AFP 10

MDI, Gurgaon

AA

MIS Assignment

Comparative Analysis Of
Web Hosting Services

By :-
Roll No. : 055 Wg Cdr Urmila Sahu
Roll No. : 008 Sqn Ldr Ashutosh Bahuguna (Retd)

Index

Sl No Topic Pages No

Introduction 03

Evaluation Of Effectiveness : Web Hosting Services 04

1
 Listing for top 12 Webhosting Sites from 05 - 06
www.ecomresourcecenter.com

Compared Websites and 07-08

ratings by www.ecomresourcecenter.com

Categorization of services for 09

Comparison Of The Web Hosting Services

Services available in compared websites 10 - 17

Comparative analysis and ranking 18-26

of Webhosting Sites

Overall Ranking of compared Sites 27

Introduction
1. Webhosting and provision of online business solutions is a boon to the
e-commerce industry. The webhosting services enable business holders to host their
website in the global sales window-‘The Internet’. The webhosting sites provide, web
designing, webhosting and online solutions of various business needs. The standard
requirements of running a business are bundled in packages. The services which are
peculiar to certain businesses are dealt with as additional services and value added
services. There is a separate premium payment charged for these additional services.

2. The webhosting services of today provide a number of online solutions. These

may differ from one site to another. Outsourcing the webhosting services eases out the
burden of networking resources including the internet connectivity, web designing,
transaction processing applications, secure online financial transaction services, storage

2
space for data, backup of data, website registration process and update of services
according to current requirements.

3. It is certainly beneficial to the organisations to utilise the webhosting services.

Even small businesses are utilising these services to improve their productivity and
process efficiency. This e-transformation of the world market will boost the globalisation
drive prevalent for the last three decades. Mutually acquired benefits of increased
productivity will pace the growth of the Webhosting providers as well as the customers.
The clientele of the web hosting users will multiply. Removal of global barriers though
communications and e-services will increase the demand of all business. This increase
in demand will have to be supported by an enhanced production supported by an
efficient logistics and sales system. All services and processes involved would require
the intervention of technology and the web hosting services to keep up the pace of
progress. Thus we can say that the market of the webhosting services will always be
available and the constant improvement in services will drive the growing businesses of
tomorrow.

Evaluation Of
Decreasing
Increasing
Time
Returns From Growth
4.Like all business,
Business
Rate
Growth Rate
any business
utilising the web
hosting services
follows a trend of
‘ increase in growth’
and a ‘decline in
growth’. If a graph is
plotted of the growth
of business against
time it would usually
be a convex curve. A
sample of the curve
is depicted below :-
2
5. It is very important to use the feedback and analysis tools to identify the position
of business in the graph. The aim of any evaluation is to maintain a steady growth and
avoid the decreasing rate of growth by constantly improving business processes. For
evaluating web hosting services, a number of related services, technologies and users
have to be evaluated. The inefficiencies related any of the links in the system should be
rectified in time to avoid losses. Some of the factors which are generally considered
while evaluating web hosting services are user friendliness, networking resources,
database storage and backup, application services, online transaction services, regular
updates, E mail services, value added services etc. It is imperative to carry out the
SWOT analysis before e-transformation of the business using a web hosting service.
The web hosting service will also have to be evaluated towards this end.

6. A number of rating agencies are available who provide online consultancy for the
analysis. For the purpose of comparison of web hosting services the data provided by
the website “www.ecomresourcecenter.com” has been utilised.

A COMPARISON OF SOME OF THE PRESENT WEB HOSTING SERVICES

Sl No Company Name Service Name Pricing Overall

Company/Service
Rating
1 Pow Web Starter $8 per month
.
2 Acorn Hosting Starter (including $10 per month
. $2 for dedicated IP)

2
 3 West Host Special $12 per month
.
4 Apollo Hosting Business $30 per month
.
5 Volution Steel $30 per month
.
6 CoreCommerce Basic $40 per month
.
7 Percision Web Standard $45 per month
.
8 Payment Online eCommerce $50 per month
. Solution
9 Network Solutions Standard $50 per month
.
1 Pinnacle Cart Starter $55 per month
0
.
1 1 and 1 Internet Starter eShop $10 per month
1
.
1 Shopify Basic $24 per month + 2%
2 of Revenue/Sales
.
1 Yahoo Merchant Starter $40 per month
3
.
Source : http://www.ecomresourcecenter.com/

