May 5, 2005 - (HOSTSEARCH.COM) - Web hosting provider 1&1 Internet Ltd today launched an offer that provides any UK small business with 6 months free web hosting and a free .co.uk domain name. Available with no catches or ties, 1&1 Test Drive aims to encourage more small and micro sized businesses to embrace the Internet. From today until 30th June, 1&1's Test Drive equips an enterprise with a free business level web hosting package and their own .co.uk domain name. The solution is worth around £110. Users need only to subscribe to the offer via the 1&1 website - www.1and1.co.uk. Like all 1&1 web hosting customers, participants will receive 1&1 DynamicSiteCreator enabling any level of user to create a professional Flash website within minutes.
Offers like this one and Yahoo’s free hosting for small businesses highlights the growing competitiveness of the web hosting industry.
“You will see an even higher level of consolidation. You see this now -- many hosts are actually just resellers for another larger company,” said APlus CTO John Martis in an
interview with HostSearch.com when asked about the future of web hosting, “I also think you’re going to see even more simplification and process automation for the average user. More or less the Google or FireFox approach to web hosting: simplified, easy, intuitive, quality stuff.”
With the big name players like MCI, Google, and Yahoo joining in the web hosting game it’s inevitable that the smaller web hosting companies will start to feel the pinch.
The biggest domain registrar GoDaddy’s CEO Bob Parsons commented in a
HostSearch interview, “I think it’s the nature of business for things to consolidate. For example, there used to be hundreds of car manufacturers and now it would be almost impossible for a new company to start-up in that industry.”
Still, unlike the automotive industry, new technology such as VoIP, new cell phone technology and the ever speedier computer chip allow for new possibilities in what web hosts can do which should allow for smaller hosts to be able to compete provided they can innovate or differentiate themselves from the bigger players.
