WebhostingDay 2009 Arrives

March 17, 2009 by Derek Vaughan

WebhostingDay 2009 Arrives

In just a few days it will be time for the fifth annual installment of WebhostingDay. The most recent exhibit and conference is proving to be the most successful as well, as the show is already completely sold out for attendees. WebhostingDay 2009 will be held from March 18-20 in the Phantasialand theme park in Bruehl near Cologne, Germany. Once again, if you are not already registered for this event, there are no spaces currently available. Also, this year there are actually two events that are occurring simultaneously - Webhosting Day 2009 and CloudCamp (a conference on Cloud computing).

Show organizer and founder Thomas Strohe revealed a few facts regarding this year`s show, ``Yes, the event is sold out with about 2,500 registered top-class representatives from the hosting industry and online registration has been closed on March 6. Also both of the Phantasialand hotels as well as our backup hotel in Bruehl are sold out. However, since some people might not come to the event in spite of having registered, there is still the opportunity to register directly on-site. The regular attendance fee is charged then.``

One of the key sponsors of CloudCamp (a concurrent Cloud Computing event at WebhostingDay) is Sun Microsystems. Manuel Jaffrin is EMEA Business Development Manager in the Web Industry Practice for Sun Microsystems. Mr. Jaffrin had these comments about the upcoming event, ``The web industry is a key market for Sun; about everything we invest our R&D budget in is focused on building out web scale infrastructure. We realize that WebhostingDay is the perfect platform for us to spread the word out loud to the web hosting community and showcase our cutting edge technologies (open storage, coolthread servers, virtualization). Our mission is to help every single web hoster on the planet to build, scale and optimize its infrastructure to meet their customer demands. Clearly, what we value most from such event is the possibility to meet with key players, to build up strategic partnerships and unveil new business opportunities. We strongly believe that technical innovation will be key to overcoming the current economic downturn: our customers look to technology as means of driving value and productivity.``

Another conference participant is Bobcares, an outsourced support company specializing in web hosting. Tobby Davasia Kollemmalil is a member of the Executive Team at Bobcares and added his thoughts on WebhostingDay 2009, ``I feel that WebhostingDay has made its mark as an International conference for the web hosting industry. The organizers take tremendous effort to make sure that the stage is set for networking with the industry`s who`s who. Conferences like these help add value to business. Economic crisis or not, no one would want to miss such an opportunity? The conference is a venue for top notch business interaction but it still has a lot of fun and energy in it. I feel its a perfect blend of business and
fun. The organisers make sure you enjoy the event. The social events are great fun especially the VIP parties.`` Among those attending this year`s sold out event are some first time attendees. One first-timer is Phil Robinson, developer at UK website hosting firm 34SP.com. Mr. Robinson was attracted to the show for its networking opportunities, ``My colleagues here at 34SP.com have attended web hosting events in the past and had recommended that I attend WebhostingDay this year. Their experience has shown that these events are great for networking with both friendly competitors and our web hosting vendors. I`m particularly looking forward to the educational sessions on specific web hosting topics that relate to my work in hosting. A big plus was the European location.``

On the topic of content, here are a few of the talks scheduled for WebhostingDay 2009. Wednesday will open with an Opening Address by Dr. B?cker, FH Bonn-Rhein-Sieg followed by ``Energy Efficient Servers For Evolving Hosting Architectures`` delivered by Shannon Poulin, Enterprise Marketing Director at Intel. After lunch each day the sessions are elective with several concurrent tracks. There are many data center and virtualization talks scheduled as well, for example ``How virtualization and the next generation data center lead to cloud computing`` by
Ralf Sydekum, Technical Manager Central and Eastern Europe, F5.

There are a number of ways one can get involved and check in with other attendees going to the show. One way is to join the LinkedIn Group entitled, Webhosting Day. This group currently has 47 members and presumably just about everyone will be attending. You can ask questions or get connected within the group. Another hub for WebhostingDay conversation is over at Web Hosting Talk. Click here to read on of the threads on WebhostingDay 2009.

Of course there will be ample opportunity at the show to meet with vendors. You can view the various show partners here. In addition to the exhibit hall meetings, there are several large social and networking events planned each evening of the show.

I will be attending WebhostingDay 2009 as well. So if you are at the event, look me up and say hello!

This content was written exclusively by Derek Vaughan for HostSearch.com.