Cool Consortium

If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.

– George Bernard Shaw

The computer world was similar to all of us having an apple each till some time back. And then the wise men from the industry made networks. Ideas started flowing all over and soon came in the internet. The internet has been the best thing that has happened to the computer world so far. It has created a platform where we can share our ideas.

Since the Internet is a large network composed of smaller networks, it made sense to break the address space into smaller chunks. Network classes enable us to break down this address space. In IPv4 the various classes of networks are -

Class A networks have an address range between 1.0.0.1 to 126.255.255.254 and support 16 million hosts on each of 127 networks.
Class B networks have an address range between 128.1.0.1 to 191.255.255.254 and support 65,000 hosts on each of 16,000 networks.
Class C networks have an address range between 192.0.1.1 to 223.255.254.254 and support 254 hosts on each of 2 million networks.
Class D networks have an address range between 224.0.0.0 to 239.255.255.255 and are reserved for multicast groups.

Class E networks have an address range between 240.0.0.0 to 254.255.255.254 and are reserved for the future

Such a system makes things simple and networks are manageable. However, they cannot communicate with each other. The scenario is very similar to how communities grew around the world. With time people from different communities needed to communicate with each other, however language was the barrier. The solution they found was people who understand both the languages i.e. translators. So if you need to talk to a beautiful French girl, all you need to do is get somebody who understands French and can translate English to French and vice versa. Routers /gateways do the same in computer networks. Different networks communicate with each other using routers.

A router allows hosts that are not on the same logical network, like an IP subnet, to communicate with each other. The router receives packets (chunks of data) on an interface and routes them to where they need to go based on a routing table; the table allows the router to have knowledge of where a given logical network is located.

Most offices and homes have small class C private networks. These networks need to communicate with the servers in the internet. The only logical way for them is to use a gateway/router. Linux has routing functionality in the kernel itself which makes it an ideal choice for as routing box.

One simple way of sharing the internet connection using linux is using the IP forwarding feature of the kernel and network address translation (NAT). For NATing one can use either ipchains or iptables. It is assumed that the private network is in the 192.168.1.0-255 range.
Let us take the example of a simple network. The server is used to connect to the internet. It’s IP address is 192.168.1.1. There are 4 workstations 192.168.1.2-5. They are connected to the server via the switch. All the workstations share the internet through 192.168.1.1

The first step is to enable ipforwarding in the kernel of the server (192.168.1.1).

$ vi /etc/sysctl.conf
Change the line
net.ipv4.ip_forward = 0

to

net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1

This would enable ip forwarding.

Then we need to get the server to NAT which can be done via ipchains or iptables.

If ipchains is used, create a file called rc.fw and add following lines

$ vi /etc/rc.d/init.d/rc.fw

#!/bin/bash

# First Load the ipchains kernel module. Required only if ipchains is compiled as a module
.
/sbin/modprobe ipchains
insmod ipchains

# MASQ the full 192.168.1.0/24 network
/sbin/ipchains -A forward -s 192.168.1.0/24 -j MASQ

# List the rules
/sbin/ipchains -L -n

If iptables is used instead of ipchains, create a file called rc.fw and add the following lines -

$ vi /etc/rc.d/init.d/rc.fw

#!/bin/bash

# First Load the ipchains kernel module . Required only if iptables is compiled as a module
/sbin/modprobe iptables
insmod iptables

# MASQ the full network
/sbin/iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -j MASQUERADE

# List the rules
/sbin/iptables -L

This would look after all the entire data traffic from the local network to the internet.

Finally add this to the startup -

$ vi /etc/rc.local

Add the line

/etc/rc.d/init.d/rc.fw

This ensures that the settings are retained after a reboot also.

After rebooting the server would do all the routing functions for the entire network.

On the client side all that is required is to set the default router/gateway as the server’s IP i.e. 192.168.1.1. The entire network is now set to share the internet connection.

Amarjyoti Krishnan heads bobcares.com, a tech support company for webhosts and ISPs. He is the co-founder of Poornam Info Vision Ltd., a software and IT services company which specializes in Linux based solutions for Webhosts and ISPs. Poornam Info Vision is an ISO 9001:2000 certified company with a team of over 100 engineers.

