This day long event held over 15 workshops covering a wide range of topics for new ventures, established growth companies, & technology based businesses with talks led by experts in the field. Being a part of this event gave us the unique opportunity to reach out to individuals across all industries and in all stages of growth in the technology industry.

pairNIC was accredited by ICANN in 1999 (as the 99th registrar in the World), developed across the course of two and a half years, and brought online in May 2002. Ten years later, we are offering one of the most robust, secure, and reasonably priced Domain Name Registration systems available.

To celebrate our anniversary, we are offering special pricing on new registrations, transfers-in, and renewals. We’re also giving away three iPads!

For complete details on the special anniversary pricing and iPad giveaway, go to https://www.pairNIC.com/pairNIC_is_10/

Again, thank you — we truly appreciate your business!

Click here to register, transfer, or renew your domain name today!

In honor of Earth Day, pair Networks’ employees celebrated by gathering together for a snack and learn seminar where we exchanged seedlings, gave out Eco-Smart fluorescent light bulbs, and talked about local volunteer opportunities.

This past weekend, employees participated in various local volunteer initiatives in their communities. One of the events was the “Spring 2012 Redd Up“, a community-based clean-up that’s held in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas. With more than 15,000 volunteers, the Spring Redd Up gathered 250 communities with the goal of cleaning up nearly 250 tons of litter.

We really enjoyed coming together to celebrate Earth Day & support our local communities in their efforts.

During the week leading up to Earth Day 2012, pair Networks and South Hills Power Yoga teamed up to hold two pay-what-you-can donation-only yoga classes as part of our Earth Day celebration. All of the money collected from participants was matched dollar-for-dollar by pair Networks and will be donated to The Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP). GASP is a Pittsburgh based organization founded in 1969 that acts to obtain for the residents of Western Pennsylvania clean air, water, and land in order to create a healthy, sustainable environment and quality of life to which we are entitled.

Coming together with our local community in support of GASP was a great experience. Many thanks to South Hills Power Yoga for their space and yoga expertise–our collective commitment to balanced and healthy living has made this Earth Day celebration a memorable experience.

As a certified Bike Friendly Employer in Pittsburgh, we’re honored to accept a national award and receive recognition for our efforts in support of bike commuting. Our office is equipped with all the tools needed for a convenient bike commute, including onsite shower facilities, indoor bike storage, bike maps, & bike maintenance tools. We also supply office bikes & helmets for employees to use on the local bike trials.

At pair Networks we’re always looking for ways to better protect the environment and enrich the lives of our employees & we’re thrilled to receive national recognition for our company-wide efforts.

This year’s awards ceremony gave recognition to individuals that helped to improve their local communities through environmental action & education. Our support of the Clean Pittsburgh Commission is natural, and we share in our collective commitment to help preserve the natural environment. No effort is too small.

Since 2005 the Clean Pittsburgh Commission (CPC) has held steadfast to their mission “To work to improve the environmental quality of life of Pittsburgh residents through litter and illegal dumping prevention, clean-up and enforcement”.

As a platinum sponsor, we’ve had the amazing opportunity to participate in the racing experience first hand.  Watching Leilani gear up for the race has been exciting, and we are honored to be a part of her journey.

Leilani has been driving environmental activism since 2006, and her race today will mark her first ever ocean awareness car.  Our partnership with Leilani is natural, and our collective commitment to the environment makes our sponsorship of her car and her cause even more exciting.

A New Look for pair.com.

To celebrate our anniversary, we have launched a brand new Web site!

Win and iPad!

As part of our birthday celebration we are giving away an iPad. To enter to win – follow @pairnetworks on Twitter and tweet:

Happy 16th Anniversary to @pairnetworks!

Post a tweet before January 31, 2012.  The randomly-selected winner will be announced during the first week of February.

Here is the full press release for our birthday celebration.

pair Networks Celebrates 16th Anniversary

(January 11, 2012) PITTSBURGH, PA — pair Networks, Inc., a Pittsburgh, Pa. based Web site hosting company, is proud to announce the start of its 16th anniversary celebration. Profitable since its second month of operation, South Side based pair Networks is devoted to providing reliable services and the highest quality customer support, all while maintaining a deep rooted commitment to the environment.

