How to Deliver Web Sites

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There are two basic choices for publishing your Web site on the public Internet: doing it yourself or outsourcing. Doing it yourself requires having a dedicated connection to the Internet and running your own server, whereas outsourcing involves renting physical space, bandwidth, or services on an existing Web server from an outside vendor.

Running your own Web server and connection to the Internet might seem like the way to go, but it can be quite expensive. A common dedicated connection such as a T1 to the Internet can cost thousands of dollars a year. When factoring in labor, server, facilities, and other expenses, the total cost is significant. Often, many of these facilities are already available within the organization and should be used. Yet, using someone else's server might be the only choice for people who want to publish Web documents but can't afford a huge fee. Even firms that have a capable staff should consider outsourcing, as it provides many benefits. Figure 16-2 gives a basic overview of the major hosting approaches.

Figure 16-2: Hosting choices overview

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