Looking to start a business

[flukz]

i recently bought a few server computers and i've been interested for a long time in starting my own company i feel very strongly that i could make something great, its been a dream of mine.
so I decided I would like to start my own computer business.
The plan would be to host services on servers such as cloud storage, web servers, and game servers off of used "older" servers that I can pickup relatively cheap.
I would also like to buy used hardware and broken computers to refurbish/ combine to make reliable machines to resale.
I'm a college student who has taken some business courses in the past and is currently a computer science major.
I guess my questions are
1) what sort of internet speeds would I need to pay for in order to host web servers/game servers (haven't really been able to find a good way to calculate each persons bandwidth usage for these things)
2) do you think I am likely to get customers as a small company with only three or four server computers?
3) do you think i am likely to make money doing these things?
4) do you have any suggestions for me?

 

[Alabalcho]

1. Depends on how many customers you have, and how fast they want they data. Read: Expensive.
2. No. If I am a customer wanting to store data somewhere, I would not trust my data to a brand-new company (which won't be there next month), with slow connection, yet pay for that, when there are plenty of free options.
3. No. Read #2.
4. Sell these computers. Leave one for yourself to "play" with, if you are interested. Find another business opportunity.

 

[Pinhedd]

i recently bought a few server computers and i've been interested for a long time in starting my own company i feel very strongly that i could make something great, its been a dream of mine.
so I decided I would like to start my own computer business.
The plan would be to host services on servers such as cloud storage, web servers, and game servers off of used "older" servers that I can pickup relatively cheap.
I would also like to buy used hardware and broken computers to refurbish/ combine to make reliable machines to resale.
I'm a college student who has taken some business courses in the past and is currently a computer science major.
I guess my questions are
1) what sort of internet speeds would I need to pay for in order to host web servers/game servers (haven't really been able to find a good way to calculate each persons bandwidth usage for these things)
2) do you think I am likely to get customers as a small company with only three or four server computers?
3) do you think i am likely to make money doing these things?
4) do you have any suggestions for me?

This is actually something that I do as a side project so I can provide tons of insight.

1. Bandwidth has dropped tremendously in price over the past 5 years. I pay $60 USD a month for 100mbps full duplex unmetered BGP, up to 4u height and 15 amps @120VAC. 1gbps unmetered BGP is around $170 or so. Dedicated (non-BGP) bandwidth is substantially more expensive but you won't be at the mercy of other clients on your host's internal network or your hosts particular peering arrangements.

As to "how much", this is a tough question to answer. Video streaming is by far the most demanding application of bandwidth right now. Game servers and VoIP are remarkably light on bandwidth. as are e-mail and most http services.

2. You certainly can. Friends, family, anyone that you know with a small business is a potential customer. I own a domain for my family and we all have email addresses hosted by myself. A lot of small businesses, despite having a website, still use yahoo/gmail/hotmail to manage their business correspondence. This comes across as unprofessional to their prospective clients. In general, a custom hosted services package for a small company that does not require a lot of bandwidth typically yield about $50/mo.

3. It depends on how much effort you put into it. I hate doing customer support, so I only maintain mine as a hobby. Since you're in college, your time may be limited. However, if you can break even, you'll have some nice hardware to play around with. You'll also develop very valuable IT and system administration skills that are extremely marketable.

Although I'm not at all interested in IT as a profession (my background and expertise is in computer engineering) I constantly receive requests from startups that are looking for seasoned system administrators simply because I have it listed.