Hosting is a service that enables businesses to rent or share space on a hosting company’s server(s) in order to carry out its web based activities, including running its website and the functions within it (such as online ordering).
One of the fundamental reasons for using a hosting service is to share the hosting company’s resources and expertise. For example, if a single person rented a six bedroom house, it would be expensive and wasteful. It would be far more cost effective for that person to share the house with a number of other people and spread the cost.
Hosting is similar to outsourcing. However, hosting means that only one particular element of an IT department is being outsourced rather than the whole department.
Hosting as you know is what holds your website up that gets seen on the Internet. Probably the most well known hosting company is BT or Talk Talk but the market has many business and low-cost hosting providers. Vendors like Hostway, UKFast, Rackspace, NetBenefit, Griffin Internet and Fasthosts all compete to provide this much needed web service.