Founded in 1996, at a time when a 28.8 modem was considered a fast Internet connection, pair Networks has evolved in both reach and scope as the Web itself has grown. Over the past 16 years, pair Networks has flourished and emerged as an industry leader for its focus on both environmental initiatives and sustainable business practices. pair Networks has come a long way from a single T1 connection to hosting hundreds of thousands of Web sites, for customers in more than 150 countries, on a network powered by multiple 10-Gigabit links to the Internet.

“From the moment the lights went on, we have focused on integrity and outstanding customer service, except now, we use energy efficient lights” said CEO and founder Kevin Martin. “We are innovative and progressive and our values and independence are what make us successful.”

pair Networks is poised to continue to flourish in a fast-changing industry. Even as developments in technology have forged ahead, pair Networks has never lost focus on its center: high-quality Web hosting in an earth-friendly setting. This is demonstrated through legendary uptime, excellent Web hosting hardware and open-source software, and customer support that is unmatched in the industry.

With 16 years of success, pair Networks has never lost sight of its unwavering commitment to environmentally sustainable business practices and an earth-friendly culture. All of pair Networks’ operations, including data centers, support operations, development labs, administrative facilities, and employee commutes & business travel are 100% Carbon Neutral.

Additionally, pair Networks is powered by 100% renewable energy. pair Networks’ commitment to sustainability is better for the natural environment, great for employees, and downright awesome for their customers.

During the month of January, pair Networks’ anniversary celebration will present a special Sweet 16 iPad give away. Beginning January 11, enter to win by following pair Networks on Twitter and tweeting “Happy 16th Anniversary to @pairnetworks.” The 16th anniversary celebration will also include great specials on Web hosting packages for new customers.

About pair Networks

Launched in January 1996 and profitable since its first month of operation, pair Networks provides a range of Web hosting options to businesses, bloggers, artists, musicians, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations around the world. In addition to Web hosting accounts, pair Networks offers fully managed dedicated servers (QuickServe.com), virtual private servers (pairVPS.com), colocation services (pairColo.com), e-commerce hosting (pairCommerce.com), Web hosting for hobbyists (pairLite.com), and domain name registration services (pairNIC.com). Since August 2007 pair Networks has been 100 percent green powered and carbon neutral. To learn more about pair Networks, visit http://www.pair.com.

In this Developer’s Corner post Alan dives into the topic of Browser Caching.

How does Caching and Page Web Load Time Work?

All modern Web browsers use caching to increase download speed and Web site performance. There are several things Web developers can do help browsers make the most of caching to reduce page load time and bandwidth usage.

When your browser downloads a Web site, it stores the files it retrieved for a period of time, so they can be used on other Web pages without reloading them. The browser occasionally checks for new versions of those files, to display the most recent version of the site.

Most Web developers are familiar with what happens when your browser doesn’t know when a file has changed. After uploading a new site, your browser may continue to display the old version of the site until you do a page reload or clear your browser’s cache to force the browser to download the site’s files again.

Sometimes the browser makes a mistake in the other direction, and reloads a file even though it hasn’t changed. This doesn’t cause any visible problems, but it increases page load time.

Some Tips To Improve Load Time

Here are a few ways you can help the browser know when it needs to update its cache and when it doesn’t.

If you use the same file or image in multiple places in your Web site, always use the same URL everywhere the file is used. Browsers don’t know two files are the same unless they have the same name.

Move JS and CSS content into separate files instead of including the code in your .html files. Since browsers cache each file separately, they will know not to reload the CSS and JS on every page that uses them. Using a JS or CSS minimizer to reduce the size of your files can also help.

When uploading your Web site, try not to upload new versions of files that haven’t changed. If a file’s modification timestamp changes on your Web server, the server will think it was modified and will tell the browser to download a new version in some cases.

In the next installment of the Developer’s Corner, I’ll describe how to use mod_expires to tell Apache when you don’t expect your files to change.

Do you have a technical question you’d like to have answered in the Developer’s Corner? If so, send it to Insider@pair.com. Selected questions will be answered in future episodes of the Developer’s Corner.