Monday, January 8, 2001		Article

Hosting Web sites for clients
By Sumesh Rai

E-commerce and related applications of the Internet has established wide acceptance in the USA and Western countries. It is fast gaining momentum in the rest of the world including India, as everyone is now realising the vast potential of business that the Web offers. As per a recent estimate, there are more than 12 crore Internet users and obviously this makes a huge market for each and every commodity or service. The Internet is perhaps the biggest medium of information and data transfer. People can reach their prospective business clients through it much faster and economically than through other mediums like yellow pages, trade directories and media advertisement. Whether, a professional, small trade establishment or big corporations, all conduct business activities through the Web.

However, the first and foremost step that is needed by any business establishment for e-commerce transaction is to have a Web site. Similarly, there is a need for others also to make their presence felt on the Web to reach prospective students, employees, clients or customers. While large ISPs and IT firms have a separate server, hardware and software resources of their own, a majority of those who want to establish their Web site do not have resources and necessary infrastructure for the same. It is uneconomical for the firms to invest huge funds on hardware and on experts to mange those hardware. At times it is not feasible for these enterprises as they may be dealing in altogether different business, which may be unrelated to the computers, or Internet-related services.

However, as Web site has to be created, it becomes imperative for these commercial or educational institutions like shopkeepers, schools, libraries, publishers and manufacturers, to hire the services of agencies or firms who can host Web site for them. These agencies can do the turnkey job right from providing the Web space to the creation of Web site till the marketing stage. The Web hosting firms have a server of their own, on which they host Web sites for their clients. The individuals, professionals, small or large enterprises, all can hire Web space on the server of these Web-hosting agencies. Even Web designers and consultants for organisations utilise their services due to cost considerations and ease of operation.

There is a vast career scope for the individuals who work in these firms or agencies as Web hosting professionals and administer client’s Web sites. Their task may include interacting with the prospective clients on Web hosting requirement, maintaining server operations and taking back-up data of Web sites on regular intervals and trouble-shooting in case client’s Web site goes out of order. They also ensure security of the Web network and do monitoring of e-mails, besides maintenance of Web sites. These professionals have to be proficient in the software and hardware aspects of servers, which are in use by the firm. Server manufacturing and software companies conduct certified courses to make prospective professionals adept and accustomed to various maintenance and operational features of their servers’ applications. Besides, they should have command over Web-based languages, FTP software and multimedia technology. As the Web-hosting task has to be performed 24 hours, 7 days a week, these professionals are required to work on night shifts and sometimes for longer duration.

They need to have good interpersonal and communication skills, as job requires working on set standard norms and in team. Those who want to pursue a career in Web hosting should have sufficient exposure of other Web-related applications also, like graphics and programming. In some Web-hosting companies, which undertake Web designing and marketing task, these professionals have to work in close coordination with Web designers, content writers and technicians. The qualification required may vary depending upon the requirement of Web hosting firms. However, those having done MCA, computer engineering or certified courses in server applications can look for this proliferating career. The task of Web hosting professionals is important as it involves continuous monitoring of Web sites and any failure or malfunctioning of server may cause Web site going out of operation. This downtime of Web site can cause the client company considerable loss depending upon its traffic or the tasks performed. These experts have to ensure recovery of Web site when it goes out of order, in minimum possible time.

There are numerous agencies or firms throughout the world, which hosts Web sites. Some of these are www.webhosting.com, www.bravenet.com, www.braintrustindia.com. Almost all major ISPs provide Web-hosting facilities on their servers. However, there are several options that a firm has to consider before deciding on a particular agency. Though some firms host their sites themselves or Web designers do it for them, yet many companies are now increasingly hiring Web hosting companies for the specialised services rendered by their trained technical professionals. Today small business establishment which do not even have computer or the Internet connection or novice in the field of Web designing, can avail the services of Web hosting professionals, who host and manage Web site for them. They do the task of uploading and downloading files and ensure proper management of client’s e-mails. These mails are sent to client through fax or post. Depending upon the client nature of operation, different Web hosting packages are offered. Each client, whether individual or a company is allocated a separate domain name, so that its Web address or e-mail can be easily recognised. Depending upon the requirement and utility of the site, storage space and bandwidth is allocated.

Usually individuals require one or two-paged brochure on its site, while small businesses may require four to five pages Web site with other features like audio-video and e-mail registration. The large corporations are provided, in addition to the above, a complete e-commerce facilities like search engines, acceptance of credit cards and placement of orders.

Web hosting professionals are required to monitor all these services through their Web servers and ensure reliability, speed and security of Web sites through various programs. They offer technical solutions for Web sites, in case required by the clients with respect to traffic handling capacity and statistical data. Web hosting is done on shared basis, where same server is used for hosting several sites and having several pre-installed features. In dedicated Web hosting an entire server is used for single client and is required where a specialised software is being used by the client company, which may be involved in Web designing or other IT-related tasks. A separate domain is given to denote visibility of client Web site. The Web hosting professionals ensure that client’s Web site is registered in the top search engines so that the site enjoys maximum traffic. They find out the most optimum speed at which the Web page is to be uploaded depending upon the contents and structure of Web site.

There is no limit to earnings of these highly trained experts, and once they gain experience, their demand soars considerably due to shortage of trained professionals. Though earnings are high, still job is horizontal and does not have much scope for hierarchy. As the number of Web sites multiply exponentially, several Web hosting firms, both in India and abroad, are fast coming up, which in turn has led to increased demand of Web hosting professionals.