Amarjyoti is a Computer Engineer based in India and has over 7 years of experience in the hosting industry. He has spoken and written extensively on the subject. His articles have been published both online as well as in print in magazines.

http://poornam.com

http://bobcares.com

http://amarjyoti.com

Mark Cuban, step aside! The next great development in Broadcast Television shown on the Internet is being played out in Vancouver, British Columbia, where this techno-revolution in viewing is made possible because streaming video is now so advanced and audience-friendly that hundreds of channels of TV content are about to come to viewers right on their PCs!

Sitting in the middle of a complex array of computer equipment is Ed Clunn, who is Chief Technology Officer of www.eBahn.tv , and he is in the last throes of moving his company’s data center to Los Angeles. Although you wouldn’t mistake Clunn for Mark Cuban, the founder of Broadcast.com and HDNet, Clunn’s launching of eBahn, which will be the first true Internet television network, may very well be taking the same types of steps Cuban did with his 2 networks.

“Our vision has been to bring hundreds of channels of ‘real television’ content to viewer’s computer screens in the quality that they have grown to expect,” stated Clunn. “The success of Broadcast.com and Mark Cuban inspired me to take the technical steps necessary to really deliver TV content over the Internet.”

Cuban is a good example of how a simple concept can grow into a multi-billion dollar opportunity. In the early days of streaming, Cuban and Todd Wagner, who were big sports fans, founded a company called AudioNet, initially to provide out-of-market coverage for college basketball games. AudioNet eventually grew into Broadcast.com, which was purchased by Yahoo! in 1999. (Cuban is now the owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team.) When Yahoo bought Broadcast.com for $5.04 billion, Cuban’s simple idea was definitely validated.

There certainly were naysayers to Cuban’s concept just as there are critics today who are skeptical about Clunn’s own vision. The advancements of streaming media changed those sentiments in Broadcast.com’s case though. Streaming media, a method for transmitting multimedia files so that playback occurs upon arrival of the first data packets, was and will continue to be one of the key drivers behind Internet growth for years to come, according to a report by U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray (http://www.piperjaffray.com).

In an industry report released in 2000 on the future of streaming media, Gene Munster, senior technology research analyst for U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, said that streaming media will be the next “macro-growth driver” on the Internet.

“We expect significant growth drivers in the streaming media sector, including the availability of broadband, simplified ease of use, the availability of content, and the convergence of the TV and the PC,” Munster said. “We believe the Internet of tomorrow (two to five years from now) will resemble the television of today in terms of audio and video quality, while enabling users to control the media viewing experience.” His predictions were clearly borne out.

Clunn believes with the continued acceptance of streaming technology, and the rapid growth of video stream usage, that the public at large will now be turning to their computer screens more and more for entertainment content. “The dramatic rise in streaming video usage is the signal to me that Internet TV will be accepted broadly in the next two years,” Clunn confidently stated. “The companies that get in front of this trend now will be the big winners. I don’t intend to be the next ‘Johnny come lately’.”

The rise of video streams is actually staggering when one views the numbers of individual video plays on a year-to-year basis. Video streams increased 80.7 percent in 2004, for a total of 14.2 billion streams, according to AccuStream iMedia Research (http://www.accustreamresearch.com).

“Growth was really strong in the number of [both] audio and video streams in 2004, outpacing even our own optimistic forecasts in the past,” stated Paul Palumbo, research director of AccuStream, a media research firm. “I remember a few years ago when we had 3.5 billion video streams, thinking that was a really big number. Now, we’re already four times that.”

Robust growth continued in 2005, with a total of 21 billion streams (up 48 percent year-to-year) forecast for 2005. By 2007, the annual volume of video streams is projected to exceed 35 billion.

Just fifteen years ago, the thought of delivering hundreds of channels of television content over the Internet anytime in the near future was not taken seriously by many. The reason was simple: The only Internet users at that time were using dial-up connections which would bottleneck the stream of data necessary for true broadcast quality video. Those times have changed completely with the advent of various broadband technologies.

Broadband penetration rates have now made it possible for an Internet TV network to arrive on the scene. The number of U.S. at-home broadband users now accounts for 55 percent of the total U.S. at-home users as of December 2004, according to data from Nielsen/NetRatings. If this robust adoption rate continues, almost 70 percent of all U.S. home users will have broadband connections by the first half of 2006, according to forecasts based on Nielsen.

