Can you be a serious web hosting provider without a data centre presence


1.Is it necessary to have your own data center rack/cage
2.Is it necessary to supply and run your own hardware
3.Is it necessary to employ your own onsite (Onsite as in remote access etc. and key access to the data center building )
4.Is reselling going to give you a residual income as opposed to a full blown business income
5.Can reselling earn as much as being the direct provider of services i.e have your own data center rack, hardware and technicians.Kili

Can you be a serious web hosting provider without a data centre presence

1.Is it necessary to have your own data center rack/cage
2.Is it necessary to supply and run your own hardware
3.Is it necessary to employ your own onsite (Onsite as in remote access etc. and key access to the data center building )
4.Is reselling going to give you a residual income as opposed to a full blown business income
5.Can reselling earn as much as being the direct provider of services i.e have your own data center rack, hardware and technicians.Kili

1. nope
2. nope
3. nope
4. it can give you a full income.
5. yep

'most' hosts rent servers in a datacentre (giving you your datacentre presence). Big host are the ones that tend to colo and have their own hardware, racks, access etc etc but this is a long way down the line for an established host. It is even further down the line to own your own datacentre.

I think what you are trying to ask is whether you can run a business with a reseller account provided by a host? Rather than going direct to a datacentre to rent your hardware or colocate?

I think what you are trying to ask is whether you can run a business with a reseller account provided by a host? Rather than going direct to a datacentre to rent your hardware or colocate?

Yes I suppose that's what I'm asking

Yes you can make a living out of reseller accounts, but probably not if you are trying to run with the 5gb/50gb for $4.00 crew

There are several hosts that do quite well without their own facilities, as said above they rent or colo their servers and do just fine.

My main concern with renting servers is will the company I'm renting from be there next year.

Research, research, research. This will help you when worrying about if the provider will be around next year, look into their business - who they are. Look for reviews, comments etc on the provider. You're already at Web Hosting Talk, that's a great start :stickout: You will find many reviews on companies right here :)

Personally, If you want to be a professional and known as a reliable company, then I would suggest owning the server, hardware..etc is the way to go.

If you're worried about the hardware reseller being there next year, you could always get a capital lease for equipment on a 3-5 year schedule, buy co-location facilities at a well funded and highly regarded data center, and start there.

As others have said, plenty of web hosts run as resellers of people like SoftLayer, LayeredTech and so on. And they do so successfully. Owning your own data center is a HUGE investment that is completely unnecessary and comes with a whole different set of problems.

I agree, running your own data-center is way down the line. I mean I think it would only make sense if you have maybe 200+ servers before deciding to run your own shop.

Most serious webhosting companies Co-locate their servers at a colo data-center like Equinux, XO etc.. I don't think you will find real serious hosts that have dedicated servers.

The average host should start out with a dedicated server and move to around 4-5 servers. After this, when money starts flowing in, scout around for a good local colo facility and start migrating to your own hardware. Remember, running your own datacenter doesn't really mean anything. Companies like Google, Yahoo, MS all co-locate at datacenters.

Yes, sure. Some people are living from reselling accounts and so on. But If you wan`t to become a serious web hosting provider you need your own data centre.

Yes, sure. Some people are living from reselling accounts and so on. But If you wan`t to become a serious web hosting provider you need your own data centre.

I strongly disagree.

You do not need your own hardware, DC, staff etc. to be a "real" webhost. Those are simply based on the business needs rather than something which qualifies you to be serious or not.

Some do not need their own DC, hardware etc. and do fine without it. Some businesses do need them so they purchase them.

@MMH-Moe: Google and Microsoft do not colocate. They have their own (multiple) DC's.

@MMH-Moe: Google and Microsoft do not colocate. They have their own (multiple) DC's.

I thought they rented space within already built DC's?

http://myriadnetworks.com - Google uses the datacenter they use, Google just rent half of it or more. I expect Google rents some, owns others, all over the world.

I thought they rented space within already built DC's?

http://myriadnetworks.com - Google uses the datacenter they use, Google just rent half of it or more. I expect Google rents some, owns others, all over the world.

They probably colocate where necessary..

According to this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/14/technology/14search.html

They are building some sweet DC's.

How do you know Google uses the same DC Myriad networks? Do you have any links? (just curious as I think it would be an interesting read).

It's on the myriad networks site, specifically this page:
http://www.myriadnetwork.com/datacenter/network.php

"meet your neighbor - google.com"

It's on the myriad networks site, specifically this page:
http://www.myriadnetwork.com/datacenter/network.php

"meet your neighbor - google.com"

Impressive! Thanks for the link..

But this does reinforce what I said before. To reach a certain stage of "seriousness" does not depend on if you colocate, own your own facility or not. It can correlate, but the underlying reason is simply business needs rather than doing it to show you're serious.

its about the kind of service you provide rather than if you own equipment or not, or if you have outsourced support or not. Its about the brand you build not about what runs the brand its about how the brand seems to its customers

Google uses the datacenter they use, Google just rent half of it or more. I expect Google rents some, owns others, all over the world.

