Dedicated hosting permits individuals and business to lease pre-configured, state-of-the-art equipment and connectivity from a hosting service provider. Instead of simply sharing server space on a virtual server, dedicated hosting gives you the opportunity to lease an entire server for your own exclusive use.

With a dedicated server, you can exercise total control over your Web presence. You can choose the operating system and software you wish to use, and individualize settings for your multimedia and e-commerce requirements. Dedicated servers are a good choice for customers that require custom software or enhanced server control but do not want to make the significant up-front investment required in purchasing a server.

Dedicated hosting is more desirable for users with more sophisticated needs, since it permits the deployment of more complex applications, as such databases, streaming media, and high-end e-mail solutions. Dedicated hosting solutions also have the ability to host multiple sites on one machine. Such solutions are usually provided on a world-class network connection, and include 24x7 monitoring of the server and network availability.

The fact that the hosting provider owns the dedicated server is a significant benefit to you because they are responsible for maintaining the equipment and the redundant connections to the Internet. If a hardware component fails, the provider is responsible for replacing it at no cost. The other advantage of dedicated service is that it is custom-designed for each customer. Advanced hosting providers will allow you select specific CPU speeds, disk space requirements and other hardware components. Such automated server specification processes maximize your return-on-investment by ensuring that you only select the hardware you need.

Because of these advantages, dedicated servers can be considered a superior service allowing you access to more reliable avenues of content distribution and control over your hosting environment. With more control, however, comes more responsibility. Customers who select dedicated hosting solutions will require a certain amount of competency in IT and server administration issues in order to properly maintain the server. This will mean a greater investment of time and human resources than what a "virtual" or "shared" server requires. Furthermore, dedicated servers will require a much larger financial investment. 

Dedicated servers are therefore considered an entry-level hosting solution for the small to medium sized enterprise.