Should an organization use a web hosting service or maintain its own server? Why?

It would depend on the traffic they could expect to see, and the budget they have.





Sometimes, a shared webserver can work, and depending on the host, can work for medium as well as low traffic sites. For high traffic or a very large website with a lot of audio/video, a Dedicated server at a hosting company would be better - as it will support the site better and you won't have the running costs, staff costs, maintanence costs, etc, associated with hosting your own servers.





If you are a large corporarion, and need more than one server, then having your own T1 line or greater, and an IT person may be your best solution, as you would have complete control over every aspect.





Hope this helps