What Is Web Hosting?

Many businesses, from one-man-bands to multi-national corporations, have a web-presence these days. i.e. They have a website telling their customers about their companies: what they do, where they're based, their company history, how they're different from their competitors, etc. Many of these businesses also sell products and/or services online.

If you own a business and wish to have a presence in cyberspace, then you need to consider buying a package from a web hosting company.

Web hosting refers to the process of renting computer space and bandwidth (data transfer capacity) from a company so that you can make your website visible to the outside world.

Put simply, you buy an allocated space on a computer from a hosting company, then transfer the files of your website to this computer. Your website then becomes available to users around the world, and this enables them to browse your website, as well as download files and buy products and services from you.

Domain Name

First of all, you need to choose a domain name for your website. A domain name is simply an address for your website. Examples are www.microsoft.com and www.yahoo.com. Avoid choosing a domain name which is too long or too complicated for users to remember.

Design Your Website

There are three ways to get your website designed:

1. You can do it yourself. There are many website authoring software packages available on the market. Two popular packages are Microsoft Frontpage and Macromedia Dreamweaver. With these programs, you can design and edit your web pages easily and see instantly how they will look to the users.

2. Some companies offer an easy way for you to create your website by providing templates for you to choose from. With this type of service, all you have to do is choose a layout from a number of pre-defined templates, select some color, font and graphics options, enter some text, and you'll end up with a decent-looking website.

3. Get a web design company to do it for you. This is the most expensive option but you will end up with a more professional and stylish website, looking exactly the way you want it to look.

Getting a web host

Now that you have chosen your domain name and have designed your website, you need to find a web hosting company.

There are thousands of hosting companies out there. Search the web for a company with a good reputation and offers the kind of services you need. Friends may be able to recommend a reputable company. We recommend .

Next, select a web hosting package to suit your needs and sign up for an account. Usually you'll pay for the hosting service by credit card online. If you have not already registered your domain name elsewhere, you'll have the option to do so with your hosting company.

Once payment has been processed, you'll receive a confirmation email with details about your hosting package. Take some time to read this email carefully as it contains information on how to log on to your hosting account.

Next you'll have to upload all the HTML pages, graphics and other files on to your web space. This can be done via the control panel on your website, or by using an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program such as CuteFTP.

Now that your website is online, users from around the world will be able to view it, so make sure that the information it contains (such as your email address and telephone number) is up-to-date. This is particularly important if you will be using your website to sell products and services.

E-learning and Organizational Culture

The success of an e-learning initiative depends as much on the people and culture of the organization as it does on the technology used.

So what is culture? One of American comedian and pop icon Jerry Seinfeld's favorite show business stories goes something like this:

One cold winter's day, the members of the Glenn Miller Orchestra are on their way to a gig when their bus breaks down. So the musicians grab their instruments and start walking. Before long, they come across a cozy little house. Inside, a family is sitting around the dinner table, talking, laughing, clearly enjoying each other's company. The band members are damp and shivering as they gaze at this idyllic Norman Rockwell scene. Finally, one of the musicians turns to another and asks: "How do people live like that?" (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/03/17/1079199277227.html?from=storyrhs)

That is a story about culture.

There are many definitions of culture, however, including the following ones.

* The "customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group" (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)

* The "set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes a company or corporation" (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)

* Learned and shared human patterns or models for living

* Day-to-day living patterns

* The shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of people for perceiving, interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities around them

* The "basic pattern of shared beliefs, values, behaviors and assumptions acquired over time by organizational members" (Daryl Conner, O.D. Resources Inc.)

* The "way we do things around here" (Rob Edmonds, e-Learning and Culture, http://www.sric-bi.com/LoD/)

Whatever the definition, all social organizations—nations, industries, corporations, churches, social clubs, etc.—have characteristic cultures.

There is also quite a diversity of definitions of e-learning. One goes as follows:

E-learning: Covers a wide set of applications and processes, such as Web-based learning, computer-based learning, virtual classrooms, and digital collaboration. It includes the delivery of content via Internet, intranet/extranet (LAN/WAN), audio- and videotape, satellite broadcast, interactive TV, and CD-ROM. (http://www.learningcircuits.org/glossary.html#E)

E-learning is one methodology and technology for delivering and enabling learning. In most organizations, an e-learning initiative is an implementation of training and collaboration that is made available to employees over the corporate intranet, and is thus readily available to people at their convenience. While e-learning may partially replace classroom training, in most cases it is designed to enhance training and extend it to a broader audience, while saving costs.

This paper looks at the impacts of organizational structure, behavior, and culture in the context of an e-learning initiative. National and industrial cultures do impact the culture in a specific company, but that is not the primary focus here.

Corporate culture can help or hinder an e-learning initiative, sometimes both. E-learning can also be a tool to support cultural change.

We can study a corporate culture by observing the way it does things in order to identify its core values and beliefs. Organizations do not always behave the way they say they do. There are also subcultures within organizations that can differ greatly. By knowing the corporate culture, we will be better equipped to work with it, rather than against it.

Cultural factors can appear in many places, including the organizational structure, support from the top levels, the environment for innovation and change, the human resources situation, administrative procedures, budget, the training and learning history, the relationship with the information technology (IT) department, and the existence or non-existence of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.

Cultural stories can be very revealing, so here are a few illustrations.

Innovation or Change Environment:A few years ago, before the term e-learning had been coined, someone at Cisco decided to videotape a presentation and put it on their intranet. When they showed it to a vice president, he got so excited that he sent out a message to everyone saying that they should have a look at it. Hundreds did so and it nearly brought down Cisco's network—probably the most advanced network in the world at the time.

Many companies still have strong prohibitions against video. In fact, Cisco itself still does. They continue to use video extensively, but they have figured out ways to keep it off their backbone by distributing it on local area networks (LAN). Their fascination with technology led them to experiment—moving them towards e-learning. However, their technology innovation was contrasted with a very traditional view of training—videotaped presentations are very passive ways to learn, but they are a way of getting information out to employees quickly. Nonetheless, the environment for implementing e-learning was obviously right in Cisco, since it is one of the most visible corporate e-learning success stories.

A corporate culture that supports innovation is more likely to embrace e-learning.

