February 25, 2002 - Hosting Controller Version 2002 Beta Released
Plan Manager
Plan Manager was among the most wanted feature since the first release of Hosting Controller back in 1999. Finally version 2002 carries this very useful feature.
Plan Manager allows unlimited plan creation both at Host and Reseller levels. It is very useful for reseller based hosting companies, now all you have to do is to create plans, sit back, and let HC manage the billing and invoicing headaches.
Support For Linux
Now you can host Mail (SendMail) and DNS (BIND) on Linux machine and manage them with HC. You need to download Linux HC setup and install on Linux machine where Mail or DNS is hosted.It brings down the licensing cost, and makes HC virtually free for users.
Support For More Payment Gateways
In addition to CyberCash, Authorize.Net, the most widely used payment, is now supported with HC. Support for WorldPay is coming along the way.
Invoices (For Host Admin and Resellers)
HC version 2002 offers Auto billing. All you need to do is providing merchant account information and that is all. The Auto billing service will itself determine about the plans that are due on your customers and generate invoices for them. The next obvious action is charging, if the credit card information of your customer is in database (encrypted), the service will charge due amount, otherwise it will mail him/her the Invoice details.
If you do not want to use the Auto billing service then you will have to generate invoices manually, and you can easily do that through Payments interface. You can generate Invoices for all of your customers in one go through "Generate All Invoices " button. Customer specific invoice generation is also possible. In this case payments are not made automatically. You can mail him the invoice details, even if you don't, customers can see their details in reporting section, and pay on their on convenience.
Billing
For Payments HC 2002 supports two payment Gateways.
Customer can pay you online if you have account on either of two Gateways, otherwise off-line payments are also possible through check or draft.
Support for Domain Registrars
Ever wanted to register, update domains through Hosting Controller? Support for Names4Ever is here, with Names4Ever, you can register, update, renew domain names and perform whois right from HC. Support for more domain registrars (including OpenSRS) will be provided soon.
Trouble Ticket System
Are you wasting lot of time managing the support email? Are you a reseller and always have to email problems to your host and there is not tracking? The solution is here. With Trouble Ticket system, each level of admin can create support tickets for his concerned admin (one stop above); the problem can be further escalated to top level admin (host) if it is out of the scope of sub-admins.
Support for Serv-U 3 and 4
With the release of version 2002, Serv-U 3.x and 4 is now supported.
Support for IceWarp Mail Server
IceWarp Mail Server, one of the cheapest mail servers in the market, is now supported with Hosting Controller version 2002.
Install On Click Forum
As a value added service, the Hosts can now offer Install on Click Forums with every website. The forum can be installed with a single click and are fully customizable to match the theme of websites.
New Interface
When there are lot of powerful features, the software grows, and ultimately, even simple things look *complex*. During the design of version 2002, usability was the main concern. The new tree navigation structure provides easy navigation, options are arranged logically and interface design is changed.