Hello, 
I require a comprehensive ?opinion? or summery of the political,
technological (with relevance to hosting of internet servers),
geographical (i.e. possibility of natural disasters), economic and
general supporting infrastructure (i.e. sufficient power supply that
is generally uninterrupted, telephone systems that work ext..),
sufficient ?know how? in IT (i.e. Availability of reliable and
knowledgeable companies to deal with IT problems) for the Republic of
Costa Rica and Belize.

Please note: I barely know where Costa Rica and Belize are, lol. So
please be quite forthcoming with relevant information. Sources for
information are also required.

Suggestions on hosting companies and/or reliable I.T. personal
companies within these places would be highly appreciated and tipped
along with conclusion as to what would be seen as the more stable
region with relevant reasons.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 13 Oct 2005 11:15 PDT

Costa Rica is generally regarded as one of the best countries in Latin
America for launching an e-business, due to a combination of political
stability, reasonable costs, good communications and electric
infrastructure, and a well-educated and sophisticated workforce.

Belize is far less conducive to e-business, as it lags in  number of
the areas mentioned above.

In both countries, however, the internet is still a relatively new and
developing phenomenon, and there is not yet the degree of services and
support that one would find in the US or Europe.

Beyond that very brief sort of overview, however, I'm not really clear
on what sort of information you are seeking.  Can you perhaps lay out
in a bit more detail the types of information you are seeking for each
country?

The better we understand your needs, the better we can target our
research efforts to get you a top-notch answer.

Thanks,

pafalafa-ga

---

Clarification of Question by onlinegames-ga on 13 Oct 2005 13:42 PDT

Hello, 

I see I may have been vague in my requirements. I?ll try and explain
in a bit more detail.

Political: 
?	What is the structure of the government? i.e. Is it democratic in nature? 
?	What are the statistics on corruption? 
?	What are the significant forces outside of the government that
influence the politics of the government? For example: Does the USA
have a strong influence on the politics of Costa Rica?
?	Does it have a sufficient policing/military force to maintain
stability within the government for the foreseeable future?
?	Is it unlikely that it could be involved in any kind of conflict
within its borders or outside?
Geographical:
?	Does it sit on any tectonic plates that could make it susceptible to earthquakes?
?	Are hurricanes common there? 
?	How high above sea level does the location sit? Could it have a
higher then average risk of flooding in the foreseeable future?
?	How likely would it be that anyone of these or other natural
disasters would cause a significant impact on the location for an
extended period of time in the foreseeable future?
Economic:
?	Does the location have a sufficient economy to maintain its current stability?
?	What forces act on the location?s economy? i.e. Could a sudden
increase/decrease in the price of XYZ cause a particularly large
economic problem?
?	What currency is primarily used in the location?
Supporting infrastructure:
?	What companies are the major players in the energy market in the location?
?	Who are the companies owned by?
?	What is the power source they use? i.e. Coal based, nuclear, people
pushing a generator? :-) ext.
?	What is the primary ISP?
?	Who are the ISP?s owned by?
?	Are the companies providing general services to these locations
stable in there nature? i.e. Could the companies be taken over? How
likely is this to affect service levels?
?	Is the infrastructure sufficient to provide generally uninterrupted service?
?	In the event of a failure of services will the failure be dealt with quickly?
Sufficient ?know how?:
?	What is the education level of people in the location?
?	How likely is it that I can call a company in the location that is
certified by Cisco systems or Microsoft to fix a IT problem?


These questions were all just examples and not all necessarily need to
be answered, although I do see them as quite important, I don?t need
particularly in depth analysis of each question just a basic statement
that adequately addresses my concerns.

Basically, I?m intending to have significantly important servers
placed in one these locations. Along with licensing obtained from the
relevant authorities.

For obvious reasons I wish to do this in the most stable location, as
having a significant amount of money invested, it would be unpleasant
for them and me if tomorrow they get blown up with a nuke, the
government gets overthrown, or the power goes out for a couple of
weeks. lol.
But look I figure you get my point by now for what I am looking for.
Hopefully this has been a bit more insightful as to my requirements.
I am trying to determine the most generally stable, best equipped
location of the two.

---

Clarification of Question by onlinegames-ga on 13 Oct 2005 13:43 PDT

As I said I have very limited knowledge in regards to both locations
and just want to have good overall picture of each.

Dear onlinegames,



I shall first treat Belize and Costa Rica separately. My conclusion
follows afterward.



Belize
------


Belize is a small Central American country on the Caribbean coast,
sharing borders with Mexico and Guatemala. It is a former British
colony that gained full independence only a quarter-century ago, in
1981. Although English is the official language, a majority of the
population speaks Spanish.