Even though broadband and streaming media technology are available, this doesn’t mean the success is assured for a true Internet TV Network. Entertainment usage habits of the general consumer have to adjust and change in concert with both of these technology developments. This is now being played out as men and women continue to use computers more and more, and not just for work!

In a typical week, men spend 10.2 hours on a PC, 6.7 hours of which are spent on the Internet. Women spend a total of 8.5 hours using a computer, 5.3 of those are online. Media consumption across all categories, except reading magazines, is higher among men by an average of seven hours per week according to a Forrester’s Consumer Technographics report. On the Web, men tend to surf for news, magazines, finance, job and career information. They also visit discussion boards and comparison shop. Online activities for women skew more toward utility: they get movie information, play games, share photos, and use online phone directories.

Compare these numbers with TV consumption and one sees how close Internet usage is to overtaking traditional television viewing. Men are watching TV 13.6 hours a week while women are viewing television for 12.1 hours each week. Men are also watching movies on video or DVD an average of 3.7 hours a week, and women are watching 3.3 hours a week.

The number to really watch, says Clunn, is multi-channel viewing. “People are now watching TV and working on their computers at the same time,” observed Clunn. “As this trend grows eBahn.tv will grow with it.”

The number of minutes adults spend simultaneously surfing the Web and watching TV has increased a dramatic 72 percent, from an average of 174 minutes per week in 2001 to 300 minutes per week in 2004, according to the latest “Media in Mind” survey by Universal McCann.

The 2004 Web/TV figure accounts for 20 percent of total weekly TV-viewing time for the average U.S. adult aged 18-49. In 2001, only 11 percent of total TV-viewing time for that age group was accompanied by Web use. The percentage of adult TV-viewing time that is potentially distracted or enhanced by Internet use has almost doubled in three years.

There is one other reason an Internet TV network may not have succeeded in the past, and that is the lack of real content. “People want to see the same type of content they can see on regular TV if they are going to watch Internet TV,” said Clunn. “In the first quarter of 2006, eBahn.tv will be delivering almost 200 channels of content, the type of programming you would view with any cable operator.”

At the end of the day, every business model has to generate more income than it spends and the timing may be right once again for the Vancouver media company. Advertisers are now moving their promotional budgets towards the Internet in ever increasing numbers. Online sales have also mirrored the increase in advertising.

Online retailers saw a 24 percent increase in sales in 2004. Growth by the end of 2005 is projected to rise by another 22 percent.

The 2004 growth rate of 24 percent outpaces traditional retail growth, which saw an increase of only seven percent. Last year, online sales accounted for 6.5 percent of total retail sales, up from 5.4 percent in 2003. In 2005, online sales are expected to account for 7.7 percent of total retail sales according to Forrester. “On the demand side, we continue to see more new shoppers coming online,” said Scott R. Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, “and the new shoppers that have been online continue to get more comfortable.”

Online advertising revenue is expected to reach $16.5 billion by 2005 according to research released today by Jupiter Communications, Inc. Interestingly enough, sponsorships are most popular on TV broadcasters’ Web sites, such as CBSNews.com, BET.com, and FOXNews.com. “A significant number of sites owned by major media brands that experimented with streaming video advertising in 2000 and 2001, and then moved behind subscription services, reemerged as ad-supported content sites in 2004 and 2005,” Palumbo added.

With all of these trends involving broadband penetration, Internet usage, streaming media viewing and multi-channel viewing on the rise, Clunn feels that it will be a very good year for eBahn.tv.

“We believe that the ‘perfect storm’ has arrived for the birth of our Internet TV network”, said Clunn. “When the network goes live in January, all of the proverbial cosmic tumblers will click into place for eBahn.tv and we’ll be off to the races.” These are optimistic sentiments but they seem to be rooted in pretty sound logic. Are we looking at the next Broadcast.com? Just check the Internet in a few weeks and we’ll all see.

The Internet is probably one of the most valuable tools
of communication that man has ever invented in the last decade.
Since time immemorial, man has been constantly in communication
with the world around him. From his dear relatives, to his
favored peers, and even with the environment that he lives in.
And this would not be possible without the people equipped with
the knowledge of web hosting.

