Web Hosting Solutions

As mentioned in the Budgets section of the report, we recommend that our contact, Mr. Edward Jao, seek the services of Rogers Web Hosting solutions to provide the necessary storage space and server assistance for companies with websites.

Rogers Web Hosting offers a wide variety of packages, which tailors to the individual needs of different businesses, in accordance with size and activity. In addition, Rogers hosting solutions boast increased efficiency and productivity. As a moderately small business, we recommend that Mr. Jao begin with the Intermediate package (Internet Access + Domain & Web Hosting) offered by Rogers. In doing so, Mr. Jao will have access to the following features:

24/7 Network Monitoring: Highly trained technical staff who continuously monitor systems for problems and to ensure consistent bandwidth.

Ad Server: This feature allows users to configure an ad server for their web site. An ad server allows users to place banner advertisements on their web site and have them "rotated" by the ad server. Additionally, users can view comprehensive statistics on their banner ads such as the number of banner views and "click throughs". This information is stored in a MySQL database and can be provided to advertisers so that they can view the statistics for their ads.

CGI-BIN: A CGI-BIN is a dedicated directory for the installation and use of CGI scripts; allows users to interact with web pages by allowing a small program to run on the web server that can perform many functions.

Disk usage meter: This feature provides a report on the disk usage of a given website. The report generates a listing of each directory and the amount of space used. It is formatted in plain text so it can be cut and pasted for printing.

E-Commerce Software: support for real time credit card processing: Rogers systems support a number of e-commerce solutions that when combined with an online credit card processing service, offer real time capabilities for online sales.

Form Mail: This is one of a number of CGI scripts provided with some of the business solution packages. This script is a simple program that when inserted on a web page, provides an easy way for users to fill out and submit a form which is then emailed to specified addresses.

FrontPage2000: We provide an easy to use interface for installing and configuring Microsoft FrontPage 2000 server side extensions. These extensions allow users to connect to their web site using FrontPage 2000.

Hit counter: The hit counter is comprised of two separate CGI scripts that count the number of "hits" or visits to a web page.

RealAudio/Video: Real Audio and Video is a popular Internet standard used for "streaming" audio and video content on demand. Instead of downloading a whole file and then viewing or listening to it, users can view and/or listen to files while they are downloading them.

Site Indexer: This CGI script allows the user to create a comprehensive index of their site content. Visitors to the site can search the content for key words and terms and will find all relevant information according to the search parameters.

Secure Server: SSL Manager: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) allows for the transmission and reception of documents on the Internet using an encryption key to provide a secure connection. SSL is commonly used to obtain confidential user information such as credit card numbers and account information. The SSL manager enables the user to use a generic SSL certificate on their site or allows them to upload their own custom SSL certificate.

Web Stats: This valuable feature provides end users with a comprehensive breakdown and analysis of their website traffic. This software uses the raw log files generated by website traffic and interprets them into an HTML based page that presents the data in both graphic and text formats. The website traffic can be broken down in many ways including by country of origin.

Website Checker: The website checker is an easy to use tool that can quickly identify dead or broken links. It can be configured to only check links within a site or to check both internal and external links.

Some of the aforementioned features included in this package may appear to be excessive for a company who is just launching their first website. However, as mentioned previously, the best package for Mr. Jao appears to be the Intermediate Package offered by Rogers. Mr. Jao will be able to receive the basic services that a web hosting company provides, but has the added advantage of additional services that are already included in the package anyway.

In addition to access to these services, the package also offers a cable modem, unlimited Internet access, the hosting of one domain, 50 MB of web space, and 2500 MB of web traffic.

The following are links to additional topics of analysis covered in lectures:

Banner Ads |  Online Communities |  Supply Chain Management

Current IT Systems |  Intranets & Extranets |  Shipping & Handling