As a young company, you really have a handful of choices for types of spaces to lease and where to host your server infrastructure. Below are some options and things to consider:

Executive Suites: These are usually best for start up companies that are looking for part time Team Rooms (large rooms that can fit 4-5 people) or conference room spaces to work together a few times a week. The facilities offer you an address for mail delivery, staff for answering your phone and other admin functions, faxes, copiers, and every other office convenience you can think of. They typically do not offer shared server rooms or the ability to host your server on site. There are some more tech-savvy Executive Suites popping up that might offer shared server rooms or racks, but at this time hosting elsewhere is your only option.

Shared Spaces: Shared spaces are the ideal space option for a young technology company or small business once you leave the coffee shop. You get the benefit of leveraging existing infrastructure (phone lines, furniture, etc) without spending any money up front. Many of these spaces will rent by the cube or by the office. We have found that the amount of time a start up stays in a shared environment averages about 6-7 months so it should not be viewed as a long-term home. Depending on your relationship with your sublandlord, it can be very difficult for them to allow you access to their server room. In this case, hosting elsewhere is usually favored.

Subleased Spaces: Subleasing can be the way to get the best rent deal for your start up. Most subleases make sense once you have at least 5-10 people working on site every day.  The average rental term is typically 12-18 months. Some subleases include separately cooled server rooms with back up power, but many might just be converted closets. Depending on your infrastructure needs, we have seen most companies continue to host elsewhere.  If they don’t have the existing infrastructure in place, it doesn’t make financial sense to build out the necessary infrastructure for a 12-18 month lease.

Direct spaces: These are spaces that are rented directly from the landlord and typically last for 3-5 years. Necessary server infrastructure should be disclosed or asked to be built as part of the lease negotiation. Back up power and cooling are both reasonable requests you should make of property owners and landlords. These long term lease solutions usually entail bringing your server management in house as long as you have staff willing to maintain the systems and be on call in the case of issues.

If you do decide to host your website elsewhere we can recommend Softlayer who’s pricing and support has been first class.