Because of this, man is in perpetual communication. Since
then communication has always been associated with the words
time and urgency. This was true because the time element in
delivering the post was crucial especially during the great
American Civil War. Responses were held at a minimum of two
weeks for the replenishment of arms and men, and the element of
time was always taken into consideration.

And because of this need, man further developed and pushed
forward with the ultimate goal of delivering messages at
the fastest time possible. Through the hardened effort of the
people inside and outside the field of communication various
ways of reaching people and places were invented and discovered
throughout the development of the modern society.

Telegrams and telegraphs, Morse code messages, short wave
radio frequency, and eventually the telephone, the mobile phone,
the computer and of course the Internet. Throughout the ages,
the internet was the most real time form of letter delivery
system man has ever invented. Emails or electronic mails can
circumnavigate the world over a hundred times in just one day.
And the number of people being connected by the World Wide Web
is truly enormous.

Because of this, there are certain times of the day when the
internet service providers here and around the world are
forced into disallowing some people access to the connection
because of the massive traffic the information superhighway has
to carry on a single line. This technology has reached far more
people than what was originally thought of. Since a lot of
people regularly go online to surf the net, shop, research, meet
people and just plain hang out and chill, the idea of putting
your business online is a very practical idea. On a regular day
almost half of waking world go online at the almost the same
time. What this could possibly mean to a business person is that
the market they are after can be reached at a bigger scope at
one time. And that being the case putting a SALE sign on the
information superhighway would make lots and lots of waves for
your business. The key there is to go online and find a company
that can do web hosting for your business.

Web hosting by the way, is the way of uploading your web
site or webpage to the internet. This is done by looking for a
web hosting service and having your webpage uploaded through
their server. The server will carry your webpage just like
putting up a store or a house on a vacant lot. Web hosting is
the lot. To have your webpage web hosted instead of putting up
your own is the most practical way to do it.

One because, maintaining a running server for your
website alone can cost more than what you really want to spend.
But to look at the brighter side of things, having a web hosting
firm do this for you can transform those internet surfers into
potential sales. The advantages of having your business hooked
up online through web hosting companies are numerous; one is
that web hosting is actually much more practical than to launch
an all out advertising campaign through conventional and
traditional means.

Just try to remember some of the important things when
trying to look for a good web hosting company. Look closely at
the web hosting contract because some of these offer a trial
period so make sure you take advantage of the free web hosting
period.

Wayne Haines makes it easy to find and understand web
hosting, quickly & easily. To learn the essential keys to web
hosting that you must know visit web site hosting plan then further your
knowledge at advanced web hosting provider

The Internet is a terrestrial-based system, and satellite Internet technology utilizes an extraterrestrial-based system, i.e. satellite, to get connected to the Internet backbone. The need for the access through satellite is the lack of DSL and cable lines in remote areas and in mobile situations such as seafaring vessels.

Satellite Internet access works through a dish at the customer’s location, which sends radio frequencies from the computer to the satellite. The dish is usually of 1.2 m diameter. The customer’s location may be equipped with a satellite modem to convert digital information into analog form. The customer’s location may be a single PC or networked workstations. This obviates the need for telephone lines.

At the other end, the satellite sends back the frequencies to the teleport at a ground station where a number of large aperture dishes are placed. From here, the data is sent to the network system, which consists of routers and optical cables that connect to the Internet backbone. As the Internet backbone is shared by many service providers, the bandwidth availability is restricted by the terrestrial Internet infrastructure.

At the user’s location, the access is determined by the level of service required, whether it is one-way or two-way satellite service. One-way service may require a regular dial up service. A user may need to have a minimum of Windows- or Mac-supported PC with a networking capability. Other requirements include Ethernet port. Other than hardware requirements, software programming to manage interfaces is required.

Broadband access through satellite is a costly alternative to cable modems and DSL. The access is limited by the costly installations and the weather conditions. Besides, the uplink speed is limited by the dial-up speed just like dial-up Internet. The long-haul distance between the dish and satellite results in delay of the access.

Satellite Internet provides detailed information on Satellite Internet, Satellite Internet Services, Satellite Internet Access, Satellite Internet Providers and more. Satellite Internet is affiliated with High Speed Internet Services.

