RapidHost signs PharmaVentures
- Added:
- Jan 31, 2002
PharmaDeals, a reference point for companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, has a repository of 9,000 records and adds details of around 140 new deals every month from a range of sources, including industry contacts and online news services.
According to RapidHost sales and marketing manager Nick Horslen, the company's expertise in FileMaker database technology was a key factor in clinching the deal: “FileMaker is the leading database on the Mac and has around 5m users worldwide,” he said. RapidHost, which was set up by ex-Apple and Microsoft staff, also hosts filemaker.co.uk, an online resource for developers and techies.
According to Horslen, managed hosting is just as viable a model for small businesses as large enterprises: “As broadband connectivity and solutions become more affordable, outsourcing is increasingly attractive to small companies,” he said. RapidHost, which has around eight full-time staff, has found that an incremental approach has worked well for its customers. Typically, a company will initially spend between 500 and 2,000 per year to host a website at RapidHost's Marlow premises, but will often add on development projects priced at between 5,000 and 25,000 per year in stages.
The company, which specialises in database-driven websites, has expanded beyond its specialised FileMaker origins, to offer hardware, OS and database-agnostic services. At present, RapidHost can handle Windows 2000, Unix, Linux, Mac OS, mySQL, SQL Server and Access technologies.
At present, the company, which was founded in 1999, has 200 customers.