Graphical Representation of Comparison

of Web Hosting Services
(On A Scale Of 5)

Bar Chart for rating of web hosting services by “ecomresourcecenter.com”

2
 Web Hosting Services For Comparative Analysis

6. All web hosting services have different packages which makes their comparison
difficult. However, the basic facilities provided can be compared to find out the best site
suitable for the business, keeping in mind all packages and additional services provided
by the web hosting company. The sites that have been chosen for comparison are :-
a. Yahoo
b. Shopify
c. PowWeb
Company Yahoo Shopify PowWeb
Name &
URL http://smallbusiness.yaho http://www.shopify.com http://www.powweb.com
o.com

How Long
in Since 1995
Since 2006 Since 1999
Business

Location

Sunnyvale, California
Ottawa, Canada Burlington,
Massachusetts
Service
Description
This solution offers Three ecommerce web
unlimited products Simple to use, has hosting solutions that
storefront and unlimited many features, ideal for include the ShopSite
space for hard disk and a start-up company that shopping cart software
unlimited bandwidth. In wants to get onto the (although not many
Internet and start selling
1
 addition, a new business really fast. Reasonable features are included
account received $100 pricing. with the STARTER
Yahoo search marketing package).
bonus.

7. The website comparison on the basis of the data provided by

www.ecomresourcecenter.com and the ratings provided by the same website are given
below. The sites have been rated on a scale of 5.

Comparison of Three Web Hosting

Services..Ratings and pricing

Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Standard Professional Basic Professional Enterprise Starter
Manager Pro

Overall 3.5 3.0 2.0 2.5 2.5 2.5 4.0 3.5 3.0
Rating

2
Features 3.5 3.5 3.5 2.5 2.5 2.5 2.0 2.5 2.5
Rating

Support 4.0 4.0 4.0 2.5 2.5 2.5 3.0 3.0 3.0
Rating

Price 2.0 2.0 1.5 2.5 2.0 1.0 1.0 3.5 3.0

Rating

$299 per
$39.95 $129.95 $24 per $59 per
$299.95 per month + . $7.77
Price per per month + month + 1% $29.95 per $49.95 per
month + 5% of per
Description: month + month + 2% your of your month month
0.75% your month
1.5% 1% sales sales
sales

Setup Fee: $50 $50 $50 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Money back
No No No No No No 30 days 30 days 30 days
guarantee:

Free
Free Trial Free Trial
Trial
Free Demo: No No No upto10 upto10 No No No
upto10
orders orders
orders

Recommend
Less than $18K to More than
ed plan if you
$18K per $68K per $68K per NA NA NA NA NA NA
expect sales
month month month
of:

Maximum
number of 10,00
products you
50,000 50,000 50,000 100 2,500 05 Unlimited Unlimited
0
can sell

Categorization of Services for

Comparison Of Web Hosting Services
2
8. Qualitative analysis of the web hosting services will be complicated and beyond
the scope of this project. Moreover, the data like of customer’s feedback on web
services, web site effectiveness in increasing sales, efficiency of the networking
resources, feedback on ease of ease navigation on website etc is not available.
Therefore, for the purpose of comparison a quantitative comparison of the websites
has been carried out based on the number of services provided by the webhosting
service.

9. The web services commonly available have been categorized into following :-

a. Ecommerce Web Hosting Management

b. Server Pre-Configuration
c. Pre-Installed Free Software
d. Shopping Cart Specification
e. Email Hosting Specification
f. Credit Card Processing
g. Technical Support
h. Miscellaneous

8. The business processes involved in a particular business will have to be listed

and compared with the availability and the budget feasibility for the business to choose
the web hosting service provider. Moreover the human element involved in the
processes i.e. the operators, customers etc will also have to kept in mid while choosing
the web hosting services. A feedback from the human element is essential before
employing the e resources of the web hosting services. If required, requisite training is
to be imparted to the human element involved in the process, wherever felt necessary.

