I have an idea. Start an Xserve G5 based hosting company.
Now, I'm sure most of you will say "It's already been done."
However, in my search for Mac based hosting, I've found fault with most Mac hosting providers.
http://www.xrackhosting.com looks the most promising, however, they still have a popup notice from Feburary on the site, it's clearly not updated frequently. Also, I expect to get more than 50 MB for $10 a month.
http://www.machost.com charged $24.95 for 25 MB and 3 GB of transfer. That's absurd.
http://www.macdock.com has basic level hosting starting at $19.95. But for that price I only get 50 MB and 10 GB of transfer (the latter is somewhat reasonable, the former should be higher).
http://www.itsamac.com has reasonable prices 100 MB and 5 GB of bandwidth a month for $9.95. Their web site design, however, doesn't excite me. I know that's relatively minor, but if they had a site like Xserverack, I'd probably jump on immediately (actually, I couldn't - they don't offer a reseller account, which I need).
All the above hosts limit availible e-mail accounts, and almost all are using older, Xserve G4s.
I worked with some numbers on the cost for an Xserve, for colocation, for my expenses in programing and setting up an Xserve for hosting (I'll start with one and move from there).
Here's what I can profitably offer as hosting packages on a 2.0 Ghz X Serve G5:
For $9.99/month (paid yearly, otherwise $10.95 paid monthly, to offset merchant account expenses):
1 GB of web space
10 GB of bandwidth
Unlimited e-mail addresses
Unlimited MySQL databases
99.9% Uptime Guarenteed
For $18.99 I'd double that, and then I can work out the costs for the higher packages.
I could offer a basic Xserve colocated in a Level 3 datacenter and setup by me for $339 a month - which beats anything I've seen out there thus far ($200 setup fee required - most services charge $250-$350 for setup).
All questions would be have a guarenteed 24 hour response time via e-mail. However, I would offer a rather unique service: 24 hour callback. After a user files a support ticket, they have the option of asking for a 24 hour callback. Within 24 hours I will call them on the number they requested and provide support over the telephone. I can do this profitably as my exisiting VoIP plan allows for unlimited calling. Additionally, there will be an 800 number users can call in to buy hosting or asking questions.
My question to the Mac community is, would you buy it? If you don't use a mac host, would you switch to this host, even in the rates are a bit higher? If you use a Mac host, would you switch to this host, considering that the rates likely are better than most (if not all) competitors.
Now, I'm sure most of you will say "It's already been done."
However, in my search for Mac based hosting, I've found fault with most Mac hosting providers.
http://www.xrackhosting.com looks the most promising, however, they still have a popup notice from Feburary on the site, it's clearly not updated frequently. Also, I expect to get more than 50 MB for $10 a month.
http://www.machost.com charged $24.95 for 25 MB and 3 GB of transfer. That's absurd.
http://www.macdock.com has basic level hosting starting at $19.95. But for that price I only get 50 MB and 10 GB of transfer (the latter is somewhat reasonable, the former should be higher).
http://www.itsamac.com has reasonable prices 100 MB and 5 GB of bandwidth a month for $9.95. Their web site design, however, doesn't excite me. I know that's relatively minor, but if they had a site like Xserverack, I'd probably jump on immediately (actually, I couldn't - they don't offer a reseller account, which I need).
All the above hosts limit availible e-mail accounts, and almost all are using older, Xserve G4s.
I worked with some numbers on the cost for an Xserve, for colocation, for my expenses in programing and setting up an Xserve for hosting (I'll start with one and move from there).
Here's what I can profitably offer as hosting packages on a 2.0 Ghz X Serve G5:
For $9.99/month (paid yearly, otherwise $10.95 paid monthly, to offset merchant account expenses):
1 GB of web space
10 GB of bandwidth
Unlimited e-mail addresses
Unlimited MySQL databases
99.9% Uptime Guarenteed
For $18.99 I'd double that, and then I can work out the costs for the higher packages.
I could offer a basic Xserve colocated in a Level 3 datacenter and setup by me for $339 a month - which beats anything I've seen out there thus far ($200 setup fee required - most services charge $250-$350 for setup).
All questions would be have a guarenteed 24 hour response time via e-mail. However, I would offer a rather unique service: 24 hour callback. After a user files a support ticket, they have the option of asking for a 24 hour callback. Within 24 hours I will call them on the number they requested and provide support over the telephone. I can do this profitably as my exisiting VoIP plan allows for unlimited calling. Additionally, there will be an 800 number users can call in to buy hosting or asking questions.
My question to the Mac community is, would you buy it? If you don't use a mac host, would you switch to this host, even in the rates are a bit higher? If you use a Mac host, would you switch to this host, considering that the rates likely are better than most (if not all) competitors.
