It was not so long ago that dedicated server web hosting was considered the Cadillac of Internet presence. But with all things technology oriented yesterday’s sweet ride quickly becomes a cash-for-clunkers trade-in. There is nothing wrong with premium dedicated server web hosting, but the maturing implementations of cloud hosting are simply blowing it out of the water.
You may not be aware of it, but you are likely using cloud servers without even knowing it. If you outsource media streaming or application hosting to avoid high demand bottlenecks for your dedicated web server hosting it is a good bet those services are being delivered from a cloud. The Akamai EdgePlatform set a record this year as it delivered over seven million simultaneous live video streams of the US Presidential Inauguration worldwide. Even the best dedicated web server hosting is not likely to be able to pull off that stunt.
The prejudice toward having dedicated hardware is understandable. You have control over it and it is not subject to being disrupted by other users sharing your hardware. However, everything breaks, and even if several sites are segregated on their own virtual private servers they are all going down if the server they are on fails. By distributing the resources used for virtual private servers across many physical servers cloud architecture eliminates single points of failure.
Not everyone can afford the intensive capital investment and operating costs associated with setting up an enterprise using dedicated server hosting. But thanks to a maturing marketplace for cloud hosting affordable enterprise-class computing is accessible to everyone. Pioneers like Akamai are providing solutions to large corporate interests, but small business can now take advantage of the same technology through packages offered by companies like Amazon.
Resellers are starting to get into the game too, offering cloud hosting solutions that are cost-competitive with shared hosting with the power and flexibility of dedicated server hosting. For example, ValueReseller Hosting is offering their cloud based Linux 1000 package for only $9.95 per month for a virtual private server with 50 GB disk space and 4 GB transfer, with a 100 percent up-time SLA. Load balancing comes as part of the deal because it is integral to the cloud architecture, so it can be scaled to any size, virtually on demand. With deals like this becoming more common dedicated server web hosting will have a tough time keeping up.
