Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Reseller Hosting : Suggestions & Experiences

[mcallahan313]

Hi,

I work for an ISP/CLEC that currently hosts about 150 websites for various customers. Because we're in the business of circuits and not hosting, we are looking to outsource this product in order to take the server maintenance and other issues out of our hands and at the same time offer our users a more complete hosting solution – in the way of a broader spectrum of supported features. We prefer this be a private label solution.

That said, I'd like to know whom folks are using in similar situations and who to stay away from. Thus far I've looked at Alabanza, CityHost, HostGator, and ipowerweb. So far, I've heard quite a few nice things about Hostgator and Alabanza and quite a few negative things about ipowerweb.

I greatly appreciate you input. Thank you in advance.

[cartika-andrew]

Hi MCallahan,

You have mentioned that you are looking to outsource your hosting in order to reduce your infrastructure costs while increasing the service levels & features (ie value) to your customers.

Pretty much all reseller providers these days offer a complete private label solution, so this portion should not be hard to fulfill.

When a consumer is considering a reseller solution for the first time, I always recommend a couple of things.

1) Make a control panel decision first, then look for a provider. There is a VERY large difference between the control panels - especially when considering such factors as total cost of ownership, stability and features.
2) If your goal is to remove infrastructure costs and provide better value for your customers, you may want to be careful about which company you select - afterall, it appears as though you want to focus on your core competencies vs hosting. Sounds like a cliche, but, cheaper isnt always better (or cheaper for that matter) - especially when you do a total cost of ownership study 6-12 months down the road.

Im not sure if this helps, but hopefully it provides you with some things to consider when evaluating the prospective hosts on your list.

[WebDesignGT]

What exactly are you asking? Are you wondering who has hosting customers that don't concentrate solely on hosting? Are you asking who uses a reseller account that comes with server management/support?

Sorry, I'm just not sure what you're asking here.

[BitterSweet]

I think he wants to know what hosting companies people in the same situation as him (150 websites) use (among those he has looked at so far or any other suggestion from you guys ) and/or which hosting companies he should avoid.

[mcallahan313]

That's exactly it bittersweet. Right now the product that we offer is severly outdated. Basically we offer space on a server. There's no back-end database support, no e-commerce, no secure socketing, and perhaps most important to my end user, no "point-and-click" user controls, etc. Basicly we've made the business decision that we're not a web host but we'd like to continue to offer hosting bundled with our connectivity. At this point it is more practical for us to use a turn-key solution than to assemble these solutions on our own.

Since this forum has more experience working with the hosting companies that are out there, I'm interested in knowing who the good, the bad, and the ugly are. For instance, I've been told by several folks to stay away from ipowerweb because the have very poor support. On the other hand, I had quite a few people praise GatorHosting for a good product offering for the money, good support, and little down-time. Just as an example. . .

CartikaHosting, what IYO should I be aware of when examining the different control pannels?

[cartika-andrew]

Originally posted by mcallahan313

CartikaHosting, what IYO should I be aware of when examining the different control pannels?

Since you asked

1) Ease of use for your endusers
2) Do they have the ability to be clustered and does your provider cluster their resources
3) Do they have all the features you require (ex billing, helpdesk, domain integration, sitebuilders, etc..)
4) If they do not have the features you require, what are the additional costs
5) What is the upgrade cycle of the control panel
6) How painful have the upgrades traditionally been in the past and what were the typical issues (indication of whats to come)
7) Total cost of ownership over 6-12 months (vs the ones with the lowest initial startup cost

[UnifiedNet]

You already have 150 web sites hosted, It is time to look for a Managed Dedicated server! There is no reason for you to look for a resller account with that many domains!
Save your clients the hastle of moving them again!