“Most organisations fall well short of meeting the minimum requirement for their server units to perform”
The study conducted by Fasthosts, the UK’s largest independent web hosting company, revealed that many businesses are still using an outdated approach of purchasing and maintaining their own server hardware to handle electronic communication, jeopardising their business by unnecessarily spending thousands of pounds buying, maintaining and accommodating hardware that could just as easily be outsourced.
The Server Solutions Study by Fasthosts showed that whilst many SMEs chose to have their server equipment managed in-house, most organisations fell well short of meeting the minimum requirements needed for their server units to perform at a stable level.
“Businesses can easily outsource their web and mail servers to a professionally-managed environment”
Fasthosts though, are keen to explain that spending huge amounts of money to get a reliable server set up is an unnecessary expense. Instead, for a fraction of the cost of buying and running in-house server equipment, businesses can easily outsource their web and mail servers to a professionally-managed environment that can not only save them huge amounts of money, but also deliver levels of accessibility, stability and security that are usually the reserve of the UK’s wealthiest companies.
To Andrew Michael, CEO of Fasthosts there is a more cost-effective solution. ‘In our experience many businesses are still stuck in 1980s computing mentality,’ he explains. ‘They need to move and embrace new computing practices. It is impossible to put value on data so it needs to be kept under maximum security – data is the lifeblood of any business. Only a hosted environment offers the required security solutions in a cost effective bundle, however the SME market remains largely unaware of this.’
The Server Solutions Study was carried out to analyse its dedicated server offering and to ensure that it matched the needs of the marketplace.
With Fasthosts’ analysis showing that measures such as a power failure system (to keep the server running in the event of electricity shut off), SDSL internet connection (to handle huge amounts of traffic and fast uploads and downloads), remote control access, security firewall and considerations such as air conditioning, physical security largely go ignored – the study concluded that SMEs are putting themselves at huge risk of having profits eroded by website downtime, loss of email communication and even the complete loss of business data.
“SMEs now have the option to have their server work from a fully controlled environment”
Fasthosts themselves offer dedicated server solutions from their highly secure, air conditioned multi-million pound data centre and have quickly become recognised as leaders in their field.
With their dedicated server solutions starting at only £49 a month and with each unit housed in their purpose-built secure data centre, SMEs now have the option to have their server work from a fully controlled environment where it will experience the highest levels of uptime and security. With temperature control, fire suppression and a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to keep the server running for 30 days in the even of a power-outage, Fasthosts servers offer an unprecedented level of security and uptime.
With skilled technicians looking after servers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, Fasthosts server units are fully managed to ensure they’re capable of operating to their full potential.
Environmental and security measures encompass:
- Temperature and humidity control
- Fire suppression
- Water sensors
- Air flow monitoring
- UPS (uninterruptible power supply)
- 24/7 Security monitoring
- 24/7 support
- Redundant High Speed Internet connection
- Perimeter firewall
With all server units connected directly to the backbone of the internet via their own virtual data pipe and with unlimited bandwidth (meaning no additional bills), Fasthosts’ servers are viewed as the most reliable and cost-efficient way of using server technology.
