If you or your company wants to use the cloud to improve efficiency, there are three primary options you have to choose from. Some companies choose a free or shared server, but there are also dedicated servers, which are slightly more expensive but offer a litany of benefits.
A dedicated server allows you to use its resources and bandwidth more frequently and with more reliability than a shared or free server. Shared and free servers are shared between you and whoever else is on the server, whereas dedicated servers will be yours and yours alone.
Your Size Dictates Your Server Needs
Small businesses usually have no problem using free servers, as they require less resources and will simply not use their server as much as a larger company. Shared servers allow for less bandwidth than a dedicated server, which is why larger corporations need them to serve their business and interests every day, around the clock. Dedicated servers allow for greater traffic and are generally more reliable than other servers.
The Role of Bandwidth
Bandwidth is like a toll booth; the more bandwidth your server has, the more cars it can let through at any given time throughout the day. If there are fewer cars on the road (less traffic) like a small business would have, than the tollbooth can be smaller and will still be able to let through every car it needs to.
When traffic increases, however, the tollbooth must get bigger and faster to let through the additional cars. This is analogous to increasing your bandwidth. Customers who have to wait to get onto your site will leave and will seldom return, so its imperative you have the correct amount of bandwidth for the clients you serve.
A Greater Fee for Greater Service
Dedicated servers have greater fees than free or shared servers, but the additional bandwidth and storage space is well worth the price and will most likely save your company money in the long run if your business is large enough and truly needs the dedicated support of the server. There’s nothing more frustrating to a customer than being denied entrance to a website, and dedicated servers often eliminate this problem altogether.