Human Resources and Administration

In a unionized company, the director of training consulted with the labor relations group about e-learning and was told it couldn't be done. The reason was that managers would complain about it. Why would managers complain about people getting additional opportunities for training? It turns out that the problem was the instantaneous nature of e-learning. Employees would be able to sign on and take the training without the manager's approval and the manager couldn't control what the employee was doing.

There were several things at work here, one of which was an administrative procedure—when employees registered for a classroom course, the manager was sent a letter, and the manager could advise the employee not to take it. To some extent this was a control issue, but it was also legitimate because managers want employees to take courses that are part of their plan or will contribute to their job, especially if they are doing it on company time. The other was a perception issue on the part of the labor relations people—they were afraid of possible problems. Later when e-learning was rolled out without consulting with them, this problem never occurred.

It is always wise to consult with all the stakeholders in an e-learning initiative, but the Human Resources (HR) people may prove to be one of your biggest challenges, even though the training department is often part of HR. HR people are good at anticipating all kinds of labor relations problems and other issues.

Learners and Training

Some say that the greatest challenge in an e-learning initiative is the learners themselves. It may not be the biggest challenge, but it is something to consider. If people are used to going to classrooms to learn in an instructor-led social environment, then they may not understand the concept of learning while sitting at their desks in front of their computers. After all, we have been conditioned all the way through our school system to believe that being in a classroom is how we learn. So if there is a strong tradition of instructor-led training in your company, then you will need to deal with this.

In addition, in organizations with strong internal training departments, the trainers themselves may view e-learning as a threat to their jobs. This fear needs to be addressed.

In one company, some e-learning courses on communications and management were made available to people and they gobbled them up with comments like "Finally the training department is doing something for us." As it happened, although there was a strong tradition of classroom learning, it had become a perk that was provided only for a select group of people. They got to travel to the big city, do their shopping, and have time off the job—all at the expense of the company. All of the others—the ones who in many cases really needed the training—were being denied access to training. They were hungry for almost anything.

E-learning is about more than saving costs, it is about extending access to the entire organization.

Central Training Organizations

A central training organization is usually the best place to initiate e-learning because it can reach most people in the organization, and be cost-effective. While such a unit is most likely to have the necessary budget, that budget is visible and vulnerable to the whims of senior executives.

The Gartner Group's total cost of ownership (TCO) studies showed that computer support is a fairly constant cost regardless of how it is organized. Training is a lot like that too. There is a natural cycle of central training organizations. As corporations grow, each department recognizes the need for training and starts to deliver and manage its own training. The cost of this is largely invisible to senior executives. At some point in the growth cycle, a smart new vice-president sees an opportunity to save money by centralizing training. After this happens, companies often do save money, but the budget for training is now more visible and is subject to senior management approval each year. It then becomes a target for executives who don't recognize its value especially in times of fiscal pressure. It tends to be one of the first budgets to get cut. When the central training unit is downsized, the departments begin to increase their in-house training resources again. Once again, the cost is relatively hidden but the total cost to the organization is greater. And so, the cycle repeats itself every few years.
Budget:E-learning can save an organization a good deal of money in the long run, but there is an initial investment required. Therefore, to implement e-learning, you need to know the budget culture of your company.

Whether to Buy or Build a Learning Management System

One company worked hard to identify a learning management system (LMS) to suit their needs. They already had some e-learning in place and they wanted a system that would manage both classroom training and e-learning. After extensive work, it was decided that they would build it themselves—reinventing the wheel. The decision was made for political, budget, and process reasons. There was no budget in place to obtain the LMS, and there was an internal IT group who had developed some related applications. It was easier in this company to generate a project to build a system than it was to find the money to purchase a system.

You need to understand the peculiarities of the budget system in your company.

* Why, when, and by who are budget decisions made?
* Is it a capital or expense budget?
* What is the best time for a proposal?
* Are the key players drivers of the budget or driven by the budget? The ones who are driven by the budget will never find any money for you if there isn't some already in place.

Return on Investment

Budget requests require justification. If your company is very return on investment (ROI)-oriented, as most are today, you will need to justify e-learning on an ROI basis. In a study issued in September 2002, Nucleus Research (http://www.nucleusresearch.com) stated:

Nucleus Research shows that customers implementing these solutions have quickly recognized first-tier benefits, including reduced costs for travel, human resources overhead, regulatory compliance and customer support costs; and eventually received second-tier benefits, such as increased employee performance that directly impacts profitability. Nucleus found most companies could gain significant returns from even modest investments in e-learning technology.

This has not proven to be true for all companies, so the decision making along the way needs to be carefully done and a plan should be in place.

IT Environment

The IT department and the support of its people are key to the success of any e-learning implementation. Be sure to include them in the discussions from the beginning.

In one company's initial e-learning offering, there were three delivery or hosting choices—host the courses on their own server, have the parent company host them, or have the supplier host them over the Internet. These choices raised several issues.

1. Bandwidth. Do the courses use too much bandwidth? Do the courses contain any video? Even if they do not, courses may not be allowed to run over the backbone to the parent company because critical operational applications run there. Even in companies that have very sophisticated intranets, there are rules about the applications that run across backbones and key networks.

2. Internet access. Does everyone have access to the Internet? In some companies, access is a choice made by local managers, some of whom may believe that the Internet access is a waste of time. In a meeting with customer service managers in a major communications company, eight out of ten supported Internet access because their people needed to be able to see what their customers were being offered by the competition. Two managers, however, would not support it and one of them said, "Over my dead body". This resulted in inequitable distribution of Internet access throughout the company and meant that access to courses outside of the intranet would not be possible for some.

3. Corporate firewall. If a choice is made to have someone outside the company (like the vendor or another application service provider [ASP]) host the courses, you need to test the corporate firewall to see if the courses can run through it. If they don't, approach the IT department to see if it can be done. If it can't be done, then you will have to run the courses internally. Again, you will need the support of the IT people to provide the necessary server space. You may find that the firewall issues will change over time. Whether you think so or not, the IT and security people are your friends and it is important to enlist their support from the beginning.

