October 2002

GuideStar's Information Technology staff has been putting in long hours over the past few months. They have redesigned the infrastructure of the GuideStar database, increased system capacity, added a fail-over capability, upgraded GuideStar's search engine, and moved the entire GuideStar Web site from one Web hosting service to another.

Here is what these developments mean for you as a user:

• Searching the database will be easier and produce better results.

  The search is more intuitive, and wildcard and Boolean queries are now possible. For more information on how the new search engine works and tips for using it, go to Search Tips.

• The site will be available when you want it, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

  Our previous system had reached capacity and had limited capacity for expansion. Now, when one server gets too busy, the system will route users to another server. The change will happen automatically.

• Database searches will be faster and content pages will load more quickly.

  Working at full capacity was slowing down response times on the site, especially during periods of high traffic. Our new rerouting capability will prevent this problem. The new infrastructure will also allow us to increase capacity by adding new servers as needed.

October 2002
© 2002, Philanthropic Research, Inc.