Replies to Frequently-Asked Questions

1. Most of the web sites we develop and host are located either at our dual Pentium NT 4.0 server at Master-Link in Novato, California, or at our secure, web commerce-enabled server at SBT Accounting Systems in San Rafael, California. SBT (www.sbt.com) is a leading provider of accounting software to medium-size and small businesses.

We partner with SBT for web site hosting and site management because of the company's strong international network of VARS and solution providers, and because of SBT's excellent business track record, support capability, and technical expertise. SBT was one of the first developers of secure business solutions on the Internet. Our affiliation combines the benefits of a strong, financially-secure organization with a proven track record with RiskINFO's knowledge and perspective on developing and supporting Internet applications of value to the insurance industry.

Both dedicated servers run Microsoft Windows NT on Pentium computers with 96K of memory. Connections to the Internet utilize redundant T-1s, through UUNET and Pacific Bell. Cisco routers are employed, and the Domain Name Server operates on an SCO Unix machine. Firewall information is not publicly disclosed for obvious security reasons. Additional servers are being set up for specialized purposes, such as database, bulletin board, and streaming audio/video for on-line training.

Information is backed up daily on tape as a "differential backup" and a full backup is made weekly. Each week, a full backup is sent off-site. The offsite backups are recycled, so that one backup is retained offsite for each week of the current month, and one for the last week of each previous month the web site has been in operation.

The physical facility has all the usual security provisions typical of a substantial, well-established business concerned with protection of intellectual property. Nobody is allowed access to the facility without specific permission and sign-in, and there is 24-hour guard service. Access to our Dedicated Server is restricted to clients, who may access only their individual Directories and Files. Windows NT is considerably more secure in this respect than Unix-based web servers (which commonly allow undue access between directories).

2. The infrastructure in place provides for one-second-or-less response times most of the time. The Internet has many variables affecting response to an individual user, making it impossible to provide guarantees. We are investigating mirroring of our sites with a company based in Kansas.
3. We provide site statistics using Web Trends software, which can be viewed at a private web site address. Specialized forms can be employed as part of each site to monitor usage and visitation.
4. Our capacity is presently at about 20% utilization. If we were to approach 60% of capacity, we would add additional servers.
5. Our clients retain full ownership of its web pages, domain name(s), and any work product that is performed as customized programming. If software or content packages are integrated within your application to perform specific functions or to add content, such as Search, Bulletin Boards, Database, etc. they are subject to the standard licensing requirments of their respective vendors.
6. Changes and updates can be sent to us, preferably as an email attachment, or can be input directly by your own personnel. We will provide training and support, with an option to use FTP or Microsoft Front Page.
7. Our Webmaster is available to you by telephone during our regular business hours (8:00 AM-5:00 PM Pacific Time), by email 24 hours per day, and our senior support personnel are available from 7:30 AM-6:30 PM Pacific Time. Normally, we restrict access to our clients’ sites to one or two people within the client organization, to our webmaster, to our designated Client Project Manager. Other management personnel can provide backup when needed.
8. We use several Windows-based personal computers at a variety of Monitor Resolutions, running both Netscape and Internet Explorer, as well as a Macintosh running AOL and Netscape to test the applications we develop.
9. Our standard contracts may be viewed at this web site.
10. Our Project Managers are responsible for testing all links and for verifying that they are up-to-date. Also, your own "web coordinator" should regularly test your site to verify that updates performed by your personnel are working correctly and have not overwritten other files.
11. Most web browsers are able to download and print material from web sites. The site we develop for you will support such standard functions, and, additionally, will support alternative ways of accessing information, such as Adobe Acrobat forms in "PDF" format (which cannot be altered by the recipient) or Caere OmniForms (which includes shortcut software to create Internet-ready forms by scanning). We also can provide live, interactive forms with a back-end web database, for online access to and submission of information. We can provide a number of secure access options, including multiple levels of password protection (with different levels of authorization for different individuals), encryption of data transferred from browser to server and vice versa, and digital signature.
12. Through Lotus’ recent "Domino" release, there is an increasing degree of compliance of Lotus Notes with standard Internet protocols. We support integration between Notes systems and the Internet.
13. We provide a means on your website of supporting the transfer of attachments (such as Excel or Lotus spreadsheets and Word Processing documents through use of a high-end groupware/conferencing product we incorporate into a number of the web site products we have developed.
14. We provide links to relevant sites for your viewing at www.riskinfo.com/info. Some are under development, others are at various stages in their development cycles, and it is important for to know the relative pricing for some of the sites. In some cases, our clients have requested specific artwork and graphics. Thus the appearance of some of the sites on which we have worked is not entirely the result of our own planning. With these caveats, we welcome you to take a look at some of our work. We hope these few words of explanation will facilitate your guided tour.