It’s Not Quite Silicon Valley — But This Mid-Atlantic Data Provider Still Does It All

TL; DR: Ever had a business tell you, “We don’t do that here” when it feels like they should? Mosaic Data Services gets it. Whether it’s hosting, custom solutions, resolving tech issues, or colocation assistance, the Mosaic team won’t leave you hanging. Josh Martin, Operations Manager, emphasizes that with their own infrastructure and a dedicated team, Mosaic offers comprehensive solutions that span from the Mid-Atlantic and beyond.

If you take your car to the mechanic for a radiator issue and also ask them to top off your oil, would you expect them to handle it?

You probably would — but what if the mechanic just stared you in the eye and said, “No, we don’t do that here. Try the shop across town. Anyway, that’ll be $300.”

Seems absurd, right? Some things just go together, and when they don’t, it leaves you scratching your head.

And that’s what some IT companies do when it comes to essential services — give you just some of what you need but leave you in the dust for the rest.

This is something Mosaic Data Services wants its customers to never feel, no matter the type of service or solution they’re looking for.

Need managed web hosting? Mosaic’s got you covered. Want an AI-based application? Mosaic can build it. Outgrowing your server space? Mosaic can find you a new one.

Actually, Operations Manager Josh Martin summed it up perfectly: “Because our team is so broad in focus, someone at Mosaic is going to have the answer.”

Founded in 2001, Mosaic has built a loyal client base over its 25 years in business.

Mosaic is headquartered in the Washington, D.C., area with data centers in Silver Spring, Rockville, and Ashburn, Virginia.

Mosaic primarily serves the Mid-Atlantic region market — but Josh said it has many nationwide and global customers, too.

“With our transit providers, we’re able to serve globally without having to be physically global,” he added.

(If you’re not familiar with the area, the Mid-Atlantic also includes New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia.)

But I’m here today because I want to highlight some of Mosaic’s most valuable points. For starters, it is kind of a jack of all trades.

Unlike many firms that specialize in just one area — be it hosting, development, marketing, or analytics — Mosaic integrates all these services.

How does it do this, you ask? Mosaic owns and operates its own networks, servers, and IP space, which allows for greater control and flexibility as opposed to relying on a separate provider.

“Many hosting operations rely on third-party services like GoDaddy, AWS, or Azure. Others might offer design services through platforms like Squarespace or Shopify,” Josh added. “But we go a step further.”

Colocation is another one of Mosaic’s core services.

Typically expensive, costing up to hundreds to thousands of dollars per month, Mosaic’s network infrastructure allows them to offer it at a lower cost.

This means they can host single servers or small equipment without the high fees usually associated with data centers.

“Many data centers require you to rent a whole rack, which can be quite expensive — sometimes $1000 a month just to store one server. With shared colocation, you still get all the benefits – like colocation in a secure facility with your own IP space and subnet – but at a much lower price, sometimes as low as $75 per month.” Josh added.

And, OK, I know I’ve mentioned now that Mosaic does it all. While I’m embellishing, this data solutions company really does try to stay as current as possible.

In addition to these services…

• Managed Web Hosting
• Virtual Server Solutions
• Data Center Services
• Cloud and Backup Services
• Consulting Services
• Remote Support
• Colocation Services
• DNS
• Email Services
• Analytics
• Web Design

…Mosaic’s diverse in-house team means that when a unique problem arises that doesn’t fit a standard solution, they can build a custom one.

For instance, their remote support tackles problems ranging from network issues or disaster recovery.

As Josh put it: “If they have a problem with their email, website, computer, network, printer — anything connected to their system — they know who to call. If your computer turns on, we can likely assist you remotely.”

Now that we’ve covered some of Mosaic’s other solutions, I want to bring you to its core offering, which is managed WordPress hosting.

“We were one of the first companies to offer true managed hosting for WordPress sites, and it’s the core of our web hosting services,” Josh said. “What sets us apart is that many of the features you see as add-ons with other providers, we include as standard.”

There are multiple managed plans you can choose from depending on your needs, and they start at $50/month. Each plan includes:

• 100% LiteSpeed web hosting on all shared hosting servers
• Free SSL certificates for every site
• Nightly backups both on and off-network
• Site checkup for newly migrated sites on things licenses and theme maintenance
• Monthly manual updates for plugins and themes that can’t auto-update
• Regular performance checks to ensure the site is functioning (because I’m sure we’ve all encountered a few bugs after a new version release)

“It’s all human-driven,” Josh explained. “Every month, a developer goes in to manually update anything that can’t auto-update, checks for new errors, and ensures everything is still performing as expected.”

This isn’t like double-checking you locked your door — Josh explained that while WordPress does auto-update minor security patches, major updates still need manual attention.

“The biggest for both functionality and security is making sure that those updates are applied on a routine basis and they don’t break the site,” he added.

I know it seems strange that WordPress’s own plugins could mess up your site. But that’s just how it goes with software updates: Updates often change underlying code or features that third-party tools rely on.

It’s kind of like when EA updates my Sims game: Suddenly none of my mods work, and I have to manually update each one to match the new version. To be honest, it’s such a hassle that I often wonder if keeping them is even worth it.

So if you have a dedicated team who will manually check your add-on functionalities for you, I say hold onto them tight.

Plus, Mosaic devs are among the first to know about any WordPress updates.

“Our developers are constantly learning and working in WordPress every day. As new features and updates come out, we test them as soon as they’re available, and once they’re ready, we implement them right away,” Josh added.

“Like everybody else, we’re exploring AI.”

I laughed to myself when I heard Josh say this. It does seem like AI is everywhere — heck, take one look at the HostingAdvice News page and you’ll see what I mean — so it’s easy for it to feel like the world is looking at AI a little too optimistically.

Josh said the Mosaic team feels similarly: “We’ve noticed AI is starting to become a dirty word in some instances, especially on the marketing side of things.”

That’s not to say that Mosaic doesn’t use AI at all. As Josh said, “We see AI as another tool in the toolbox, and it can be incredibly powerful, although it’s not a replacement for people.”

With that in mind, Mosaic is exploring introducing large language models (LLMs) into its services for its customers as long as it can be used as a helpful tool.

“We’re also exploring the hardware side — not just utilizing the software but running the underlying hardware as well,” Josh explained. “With our data center presence and infrastructure, which many hosting companies lack, we don’t have to rely on providers like ChatGPT, Microsoft, or Google.”

While setting up hardware is costly, the long-term benefits outweigh the expense because “there are so many applications, and that’s our big focus for the near future.”

Until then, whether you’re in the Mid-Atlantic or halfway across the country, Mosaic seems to have both passion and expertise to get you to where you want to be.

From web hosting to custom solutions or remote support for tricky issues, it’s reassuring to know there’s a team that won’t just shrug and say, “We don’t do that here.”

Instead, Mosaic partners with you. That kind of care is hard to find. Check out Mosaic Data Services.