How is “an expensive frame relay type service to the internet” different than a “less expensive plain T1 to the internet”….AND how are either of these different from a private line or point-to-point T1?

Here’s my opinion……

Don’t worry about the technology difference between frame relay and a plain T1….or either of these and a private line or point to point T1.

A frame T1 runs at just about the same speed as a point to point T1. Much more important to worry about is what’s on the other end of the circuit. If the other end of the circuit is the internet backbone, and you have 1.5M throughput to the backbone, then that’s a “dedicated” connection, the best grade of service you can get. If the other end of the circuit is to a carrier’s serving office, or DSLAM, or aggregation point, then the 1.5M throughput is to their equipment, not to the internet backbone, and you have a “shared” connection. A shared connection means that your provider has arranged for a bulk internet connection from a larger carrier and it splits some out for you — but rarely do they split out your bandwidth only for you.

For example a shared provider might buy a wholesale DS-3 from Global Crossing. A DS-3 is the equivalent of 28 T1 circuits. The shared ISP would try to have many customers sharing that T1 circuit, much more than 28 customers — that’s how they make money.

Same thing with phone systems — you might have twenty extension phones in your office, but only 5 phone lines with the phone company. This recognizes that not all users need to use the phone at the same time.

In the internet world, shared ISPs are betting that not all customers need their full bandwidth at the same time. If a shared provider pays $6000 per month for a DS-3, and sells T1s for $300/month, they break even at 20 customers. ISPs will oversell their bandwidth because not all customers need their full bandwidth at all times. If you’ve been reading this message for the past 15 seconds, and your PC is doing nothing else, you haven’t used your bandwidth for the past now 20 seconds.

Now…..if you need the internet circuit for email, and looking at web pages, and research, a shared T1 connection is fine. But if you’re running time sensitive or bandwidth hogging applications like hosting a website at your location, or if you’re running VOIP applications, or streaming audio or video, or controlling machinery remotely … then a shared T1 connection will be a big PIA (pain in the *&!) at some point during the month when the other customers will be sucking up all the bandwidth leaving you with less than you are paying for.

So don’t worry about the technology of the access circuit, worry about what’s on the other end. If you can get away with a shared T1 connection, you’ll save some loot. If you have critical applications, then your life will be filled with drama until you get a dedicated T1 connection.

Michael is the owner of FreedomFire Communications….including DS3-Bandwidth.com and Business-VoIP-Solution.com. Michael also authors Broadband Nation where you’re always welcome to drop in and catch up on the latest BroadBand news, tips, insights, and ramblings for the masses.

Never underestimate the power of the internet. An increasing number of people use the internet to search for a business or service so having a web presence is an important media for promoting your company.
Web design is a real skill and if your website is to not only look good but work well, it should be constructed by a professional web designer.

Have you noticed these days that so many websites all look the same – square box in the middle of the screen? That’s because it’s fairly easy and cheap to use the many templates available to build a simple website. There are many web designers or friends of a friend out there that will offer to do you a website for a few hundred pounds but there are many technical issues to consider to ensure really professional results.

A good website should have the following attributes:

Strong corporate identity
User friendly navigation
Quick to download
A useful resource
Expandable – needs to incorporate technology that allows
scalability
Visually attractive to encourage usage
Must work in all browsers on all computers PC and MAC
Good investment / value for money
Search engine friendly

Remember that first impressions count and a badly designed website is worse than having no website at all. You wouldn’t get a friend of a friend to do your company brochures or service your nice new car you would go to a specialist, so why take the risk and compromise on quality with your website.

A well designed website with good graphics and strong corporate branding will last for years and should be a good investment for your company. Updating the content is simple and inexpensive.

You can start with a small but well designed website that fits within your budget. The key is to ensure that your website is expandable so that as your business grows it can be added to – you may even wish to add a database or e commerce functionality at a later stage.

We believe that Flash is really designed for use in the entertainments industry and we do not recommend using it on a business website. Even with the increasing availability of broadband Flash can be very irritating for users, it serves no purpose, it can detract attention away from the important messages on your website and it will adversely affect your search engine rankings. Strong visual affects can be achieved using other methods.

Using HTML is the most popular and cost effective way to design a website. These can include original graphic designs and are text driven to incorporate relevant search terms, which is good for getting your site recognised by search engines.