Unions

Unions can be supportive of the idea of e-learning because more of their people will get easier access to needed training. Some unions may be resistant because they cannot control it. One company tried to provide people with an opportunity to telecommute—to work from home—but the union resisted it because then they couldn't monitor the managers while at work to make sure they were not doing union work. In another company, the union and management had been trying to negotiate a new contract for nearly two years and were getting nowhere. A union leader was quoted as saying that having to have personal development plans in place put additional stress on people. However, the personal development plans which had been initiated by senior management were the key to the success of their e-learning program.

Autonomous Departments

In 2001, Sun Microsystems was moving into the e-learning business as a vendor and had purchased an LMS to use and sell. It had a major presence at the 2001 Online Learning conference in Anaheim. During the conference, another LMS supplier was approached by someone from Sun. The other vendor responded with, "Why are you talking to us? You have it all in house." The response was that the Sun representative was from a different department and they were going to do things their way. Sun now appears to have abandoned the idea of becoming an e-learning vendor.

In many organizations departments are sufficiently autonomous to make these kinds of decisions. On the one hand, this presents an opportunity for suppliers; on the other, a single department may not have the critical mass to make e-learning cost effective, leading to its ultimate failure.

What Kind of Organization is Yours?

You want your e-learning venture to work with the culture not against it. There are at least three kinds of companies. The type of company you have will determine the most effective path for an e-learning strategy, as follows.

* For top-down, task-oriented organizations, a straightforward curriculum of courses is your best bet.

* For democratic, people-oriented companies, collaborative e-learning systems are the way to go.

* If your company is a true "learning organization", you will need a broad program of collaborative e-learning and knowledge management.

Different divisions may require different treatments. Where do you fit on this spectrum?

Organizational Support

E-learning is a significant change event and needs support at the chief executive officer (CEO) level—get him or her to actually take an e-learning course so that they know what they are talking about. It also needs a high level champion who will do the work to see it through to success, but beware of e-learning champions who believe it will replace all forms of training. Such a person can do as much damage as someone who does not believe in it at all. The reality is that instructor-led training is not going to disappear. There are things that e-learning doesn't do very well, for example, laboratory work and face-to-face interactions. There are some people who will never get used to the idea of learning at their computer. To them learning is a social event. The best solution is a multi-option, blended solution like that offered by North West Airlines, which provides people with computer-based training, classroom training, mentoring, personal training plans, and a checkout library with books, magazines, videos, and audiotapes.

Executive Computer Literacy

How computer literate are your executives? Many are quite technology challenged—even in technology companies. This can work against you because they have no idea what you are trying to do. Educate them. How often do the senior executives visit the intranet? Typically it is a rare event. This can work for you because you can use the intranet as a marketing tool without being seen as wasting money.
Opportunities:The existence of any of the following conditions may present an opportunity to implement e-learning.

* Mobile workforce. A mobile and widespread workforce is an opportunity to save a good deal of money for training, because travel costs are reduced.

* Training not meeting needs. What training department can meet all of a company's needs these days? E-learning is about extending access to training.

* Knowledge management. Knowledge management is about collecting and sharing corporate knowledge; thus it is part of e-learning and vice versa. Get your people to see the connection.

* New products. Many companies introduce several new products per month. It may take weeks to train people on one new product, by which time there have been several more introduced. E-learning can train people almost instantly.

* Highly regulated industry. Regulation compliance training is a good place to start. Large numbers of people have to get it and be regularly retested for certification. E-learning is faster, better, and cheaper than training that requires travel.

* Sales people. Sales people need quick access to information because knowledge impacts their income. Moreover, they are highly mobile and computer literate. If it works for them, they will sell it.

* Change. If your company is going through some significant change—anything from a merger, to a new product line, to a downsizing, to a new ERP—you can leverage e-learning to support that change. In the previously mentioned example of the initiative requiring everyone in the company to have a personal development plan, when people discovered that there were e-learning courses available for "free", they built them into their plans and started taking the courses. The personal development plan and e-learning each contributed to the success of the other.

Factors that Support E-Learning

The following factors support e-learning.

* A CEO who believes
* Corporate change initiatives
* A central training organization
* A supportive IT department
* Regulatory requirements
* Budget reductions
* A geographically dispersed company
* Having a strong network (intranet) in place

Factors that Work against E-learning

Conversely, the following factors work against e-learning.

* A CEO who doesn't care or believes that e-learning will replace all training
* The learners themselves, perhhaps
* Trainers who feel their jobs are threatened
* Managers whose control may be threatened
* Conservative HR people who are nervous about anything new
* A lack of a long term view of cost savings

Marketing E-learning

The following are some tactics that may be used to market e-learning within a company.

* Matching the culture
* Linking with change initiatives
* Department meetings
* Door prizes
* Rewards for participation
* Intranet announcements
* Guerilla or underground tactics

TEC recently launched its Learning Management Evaluation Center. It provides impartial analyses of learning management solutions.

What Is Software as a Service?

There has been confusion about the meaning of software as a service (SaaS) and on-demand. This confusion, further muddled by the existence of the former hosting and application service provider (ASP) models, has bred a range of often fuzzy and sometimes incorrect assumptions. For many it is difficult to ascertain whether SaaS or on demand imply that

1. the software application is hosted; that is some kind of hosting middleman is needed to provide users with access to the software, at a guaranteed level of service;

2. software is available in a hosted-form only, off-site, and is accessible via a Web browser, through a self-service type model, not through compact discs (CD) or uploads; or

3. software is available via a subscription model, where users pay on a daily, weekly, monthly, or per usage basis.

This is Part Two of the four-part Software as a Service Is Gaining Ground series.

Certainly, the recent generation of software, designed from scratch to be delivered as a service, fundamentally differs from traditional hosting models. This new generation offers a number of benefits that those earlier delivery models could not. Namely, although SaaS hosting models are still evolving, many of the technological problems that spoiled the first wave of ASPs have been or are being solved. For instance, in addition to improvements in security and reduced prices for bandwidth that bode well for hosting adoption, hosted software finally looks and feels more like traditional rich user interface client/server applications. This is because of tools such as JavaScript that provide error-checking and validation on the client side. Additionally, and possibly even more importantly, the development of dynamic hypertext markup language (DHTML) has allowed Web content to change every time it is viewed, by enabling a Web page to react to user input without sending requests to the Web server. This, in particular, has introduced a degree of interactivity to Web-based applications that was simply not possible a few years ago. Back then, users were either forced to fill in and submit cumbersome hypertext markup language (HTML) forms, or they had to run additional thin client software, such as Citrix MetaFrame, on their desktops. Neither of these approaches was satisfactory, despite the fact that while thin client software seemingly promised a good solution, it still had a number of shortcomings.

