Author Archive
VPS and Virtualization Come of Age
Posted by: | CommentsVPS and virtualization are still relatively young technologies in the grand scheme. Here’s what I mean:
In 1776 the first steam engines were installed and working in commercial enterprises. This technology development leads to the Industrial Revolution.
In 1870 the Second Industrial Revolution commences. Developments from the Second Industrial Revolution include the introduction of steam-driven steel ships, the development of the airplane, mass production of goods, mechanical refrigeration, and the invention of the telephone.
In 1945 the world’s first true computer debuts. ENIAC or Electronic Numerator Integrator Analyser and Computer can perform an equation of 5,000 additions. It weighed 27 tons.
In 1969 the ARPANet went live, with communications between the University of California in Los Angeles and the Stanford Research Institute. The network is the precursor to the modern Internet.
In 1974 Robert P. Goldberg, publishes a paper titled: Survey of Virtual Machines Research. The paper describes virtualization as a ”framework or methodology of dividing the resources of a computer into multiple execution environments, by applying one or more concepts or technologies such as hardware and software partitioning, time-sharing, partial or complete machine simulation, emulation, quality of service, and many others”. By all accounts the first mention of VPS.
In 1983 the TCP/IP protocol is introduced, which is still the Internet standard used today.
In 1991 CERN introduces the World Wide Web (www) which incorporates the HTML computer language. Shortly thereafter the very first web hosting companies emerge, renting shared space on centrally located servers.
On February 8, 1999, VMware introduces the first of a line of x86 virtualization products which creates the ‘VMware Virtual Platform’. Shortly thereafter mainstream hosting companies begin offering VPS hosting products similar to those we know today.
So VPS hosting has been around less than 10 years and really has gotten traction in the past 5 years. The technologies are now beginning to really take hold and become a true force in web hosting. For example, there are now over 5,240,000 results in Google for the search term: VPS hosting.
Here’s what Rob Lovell, an outreach specialist with virtualization company Parallels sees for the near term future of VPS hosting, ”Web hosting for the consumer will continue I think to consolidate and commoditize. the big few really are now established and entrances to the market from Yahoo, Google and Microsoft will impact the lower end of the hosting market considerably. I think web hosters in the small business area will see a dramatic expansion of their services away from just web hosting and domain names, to software and services. Low attrition services are required for companies to continue to grow rapidly in the industry, and with hosting companies already having a huge network of customers, they can simply add-on services to suit.”
Daniel Foster, co-founder of VPS and UK hosting company 34SP.com saw these trends in virtualization, ”I expect to see more companies moving to virtualised platforms in 2009 to enable them to rapidly adapt to the needs of their customers. We’ve seen virtualisation start to take hold of the industry, and this is set to continue throughout 2009. The fundamentals will still apply in 2009. Customers will still expect great service, great value and great hosting. If you’re not already doing that, make sure you’re moving in the right direction; customers expect it all!”
Mr. Lovell added, ”Hosting companies are in a fantastic position to start to offer more than just web and email, but focusing on line or business applications which almost all businesses use – and have to buy and support. Hosting companies already have an infrastructure and people to deliver these services and i think with higher margins on offer, this will be seen as a much more common option. For Parallels we will continue to address our service provider partners, focusing on enabling them to tackle the next step services such as Software as a Service and VOIP.”
This content was written by Derek Vaughan exclusively for WebHostBlog.com.
Hosting Experts on Hosting
Posted by: | CommentsWebsite hosting, vps, and dedicated servers are all shifting rapidly. The added uncertainty of the worldwide financial crises has created a new sense of urgency for hosting providers to adapt to this rapid change and thrive. What can we expect in the future for website hosting? Below are the expert opinions of four veterans of the web hosting, vps and managed server industries: Ron and David Dunlap – the esteemed publishers and editors of this blog and www.webhostmagazine.com, Daniel Foster – co-founder of UK vps hosting firm 34SP.com, and William Toll – an industry veteran of Affinity Internet, Intermedia and now with managed dedicated hosting firm Navisite. We asked each expert to render an opinion on the current web hosting state of affairs and to look forward into the future to share their thoughts.
