Why Outsource your Web Infrastructure:

When choosing to build versus buy, or outsource the decision is never easy, particularly with web infrastructure and web based applications. Many factors are involved in this decision, both qualitative and quantitative. When making a decision about outsourcing Web applications and infrastructure or even simple web hosting, the following factors should be among the most important influencers on your decision:

• Cost
• Reliability
• Expertise
• Timing
• Support

This article discusses issues to consider in each of these areas and will show that, for the majority of companies, outsourcing web hosting is the best solution.

Cost

The cost of implementing the necessary steps required to host a web site is probably the biggest reason why 62% of companies outsource this activity. A web server is merely the first of many purchases and ongoing expenditures required for hosting a web site. In addition to the expected upfront and ongoing costs, upgrading hardware and software and replacing malfunctioning parts can create unexpected expenditures. When outsourcing, the hosting company takes care of these issues at no additional cost. When outsourcing, your site can be live in days, rather than in the weeks or months it may take to purchase equipment and hire technical personnel. A web hosting company has a server to meet your needs in stock now, and has the personnel on-staff to set your site up quickly. Figure 1 compares the operating costs in the first three years of an in-house operation versus outsourcing. Of course, these costs are estimates and may differ for any one specific situation. As well, this comparison is based on a Linux or a Windows 2000 solution.

The comparison makes the following assumptions:

• No upgrades of software or hardware are made in the first three years.
• Personnel recruiting costs are not included in the cost of this endeavor.
• No equipment failures or malfunctions requiring replacement.
• The company hosting its own site has a high-speed Internet connection and will not incur additional charges for the connection.

Figure 1 - Comparative Cost of Hosting
Year One	In-House	Outsourcing
Unix Web Server	$10,000	$15,000
Router/CSU/DSU/Firewalls etc	$10,000	$0
UPS Backup	$1,000	$0
Software Licensing	$4,000	$0
Hardware servicing fees (15% depreciation)	$1,500	$0
Staffing	$60,000	$0
DS-3/ Gig-E Internet Connectivity (Burstable)	$15,000	$0
Hydro – Power Requirements	$3,000	$0
Initial Configuration/Setup	$5,000	$1200
Total Expense for Year One	$109,500	$16,200
Year Two
Hardware servicing fees (15% depreciation)	$1,500	$0.00
Staffing	$60,000	$0.00
DS-3/ Gig-E Internet Connectivity (Burstable)	$15,000	$0.00
Total Expense for Year Two	$76,500	$16,200
Outsource Saving in Year one		$93,300
Outsourcing saving year after year		$60,300

Even this financial comparison, however, does not fully describe the greater value obtained by outsourcing. A web hosting company will have multiple ISP connections so that your site is less likely to go down from communications problems. A web hosting company will also have a connection that is closer to the internet backbone, thereby increasing the speed at which changes are reflected to end users. By outsourcing your web hosting, you get redundant power sources, a cooling system, a secure facility for the server (to secure your site from hackers and from those wishing to physically harm your server) and a backup system to decrease the probability of problems arising from power outages and natural disasters. Finally, when you outsource web hosting, you can pay for what you need when you need it. For example, if your site is small now, but you expect it to grow, you can purchase a smaller package now and upgrade as your site grows. If you were hosting in-house, you would likely purchase more power than you need now to defer the high cost of upgrading your system down the road.

Reliability

A web hosting company must have many redundant systems to stay in business. Because of the scale of a typical web hosting company, the cost of these systems to each individual client is minimal. Having these systems in place ensures that your web site will be live for a greater percentage of the time than if you hosted your site on your own servers without multiple redundant systems. At C I Host, there are no single points of failure. Every system, from telecommunications to our power supply, is backed up by a second system. Redundancy is built into every aspect of the data center network. No fewer than two Internet carriers connect each site to the Internet backbone. Service is delivered to our data center via multiple carriers. Routing and switching hardware is redundant throughout the C I Host network and a variety of protocols, such as BGP4, allow the network to operate flawlessly even in the event of a device failure. In addition to the redundant systems, C I Host has on-hand systems specialists at all times. These experts can resolve hardware and software problems, replace malfunctioning or broken parts and can anticipate problems to avoid downtime altogether. With spare parts and extra servers available at all times, even a hardware malfunction can be fixed quickly. For a company hosting its own web site, replacing malfunctioning parts can take a web site down for as long as it takes to order the required part and to install it. Outsourcing dramatically decreases such downtime.

Expertise

In this economy, hiring competent people is difficult, and hiring competent technical people is nearly impossible. Once hired, turnover among technical staff can be high. A web hosting company can offer technical people the types of challenges they desire due to the varied day-to-day requirements of each job. Because of this, a web hosting company develops expertise among its employees so there will be several people that can work with your company on your specific needs and can help you anticipate problems before they occur.

To properly maintain a web site, people are required for the following tasks:

• Hardware and software installation
• Hardware and software monitoring
• Server administration
• Server security (e.g., firewalls, watching for hackers, etc.)

A web hosting company will have many people to do each of these tasks so once again there is no single point of failure. Redundancies in people, in addition to the redundancies in technology, enhance the reliability of your system.

Support

Although, in a perfect world, problems never occur, it is important that there is a support system in place for those infrequent times that problems do occur. C I Host offers clients 24-hour support, seven days a week. This means that you can call our technical staff at any time to discuss a problem and we guarantee that the problem will be solved (see our service level agreement). Unlike some hosting companies, C I Host has technical support on-site all day, every day so if you have a problem after business hours, you’re not speaking to an answering service and paging someone. You speak to a live person who answers the phone on-site. As well, C I Host has 24/7 surveillance on-site. This means that security personnel are guarding the servers at all time. When hosting a web site, one not only must take precautions about on-line intruders, but also must prepare for people who want to physically damage the server hosting your site. C I Host’s surveillance systems dramatically decrease the likelihood of this type of problem.

Summary

When it comes to hosting your company’s web site, it is easy to know what to do, but knowing how to do it and implementing the plan is more difficult. Outsourcing web hosting allows you to concentrate on your core competencies and have someone else focus on what they do best - web hosting. When you outsource, you entrust your web site to a company with greater experience in web hosting. You partner with a company with the resources to have redundancies in both people and technology. This brings you peace of mind.