First, thin client software increased costs because the software had to be licensed on a per user basis, an idea that the hosting model was to do away with. This often caused the cost of the Citrix MetaFrame license to account for more than half of a less-than-enticing monthly fee. Second, because the screen was effectively being "rendered" miles away from where the user was actually located, it was slow and increased the load on the network at a time when bandwidth was at a premium price. Finally, users still had to run and maintain the proprietary thin client software on their desktops, defeating the object of running server-centric, Web-based software. As a result, costs were not being reduced by as much as originally promised.

However, with the advent of new tools, this has been ameliorated a great deal. In terms of the browser, support for very advanced graphics is still lacking, while the need for complex interactions on the client side has been mitigated by DHTML's help with minimization of server round-trips and page refreshes. One should expect more developments enabling more sophisticated interaction scenarios in the foreseeable future. Basically, well devised SaaS applications should be able to leverage rich user interface metaphors, without necessarily mandating them.

Based on this, one can define SaaS as software components that are developed or purchased and hosted by an independent service provider, and that are billed on a resource usage or per user basis (which can be changed and is not a fixed monthly fee). These software components do not require any user-owned or managed infrastructure, except for Internet access. The software is supported on a virtual infrastructure platform made up of physical equipment, such as networks and servers; storage located within commercial data centers and logical applications, such as Web sites; applications; and database software, which runs on the physical hardware and is delivered by the independent third party.
Different from Traditional Application Hosting:It is important to distinguish SaaS from traditional application hosting. Typically, a traditional hosting lease means that the user still buys the software and hardware but finances it in monthly payments. Under these terms, the hosting user enterprise owns rights to the hosted software, but the subscription is essentially a payment to third party to manage the hardware and infrastructure aspect of the installation. In the ASP model, the ASP vendor typically owns the software. The subscription buys the right to access the software for the period of the subscription on either a time basis or on a usage basis (e.g., so much for such a transaction).

Conversely, in the SaaS model, there is no upfront capital investment, and no hardware or software to purchase. Users and their implementation partners (Web developers and systems integrators) may only customize and manage the content, design, and business logic of their Web sites or pages. A good example of this is the way banks use check processing services. While software is used to run those services, banks are not paying to access the software, but are rather paying for a check clearing service. Another example would be the way the airlines use global distribution systems such as Sabre.

There are also technical differences between SaaS and application hosting. In the traditional hosting model, referred to as single tenancy, a service provider licenses an application from an independent software vendor (ISV) and remotely hosts and manages the application (possibly via an ASP), typically for a start-up charge and a monthly maintenance fee. In this one-to-one model, despite high availability and a lower risk of security breaches and service outages, users would often find themselves stuck in situations where they could not roll out new features quickly or respond nimbly to fluctuating customer demand.

To explain this more clearly, one should visualize a hallway with several locker boxes on the left and on the right. These boxes would contain database servers, application servers, operation system (OS) servers, and whatnot, and each locker box houses its own user—a single tenant. Each box would run on one instance or version of the application. Depending on the maximum capacity, some boxes would be larger and would contain latent servers if the tenant predicted they would be needed during peak periods. In this single tenant, multi-instance arrangement, every tenant spends significant time, effort, and money customizing their application in order to make their site unique. Customization requires developing code that is missing in the original foundation application or modifying the limited and existing functionality to replicate best practice features. Thus, as with traditional on-premise applications, these hosted applications also often require developers to graft on functionality that is not available in the original application. This takes significant time and money, and the customization is not supported. When the ISV has a new release of the application, it is all but impossible to roll it into the different customized versions, because it may break the enormous customization investment.

In contrast, the SaaS model makes use of multi-tenancy software architecture, in which one instance of the software and data model is provisioned to multiple customers who share the same hardware and database. With multi-tenancy architecture, the software can continually monitor and adapt to changing customer usage, as required. In this one-to-many setup, there is only a single instance of the software running in every locker box, so that frequent improvements in the software are automatically and seamlessly available to every tenant. Each box also contains multiple tenants, so instead of allowing the dormant servers within each locker to collect dust, the servers are dynamically maximized based on need. In the multi-tenant, single instance model, users pay only for what they use, while scalability is automatically adjusted based on actual usage. This model also has the additional benefits of a faster speed of deployment and of always running on the latest software version. Therefore, if a user's site experiences an unexpected surge in traffic, resources are automatically allocated so that the site does not necessarily experience slower performance. One should nonetheless note that multi-tenant installations that combine data from several companies into one application make upgrading faster and easier, but they also open the door to cross-company errors in data security, corruption, or compromise. Later in this series, we will examine some vendors' variations on multi-tenancy, which address the above concerns.

Another problem with SaaS is that the single software instance of the SaaS model typically makes disparate applications integration difficult, when one thinks of a broader approach that involves complex intra-enterprise business processes (and associated deep and broad functional capabilities). Conversely, with the traditional on premise licensing business models, customers can more feasibly modify their local software application instance to interface with other legacy applications. This was not possible with single instance hosted services. To solve the problem of customizing and integrating to existing legacy applications, SaaS vendors and ASPs have been looking to Web services, but it will be some time before the technology is mature enough to be able to replace the traditional, pesky message brokers and integration hubs that major companies still depend on. Thus, for the time being, message brokers and integration hubs are still a better solution for high-volume processing than Web services.
The Impact of Web Services on SaaS:Nonetheless, at the highest level, SaaS must be delivered as a service oriented architecture (SOA) approach and must embody Web services. The key benefit of Web services is that it decouples the use of functionality from the delivery of functionality, whereby the multi-tenant architecture allows users to customize their Web pages without building their own code. New features and functionality can be made available continuously, on the fly, as best practice features are identified and then made available. For more information, see Understanding SOA, Web Services, BPM, BPEL, and More.