9. The category wise availability of services is depicted in Pages 9 to 16.

Availability of services is depicted as follows :-

☺or Text : Available

X : Not Available

1
 Services Availability

Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Standard Professional Basic Professional Enterprise Starter
Manager Pro

Ecommerce Web Hosting Management :

Dedicated IP
address
☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
Green Web
hosting
company X X X X X X X X X

Multiple Web
sites on
single
account X X X ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X

Unlimited
Disk space
allocation ☺ ☺ ☺ Plan Plan Plan ☺ ☺ ☺

Unlimited
Bandwidth
usage ☺ ☺ ☺ Plan Plan Plan ☺ ☺ ☺

Virtual
private server
X X X X X X X X X

Shared server ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
Colocation
sever X X X X X X X X X

Virtualization
- Virtual
Machine X X X X X X X X X

Ecommerce
Web hosting
☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
1
 Web site
hosting X X X ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

Secure data
center facility
☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
Server
redundancy ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

Networking
redundancy
☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
Backbone
connection ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
redundancy

Website/data
daily backup
☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X

Services Availability…..Continued

Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Standard Professional Basic Professional Enterprise Starter
Manager Pro

Ecommerce Web Hosting Management ..continued

Customer
initiated X X X X X X X X X
backup

Domain name
registration
service X X X X X X X X X

Free Domain
with Service X X X X X X X X X
Hosting
Company
owns Domain X X X X X X X X X
1
 Customer
Owns Domain ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

Custom Error
Pages X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺

Free Anti-
Spam
Software X X X X X X X X X

MOD Perl,
MOD rewrite,
+ modules X X X X X X X X X

Password
protected X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
directories

Redirect
pages or X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
directories

Add-on
domains &
domain
X X X X X X X X X
parking

Unlimited
sub-domains
X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Website
Builder
(Wizard /
X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Editor)

SSH Secure
Shell Access
X X X X X X X X X

FTP Access X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺

Services Availability…..Continued

1
 Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Standard Professional Basic Professional Enterprise Starter
Manager Pro

Ecommerce Web Hosting Management ..continued

Log Reports
(Apache + X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Error)

Log Analyzer
Software X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
included

Webalizer
statistic
X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Analog
statistic
X X X X X X X X X
Other
statistic
software
X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
included
Multiple
Login for
Administrator
s

integrat integrat integrate MySQ MySQL(75 MySQL

Databases MySQL MySQL MySQL (75)
ed ed d L ) (75)

FreeBS FreeBS
FreeBSD Linux Linux Linux Unix Unix Unix
Server Operating D D
System

Apache Apache Apache Apache Apache Apache

Web Server
Software
X X X

CGI Access X X X X X X X X X
Extensive CGI
Library
X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Extensive Scripting
Library
X X X X X X X X X

Cron X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Server Side
Includes
X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Server Pre-Configuration:
PHP 5 X X X ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
environment

1
 MySQL 4 X X X ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
phpMyAdmin X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
FrontPage
Extensions
X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺

Services Availability…..Continued

Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Standard Professional Basic Professional Enterprise Starter
Manager Pro

Pre-Installed Free Software:

Alexiva CRM X X X X X X X X X
Anti Virus
software
X X X X X X X X X
Blogging
software
X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Content
management X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
software

Coldfusion X X X X X X X X X
Customer
relationship X X X X X X X X X
management

Decision
support X X X X X X X X X
system

Enterprise
resource X X X X X X X X X
planning

1
Fantastico
suite of X X X X X X X X X
library scripts

Forum
software
X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Guestbook X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Macromedia X X X X X X X X X
Plesk
Application X X X X X X X X X
Vault

Photo / image
gallery
X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Project
Management
X X X X X X X X X

Ruby on rails X X X ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X
Value chain
management
X X X X X X X X X

Services Availability…..Continued

Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Standard Professional Basic Professional Enterprise Starter
Manager Pro

Shopping Cart Specification:

Pre-installed Yahoo Yahoo
Yahoo Store Shopify Shopify Shopify ShopSite ShopSite ShopSite
shopping cart Store Store

