ComputerLink articles by Brian Pitre

Should You Outsource Your Web Hosting?

There is no single answer to this question. I believe the answer depends on whether you are testing the Internet, embracing e-commerce, or are finding that the Internet is a mission critical part of your business.

Whether or not you outsource your Web hosting should depend on what level of commitment or which phase of implementation you are planning. Many companies start by outsourcing their Web hosting of "brochureware." Others internalize systems for integration of e-commerce and larger, mission critical systems.

Some companies evolve through this process, beginning with outsourcing Web hosting, then internalizing systems, and finally, reverting back to outsourcing, as systems become key to their organization.

Testing the Internet

Companies normally start their Internet experience with a simple dial-up connection and outsource their Web hosting because it requires a full-time high speed Internet connection and a dedicated server that they ordinarily do not have.

When outsourcing, it is important to consider two types of domain names commonly offered by most hosting services. The first is the virtual domain name (ex: "providersname.com/yourname"). The second (and better choice), is your own domain name (ex: "yourname.com"). To check for the availability of a domain name on the Web, visit: http://www.networksolutions.com. The value of your own domain name is extremely high because this becomes your trademark over the Internet and something you should use in your Internet branding and marketing strategy.

Along with your domain name, you should request email alias’s from your hosting service to your dial-up email account. This way, you can have mail sent to your professional email address, but have it get forwarded to your personal, home email account.

At a minimum, your hosting service should include daily back-ups of the Website and some form of HTML editor such as Microsoft FrontPage for editing and making easy changes to your site regularly.

Testing simple e-commerce systems can begin by being facilitated by an Internet service provider’s outsource hosting services as well. Many times, companies begin by offering goods and services through hosting services for non-integrated or stand-alone implementation for a smaller catalog of products or services. Alternately, a service such as Yahoo! Stores is a great place to test the capability of selling a couple of products on the Internet for a reasonably small amount of money.

Embracing E-commerce

As companies begin to embrace and implement e-commerce systems, they begin to consider internalizing their Internet systems. With this approach, there is the necessity to have a full time high speed Internet connection and Web servers to support an Internet infrastructure including email and Web hosting systems at a minimum.

These systems and Internet applications are also linked directly into existing legacy systems through application servers and software known as middleware. The connection of Internet applications directly to legacy systems is a key part of building an efficient and cost-effective e-commerce infrastructure.

With this new e-commerce infrastructure usually comes a new business requirement for a 24-hour a day, 7-day a week Internet operation. Therefore, when these systems are brought in-house, the demands on staff and operations must be properly anticipated and appropriate provisions made.

Companies not prepared to make the around-the-clock commitment can select another type of outsource service typically referred to as co-location service. A co-location service is when an Internet service provider supports a dedicated computer at their service site and handles all the management and backup headaches associated with continuous non-stop service.

The Internet Becomes Mission Critical

In February of 1999, Dell Computer reported selling 14 million dollars of product a day through their Website. This begs the question, how long do you think they would like their systems or Website to be shut down for? Obviously, the answer is not one second! Although Dell hosts their own Website, many other large companies like Yahoo and Microsoft outsource their Internet sites to insure the reliability of their systems and applications.

Once your Internet e-commerce operations become mission critical, to keep them running, service providers can often be the best solution. There are many new companies offering high-end hosting services today. High-end services include most of the following features: major data center facility with redundant computers, back-up generators, multiple large Internet connections and multiple telecommunications providers with different Internet backbones. Multiple service and data center locations, such as one on each coast of the United States, can provide mirrored systems in case of catastrophic failure at the other data center and help handle high volume traffic.

Over the next few years we are going to see high-end hosting services grow at an extremely rapid rate. As more companies are successful with their e-commerce initiatives, they will require services that provide non-stop, fully redundant Internet systems.