[campbellcj]

I'm not a big fan of total outsourcing/hosting either. It only works IMHO for pure (static) 'web sites' not interactive web-based apps or complex database driven e-commerce configurations.

The ideal solution -- but expensive -- is "co-location" where you basically park your own servers in rack space within a professionally built and managed data center (or 2+ if possible), often in a hardened bunker type building. Massive UPS and line conditioning systems, fire systems, multi-layer physical and electronic security, 24x7 staffing, redundant multi-tier1 connectivity, etc. You manage your own software configuration and they worry about the connectivity and physical aspects.

The issues of power outages and potential physical security threats are non-trivial in Santa Monica where my office is located. Our UPS alarms go off several times a week due to brownouts or short transient blackouts, and we have 10-20 minute outages a couple times a year. And this is a fairly new, Class-A commercial building in a major business park. Connectivity downtime hasn't been an issue yet, but these days ISP's can disappear with little or no notice. We're hosting our own stuff now but nothing that is high volume or mission-critical. As soon as that happens, our production servers are going to a data center.

You gotta ask yourself...what would happen if my server got stolen, or if the office burned down, or your Win2K registery/directory gets totally trashed, or ??? What's the cost of downtime? How many customers (or potential customers) would I lose if my systems were down for 2-3 days or more?

Just my $.02...