Ron Dunlap: ”We have always believed that as long as the web hosting industry is a vital part of the Internet, the handful of objective web host directories and resource sites like WebHostMagazine.com will be around. Even as web host companies go through the inevitable consolidation of smaller companies getting gobbled up by larger ones, web developers, businesses, and others will be looking at honest web host resource sites like ours to find the best web hosts that meet their needs. We tend to think the industry will shrink in terms of the number of companies, but not necessarily in the number of customers. Back when the Internet bubble burst and the web host industry had some hiccups, we saw the larger web hosting companies buying up smaller web host companies more and more. We believe this will likely happen again. This kind of thing tends to be the norm. Smaller companies do not normally have the resources to handle their services as well as their customer’s needs. Many will be eager to sell their assets (namely their customer base) to larger companies looking for bargains.”
David Dunlap: ”A lot hinges on the size of the host, what their overhead is like, and what type of customers do they have. Times like these will be lucrative to hosts who provide enterprise solutions since many companies will be looking to outsource their hosting IT infrastructure. I would imagine these hosts will be looking to increase their marketing in order to obtain those customers. Conversely, I believe smaller budget hosts will probably decrease their marketing budget in order to stay lean. But as Ron said, this will be a time where larger hosts may be looking to consolidate by absorbing the customers of smaller hosts.”
William Toll: ”NaviSite’s dedicated hosting business will benefit significantly from several trends in 2009. First, we expect an increased interest from small businesses looking for a quality full service managed hosting provider to move to deploy their services and applications with. Small, financially questionable providers are now seen as a risk – while companies with significant experience with the enterprise that provide an affordable and accessible service for the small business will win new business.
Secondly, the capital crunch, and the increasing needs for additional and upgraded CPU power and servers are combining to drive interest in hosted managed dedicated servers and virtual dedicated servers. Windows Server 2008 and open source Linux based applications require new hardware and new licenses. The ”rented” high-performance multi-core CPUs and virtual CPUs and monthly license rental model is far more conducive to today’s finances than the massive capital outlays and consulting services required for onsite upgrades and new deployments.
Third, the interest in hosted applications, SaaS etc., has not only crossed over to the mainstream, but is now a preferable model for ‘utility’ needs like email, office collaboration/file and information sharing and CRM. The increasing popularity of hosted Exchange is the best example. With hosted Exchange businesses of all sizes can stop worrying about SPAM, increasing needs for storage and archiving and multiple mobile platforms for BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile and more.”
Daniel Foster: ”In 2009, I’m sure there will be more buzz about cloud and utility computing. I’m also sure that ”traditional” hosting companies which are good at what they do will continue to thrive. Not everyone has the technical expertise to manage a complex hosting solution so hosts that can provide solutions relevant to their customers should continue to see growth. At 34SP.com, we’re expecting to see our growth continue in 2009, and to be able to offer even better service and solutions to our existing and new customers alike.”
Ron Dunlap: ”We also see more web developers and business trending toward the grid and cloud computing options that are coming out. Each of these provide more security and reliability and as their costs come down, We can see them becoming dominant in more types of hosting services, including reselling and ecommerce.”
This content was written by Derek Vaughan exclusively for WebHostBlog.com.
Google Chrome Browser Market Share
Posted by: | CommentsThe latest browser which has been introduced to a general Internet audience is the browser named Chrome by Google. It was released to much hype right around the first of September 2008. You can read the original Official Google Blog post here. Keeping in mind that its competitors have been refining their business models and products for (in some cases) over a decade, it seemed like a good time to revisit the product and take a peek at relative market share.
So here are a few different sources and their findings on Chrome’s relative market share:
w3schools.com is a website resource site which has published its browser usage statistics for the past 5 years. You can view the complete statistics here. Coming in as the fourth most popular browser – Chrome commands a 3% share at the site.
Marketshare is a company that specializes in global market share statistics for browsers, search engines, and operating systems. The company has compiled browser statistics since the launch of Chrome and pegs the current adoption rate at slightly less than 1%. You can view the complete page of Chrome statistics here.
