Quickbooks hosting

QuickBooks hosting is an Internet service which provides access to accounting data files of through the use of the desktop editions of Intuit's QuickBooks accounting software (as distinguished from QuickBooks Online) for individuals and organizations through the Internet. QuickBooks hosting providers are a specific type of Application Service Provider (ASP) that provides connectivity to desktop QuickBooks applications.
Overview
Since the late 1990s, various companies have made QuickBooks Hosting services available to clients. Intuit introduced its Commercial Hosting Program in 2010. In March 2011, Intuit launched its "QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Hosting Service", powered by Right Networks. According to Intuit, all hosting outside of these programs is illegal.
Differences between QuickBooks Hosting Providers
According to Intuit, a QuickBooks Hosting provider MUST be an Authorized Provider. Not all companies that host QuickBooks are authorized by Intuit; hosting with an unauthorized provider, according to Intuit, violates QuickBooks licensing rules.
QuickBooks hosting providers vary in many ways including the quality of the data centers from which they host, the redundancy of their hosting infrastucture, how they are licensed and how they implement QuickBooks user licensing, the QuickBooks add-ons and other applications that they host, the performance of their hosting infrastructure, the hosting server technology that they use, the quality of their customer support organization, the minimum/maximum number of users they allow/support, the minimum length of their service contract, their pricing, etc.
* Quality of data centers: Higher quality QuickBooks hosting providers will host from multiple Tier IV Data Centers to provide the highest level of reliability. The reliability of a provider's data centers directly affects the reliability of their service.
* Redundancy of hosting infrastructure: Higher quality QuickBooks hosting providers will host from computing systems that are redundant end-to-end. That is, there will be no potential for a single point of failure (SPOF) related to the delivery of any user's services. Such a SPOF would cause a service interruption of unpredictable length.
* Licensing: In addition to being authorized by Intuit, a hosting provider MUST be a participant in the Microsoft Service Provider License program. Since the desktop edition of QuickBooks (typically) runs on Windows-based Operating Systems, the use of QuickBooks in a hosted environment requires the use of Windows in that hosted environment and so that use of Windows must be properly licensed through Microsoft. Regarding QuickBooks user licensing, some hosting providers deploy QuickBooks in such a way that users run QuickBooks under license codes different than the ones they own (or lease); hosting in this manner can create substantial issues in interacting with Intuit support and Intuit connected services such as payroll, online-banking, etc.
* QuickBooks add-ons and other applications: Different hosting providers make different QuickBooks add-ons and other applications available to their users.
* System performance: The performance of hosted applications depends on many factors including the bandwidth of the provider's Internet connection, the speed and configuration of their hosting infrastructure (the speed and number of processors, memory, data storage systems, routers, switches, firewalls...), etc.
* Hosting server technology: QuickBooks hosting providers use various technologies to deliver hosting, often distinguished by the protocol used to communicate between the hosting provider and the client system. The leading protocols are Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP - Microsoft) and Independent Computing Architecture (ICA - Citrix). The protocol used often implies what software needs to be installed on the user's system to work with that hosting provider. RDP client software is built into Microsoft Windows; ICA client software requires separate installation on Windows. Beware of outdated information when comparing these technologies as they change rapidly.
* Customer support: Customer support varies in many ways including hours of operation, call center locations (US, India, etc), response time, skill level and courtesy of the support staff, etc.
* Minimum/maximum number of users: Some QuickBooks hosting providers require a minimum number of users. Some have a maximum number of users that they can support for a single organization.
* Length of service contract: Some QuickBooks hosting providers require a long-term contract in order to receive service. Others allow users to host for only a single month at a time.
* Pricing: Prices for QuickBooks hosting range substantially. These fees pay for licensing (Intuit, Microsoft, etc), data center usage, computing infrastructure, support personnel, etc. Beware of pricing that is substantially lower than average as it suggests that the provider may be ignoring licensing rules or utilitizing low quality data centers, infrastructure, or personnel.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu