I should have been clearer on that point. I considered infrastructure to include equipment and the people required to keep it operating efficiently. In support, I was intending to indicate support to the next user.
I have done a fair amount of shopping on hosting and spent 70,000 USD on it last year.
At the top, are the big network providers (UUNet, Qwest, AT&T, etc.) These companies have substantial costs associated with technology and connectivity. Their customers are typically end user ISPs, hosting companies, and colo (colocation)facilities, so support is a very minor cost. They have a commisioned sales force.
Next in the chain, we have end user ISPs, hosting companies, and colo facilities. End user ISPs provide an obvious service. Hosting companies and colo facilities are somewhat intertwined. Large hosting companies have their own datacenters and connections. Colo facilities have separate racks that are leased out. The customer is responsible for the connectivity, but these places are typically prewired with every sort of network provider available. As an added complication, Many colo customers are small hosting companies.
Let's look at the cost impacting factors at each of those levels:
Network providers:
Infrastructure: High
Connectivity: High
End user support: Nearly nonexistant
End user ISPs:
Infrastructure: Moderate
Connectivity: Moderate
End user support: Very High
Hosting
Infrastructure: Moderate
Connectivity: Varies on account size
End user support: Varies on account size
Here is the problem with hosting:
The largest companies are running large *nix servers with huge numbers of accounts on them. These are the 10-300 USD accounts. You pay for a minor amount of bandwidth and hardware, but the fixed costs of collecting payment and providing support make up a large portion of your bill.
The high overage charges are there to discourage you from exceeding your planned bandwidth. These companies are paying for a fixed connection typically in 100Mbps and 1Gbps units. They need to keep a certain level of utilization and keep burst down to maximize the return from their connectivity costs. An additional cost of overage is in hardware. Those large servers are balanced with a high, but manageable number of accounts. When several accounts are at high burst, there is a possibility of slowing other accounts and getting complaints.
The cheapest way is using dedicated servers and a fixed connection size. The problem with this is that it is not cost effective until you are using a fair amount of bandwidth. The reason it becomes so much cheaper here is that there is no uncertainty for the hosting company. You are also generally responsible for administration of these servers. Colo is pretty much the same except that you install your own servers in a facility instead of leasing a server from a hosting company.
I hope this helps. I have explored many options and I have learned a great deal about hosting from being a large account.
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I should have been clearer on that point. I considered infrastructure to include equipment and the people required to keep it operating efficiently. In support, I was intending to indicate support to the next user.
I have done a fair amount of shopping on hosting and spent 70,000 USD on it last year. At the top, are the big network providers (UUNet, Qwest, AT&T, etc.) These companies have substantial costs associated with technology and connectivity. Their customers are typically end user ISPs, hosting companies, and colo (colocation)facilities, so support is a very minor cost. They have a commisioned sales force. Next in the chain, we have end user ISPs, hosting companies, and colo facilities. End user ISPs provide an obvious service. Hosting companies and colo facilities are somewhat intertwined. Large hosting companies have their own datacenters and connections. Colo facilities have separate racks that are leased out. The customer is responsible for the connectivity, but these places are typically prewired with every sort of network provider available. As an added complication, Many colo customers are small hosting companies. Let's look at the cost impacting factors at each of those levels: Network providers: Infrastructure: High Connectivity: High End user support: Nearly nonexistant End user ISPs: Infrastructure: Moderate Connectivity: Moderate End user support: Very High Hosting Infrastructure: Moderate Connectivity: Varies on account size End user support: Varies on account size Here is the problem with hosting: The largest companies are running large *nix servers with huge numbers of accounts on them. These are the 10-300 USD accounts. You pay for a minor amount of bandwidth and hardware, but the fixed costs of collecting payment and providing support make up a large portion of your bill. The high overage charges are there to discourage you from exceeding your planned bandwidth. These companies are paying for a fixed connection typically in 100Mbps and 1Gbps units. They need to keep a certain level of utilization and keep burst down to maximize the return from their connectivity costs. An additional cost of overage is in hardware. Those large servers are balanced with a high, but manageable number of accounts. When several accounts are at high burst, there is a possibility of slowing other accounts and getting complaints. The cheapest way is using dedicated servers and a fixed connection size. The problem with this is that it is not cost effective until you are using a fair amount of bandwidth. The reason it becomes so much cheaper here is that there is no uncertainty for the hosting company. You are also generally responsible for administration of these servers. Colo is pretty much the same except that you install your own servers in a facility instead of leasing a server from a hosting company. I hope this helps. I have explored many options and I have learned a great deal about hosting from being a large account.