There are many server hosting companies in the market, in fact I would venture to guess that a new hosting company pops up about every day. I have had a fair bit of experience with some of the largest in the market, RackSpace, Server Beach, Peer1, etc to name a few. But the one that I have been most impressed with, has been 1and1. They are who I use for my hosting and the hosting of my clients. I have been very satisfied with their service and the tools that they make available to me. Great uptime, stellar support, fantastic options, competitive pricing.
So yes this is a shameful plug for their services. 1and1 is my preferred hosting provider.
But also, I might note that I am a die hard apple proponent, but when it comes to general server functions, I am a fan of Linux. I run Linux on my servers locally and in hosting. for their security and ease of administration.