Host Service
from Internet Business
A World Wide Web 'home page'[1] has rapidly become the norm for individuals
and organisations wishing to present themselves on the Internet. Most get
to that point well before they are ready to have their own computers permanently
connected to the Net or to run Web 'server' software on their computers.
This has created a substantial market for Web host servers which can provide
the fast permanent connection to the Internet, the virtually limitless storage,
and the commercial Web server software which is needed so as to efficiently
serve thousands of Web pages.
While Access Providers may offer the facility
to host home pages as an optional extra for their clients, the increasing
market share of specialised and high volume Access Providers is creating
space for specialised Host Services. A market price of the order of hundreds
of dollars per year is starting to become established for hosting home pages.
Specialised Web Host Services typically also provide design advice and or
design services to their clients. However, semi-automated systems for production
of personal home pages have recently appeared and these should reduce further
the 'expert hours' consumed servicing Host Service clients.
With the capital cost of online storage dropping below $1 per megabyte,
and the average storage space requirements of Web pages remaining well under
a megabyte[2] there is clearly a potential for high margins. The capital
cost of setting up a basic Host Service is of order $50,000, with running
costs of order $100,000 per annum.
In addition to private/corporate Web pages, a Host Service may provide an
increasing range of other services, e.g. a mailing list server. At this
early stage in the commercialisation of the Internet, some of the more general
services can be better understood in terms of their main target areas of
application.[3] Meanwhile, the scope of specialised services available on
the Net is expanding rapidly to include anything from 'multicast' audio
channels to international casinos.
[1] or more often a cluster of 'pages'
[2] for transmission time considerations
[3] Several of these are discussed in more detail in other sections of this
paper.