The Rising Popularity of Managed Dedicated Servers

Dedicated servers have been considered to be king among the web hosting world practically ever since the Internet was invented. But when it came to the two main types of dedicated servers you could rent or purchase – managed or unmanaged – the market seemed equally divided. Now though, managed dedicated servers are quickly taking over, as more and more consumers continue to see all the advantages that come with this type of web hosting.

Dedicated servers are web servers that only hold the website or account of one person or business. This allows the owner or renter of that dedicated server to have full access to all of the resources on that server – storage space, bandwidth, and everything else on that server. Having such access to so many resources allows the business owner to do virtually anything with their server, build a website as big as they need, and have thousands of visitors a day without risking their website crashing. However, even though dedicated servers seemed to be the answer to every business owner’s needs, they still came with their own set of problems.

With the business owner being responsible for everything relating to that server, storage space at the place of business often became a problem. And if the business owner didn’t have a lot of technical knowledge to run something as complex as a dedicated server, they needed to hire someone who did. Often, in the case of servers that had a lot of data on them or extensive maintenance, an entire IT team was needed; and that could get costly.

So, for business owners that wanted the benefits of dedicated hosting without neglecting their business because they had to look after it, web hosts emerged with managed dedicated hosting options.

Managed dedicated hosting is usually offered by the same web host from which you received your dedicated server. With a managed hosting package, a web host will perform maintenance duties on the server including installing upgrades, security patches, and constant monitoring to ensure that the server never crashes.

Historically when it came down to managed versus unmanaged web hosting, consumers were fairly divided, with some choosing to hire their own server management staff in-house while others decided to use the convenient all-in-one package offered by their web host. Today though, that’s changing as more and more businesses are choosing to opt for managed dedicated servers.

According to a Tier 1 Research survey, about one-third more consumers are seeking managed dedicated servers now than at any time before. This is because of many different emerging trends in the business place including the expansion of outsourcing, the rising popularity of virtual desktops, and the increased focus on continuous uptime. As these trends continue and grow, so too will the popularity of managed dedicated servers.