[ic] OT,but relevant

[BF]

>  Chris said :
> >  Quoting Dan <db@cyclonehq.dnsalias.net>:
> > > Birgitt said :
> > > For students starting out a SDSL line to your home with some
> > > static IPs costs between $100.00+ per month. It gives you all
> > > control, flexibility and scalability you need (bandwidth only as
> > > much as you really need at any point in time). It also means that
> > > you to take complete system administration responsabilities vis a
> > > vis your clients for all services you are offering. That might be a
> > > healthy way to scrutinize  your own skills before you get serious.
> >
> > Just remember to tell your clients that the phone company has no
> > responsibility to keep your connectivity on and could at any time
> > mess up your DSL and leave you with just 100kbps and not be legally
> > required to do anything about it.  Phone companies have no
> > responsibility about the quality  of service they provide on
> > DSL.  T1's on the other hand, have certain service requirements just
> > like a telephone line or fax  line.  The phone company has more
> > responsibility to help you with your 56k mdoem than it does with your
> > DSL.
> > 
> > Hosting on DSL is fine when you are charging $10/mo and warning each
> > customer that their service levels are not gauranteed.
> 
> Hi all,

> Don't forget about disaster recovery. I've seen many home grown shops
> fail miserably in this area. You may be able to negoicate with a local ISP for 
> colocation services and get better services/price and be able to utilize
> thier  talent too. Personally, I would not mess with an ISP with less
> than5 thousand dialup subscribers...

> -Chris

I wouldn't think so. It all depends what you want an ISP for. If you need
just colocation services for your own server, any ISP who can guarantee
bandwidth and reliable uptime (from his upstream provider) is ok. All
you want is bandwidth.

If you want host on an ISP's server to which you have no root access and
which is administered by the ISP, I would choose the smallest and most
specialized ISP you can find, one who is specialized in IC and ecommerce
and can respond in a personalized manner. 

If you want to run your own server and can't neither afford colocation
fees for a T1, nor high cost for technical support from a
specialized ISP (as Akopia would be, for example), then the alternative
for someone who has either only his own site or very small project 
clients, a SDSL line does its job. I think homegrown services fail because
of lack of professionalism in their services, not because their bandwidth
and uptime is unreliable.

I would also think that a commercial or boxed release of IC on CD with
handbook would be very desirable for that group of endusers, who just
host their own catalogs for their own projects without delivering
hosting services to other clients. A recent evaluation of IC by
zd.net mentions how IC competes in the under-$1,000.00 shopsite range
and in the multithousands dollar storefront range. 

http://www.zdnet.com/ecommerce/stories/main/0,10475,2661750,00.html

I just would assume  that the under- $1,000.00 shopsite range
clientele would mostly be found among those who would like
to use a package with the high functionality IC offers, in a convenient
way on their own servers for their own projects. SDSL plus a boxed
commercial version of IC would be ideal for those, who don't want
make ecommerce hosting services their source of income, but just run
one major project in conjunction with a business of their own other
than ecommerce hosting services. 

Birgitt Funk