Integration via custom coding and development eventually will be unnecessary once Web services become the preferred method of integration with a back-end system or an external service, and once all functionality can be exposed. For example, retailers and manufacturers might need to expose inventory or price information, or open a Web service to capture orders. There are already some commercial applications that can call a different, third party application while preserving the context of the original underlying application. With the newer technologies available, companies can literally write several lines of code to have one application talk to another.

The development of technologies, such as Web services and extensible markup language (XML) transactions standards, is making multi-vendor application interfacing more feasible. Thus, hosting companies will presumably be able to develop standard application interfaces for application integration. However, at this stage, Web services' share of the integration pie remains a tiny sliver, which means that successful vendors and ASPs must still be able to provide a complete gamut of interfaces that support not only Web services, but also legacy messaging protocols. To enable multi-tenant or one-to-many service, SaaS providers can partner with other peers to deliver a standard offering that is customized via dynamic integration and secure access to multiple application modules, with minimal customization of the application's core logic. For the time being, the hosted software service business model still applies best to applications that can be run in isolation or with limited, less involved interfaces to third party applications.

This may make SaaS compelling, because it has lower entry costs, and if the company does not realize value from the software, it can always stop using it (and stop paying for it). Like on-premise licensing, this model provides a steady stream of revenue for the vendor in the form of recurring monthly payments, but, unlike on-premise licensing, this model requires the vendor to assume the cost of hosting the application. In addition to being more easily accessed via the Web, thereby eliminating much of the dedicated network costs that past hosting arrangements entailed, the new generation of SaaS solutions surpasses the hosted applications of the past by being easier to acquire and deploy incrementally, as required, or on-demand.
Potential SaaS Benefits:The SaaS business model offers several advantages to both the customer and the vendor that offset the eventual, long run, higher costs of this model. By purchasing a software service (as opposed to purchasing a software license), the customer has little or no up-front acquisition costs, no hardware or software to buy, and no numerous support information technology (IT) staff to hire and train. The cost of acquisition is basically reduced to the cost of training employees on the application, the initial configuration of the application, and converting or migrating existing data.

Hosted SaaS is also easier to get running, partially because customization is limited, but also because there is no hardware to buy and no software to install. Moreover, there is no software to manage, fix, or upgrade, as this becomes the vendor's responsibility. Users get a semi-custom application without having to hire a phalanx of IT staffers to keep it running. Because the vendor or ASP is hosting the application, customers see only one instance of the software. On the other hand, with the on-premise model, the software is distributed to the customer and is installed on the customer's computers in a variety of environments, out of the control of the software provider. Again, SaaS reduces the pain of upgrades, as customers automatically remain current on releases, despite spending minimal effort on upgrades. Thus, traditional fixed costs turn into variable counterparts, since a customer only pays for software it actually "consumes". This may require some new approaches to IT budgeting, but it should reduce unnecessary software spending. Moreover, customers may start preferring to be able to pay-by-use, provided it is controllable. The more they can make their costs vary, and link to the volume of business, the better they should be able to manage their profit and loss (P&L) statements.

Further, these cost reductions may allow the vendor to charge more for a software service than a user-based on-premise license. Additionally, the SaaS model severely lowers switching costs, and should compel software providers to uphold higher levels of customer satisfaction and deliver better product functionality to ensure broader user adoption. Owing to the existence of only one instance of the software application, often the vendor only has to support one hardware and software platform, which greatly reduces development costs. Vendors can offer more targeted customer support while focusing on a single version. A single instance also means that the vendor can introduce software enhancements one at a time, breaking the dreaded major upgrade cycle and eliminating the cost that cycle generates. SaaS delivery gives vendors real time customer feedback, and astute vendors can continually monitor usage of their application and apply this insight toward continued product enhancements. On the buyer side, the lower acquisition cost of software services also makes these affordable for a broader range of prospective customers. In particular, this affordability gives smaller companies the opportunity to use virtually the same solutions as their bigger brethren, and thus expands vendors' opportunity to sell their service to a greater number of customers.
On-demand (Utility) Computing:The ultimate variation on hosted business models is on-demand (utility) computing and the associated pricing. This is a trend that has captured the attention of technology heavyweights including IBM, Hewlett Packard (HP), Oracle, and Sun Microsystems. Akin to common electricity or water services, on-demand computing allows customers to purchase processing power and access to software as it is needed, and pay based on how much and how often the software has been used. The key to delivering software on-demand is grid computing, which enables the dynamic allocation of aggregated commodity resources to meet changing demand. The product architecture here consists of multiple layers, including the physical hardware, enterprise applications infrastructure, and Web-based user interface (UI), that are orchestrated to adjust for new customers, changes in demand, and component failures. Between each of these layers are virtualization enablers that allow the combination of resources to be dynamically adjusted. For example, storage virtualization is the amalgamation of multiple network storage devices into what appears to be a single storage unit. This storage on-demand enabler, which is usually implemented via software applications, is often used in a storage area network (SAN), a high-speed sub-network of shared storage devices, and makes tasks such as archiving, back-up, and recovery easier and faster.

This emerging model may become attractive to large organizations, though almost all of the initial hosted applications have been targeted at small and medium-sized businesses (SMB). On Demand Business is the current slogan of IBM, which defines it to relate to nimble businesses interconnected into supply chains. The IBM On Demand Glossary gives the following definition of an on-demand business:

A company whose business processes—integrated end-to-end across the company and with key partners, suppliers and customers—can respond with flexibility and speed to any customer demand, market opportunity or external threat. An on demand business has four key attributes: it is responsive, variable, focused, resilient and based on flexible software delivery to power the business.

Based on this definition, on-demand includes SaaS, but entails more intricate business processes across the entire complex supply chain. SaaS currently addresses simpler chunks of functionality, albeit delivered through an on-demand (when needed) concept. How the true IBM on-demand business concept will be achieved in large companies remains to be seen, since these larger user companies will have to compete based on true business process innovation rather than on leveraging "low hanging on-demand fruit". However, true competitor differentiation will be difficult to achieve with today's product architectures, unless there is considerable investment in complex applications and their modification.

