XING is fully available 99.85% of the time.

It happens pretty rarely, but sometimes our platform is affected too by operational faults and malfunctions. Of course we try to keep these hiccups to an absolute minimum. Our content is stored and supplied from two different data processing centers for instance, which means that our users can be re-routed from one to the other dependently on demand and performance.  All systems have a failover cluster operation guaranteeing high performance and stability, as well as having sufficient reserves to cope better with peak loads. Making sure our platform is both available and fast is our number one priority.

Sometimes though, like last Wednesday’s morning for instance, we do encounter unforeseen problems. There isn’t an IT system anywhere that is 100% fault-tolerant – there will always be systematic single points of failure that will send part or all of the entire system crashing with them. In this latest case a defect network component corrupted a mechanism, which was specifically required to safeguard against failure (Spanning Tree Protocol). We will be analyzing and intercepting this error to make sure it doesn’t crop up again. (more…)

A range of new things are going live on our platform once again this week. Many of these are quite minor optimizations designed to make networking even faster and smoother without you even noticing it, and to iron out the occasional problem that might occur in specific circumstances. (more…)

As we reported today, Burda Digital GmbH has purchased 25.1% of XING AG shares. By purchasing these shares from Cinco Capital GmbH, the holding company of our Founder Lars Hinrichs, the subsidiary of Burda Media has become the main shareholder of XING (read the press release here).

I’m very excited about this participation and the future cooperation with Burda. It’s a match made in heaven: Burda Media as the leading European media group and XING as the leading European business network. In recent years, the group has invested in the Internet continually, and is active online and offline with its own products and publications (CHIP, Focus, etc.) as well as participations (Tomorrow Focus, Glam Media, Zooplus). In doing so, Burda has proven itself to be a long-term and internationally oriented investor.

We still have a lot of plans on continuing to develop and grow XING. In this process, it’s great to have a strong partner such as Burda to support us.

Susanne Reppin (left) and Dr. Johannes Mainusch on the wjax stage.

Just how agile is XING? How agilely do we feel? At this year’s w-jax 09, Johannes Mainusch and myself talked openly about the XING culture, what kind of people we are, what we’re aiming for and what’s important to us. XING releases weekly updates on the platform, innovating therefore all the time during ongoing operation of the platform. We don’t want to have to put a halt to anything, and not when it comes to agile software development either.

XING already develops projects effectively using Scrum (see also Scrum @ XING – a case study). Alongside this, we’ve been working for nine months to put Kanban in place for one our maintenance teams – as both a methodology and philosophy. The initial idea for this came from Ralf Wirdemann, who’s an agile coach. Selecting Kanban fits in with our belief in agile and lean software development and to drive this forward in the future. (more…)

Just to make it perfectly clear from the outset: There is no virus on the XING platform, nor is there any code that might be damaging to your computer. Under certain – very specific – circumstances, you might find though that your virus scanner sets off a false alarm if it hasn’t been updated for a long time.

The reason: A module we have developed ourselves that serves to load files in a browser once the page itself has already been loaded. This is useful because it means we don’t have to send all functionalities and graphics that might possibly be used through the network at once for every page accessed, which saves you a lot of time waiting for pages to load. If you then decide to use a feature or function that isn’t yet loaded – such as the photo upload in your profile, this small additional feature can then be loaded separately.

The browser feature that our module accesses posed a security loopholes in earlier versions of Internet Explorer. You can read more about this here: Microsoft Internet Explorer onreadystatechange Memory Corruption Vulnerability.

The good news is that Microsoft solved this problem in their own browser some time ago. (It might be worth you visiting windowsupdate.com to make sure your operating system and Internet Explorer are both fully up-to-date.)

If you use an outdated version of the virus scanner F-Secure though, which has not received an update since the removal of the security loophole in Internet Explorer, it will show you a false alarm if you use the Microsoft browser. (more…)

Have you taken part in our birthday sweepstake yet?

All you have to do is visit our sweepstake page and answer the question “What is a XING application?” to be in with a chance of winning one of 72 fantastic prizes.

We’re giving away a MacBook Air, a Jura automatic coffee machine, BlackBerry smartphones, iPod shuffles and 12-month XING Premium Memberships.

And there’s more – If you upgrade to Premium now you’ll also cash in on our special birthday offer: (more…)

A network such as XING, with millions of members around the world, is a bit like a microcosm of the larger society: nearly everything that happens “out there” also happens on our platform, both the good and the bad.  That’s why on XING, as in the real world, you should always be attentive to what’s happening. We do our best to create a business network in which members can decide for themselves how much personal information they wish to share with other members, and that they act in an appropriate manner. If a member does not act appropriately, and we hear reports of T&C violations or breaches of netiquette or just good manners, we’re happy to help.

We’re aware that XING is not completely free of harassment, inappropriate remarks, spam, and other violations described above. Although we’re convinced that only a small portion of our members are confronted with these types of contact, we take such situations very seriously, and encourage anyone affected to inform us immediately. (more…)

It is two days since we launched the new References feature on our platform. In doing so we have fulfilled a direct feature request from a great deal of members and created a valuable additional networking tool that helps vouch for the quality of your work.

As a Premium Member, you can display references to other members in your profile and receive recommendations from any XING member, whether Premium or basic. So how is the best way to make the most of your references on XING? (more…)

Are you familiar already with our Xpert Ambassador Groups? Besides almost 150 Regional XING Ambassador Groups based around the globe, Xpert Ambassador Groups are dedicated to a specific subject or profession. 17 of these groups exist already – from Controlling to Media through to the food industry and vocational training, to name just a few. More than half of these groups already have over ten thousand members, and the majority of them also have lively English forums as well of course. (more…)

It’s always more believable when you hear praise from someone else. It’s no wonder that recommendation marketing is booming, and is being used more and more for acquiring new clients. When looking for a job, references are a big plus, too: they attest to the quality of your work, and are less formal than official letters of recommendation from your boss.

Turn your XING contacts into your references

As a XING Premium Member, you can now ask your contacts to act as references for you, and display these references in a separate area on your profile (you’ll find it when you click on the link under “References and Awards”. So go ahead and ask your contacts to tell your network what they think of you. A satisfied client or boss can make a big difference on how others see you. (more…)