would be $3248

OPTION-3

$324 --Xeon 3060 Dual Core 2.4 - 4-250GB - 2GB DDR2 RAM

$600 --Load Balancing Hardware

$100 - Umetered 10-mbps Sustained

$75 - Tech Support per server (admin of Redhat, Mail, installs of Apache mods, gen. tech)
Were using Totalserversolution.com (they ROCK!! but I will write about them in future)

$1,598 Monthly Total

1/4 Private Shelf (5 server capacity) is $0/setup and $199/per month 1/2 Private Rack (10 server capacity) is $0/setup and $398/per month Full Private Rack (5 server capacity) is $0/setup and $600/per month

Note all equipment is DELL-

this is all with www.ev1servers.net (theplanet company)

I still need some official prices from http://www.akamai.com/

If anyone else has knowledge of low priced HIGH QUALITY managed server hosting?

 

Dreams coming true....

Some people may not know this but the main goal for building this latest company Synergyhive.com is to raise the needed funds to build schools for poor children. Well and perhaps to fulfill my other big life dream which is to create a succesful Portal Community company. I have had this running dream since I was 16 years old to build 1,000 schools with 500 children in each school. The name of the charity is basic5.org - Part of the reason I came to China was to learn about building materials and medical supplies. That's where SPEC360.COM came from. Paramitahomes.com is another one of my companies designed to build low-cost shelters. Anyway slowly but surely all my plans are coming together. Imagine how much money would be required to run 1,000 schools with 500,000 students and approximately 100,000 staff. You would need a financial vehicle.....hmmmm :-)

Many people over the years tell me I'm crazy for trying to accomplish big dreams
but now all my friends are used to my crazy life. Now they say "so what crazy adventure are you on?". I think IF Synergyhive.com is successful it will be one of the most profitable companies on the net. All my different companies have taught me how to create revenue and this project is starting to become very solid.
Ohhh No! My Ego is out of control!

This old banner is still circulating around the net.......

"TOP" Social Networking Sites - List

A while back I put up a list of the "top" Social Networking Sites. Some of these come from the Wiki dictionary and others have been added by different friends.

If you have a SNS that is cool an is not on this list I built a simple form which adds it to a mySQL db. This data is helpful for a number of reasons. The obvious main two reasons are 1) word-of-mouth marketing 2) so we can see all the cool features and then "improve upon them and build them for synergyhive. So if you know of a site not on our list just add it please! :-)

http://www.basic5hosting.com/sns/

SNS - Common Feature List

Here is a broad list of features commonly found in most SNS. These have all been developed for the current demo- (If you would like to request a demo please contact me via email)

Events	Auction	Blogs
Reservations	Donations	Forums
Calendars	Payment Systems	News
Chat	Shopping Cart	Help Desk
Personal Messages	Catalogs	RSS
Comments	Media-Gallery	Recipes
Ratings & Reviews	Podcasting	Education
Guest Book	Streaming Video/MP3 (FLV/MP3)	Bibliography
Newsletter	Contacts	Downloads
Polls	CRM	FAQ
Directory	Credits	Glossary & Dictionary
Google	Group Access	Wiki
Search	Menu Systems	Real Estate
Site Map	Multiple Sites	WYSIWYG
Kitchen Sink:-)	Single Site Logon	User Profiles

This week we added some new stuff- Blog TAG -Plugin- It allows you to auto-bookmark to more than 40 Blog Bookmakring sites - This will bring in alot of quality readers to a users blog. I will begin testing it on Blogger.com :-)

Social Networking Site - Business Model Overview

Here is a blurb or two from the business plan I'm writing- It has not been screened by any editors or our lawyer. The business plan will change dramatically and even as I am writing this someone on our team just emailed me a complete rewrite...like huge rewrite. So this is just to get a little feedback. Thanks!

---

SynergyHive.com specializes in building and managing Social Networking Sites (SNS).

Our vision is to provide the tools for anyone to create their own “mytube”, “myspace” community site. Our main focus is providing a self-service online software solution allowing anyone to choose the features they want in their community. Why go to YouTube when you can set up your own MyTube, if you will, with the same functionality but tailored to the specific purposes of your blog/community, website/etc. People can create their own complex online social community site with a few clicks, but remain linked to other sites and other people through tagging, rss, and various technologies linking popular communities together.

The prospective customer will come to SynergyHive and begin by signing up for the base membership of $5.00. The members credit card will be left on file and after they begin to customize their community they will have access to several “add-ons” which will cost anywhere from $1 - $10 depending on what it is. For example adding the Video/Audio encoder to change files from AVI or MP3 to flash-streaming format will cost maybe $2 per month. Adding extra hard-drive space may cost $2 per 10 gig of space or something along these lines and depending on when the user was signed up they will pay a pro-rated fee plus a mandatory $1 setup fee.