On demand also implies agile computing, where processing power is purchased and paid for according to demand. In this regard, the emergence of the SOA concepts and the development of virtualized computing have introduced the notion of almost complete flexibility in terms of which systems or services are used. Users of the system should be able to decide how much power to use or how many users have access to the software, because often, these numbers change by the minute. Nonetheless, despite much talk about pay as you go (PAYG) billing, it is still very rare, and can possibly be best applied at the mainframe end of the market. This is partly because these systems use relatively simple techniques. The very high upfront capital costs of machines make PAYG more attractive to both the supplier and the customer, and high-end system sales often involve a big service element. The two main system suppliers, IBM and Unisys, have been able to "bend" the power supplied and meter accordingly by over-provisioning the machines supplied. When demand is high at peak times, unused processors are switched on dynamically and the usage measured accordingly.

Yet, the fact remains that for most of the mainstream potential market, the proper billing of on-demand processing, applications, and services has been a major challenge. Namely, if something that is available is not used, then, increasingly (and logically), customers do not expect to be charged for it. On the other hand, if something is used, how is it measured? What if capacity is allocated on a provisional basis (or as a standby for emergencies), and not used? How are users to be billed? Furthermore, most enterprise applications are used unpredictably, and composite or tightly integrated applications add further complexity. In the future, these applications will increasingly be made of dynamically linked components and services, and some will be used almost continuously, while others only occasionally. To measure such usage, one might envision central billing engines that can measure hundreds of services, and are similar to current mobile phone billing systems, which can meter calls based on usage across a network of many suppliers, but this system has yet to be created.
More Common Hosting Model Concerns:Topping the list of doubts about hosting models is whether the hosted offerings can be properly integrated with existing on-premise applications. There is also skepticism over the usefulness of adapting hosted, SaaS, or on-demand solutions to unique business processes and practices, especially those requiring strict regulatory compliance. For instance, Salesforce.com and other SaaS-evangelist companies (typically identifiable by the word sales or net embedded in their names, see Comparing On-demand Customer Relationship Management Service Alternatives) generally offer good solutions for standard business operations. However, by using multi-tenant architecture, which requires volumes of customers on a single instance of the database, they sometimes cannot give companies the kinds of differentiators they need to increase sales and profits or to gain market share. These differentiators follow the "80:20 rule", where 80 percent of any company is similar to its competitor, and 20 percent is what differentiates it. It is this differentiation, which cannot be provided by SaaS, that will cause enterprises to still seek traditional vendors with specific industry expertise and broad functional footprints that can accommodate evolving business processes. Customizing UI field names will not cater to this need. Neither will the user's ability to write JavaScript, to put the universal resource locator (URL) for the script in a custom field, or the use of tab access and style sheets, all of which is what Salesforce.com refers to customization work.

Enterprises also want more control of their applications, as they need to be constantly changing configurations, adding new products, developing closer integration between their systems, and introducing best-in-class business processes. Also, many territorial IT managers will not be pleased with the idea of relinquishing parts of their IT kingdoms, and having to rely on an outside host's ability to impeccably run their data centers, even if the host is a viable business. These issues and a still budding market awareness may explain the findings of a recent study that states that over 60 percent of enterprises currently prefer the perpetual licensing model on-premise to subscription-based options.

The most common payment model today is for the customer to pay for a software license through a fixed fee based on the processing power of the machine (or machines) being used. A widely used alternative approach is for the user enterprise (licensee) to pay a fixed fee according to the number of users (or seats) accessing the software. To be fair, both approaches are relatively stable, allowing the customer to budget using a formula, while the vendor receives a big chunk of license revenue upfront, with a steady flow of annual maintenance revenue (usually 15 percent to 20 percent) thereafter. It is a steady, profitable model that customers and investors understand, and habits are difficult to break.

Another downside to hosted models is the long-term cost of leasing the service for the customer. One of the primary benefits of hosting is the initial negotiation of up-front costs associated with the rapid implementation of a production system. However, after a certain period of time, the subscribed system will cost more than an in-house production system. The hosted models' appeal is thus immediate gratification coupled with reduced initial financial pains.

Web Hosting - Which is the Cheapest for Your Site?

A lot of bloggers are moving their blogs from the main blog providers to become self-hosted. Sometimes a self-hosted blog with its own domain can rank higher in the search engines and open up a lot of opportunities for bloggers. I have not made the move yet, I am still deciding which web hosting service can offer me the best deal. It is a decision for the individual blogger, and there are factors to consider such as:

1. Page Rank - you will initially lose your page rank, and it will build up again over time. For many it is worth it. For my PR4 blog, I am hesitant at this stage. For others it will be an easy decision to make.

2. Alexa will need to be recalculated from scratch.

3. When you move the blog to your self-hosted domain, it will be 100% yours. Nobody can delete it for violation of terms of service and you are basically the owner with no drawbacks.

4. You will need to resubmit to Technorati - your authority will begin again. If your blog is relatively new, it is a good idea to make the move early to avoid having to build up these stats again.

5. You will need to forward all your traffic to your new address. Some people will keep their old blog running and direct all traffic to a new blog that begins where the old one left off. This has been an acceptable method of moving for some bloggers.

If you are wanting to move your current blog, continue an older blog on a new hosting service, or start a new blog altogether, you can compare the cheapest web hosting rates and features at webhostinggeeks, which has been running reviews and comparisons of webhosts since 2004.

Many of the current web hosting services are relatively cheap (ie. many are offering webhosting for around $5 or under per month) and some include unlimited lifetime domain names, which is very handy if you have the perfect domain name and don't want to ever give it up or renew after 2 years. For those who do not have a lot of site building experience, many of these companies offer email and phone support to help with set up and site maintenance. The site currently features the 2008 winner for blog hosting - Bluehost - offering $4.95 per month and free setup, domain hosting and unlimited storage. For those who have next to no web programming experience, there is a drag-and-drop site builder and 24/7 support.

The webhosts are rated by a five star system:

You can submit your own ratings of your current web host and share your experiences and information to let people know which are the most reputable and which are the webhosts to avoid. By reading others' reviews you will get a more complete picture of each webhost and the services experienced from the customer's viewpoint.