Wikipedia: Belize
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belize


The population of Belize is approximately 280,000 at present. The GDP
per capita is about $6,500; for the sake of comparison, this is 30%
less than that of Mexico. Unemployment stands at a fairly high 13%, and
about one third of the population is under the poverty line. Despite
its dismal economic condition, Belize is politically stable. Unlike
other Central American countries, there have been no military coups in
Belize. The parliamentary democracy has functioned continuously since
independence from Britain. Apart from border disputes with Guatemala
that were largely resolved in the early 1990's, Belize has no history
of military or economic conflict with its neighbors.

CIA World Factbook: Belize
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/bh.html


Belize is seismically stable, since the fault lines of the Caribbean and
Cocos tectonic plates pass well south of it. There is therefore no risk
of earthquakes, nor does Belize have a history of volcanic activity. The
coastline is subject to hurricanes, but after Hurricane Hattie ravaged
the capital city in 1961, the British authorities built a new capital,
Belmopan, in the center of the country.

Rice University: Department of Geophysics: Tectonics of Latin America
http://www.geophysics.rice.edu/department/research/alan1/Figure1no_text.jpg


The telecommunications infrastructure of Belize is small but stable. The
major provider is BTL, the former state monopoly. Its chief competitor
is Speednet, which so far has concentrated on operating a cellular
telephone network. The only serious ISP in Belize therefore remains BTL,
but even BTL's Internet operations are largely limited to providing
dial-up service to residential customers and DSL to business customers.

Wikipedia: Communications in Belize
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_in_Belize

BTL: Internet services for business
http://www.btl.net/internet-business.htm


Belize suffers from a serious shortage of skilled labor in general and of
IT expertise in particular. This is due to its small population base,
inadequate educational system, and widespread poverty. There is no
substantial presence of IT service firms in Belize. The most important
hosting provider is BelizeNIC, which operates a colocation center with
power backup and a 99.99% uptime guarantee, falling short of the 99.999%
industry standard. Furthermore, BelizeNIC's pricing is exorbitant compared
to similar offerings from American and European firms.

BelizeNIC: Server Co-Location
http://www.belizenic.bz/co-location.php



Costa Rica
----------


The Republic of Costa Rica lies between Nicaragua and Panama. It has
extensive coastline on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Costa
Rica has been independent from Spain for nearly two centuries. Spanish
remains the official and predominant language, although English is spoken
in coastal areas that rely economically on tourism.

Wikipedia: Costa Rica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_rica


The population of Costa Rica is around 4 million. Its GDP per capita is
$9,600, which is about the same as that of Mexico. Unemployment is low by
Latin American standards at 6.6%. The economy has been expanding steadily
over the past decade, with a GDP growth rate currently at 4%. Costa Rica
is a stable democracy and has been so nearly without exception throughout
its history.

    Costa Rica has avoided much of the violence that has plagued
    Central America. Since the late 19th century only two brief
    periods of violence have marred its democratic development. In
    1949, José Figueres Ferrer abolished the army; and since then
    Costa Rica has been one of the few countries to operate within
    the democratic system without the assistance of a military.

Wikipedia: Costa Rica: History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_rica


Although the lack of an army would leave it defenseless in the event
of war, Costa Rica has no history of military or diplomatic friction
with its neighbors. The only extant international dispute at present
is a disagreement with Nicaragua over navigational rights on the San
Juan River.

The tectonic border between the Cocos and Caribbean plates lies just off
its Pacific coast. However, Costa Rica has no history of substantial
earthquake or tsunami activity. On the other hand, there is volcanic
activity in the vicinity of San Jose, the capital city.

    Geography - note:  four volcanoes, two of them active, rise
    near the capital of San Jose in the center of the country;
    one of the volcanoes, Irazu, erupted destructively in 1963-65

CIA World Factbook: Costa Rica
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/cs.html


Costa Rica has a large and high-quality telecommunications network, with
excellent Internet connectivity to North America and Europe. According
to a 2001 study of Internet topology, Costa Rica's network latency is
among the lowest in the developing world.

CAIDA: Macroscopic Internet topology and performance measurements from
the DNS root name servers
http://www.caida.org/outreach/papers/2001/Rssac2001a/rssac.html


Two major providers of dedicated hosting are Hosta Rica and
Cyberfuel. Their pricing is competitive with those of similar offerings
from American and European firms.

Hosta Rica: Dedicated Hosting
http://www.hostarica.com/Dedicated-Hosting.html

Cyberfuel: Colocation (Data Center)
http://www.cyberfuel.com/?LAN=en&section=50



Comparison
----------


The IT infrastructure and economic climate in general are much better
developed in Costa Rica than in Belize. Hosting services are offered by a
wider array of firms in Costa Rica, making pricing much more competitive
than in Belize. I therefore conclude that Costa Rica would make the
better location for your servers.



It has been a pleasure to address this question on your behalf.


Regards,

leapinglizard

Thank you, too the point and what I needed.