Steadfast Networks Cloud Platform Completes SOC 2 and SOC 3 Audits

Steadfast Networks, a leading provider of public cloud hosting, announces SOC 2 and SOC 3 audits of server security and reliability.

Chicago, IL (PRESS RELEASE) August 2, 2011 – Steadfast Networks, a Chicago-based dedicated server hosting, colocation hosting, and cloud hosting service provider, today announced SOC 2 and SOC 3 audits are completed on its public cloud services. The Steadfast Cloud Platform was recently launched and has quickly grown in reputation, with this new level of external auditing marking the next step in the development of the service.

“When the Steadfast Cloud Platform started gaining attention, we were all extremely proud at what we have achieved with our cloud hosting services,” says Karl Zimmerman, CEO of Steadfast Networks. “We worked to develop a cloud hosting solution that was reliable and secure with even the most important of our customers’ data. We have been determined to prove to the world just how outstanding our cloud platform is, and this new audit certifies us as compliant with the latest SOC 2 and SOC 3 standards.”

Service Organization Control Reports 2 and 3 (SOC 2 and SOC 3 respectively) were issued by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) earlier this year, designed to supersede the previous guidelines established by SAS 70 auditing. SOC 2 and SOC 3 audits both allow third party auditors to investigate the claims made by Steadfast Networks as to the security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy of their systems. These guidelines have been put in place to ultimately empower consumers, reassuring them that service providers can deliver on the promises they make. By successfully attaining SOC 2 and SOC 3 compliance, the Steadfast Cloud Platform leads the way among similar solutions and, at the time of this release, is truly unique among public cloud hosting services.

“I’m not aware of any other public cloud systems with a SOC 2 or SOC 3 audit,” says Zimmerman. “At Steadfast, we conceived our entire cloud service with security and reliability in mind, implementing policies and practices that ensure complete transparency with our customers. We are committed to seeing businesses grow using our platform and we believe that undertaking these external audits shows that we take security and availability seriously and are doing all we can to make our products secure and reliable.”

The Steadfast Cloud Platform is a carbon neutral solution that uses Xen virtual machines across the OnApp cloud platform to enable independent Virtual Machines on shared hardware. In effect, Steadfast can offer secure, highly-available hosting with unrivalled uptime and scalability, but at a fraction of the cost of a dedicated hardware solution. By keeping overhead down and passing savings on to customers, Steadfast lets businesses worldwide increase or decrease their server usage while only paying for what they actually use minute-by-minute. It is a result of an intelligent, well-organized system design and a comprehensive 99.99% service level agreement (SLA) that Steadfast Networks has managed to achieve SOC 2 and SOC 3 audits so much faster than competitors.

“Every single day, businesses trust us to deliver their cloud network,” says Zimmerman. “They share information with their customers, which needs to be consistently available to ensure the best return on investment. They also share information with colleagues, which may be sensitive, confidential, or mission-critical. That is why we have strived to complete our SOC 2 and SOC 3 audits as soon as possible – to give our customers peace of mind that their information is in safe hands. With SOC 3 documentation being easily understandable by the general public and setting some well-defined standards of data handling and storage, we are more confident than ever that our customers are with the best cloud platform provider in the business.”

With these new external audits providing independent testimony as to the quality of service that Steadfast Networks provides, the Steadfast Cloud Platform is set to continue its impressive growth and see demand increase even further. Steadfast Networks continues to be at the cutting edge of an outstanding hosting infrastructure, setting a highly competitive standard for service providers worldwide.

Customers interested in learning more about Steadfast Networks or the Steadfast Cloud Platform are encouraged to visit steadfast.net.