Free Hosting service provider reviews

How To find Perfect Webhosting Service for Your website

It is very difficult to pick out a perfect Web hosting Service that works best for your with thousands of Web host out there. But, with a little effort, you can pick a good one.

Concentrate on you requirement

What is the aim of your website? What is the bandwidth and storage requirement? Do you need alot or can just do with little? Do you require email addresses on your domain? Or are you going to use any free email service? You also have to think about databases, and spam filters, and website builders?

Maintain a list of features that you will use on your website - this list will help you in choosing the perfect webhost. You can also include those features that you might want in future for your website in that list too.

What Kind of Proficiency regarding to this field you have?
Next, you'll want to determine what kind of user you are. Are you new to the Internet? If so, you must choose a 24/7 support. If you're a power user, and you can just do fine through email or ticket support. The more your knowledge, the less you'll require support from your web hosting company. But there must be a way to get in touch with your webhosting company. If you can't find contact information on a particular host's site then stay away from it.

You also have to make sure that your host responses you in time - waiting for a response email for two or three days is ridiculous. Make sure that your webhost offers a time guarantee for response somewhere on its site, before you go with them. If its not on the site, contact them check out the time of response from their side. Good host response within few hours - but maximum it can take a day.

Your Hosting Budget

How much you can spend on your account? Always check out the time your desired hosting service has been around. Like $1.45-a-month host may offer some really great value, but will they be there for you when you need them? Many of the low-priced website hosts are not earning much profit and as a result don't do business for long time - and don't stay in the market for much longer. To check and see how long your host has been around, enter their domain name here: www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jhtml. The Registration Date field shows when the domain name was registered, so you can tell how long they've been around.

But it does not mean that every cheap web hosting follows the same way. Most of them have many happy clients and offer prices around the $6.95-a-month price point. And you can find good website hosts that offer service for $3.95-a-month or $4.95-a-month. But I don't recommend going for any cheap web hosting lower than that. .

Reliability

Your hosting service must be reliable and gives uptime guarantee. Many hosts have an uptime guarantee that is usually around 99.9%. What these uptime guarantees do cover are things like hardware failure and server operating system crashes. If you can't find specific uptime information on a host's website, contact them for the uptime information - if they do not provide that, move on to someone else.

Where to Search for a Host

Now you know the basics of how look for a good webhost, it's time to talk about where find one perfect for you. Man sites are available for this or you can also conduct a Google search for 'website host' or 'website host directory'. In addition, visit a forum such as regarding to webhosting discussion to see what other folks are saying about different website hosts.

Conclusion

The main thing is to pick a web host that works best for you and make you comfortable i.e, it must be reliable, in your budget, provides support on time.

Free Hosts

Agilityhoster.com

No screenshots available due to non opening of website at our ip range.

Free Web Space: 200 MB.
Forced Ads: No ads (bannerless).
Your Ads: Allowed.
Upload: FTP, Browser.
CGI, PHP, SSI, FrontPage Extensions, Perl.
Your URL: Top-level domain name, or Subdomain.
Other Features: Bandwidth limit 5,000 MB/month.
POP3 Email, Webmail, Spam filters.
MySQL database.
Website traffic statistics.
Addon domain name.
File size limit 500 KB.
Instant activation of free web space hosting accounts.
Nameserver 1: ns1.runhosting.com
Nameserver 2: ns2.runhosting.com

Some of the positive

Totally same as the awardspace.com in cpanel and have very fast servers and uptime is also quite good as compared to others.
NO advertisements at all.
Accounts are activated instantly so you have not to worry a lot.
Mysql one dbase only
you can easily add on domain

Some misfits

SmTP is off
File size is limited to only 500kb's
Various files are not allowed to uploaded just same as awardspace like .zip,.rar and .exe.
lack of PEAR capabilities.
Mail scripts will not be able to send emails

Our fabulous hosting structure makes AgilityHoster the modify approximate for different web sites. You can patron your smaller playacting website, own web computer, installation, ikon album or journal. We hold helped numerous webmasters to begin with our web hosting bringing.

Once they grew and their needs embellish imperative for professional web hosting our introjected hosting solutions are works the suitable one, fully congruous with their sites and at the unvarying dimension with undreamed grade. AgilityHoster is the activity estimate for varied webmasters to exploit a substantially proved hosting platform just twinned their needs.Agilityhoster.com

No screenshots available due to non opening of website at our ip range.

Free Web Space: 200 MB.
Forced Ads: No ads (bannerless).
Your Ads: Allowed.
Upload: FTP, Browser.
CGI, PHP, SSI, FrontPage Extensions, Perl.
Your URL: Top-level domain name, or Subdomain.
Other Features: Bandwidth limit 5,000 MB/month.
POP3 Email, Webmail, Spam filters.
MySQL database.
Website traffic statistics.
Addon domain name.
File size limit 500 KB.
Instant activation of free web space hosting accounts.
Nameserver 1: ns1.runhosting.com
Nameserver 2: ns2.runhosting.com

Some of the positive

Totally same as the awardspace.com in cpanel and have very fast servers and uptime is also quite good as compared to others.
NO advertisements at all.
Accounts are activated instantly so you have not to worry a lot.
Mysql one dbase only
you can easily add on domain

Some misfits

SmTP is off
File size is limited to only 500kb's
Various files are not allowed to uploaded just same as awardspace like .zip,.rar and .exe.
lack of PEAR capabilities.
Mail scripts will not be able to send emails

Their fabulous hosting structure makes AgilityHoster the modify approximate for different web sites. You can patron your smaller playacting website, own web computer, installation, ikon album or journal. We hold helped numerous webmasters to begin with our web hosting bringing.

