Why Managed Hosting? What exactly is Managed Hosting?
In our experience we have seen many businesses pay for a website, have their designer or developer upload it, and then never touch it again. Months or years later the site ends up with broken functionality, contact forms that don't work or even worse their site is hacked due to some software vulnerability.This is not the customer's fault.
Modern websites usually integrate some underlying content management system, shopping cart, file upload facility, or other dynamic content presentation that relies on some other commodity software component, even if the site was built from scratch. As time goes on, those software components might be upgraded to introduce new features, have security issues patched, or simply be incompatible with the software your web host is using to serve the content. What Host Companion offers is not simply a place to upload your site, but a service that makes certain all the additional software your site relies on is up to date, patched and safe.
We take great pride in knowing our customers and knowing their sites. As part of our managed hosting service, we will make sure your site continues to work and that it remains secure.
We take great pride in knowing our customers and knowing their sites. As part of our managed hosting service, we will make sure your site continues to work and that it remains secure.
Why "Open Source"?
Open Source software is software that has no licensing costs and allows for the user of the software to make modifications to it. Most services available on the internet are powered by Open Source software - Over 60% of all websites use the Open Source "Apache" web server software, which is usually run on an Open Source operating system like Linux - almost half of all web browsing is done with the Open Source Firefox browser.There are thousands of Open Source web applications as well - Content Management Systems, simple contact forms for websites, databases, shopping carts, streaming audio and video tools, and many more. Even many of the programming languages used to build web applications are Open Source.
When developing a new website or a new web application, having a vast array of software with no licensing costs is a huge advantage. Developers are free to try various software with no financial commitment, there's the possibility of modifying the software to better fit the needs of the client, and the developer can get a better view of what the future features might be since development does not take place behind closed doors.
When developing a new website or a new web application, having a vast array of software with no licensing costs is a huge advantage. Developers are free to try various software with no financial commitment, there's the possibility of modifying the software to better fit the needs of the client, and the developer can get a better view of what the future features might be since development does not take place behind closed doors.
There are so many hosting companies, why should I choose Host Companion?
In short because Host Companion gives you more.There are usually very serious restrictions on very low cost web hosting. Some companies will not offer any technical support whatsoever without either a per-incident fee or an upgrade to a more expensive package. Some use the word "unlimited" everywhere, but reserve the right to terminate your account for excessive usage.
Generally at a $5-$10 price point you are buying a service with little or no technical support and you are being placed on a server that will have hundreds, if not thousands of other sites on it. Any web application that demands server resources, such as a Content Management System is usually going to be unacceptably slow in such an environment.
We believe that the proper way to run a web hosting business is to charge a reasonable rate and to simply add more servers as we increase our customer base. We also know from past experience that most people want technical support services, whether it's a complicated question regarding the web server configuration or something simple like help creating a new email account.
We pride ourselves on being helpful.
We believe that the proper way to run a web hosting business is to charge a reasonable rate and to simply add more servers as we increase our customer base. We also know from past experience that most people want technical support services, whether it's a complicated question regarding the web server configuration or something simple like help creating a new email account.
We pride ourselves on being helpful.
Does "Open Source" always mean "free"?
Not necessarily. In our experience, we've found that a "free" application gets us within 80-90% of what the client wants and then we have to put some development time into modifying or customizing the software, which takes time, and therefore money. Additionally some Open Source software may simply be a framework that makes the overall development of a new application easier, but we still have to build the actual application around the framework. There is also a learning curve whenever a new piece of software comes out.Part of the Open Source development model is also built around the idea that the project offering the software for free will make money by offering support and customization services, much like commercial software does.
Of course if your project is best implemented using "Closed Source" commercial software, we're happy to present that option as well. Some commercial web applications are wonderful, and reasonably priced. Others may have prohibitive licensing costs. We can work with you to assess the long term costs of such a solution.
Of course if your project is best implemented using "Closed Source" commercial software, we're happy to present that option as well. Some commercial web applications are wonderful, and reasonably priced. Others may have prohibitive licensing costs. We can work with you to assess the long term costs of such a solution.
