Izilla
Web and application developer Izilla uses Bulletproof’s VM hosting service because “getting access to hosting environments is paramount [for developers],” says COO Chris Johnson. This is especially true where shared servers or multiple applications are concerned, and even top-tier clients prefer to avoid the expense of dedicated servers unless justified by the workload.
Unlike shared environments, developers get direct access to the virtual server. This makes a big difference to their ability to meet tight deadlines. Izilla’s clients—which include WorkCover (NSW) and the Greater Building Society—are typically concerned with a specific activity such as a promotional campaign.
These projects are usually separate from the corporate web site and require a quick turnaround. Shared hosting causes bottlenecks as the developers rely on the hosting company’s technical staff for routine administrative tasks such as altering file permissions, something Johnson says often arises when using a CMS (content management system) such as Izilla’s own Cognition product, which the company uses on most projects) on shared servers.
Most of Izilla’s sites involve multiple applications such as calculators, subscription management, image galleries, product management and e-commerce, and VM hosting solves the problem of developers needing access to the server to control various aspects of its operation. “It’s a very good, cost-effective and quick alternative,” he says.
Izilla uses Bulletproof’s standard VM hosting packages which start at $290 per month (and provide the equivalent of a run-of-the-mill server in the 1-2GHz range) rather than the more expensive enterprise offering. “A lot of the stuff we build is quite light,” says Johnson. But if the load does exceed expectations a VM can be scaled up without interruption. “That’s a huge bonus,” he says.
Provisioning changes are easy for Bulletproof to manage as there is no need to work at the hardware level. Instead, the changes can be made remotely. New VMs can be commissioned in days rather than months while “making sure absolutely everything is done correctly”, according to Modesto.
But Higgins warns that SMEs are not good at predicting their future requirements. To meet the resulting sudden fluctuations in demand, hosted VM providers will need to be good at planning and must either maintain spare capacity (which costs money) or rely on their suppliers’ ability to deliver additional hardware on demand.
“At first it’s all golden . . . but the flaw is that the market [ie, hosting providers] isn’t used to a consumption model [or the unpredictability of SME demand],” he adds.
Most developers already have in-house server administration skills as they need to manage their own servers, says Johnson, although he warns that the cost of this operational independence is the risk of breaking a system if you are not up to the task.
Another benefit is that VM hosting allows very smooth rollouts from development to staging then production. “Nothing can go wrong from development to hosting because we have control,” he says, adding this is because the environment is essentially the same at each step along the way.
Write to the Editor at Technology and Business
* All fields are mandatory.