Maximum # of
items allowed
X X X 100 2,500 10,000 5 unlimited unlimited

Able to sell
shippable ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
goods

Electronic X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
1
software
delivery

Able to sell
subscription
X X X X X X X X X
Real-time
shipping ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
calculations

Advanced
shipping ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
calculations

International
shipping
☺ ☺ ☺ X X X X X X

USPS ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X X X X

UPS ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X X ☺ ☺
FedEx ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X X ☺ ☺
DHL X X X X X X X X X
Product
database ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
import/export

Customer data
import/export
☺ ☺ ☺ X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Order
management ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
system

Discounts ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X X X ☺
Coupons ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X X X ☺
Affiliate
tracking
X X X X X X X X X
Automatic
affiliate sign-up
X X X X X X X X X

Services Availability…..Continued

1
 Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Standard Professional Basic Professional Enterprise Starter
Manager Pro

Shopping Cart Specification..continued

Advertising
tracking
X X X X X X X X X
Built-in content
management X X X X X X X X X
system

Vendor
notification
X X X X X X X X X
Product
administration
☺ ☺ ☺ X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Recommendati
on (Tell a X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Friend)

Print PDF
invoices
X X X X X X X X X
Inventory
Management
☺ ☺ ☺ X X X X X X
Cross selling on
Ebay
X X X X X X X X X

Cross selling ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X X ☺ ☺
Multiple
currencies
X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺

Email Hosting Specification:

1,000 1,000 1,000
Email Accounts
Provided
X X X unlimited unlimited unlimited

Full featured
web mail ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
system

Autoresponders ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Mail list ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X X X X

POP3 ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
IMAP ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X ☺ ☺ ☺

1
 Services Availability…..Continued

Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Standard Professional Basic Professional Enterprise Starter
Manager Pro

Credit Card Processing:

Shared SSL
certificate
☺ ☺ ☺ X ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
Customer
dedicated SSL X X X X X X X X X
certificate

PCI compliant ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
Merchant PCI
compliance X X X ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X
assistance

Real-time credit
card processing
☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
Payment
gateway fee X X X X X X X X X
included

Payment
gateway setup X X X X X X X X X
fee

Payment
gateway monthly X X X X X X X X X
fee

Payment
gateway X X X X X X X X X
transaction fee

Internet
merchant X X X X X X X X X
account setup

1
Visa/Mastercard
% fee
X X X X X X X X X
Per transaction
fee
X X X X X X X X X
Additional fees
apply
X X X X X X X X X
Automated batch
processing
X X X X X X X X X
Recurring billing X X X X X X X X X
Manual
settlement/captu X X X X X X X X X
re

Manual
resettlement for X X X X X X X X X
hung orders

Shipment
tracking
X X X X X X X X X
Payment history
and X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
management

Virtual Terminal
manual X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
authorization

Services Availability…..Continued

Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Standard Professional Basic Professional Enterprise Starter
Manager Pro

Technical Support:
24/7 Live
Telephone ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Support

24/7 Email
Technical ☺ ☺ ☺ X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Support

24/7 Chat
Technical X X X X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Support

Video tutorial X X X X X X X X X
1
Online
documentation
☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺
Blogging
software support
X X X X X X X X X
CRM software
support
X X X X X X X X X
Content
Management X X X X X X X X X
support

Shopping cart
software support
X X X X X X X X X
Scripting support X X X X X X X X X
Log analyzing
support
X X X X X X X X X
Miscellaneous:
Accounting
software X X X X X X X X X
integration

Basic search
engine X X X X X X X X X
optimization

Google
marketing ($25) $50 $50 $50 X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
voucher

Yahoo marketing
($25) voucher
$100 $100 $100 X X X ☺ ☺ ☺
Free Web
content and RSS X X X X X X X X X
feed

Internet
marketing X X X X X X X X X
course

Podcast hosting X X X X X X X X X

8. The services under these categories have been individually considered. One
point for each is credited to the web hosting company for a service provided. The total

1
points in the category have been compared to give a ranking to the web hosting
services. This gives us a fair idea of the web hosting service required for a particular
business.