The primary income stream will be Data-Collection. This is our little secret for now. If your real nice I can tell you. So email me privately.

If we were to simply average the estimated user base across 1,000 community sites at 10,000 members per site we would have 10 million collective members. In fact according to numerous research sources this number is highly under valued. It is our conservative view that in less than 24 months we will be collectively control the largest user base on the world-wide-web among Social Networking Communities.

 

TV Licensing and Broadcasting Fees?

First let me go over some of the basics. This is a plug-in for our Social Networking Community software on Synergyhive.com. And yes I have demo's! But like I have said before please email me and lets schedule a phone call. I'm not handing over my demo without knowing a little about who I show it too. I'm good at reading peoples energy and I can determine fairly easily if the person is "real" or a hustler or a time burner.

TV Show Component- (The broadcasting of TV shows is obviously not "legaly" possible now but with success we will obtain a partner to broadcast TV shows.)

People log into a community site. Each user has a HASH-CODE to represent their user information. Like 2jhhhd84h4hsjskfdhs74jrjsh which is just some long code to verify the user and that the user is not sharing content, modifying, etc. The TV show is downloaded and encoded with a special video-codec directly related to that users hash code. The actual codec is a patch to AVI which is the standard HDTV video codec so you get exactly the same quality as normal TV. This works for MP4 the Cell phone PDA standard as well. The user then views the content in their favorite video player such as Windows Media Player.

The profit model is nearly the same as it has been in the TV Industry for the last 50+ years.

Provided I have the business model and tech issues nailed down tight. Lets say for the sake of this discussion that all the business and tech issues are managed.

Can someone answer these two questions?

1. What is needed to get permission to provide TV shows to a membership community?
2. What would be the cost/fees?

I am really wanting to know this answer. I have asked like 20 people in various ways. So now I am asking the professional community.......

Advertising and China the future of Social Networking Communities!

There is this huge tradeshow twice a year in Guangzhou, China. It is the Mother of tradeshows . You could take 6 of the largest tradeshows in USA and maybe it would equal this one show. You can get every type of product you would ever need. I always check out the Electronics first. They have like 200 different companies selling Mp3/Mp4's and the latest Cell-Phones, etc. Geek World!! Then I head into the building products and check out some kitchens and stuff. The machinery is wild! Like water filtration factory's, soda making equipment, candy makers, etc. Huge clothing selection....you can get cool winter Gore-Tex jackets for like $50 (if you buy 600+) . If you like business your head is turning imaginary profit models at every head turn! :-)

The future for Social Networking Communities is data-collection. I think there are cool ways to collect data without offending the users. I really do not like Text-Ads and I see that business model going to the trash soon. Google abused it nearly to death and soon the advertising police will put that model in Jail for severe abuse!

I think people will earn points/rewards for giving up advertising data. It will be nearly invisible but little glowing-animated Icons will appear allowing the user to hover their mouse over the animated glowing icon to see (1)how many points can be earned viewing this ad (2)what kind of ad(3)what kind of data collection will be needed and how many points can be earned. The end result is the user can earn points to buy cool stuff like a MP4 Video player with 8gig space. Or a cool Gore-Tex Ski Jacket!! Or perhaps some movie tickets to the new hot film, concert tickets to see their favorite band.

Beaware that buying goods from Chinese factories is not as easy as it seems. I have seen MANY American, Africa, EU, folks come to china with $-Dollar signs in their eyes. They buy the product and then they find either it was not a great savings over existing wholesale in their home country OR they purchased junk! You have to take your time and work with professional buyers. Dont let your ego run over your pocket book! You may think the 1,000 MP4 players is a good deal but what you dont understand is the entire purchasing process in China. The smallest detail can reveal a trick the factory is playing on you! I have learned fluent Chinese and still I am sometimes confused. The key is checking literally every single item you buy! Ohhhh yeah you say? The old-school American buyers give some mumbo-jumbo about how skilled they are because they worked for Dell for 8 years in logistics, or some junk line like that and that you only need to spot-check like 20% of the product. Well not in China!!! I have even spot checked 300 containers of Roofing-S-Tile before! I had to hire 100+ workers for a week and physically watch them un-stack and re-stack all 300 containers and Tile Factories are HOT from the big ovens. Recently I purchased Bamboo-Flooring for a customer and I had to unload 500 pallets of bamboo and re-pack it on new pallets. Guess what nearly 250 pallets were totally molded!

You can make a good profit in China but you have to do it right! I think Setting up a small warehouse in China and buying small amounts of cool stuff but lots of different cool stuff is the future. Then UPS/Fed-EX can ship it for like $5 in 8-14 days. 100% of all the costs to run this will come out of the users data-collection process.

Yup its a good idea! Hey I already have a warehouse hehehe :-) Now I just need to find the right advertising guys! hmmmm!

Anyway just my two cents....I hope Im correct and if I am my latest company will be successful! :-)