Stop Buying Servers Just Because One Application Still Needs One

Need a server without owning a server?

Virtual server hosting is for the organization that still needs a server but no longer wants to own and maintain the physical hardware at its location. A hosted virtual server performs the same roles the onsite one did: domain services, application servers, SQL databases, file and print services, vendor-specific servers, web applications, middleware, utility and management servers.

The common case is a five-year-old physical server approaching replacement. Instead of buying another one, the workload moves into our infrastructure. Mayer Networks then manages the compute, storage, virtualization, networking, backup, monitoring and hardware lifecycle underneath it, while continuing to manage the operating system and application environment as appropriate.

It is not automatically the right answer. Some workloads still belong on site, and we say so when that is the case.

• An existing physical server is aging or out of warranty
• The business no longer wants server hardware in the building
• The application still requires Windows Server
• A vendor requires a dedicated server for their software
• Several small servers can be consolidated
• A branch office needs centralized infrastructure
• A server needs to be reachable from more than one location
• The organization wants predictable infrastructure cost instead of capital purchases

Keep the application, retire the hardware

An organization moves email to Microsoft 365, files to SharePoint and collaboration to Teams, and then discovers one application still requires a Windows Server. That single application becomes the reason an entire physical server stays in the building, along with its power, cooling, warranty and eventual replacement cost.

Hosting the application environment breaks that link. The client can retire aging server hardware without abandoning software the organization still depends on, and without being forced to replace a critical application before the business is ready to. Accounting, ERP, practice-management, government, SQL-based, manufacturing, document-management, custom and legacy line-of-business applications all fit this pattern.

• The software vendor has not released a SaaS version
• The SaaS version exists but lacks features the organization relies on
• Migration would be too disruptive right now
• The application is deeply wired into business process
• Replacement is planned, but years away
• The existing server is aging
• Multiple locations need access to the same application
• Users need secure remote access to it
• The application depends on SQL Server or a specific Windows Server version

Put the desktop next to the application

A hosted desktop gives a user a Windows desktop or application session running from Mayer Networks infrastructure rather than primarily from the local computer. Users connect remotely and work with the applications and data available there. It can be delivered as full hosted desktops, Remote Desktop Services sessions, published individual applications, shared desktop environments, or access scoped to a single application.

It is more than putting a desktop in the cloud. The reason to do it is usually specific: staff working from several locations, remote users needing a centralized business application, an application that performs badly over VPN, data that should stay in the hosted environment rather than on endpoints, users moving between computers, centralized control of a desktop environment, contractors needing controlled access, branch offices reaching central systems, or an application that needs to sit close to its database.

Give database applications the infrastructure they actually need

Many business applications depend on SQL Server or another database engine, and databases are demanding in ways generic hosting does not always account for: dedicated memory, storage performance under real query load, backup that matches the recovery expectation, monitoring, licensing, and proximity to the application server.

We design hosted infrastructure where the application and its database are placed together, which is usually the difference between an application that feels fast and one that does not. This matters most for ERP databases, accounting systems, government applications, custom business software, reporting databases and vendor platforms where the vendor specifies a particular server and database architecture.

One application environment for every office

Multi-location organizations often end up with a server, a backup job and a support problem at every site, plus staff who cannot reach the same data depending on which building they are in. Centralizing the application environment in our infrastructure gives every office one place to work from.

That means one environment to support, one backup design, consistent access from each location, fewer branch-office servers to replace on their own schedules, and one conversation with the software vendor instead of several.

Your software vendor supports the application. We support everything underneath it.

A great many line-of-business software vendors still require specific infrastructure, and they are entitled to. We work with the application vendor to provide what their software needs: the Windows Server version they support, SQL Server, storage and memory sized to their guidance, networking, remote access, backup and the security configuration around it.

That keeps the responsibility boundary clean. The software vendor supports the application. Mayer Networks supports the infrastructure underneath it. Neither of us can point at the other, because the environment was built to the vendor's stated requirements and we can show that. This matters particularly for government systems, healthcare applications, accounting platforms, legal software, manufacturing systems and vertical-market applications.

Microsoft licensing for hosted environments

Mayer Networks participates in Microsoft's Services Provider License Agreement program, which allows eligible Microsoft products used in environments we host to be licensed on a service-provider basis where appropriate. In practice that most often covers Windows Server, SQL Server and Remote Desktop Services.

The customer benefit is straightforward: for eligible hosted workloads, a separate perpetual Microsoft server-license purchase may not be needed, and licensing can be carried within the hosted service instead. Not every product or existing license qualifies, and whether licenses you already own can move to hosted infrastructure depends on how they were purchased. We check rather than assume. Participation in the program covers software licensing only and implies no Microsoft ownership, operation or certification of our facilities.

Cloud infrastructure is part of the managed relationship

Mayer Networks Cloud is primarily available to organizations under an active managed-services relationship, or organizations entering one. That is a deliberate design decision, not a sales gate.

When a user says an application is slow, the cause may be the application, the endpoint, the local network, the ISP, identity, the firewall, the server, the database, storage, backup activity or a security control. We are most effective when we can manage the complete technology path rather than being handed responsibility for one isolated component and asked to defend it. Hosting infrastructure for an environment we cannot see would produce exactly the finger-pointing this service is meant to eliminate.