A recent article at the Macworld Magazine website pegs the percentage of Internet Explorer users across the Internet at 81.36%. The article uses a figure of just .62% penetration for the Chrome browser in the United States, with a .92% usage rate in Canada.
CNET’s Stephen Shankland recently penned an article entitled, ‘How Widely Used is Chrome? More Than I Expected‘ which tracks the usage of Chrome at CNET.com as it has grown from just 1% of site visitors in September to a fairly respectable (after just 2 months) 3.6% in October.
So the numbers range from less than 1% to 3.6% at CNET. What are the numbers looking like for web hosting companies specifically? UK website hosting company 34sp.com was generous enough to share some recent analytics data for this analysis. For the month of November 2008, the site visitor usage for Chrome at 34sp.com was 3.27% – at the higher end of our usage spectrum. For comparison, I obtained analytics data from another anonymous hosting company for comparison. The comparison hosting firm yielded a 2.7% penetration rate for Chrome – still at the higher end of the scale. Both of the hosting company statistics were generated via Google Analytics.
So while overall market share for the Google Chrome browser is still small, it is growing after just 2 months. Additionally, more technical users (presumably CNET and hosting company related) appear to be adopting the browser at higher overall rates. One piece of anecdotal evidence: I was visiting a hosting company a few days ago, and the CEO was using the Chrome browser exclusively.
This content was written by Derek Vaughan exclusively for WebHostBlog.com.
Reseller Web Hosting Options
Posted by: | CommentsThere have been a few developments recently in reseller hosting that focus the spotlight on some of the differences between different resellers and their approaches. Here are three resellers that have quite different approaches, but all offer solid products and services if you line up with the right one for your needs.
First on our list is the HostGator reseller program. That being said, the company is owned and run by Brent Oxley – a great young entrepreneur who has made service a genuine part of the HostGator culture. The other plus to this brand is that it is probably the single most popular subject at Web Hosting Talk. You can view this thread as an example of what users have to say regarding reselling through HostGator.
The next reseller program is one that while the smallest in our survey, may be the most compelling. The hosting reseller program at cheap web hosting company 34sp.com was recently in the news for a major revamp of the program. The reseller program is described on the company’s site as: ”You choose how your resources are allocated, you decide what domains you host and you control their exact setup. Reseller hosting is also provided in a non branded manner allowing you to resell hosting to your clients at any price you select.”
The 34sp.com program is probably best suited for those resellers in the European market or those who need a boutique style of truly personalized service. The reseller accounts are designed for those hosting between 1 and 50 accounts with larger reseller needs moving on to a VPS server. According to information provided by the company, each account ”permits the simultaneous hosting of 50 websites as standard. The plan also comes with support for 500 mailboxes, 50 MySQL databases, a full 1.5 GB of disk space, and a generous 15 GB of monthly transfer. Every reseller account also includes support for PHP, Perl, Python, Ruby on Rails, full log file access, cron and .htaccess. 34sp.com also includes a number of industry-leading tools with each account including free blog, CMS and forums installation.”
The company is owned and operated by two young and enthusiastic entrepreneurs, Daniel Foster and Stuart Melling. These partners run the business directly and have a strong sense of what can make resellers successful. As decribed by Mr. Melling, ”Mr. Melling added, ”Our reseller hosting accounts are perfect for professional developers, web designers, and small businesses looking to resell hosting services. The plan takes all the hassle out of multiple domain hosting. Everything within each account is controllable through a straightforward and easy to use online control panel. Clients can add, delete or modify their domain hosting as they want, and whenever they want. Each reseller account is backed by our renowned customer service team, which consists of experienced webmasters and developers. They know exactly what our customers need and how to best help them.”
The final reseller is also Europe based, but has recently announced a push to launch its reseller services in the U.S. Fasthosts operates a reseller program that begins to approximate the size and complexity of large reseller brands like ViaVerio. A great way to understand what the company is trying to accomplish is to view this video interview with the Chief Marketing Officer of Fasthosts, Steve Holford.
The company describes its reseller program as follows, ”Host as many domains and sub-domains as you need on your choice of Windows 2003 and Linux. No need for separate accounts or reseller web hosting providers. Set up and configure websites instantly.” Being a sister company to web hosting behemoth, 1 and 1 hosting, is both a plus and a minus for this company. The vast resources and marketing muscle of the world’s largest web host will launch the brand forward. The drawback is that huge scale makes swift change and nimbleness practically impossible.
One fact is evident from the recent developments in reseller web hosting – there is a wealth of opportunity is reselling web hosting on both sides of the equation.
This content was written by Derek Vaughan exclusively for WebHostBlog.com.
Website Hosting and Bandwidth Abuse
Posted by: | CommentsA seldom reviewed aspect of running a website hosting business is the process of carefully monitoring and reacting to how users absorb hosting resources such as bandwidth and disk space. Having worked for or within many dozens of hosting firms, I can definitively say that every single hosting company faces a challenge in this regard. So why does this factor so much into a website hosting company’s success?
Consider this article which recently appeared in the Los Angeles Times. It points out how the telecom giant AT and T is limiting bandwidth use by subscribers of its Internet connectivity service. The piece goes on to mention a staggering statistic: half of AT and T’s bandwidth is used up by just 5 percent of its users. The usage is generally related to downloads, and clearly those users who are downloading the largest files (usually movies) are soaking up the majority of the bandwidth. The company’s solution is to create a usage-based model that charges customers based on the amount of bandwidth they consume each month.
As applied to a website hosting business model (most relevant for shared website hosting), preventing abuse of resources equates to increased profitability. The principal is easily generalized beyond bandwidth to any service that consumes corporate resources. Here are a few examples.
Technical Support – Monitoring the number of calls per month and the tech support minutes required for resolution may identify certain customers that are perpetually relying on your web hosting staff to do tasks that should be the responsibility of the customer (like setting up new email boxes). Charging these customers for support over a certain threshold can serve to reduce the reliance on tech support – or to make the time spent helping them profitable.
Disk Space – In a shared hosting environment, the number of accounts that can be housed comfortably per server is a key metric of profitability. Carefully measuring exactly how much disk space each customer uses (and whether this usage is steady state or if there are dramatic spikes in usage) can lead to more customers per server. Consider charging customers above a disk space threshold extra fees for the privilege.
Bandwidth – The same logic as outlined above applies as well to bandwidth usage. Monitoring carefully can identify users who are in effect ‘under-paying’ for the amount of resources that they consume. So exactly how much bandwidth is required for typical activities? According to the L.A. Times article on AT and T bandwidth usage, ”Downloading a full-length standard movie requires about 2 gigabytes. A 5-gigabyte cap limits customers to watching 500 minutes of YouTube videos per month or downloading 1,000 songs from iTunes, but once you do either of those things, you won’t have enough bandwidth remaining to read your email.”
Daniel Foster, founder of website hosting company 34sp.com comments on the issue of website hosting and bandwidth abusers, ”Web servers can be used to throttle bandwidth, only allowing a restricted traffic flow from individual websites. This can be used as a very effective measure against specific problem domains. We also always work with our customers – if we see a problem with a particular site, we’ll contact the site’s owner to see if they’re aware of the excessive traffic they’re generating. If it’s due to a hacked script or similar problem then we can fix that for them. As we have never offered unlimited resources with accounts, we don’t find a big problem with it. Customers know that if they use a huge amount of traffic, they’re going to receive a bill for it at the end of the month.”
One other approach is to simply go to unmetered. Last week HostGator announced that it would upgrade its shared plans to offer unlimited disk space and bandwidth. According to information released by the company, ”With this change, there will be no space and bandwidth restrictions on any shared hosting plans from HostGator. The differentiation between the company’s three shared hosting plans will lie in the extra features offered with each plan. “I’m thrilled to see that the disk space and bandwidth arms race is finally coming to an end,” said Brent Oxley, HostGator’s CEO and founder. “We can now focus on what we do best, which is provide a reliable and affordable service with unbeatable customer service.”
Great approach – if you can afford it.
This content was written by Derek Vaughan exclusively for WebHostBlog.com.