9. All three web hosting services have three different packages. For ease of
graphical representation for comparative analysis, the packages have been renamed :-

a. Basic
b. Premium
c. Gold

10. To calculate the overall ranking of the web hosting service, the cumulative
ranking of all categories has been considered.

2
 Ecommerce Web Hosting Management

Summary of Services Availability

Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Professional Professional Enterprise Starter
Standard Manager Pro
Basic
(Premium)
(Basic) (Gold) (Premium) (Gold) (Basic)
(Premium) (Gold)

POINTS 14 14 14 15 15 15 28 28 28

MAX
45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45 45
POSSIBLE
POINTS

RANKING ON
3 2 1
POINT BASIS

Server Pre-Configuration

Summary of Services Availability

1
 Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Professional Professional Enterprise Starter
Standard Manager Pro
Basic
(Premium)
(Basic) (Gold) (Premium) (Gold) (Basic)
(Premium) (Gold)

POINTS 0 0 0 2 2 2 4 4 4

MAX
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
POSSIBLE
POINTS

RANKING ON
3 2 1
POINT BASIS

Pre-Installed Free Software

Summary of Services Availability

Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Professional Professional Enterprise Starter
Standard Manager Pro
Basic
(Premium)
(Basic) (Gold) (Premium) (Gold) (Basic)
(Premium) (Gold)

POINTS 0 0 0 1 1 1 5 5 5

MAX 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17

1
POSSIBLE
POINTS

RANKING ON
3 2 1
POINT BASIS

Shopping Cart

Summary of Services Availability

Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Professional Professional Enterprise Starter
Standard Manager Pro
Basic
(Premium)
(Basic) (Gold) (Premium) (Gold) (Basic)
(Premium) (Gold)

POINTS 15 15 15 4 4 4 12 12 13

MAX
29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29 29
POSSIBLE
POINTS

RANKING ON
1 3 2
POINT BASIS

1
 Email Hosting

Summary of Services Availability

Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Professional Professional Enterprise Starter
Standard Manager Pro
Basic
(Premium)
(Basic) (Gold) (Premium) (Gold) (Basic)
(Premium) (Gold)

POINTS 6 6 6 0 0 0 5 5 5

MAX
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
POSSIBLE
POINTS

RANKING ON
1 3 2
POINT BASIS

1
 Credit Card Processing

Summary of Services Availability

Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Professional Professional Enterprise Starter
Standard Manager Pro
Basic
(Premium)
(Basic) (Gold) (Premium) (Gold) (Basic)
(Premium) (Gold)

POINTS 3 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 5

MAX
20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
POSSIBLE
POINTS

RANKING ON
3 2 1
POINT BASIS

Technical Support

2
 Summary of Services Availability

Ecommerce Ecommerce
Starter Professional Professional Enterprise Starter
Standard Manager Pro
Basic
(Premium)
(Basic) (Gold) (Premium) (Gold) (Basic)
(Premium) (Gold)

POINTS 3 3 3 1 1 1 4 4 4

MAX
11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11
POSSIBLE
POINTS

RANKING ON
2 3 1
POINT BASIS

Miscellaneous services

Summary of Services Availability

Starter Standard Professional Basic Professional Enterprise Starter Ecommerce Ecommerce

1
 Manager Pro
(Basic) (Premium) (Gold) (Premium) (Gold) (Basic)
(Premium) (Gold)

POINTS 2 2 2 0 0 0 2 2 2

MAX
6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
POSSIBLE
POINTS

RANKING ON
1# 3 2
POINT BASIS

# Based on higher value of shopping vouchers offered

Final Ranking Based On Availability Of

Service
SERVICE RANKING

Yahoo SB Shopify Pow Web

E Commerce Hosting Web
3 2 1
management

Server Pre-Configuration 3 2 1
Pre-Installed Free
3 2 1
Software

Shopping Cart
1 3 2
Specification

Email Hosting
1 3 2
Specification

1
Credit Card Processing 3 2 1
Technical Support 2 3 1
Miscellaneous 1 3 2

Total* 17 20 11

* The least total is the best web hosting service

Overall Ranking

1
2 3