Google moved in to the building where we keep our servers about a year ago, but they're still being pretty secretive about what they plan to do with it. They took 270,000 square feet there, a lot of which is used for office space, but surely they have some secret datacenter plans too.

http://googlewatch.eweek.com/content/archive/google_taps_fiber_with_manhattan_move.html

I agree, running your own data-center is way down the line. I mean I think it would only make sense if you have maybe 200+ servers before deciding to run your own shop.

Most serious webhosting companies Co-locate their servers at a colo data-center like Equinux, XO etc.. I don't think you will find real serious hosts that have dedicated servers.

The average host should start out with a dedicated server and move to around 4-5 servers. After this, when money starts flowing in, scout around for a good local colo facility and start migrating to your own hardware. Remember, running your own datacenter doesn't really mean anything. Companies like Google, Yahoo, MS all co-locate at datacenters.

You're going to open up a datacenter with 200 servers? Not bloody likely, if you want to stay in business.

We have 97 servers at various datacenters, we don't colo and were pretty serious. ;)

--Tina

@MMH-Moe: Google and Microsoft do not colocate. They have their own (multiple) DC's.

Actually Microsoft has a huge cage in Dallas Equinix and uses Equinix nationwide. Softlayer uses Dataside and Internap facilities instead of doing their own and I believe Hostgator uses The Planet. They may be moving to some of their own facilities now, but that is how SL and HG have worked and worked extremely well. You do not have to own your facility and unless you have deep pockets you won't make it out of the gate trying to run your own facility.

Typically it is start with rented or single server colos. Upgrade to your own cabinet and own servers then move to your own cages. That is how we worked and now run servers out of 2 facilities in Dallas with almost 1k sqft of cage space. The HVAC and power maintenance in colos can kill companies very quickly.

Oh and Akami who runs most of the content for places such as Google, Yahoo, YouTube and others has huge rented colo space from DCs such as Dataside and Equinix. It is almost stupid to build your own facilities these days unless that is all you are going to do is maintain a facility.

google should consider selling webh osting now that would be awesome!

Microsoft does a mix of co-location and their own data centers actually. Don't ask how I know... :)

We have a private suite with all our own equipment et al. The office being 5 minutes from the DC also means we don't have to rely on the competence of remote hands (which seems to be going down in most DCs) either. :)

google should consider selling webh osting now that would be awesome!
I think they wouldn't neither as sony or ford do... :)

Maybe not good examples, but reason the same :eek:

Ok ill put my two cents in,

Basically i have a idea that im trailing now,

Basically start building a client base maybe get to 200 accounts on a server that cost roughly $100 - $350

And then purchase/ Flexi-Rent with dell for 24 months a server from ( $90 - $260 per month)

And find a colocation 1/3 Rack with enough bandwidth and power supplied for your servers you are looking at about $400.00 - $600.00 per month say if you had 30mbps of bandwidth to the rack.

And also i said get 1/3 rd of a rack so you can invest in UPS, and maybe another server in the future.

Hope the information was helpful

I'm pushing the 200 colocated servers mark and it still doesn't make sense to build my own facility.

Maybe if it was 400 servers...

Then again, my area is just not a good place to start your own colo. Everything is extremely expensive up here...

1. uptime
2. backup
If I can take care of them ^^, then yes serious hosting can happen without owning a DC

Come on guys read the bloody question . No ones talking about owning a data center. the question was

" Can you be a serious web hosting provider without a data centre presence"

presence being the key word. i.e having your own rack in a data center with access to it along with your own hardware.

Come on guys read the bloody question . No ones talking about owning a data center. the question was

" Can you be a serious web hosting provider without a data centre presence"

presence being the key word. i.e having your own rack in a data center with access to it along with your own hardware.

Read the responses. It has already been answered. The amount of hardware or how you go abouts having the server has absolutely nothing to do with how serious you are.

You can have a reseller account with 1 customer and still be serious about it. I really do not see how achieving a certain level of control will dictate whether or not you are serious.

Yes you can. Why not. Webhosting provider is a person or provider that provides web related hosting. Period. If their in a serious mood...then serious web hosting provider :)

Your taking the word serious out of context. serious= professional, in control of your destiny etc. Of course anyone going into the business is likely to be serious about it.

Having a certain level of control has nothing to do with being serious but more to do with being in control of the outcome. How many resellers out there now will find there business out of business tomorrow because they have put all their eggs into one provider.

My view is that I would prefer to manage my own hardware and have access to the data centre to deal with my hardware rather than rely on a third party but then again we all have to rely on someone down the line.

It appears from the replies to my post that many individuals are successfully running web hosting companies without having their own hardware or technicians so the answer is clear to all to see.

MANY THANKS TO ALL THOSE THAT POSTED

I know I took it as a joke (serious) part.

Your view is yours ... other views are others. I think seeing from the fact that most regular hosting providers are generally resellers (most of the small ones)...they def. depend on other providers...they are serious..well some of them are..I guess it just depends on [person to person and ethics.

But seriously and broadmindedly I dont see why NOT having dc presence is a big issue about legit or serious providing.

The fact is you dont need to have your own hardware (though you def. should have techs or admins looking over your shoulder).

Regards,

Personally, If you want to be a professional and known as a reliable company, then I would suggest owning the server, hardware..etc is the way to go.

But i will not suggest that, starting from a VPS with a good company is ok. atleast for first few months.