Once they grew and their needs embellish imperative for professional web hosting our introjected hosting solutions are works the suitable one, fully congruous with their sites and at the unvarying dimension with undreamed grade. AgilityHoster is the activity estimate for varied webmasters to exploit a substantially proved hosting platform just twinned their needs.
The electropositive side of this web place is they do not enjoin anything to gesticulate up similar putting their ads on your computer. The only perverse characteristic is they could play there mark and move web attendant constructor a immature better, but it is not bad. I would propose this autonomous hosting position 100% to anyone who wants a mortal victimised it virtually 6 months so far, and it has had 100% uptime as far as I copulate, and the server is really instant. Because I human not had to use the agree concept, I can not real statement, but as far as the features, they are large. All you score to do is clink on the "Bag" in the stimulant rightish plight once logged in and start setting up your web tract with the prove committee. It is rattling light to use.
Gross it is a acceptable host, object for one air that they do not archer you: they feature completely incapacitated SMTP and sendmail (you can generally expect any freehost has this injured due to the haunt exercise by spammers, unless explicit otherwise). They also unfit my linking to my private Gmail address so that phpbb forum can publicize validation emails. Null was said about this before body.

Free Cpanel Hosting

Qupis

Forced Ads: TextLink-Bottom.
Your Ads: Allowed.

1. Package Name alpha
2. Space 150 MB
3. Bandwidth 5000 MB
4. CPanel X LATEST RELEASE (untapped! All features Enabled)
5. PERL (Latest)
6. PHP (Latest) [ Safe Mode OFF with Complete GD Support ]
7. SSI
8. Macromedia Shockwave
9. 10 Sub-Domains
10. 2 Parked-Domains
11. 2 Addon-Domains
12. 10 mySQL Databases
13. 10 Email Accounts (POP3)
14. 10 Email Forwarders
15. 10 Mailing Lists
16. 10 Email filters
17. 10 Ftp Accounts
18. Password Protection
19. FrontPage 2002 "XP" extensions
20. PHPmyAdmin Access
21. HotLink Protection
22. Web Based File Manager
23. FTP Manager
24. Backup Manager
25. Disk Usage statistics
26. Password Protect Individual Directories
27. Custom Error Pages
28. Web/FTP Stats
29. Sub domain Stats
30. Raw Access Logs
31. Search Engine Submiter
32. Scripts Library
33. CGI Center
34. Agora Shopping Cart
35. Network Tools
36. MIME Types
37. Apache Handlers
38. Raw Log Manager
39. Redirects (Permanent & Temp support)
40. Manage OpenPGP Keys
41. Index Manager
42. IP Deny Manager
43. Change Language
44. Error log
45. SSL Manager
46. 24/7 Support by Forums

Some positives

• Fast servers but speed may vary
• best for beginners and newcomers to web hosting and web site designing.
• cPanel is awesome

Some misfits

• - Accounts that are inactive for more than 10 days may be deleted, and there is no explanation given as to why accounts are deleted.
• - Big files (>1 MB) are NOT allowed.
• - EXE files, setup programs, Archive files (ZIP, RAR), etc., are NOT allowed.
• A text link is required including strict regulations which go with it.
• Even if any of your content obscures the slightest amount of the text ad, they delete your account.
• Non english websites not allowed
• Secure SSH/Shell Access and Cronjobs are disabled
• They do not want users to provide heavy downloads using their server.
• Accounts with MP3 files, video files or large content used for the purpose of file sharing and abuse are filtered and deleted daily.
• Qupis deletes accounts without notice when they feel like you are violating their rules
• Qupis reserves right to suspend inactive websites with no traffic.

On the positive choose, notwithstanding, there are umpteen websites on subdomains of Qupis.com indexed in Google, and they deposit really apace (see for yourself). Also, whereas searching in Google for hosted websites on most opposite atrip hosts arrival a leaning of tons of spammy sites that ordinarily airt to PPC ads or worse, the hosted sites I found after searching and looked at seemed to be pretty enough sites with true unique acceptance (really uncommon). So in unofficial, as daylong as your unrestricted website is not off and you use issue than download sites would not poverty those enter extensions), it seems pretty angelical, but do not use it if your website will not be old untold.

They supply round Cpanel hosting extricated. Obtain SSH/Shell Operation and Cronjobs are disabled (they misused top be listed as feratures), but everything else is thin. The web hosting is fast. They wait neat websites (authenticated sites) to patron with them. Users signing up for websites with random-letter subdomains or with phony info give be deleted. They do not impoverishment users to give wakeless downloads using their computer. Accounts with MP3 files, recording files or large of record distribution and employment are filtered and deleted daily.

They give last PHP and MYSQL versions. This freewebspace is unexcelled for beginners and newcomers to web hosting and web tract designing.
This place has enthusiastic features, but mean uptimes! I autographed up yesterday, and came side to it today to pose joomla on it. My calculate and the qupis.com homepage are now 404 errors! [It entireness now. Your domicile attendant loads, but is works the fail webpage.]

Free Hosting no Ads

Awardspace

Grade A
Awardspace is one of the oldest and reliable free webhosting service provider.

• Its stetup fee is free no monthly fee and nor any annual fee i mean it is cmpletetly free for starters.


• Storage: Maximum 200 mbBadwidth allowed : 5GB / per month


• Domains you can host are 2 Subdomains upto 5Ftp accounts 1Front page support is yes.


• Advanced control panel


• WEb based file manager


• Email accounts and aliaseswebmail is yes,POP3


• Mysql database one and storage limit is 10 mb.


• PHP my admin and php4/5 support along with perl and cgi


• Traffic meter stats


• Firewall protection enabled


• Power supply and 50bits network connectivity

Lets see first the pluspoints of this free web host:

• Very low downtime: their servers are up most of the time,it proves to be excellent for the small and medium sized web hosts.


• NO annoying ads on your website.It has an easy, organized web interface/control panel (even for novice users). I


• t has lots of features and options.-


• Better security features: It has good offers for security - The servers have very good availability/uptime record.

Some misfits of this web hosting service are

• The maximum file size limit is 500kb whch you can upload at once.-Some file types are not allowed to be transferred to hosting panel : no zip, exe, rar, and so on, though there are many free file hosts on the Net which you could use in conjunction with this host to make a download site for such filetypes.


• - No external programs are allowed to access your database (such as the Navicat MySQL admin tool). Unfortunately for people which really do not know about how to migrate from one site to another website for example some applications which help in automatic import export and migrating your websites might not work here.


• It has also slow servers and mysql is overloaded which results into errors and connection problems.They are also not providing any quto installer like others you have to upload any script by hands and install it.This makes work mroe difficult for the persons who want to do things quickly.


• Cpanel of this host is sometimes confusing and SMTP is off