DYNAMIC websites incorporate a database and offers more user functionality. A dynamic website can be classed as a web application and is a powerful tool for gathering and providing data for your customers who will be able to log in and search the site quickly for information. If you require a dynamic database driven web design you will have to budget for the back end coding required to build the database. This will be more expensive than a HTML site and will need specialist hosting.

As a less expensive alternative it is possible to build a HTML site which links to a third party database which you can access through your existing ISP.

An E-COMMERCE WEBSITE is an online secure shopping facility so that customers can purchase your goods by credit card over the web.

John Lewis is a multimedia designer who specialises in producing interactive CD Rom, original graphic design Scotland and web design Scotland

Now there are many different criteria to consider when choosing a Web Design Company. One of which is, what kind of website is it you need?

Depending on whether you want to sell products, just advertise a bricks and mortar business or something radically different, will govern the skill set required of your chosen Web Design Company.

Most Web Design Companies will be able to design a simple site advertising a business but may not be very good at constructing sites that use an eCommerce Solution to sell products online. When looking at the portfolio of each Web Design Company, pay attention to the type of sites they are making. If they have never built a site with an eCommerce Solution, don’t pay them to learn how to!

The portfolio is a good place to start with all Web Design Companies. While looking at each site on their portfolio, make sure they are of a good quality and contain a link saying they were designed by the Web Design Company. It’s amazing how often I see Web Design Companies trying to pass other designer’s work of as their own. Also check all the way through the portfolio, a common tactic of Web Design Companies is to place their best work first and hiding their not so good work at the bottom of the pile. Looking all the way through will give you a better idea of their consistency.

Designing websites today isn’t quite as simple as it should be. People Surfing the web use a number of different web browsers e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Firefox etc. try looking at every site you view in these browsers to make sure they all display correctly.

Phone up a Web Design Company and have a good discussion to see if you get on. You don’t want to be working with someone you find hard to get along with.

Ask the Web Design Company if they have any referrals and speak to them as well, asking what their experience was like.

Check the legalities of the web design service, who will own the site after it is completed, who will own the copyright? All of these things will have further implications, especially if you want to start using another Web Design Company due to problems.

And of course we come to price. As with most things in life, you get what you pay for. Don’t go thinking choosing a Web Design Company is anything different. A good analogy is buying a car worth twice the amount your paying because it has a hole in the fuel tank. You might be saving money now but other time its going to cost you a lot more until you get it fixed!

James Anderson is a search engine optimisation consultant who works for Podium Solutions Manchester Web Design Company.

Xeon dedicated servers are especially designed for the customers who have less computing requirements. These are the best for the customers who want average server load. Actually Xeon is a powerful system that is designed for e-commerce, database and enterprise applications.

Some Xeon dedicated servers include single or dual 64-bit Xeon processors with SATA/SCSI drive configurations. It also offers some options to upgrade processor like increased memory, additional hard drives and RAID configurations. Additional features include 1U chassis along with 2 drive bays and 6 memory slots.

Setup fee of Xeon dedicated server starts from RM500.00. Cost of these dedicated servers totally depends on your requirements. Customers may subscribe Xeon dedicated servers for 3, 6, 9, or 12 months as per their needs. They can renew or change the subscription periods at the end of the service period. They can easily move to a superior offer.

Xeon dedicated server provide fast speed and great performance at special prices. It offers Intel Xeon 2.8 Ghz Processor, Tyan Motherboard, 1024 Megabytes RAM, 80 GB SATA Hard Drive, 1000 GB Of Transfer Inbound, 1000 GB Of Transfer Outbound, 8 IP Addresses, 10 MB/S Port, DirectAdmin Control Panel, and Latest Redhat Linux or Fedora. Whenever you buy a Xeon dedicated server, it sets up on the same day.

About Author: Author presents website on Xeon Dedicated Servers Website provides additional information about Xeon dedicated servers. It offers advice on how to setup a Xeon dedicated server. You can visit his site to get more information to buy xeon dedicated server

Most companies and small businesses need a company to host
their websites. Have you looked for a web hosting company on the
Internet lately? How many web hosting companies did you see?
There are literally thousands of web hosting companies, each
competing for your business. So, how to pick the right one?

When you think about it, the web hosting company will become the
lifeblood of your business. Everything from how fast (or how
slow) their servers are, to how much bandwidth they offer will
ultimately impact your business. Understandably, you don’t want
to choose the wrong one, which could be a costly mistake (even
fatal if you start losing customers). Conventional wisdom says
that you should pick a large web hosting company to host your
website. But, is conventional wisdom always right? Think about
it..if you go with a very large web hosting company, are they
going to be able to give you the personal service that your
business deserves (and needs)? Maybe. But maybe not.

The fact is that you need a web hosting company that will
maintain the servers, perform upgrades, support the most popular
applications and keep your site running with minimal downtime.
Can a conventional, large web hosting company do this? Some
can.

But think about this..how many guaranteed uptime claims have
you seen? Hundreds? Thousands? The fact is that most large web
hosting companies now claim to have the latest servers and
technology with uptime over 98%, etc, etc, etc. That being said,
server uptime is not a major reason for you to choose one web
hosting company over another.

For many people, it all comes down to price. After all, online
business owners need to save money, right? The cost for web
hosting generally varies and is dependent on the size of the web
hosting company, the web hosting packages that they offer, disk
space, and other features. Keep in mind that, in today’s world
of web hosting, (as with almost anything else), size does not
necessarily indicate quality. Before you sign-up with the web
hosting company, check to find out if you will get enough space
for your site for now and the future, if your site will
eventually grow.

How reliable is the web hosting company’s customer service? The
fact is that time is money C you don’t make money if your site
is down. Also, if you are having any problems whatsoever
related to the hosting of your site, you need to be able to
resolve these quickly and easily – preferably without waiting on
hold for hours. Assuming that most web hosting companies have
email for support, sometimes you need to speak to a live human
being because your problem may require immediate attention.
Does the web hosting company have a money back guarantee?

You need to be able to take your business somewhere else if you
find that the web hosting company is not working out for you.

Your web hosting company should absolutely offer easy administration for your account. This is very important. You
can solve most problems yourself if the Control Panel area is
straightforward. Do you want to have to call the web hosting
company every time you need to make a change? I didn’t think so!

Do you understand the Control Panel well enough to be able to
handle applications installation and email set-up and
administration by yourself? Does the web hosting company have a
knowledgebase, FAQ section or Online Help on their site that you
can reference for small questions?

Choosing a web hosting company is no small decision, so you
should not take it lightly. On the surface, it may seem to be
as simple as choosing the lowest price or largest company, but
in reality it is much deeper than that. Your business depends
on your web hosting company and how good it is. You can’t
afford to trust it to just anyone.

Greg Cesar gets results. Find out how hundreds of webmasters benefit from Greg’s web hosting and internet marketing knowledge by visiting this link:

http://www.hostpartnerplus.com

Greg Cesar gets results. Find out how hundreds of webmasters benefit from Greg’s web hosting and internet marketing knowledge by visiting his Web Hosting Company website.

As the Internet expands, demand for different web-hosting services increases proportionally. Additional numbers of people are joining the web world every day with personal sites for their business or organization. Many people choose low-cost solutions to host their web site, but it if your web site is important to you, you should consider quality as much as price.

For instance, putting your site on a low costs web host can affect the speed at which customers access it. Many surfers on broadband connections get annoyed when site’s server does not keep up with their connection. If it does not offer fast access and downloads, people will be reluctant to revisit the site. They would leave the place with a negative impression about you result in long term economic loss.

A well-established web host may charge more for the facilities but in the long run they may offer better and latest services complying with the trends in the market. Some high quality hosts even offers free add-ones and promotions. The features like free web site builder or support for MySQL databases ensure that the ultimate cost involved in building a productive website are a lesser amount. These facilities may not be available when one goes for a cheaper web host – or you may have to pay extra for them!

The cheapest web hosts may not always have a good reputation, either. Reputable companies in the web hosting business have a well-established infrastructure that ensures better services. Their servers tend to be down less frequently and they are less likely to go out of business (and take your data with them!).

Thus it is advisable to check out a host’s reputation and quality as well as its price. The good news is, there are some web hosts that offer both outstanding service as well as competitive prices. Don’t sell yourself short with anything else!

Paul Herbert recommends Net Explorers ( http://www.hosting-netexplorers.co.uk/ ) for high quality UK web hosting.