Another fascinating month in the world of web hosting… it was business as usual in May, and there were a few surprises as well. Big news, the Google god might not have it all his own way - the
FTC decided to investigate its DoubleClick purchase as many had predicted might happen. The other big news in May?
HostSearch.com added an article system to its website – now you can add anything you feel would edify the hosting community directly onto the site.
Click here to see more and to add YOUR articles.
Other news? Well… Web Hosting Provider Zen Internet turned the tables on the telcos in May, launching a Voice Service, while AT&T set the record straight by being announced a
key web hosting player. Where will this end? Telcos as hosts and visa versa? A future chicken and egg syndrome?
Not to worry… it might not happen – hosting as we know it might not be around forever…
Novel released the Purplenova 3.0 Web Server which is, apparently, a viable alternative to web hosting – yikes! Run for the hills! And while you are there, perhaps you can plant a few trees… courtesy of Streamline.Net. They got all green on us last month by
helping customers’ reduce carbon footprints and get a better night’s sleep. Certainly a good thing to do, but what on earth are DreamHost doing? Will them
blocking Googlebots on their customer’s sites cause the Google god to rise and cast blight on our digital landscape? Google, have mercy…
May was also a month when
Equentity launched a web hosting subsidiary,
Iconz bought Into Asia,
Verio redesigned its viaVerio.com site, and probably one of the most curious name changes I have ever come across, the respectably named
Frontier Power Hosting became simply “Fat Jack Hosting” – go figure. May also saw AIT award scholarships and
Easyspace launch a London data center.
Just like every month, web hosts upgraded their plans to keep ahead of the competition.
The Planet upgraded its network infrastructure,
Streamline.Net increased package resources, and
Aplus.Net unveiled their next phase in dedicated server upgrades. Likewise,
3FN enhanced dedicated server services,
BlueFur.com introduced an anti-phishing tool for Outlook,
WestHost upgraded its packages,
ABI Hosting offered a website builder, and
Exabytes Network upgraded its EBiz Gold hosting plan. In addition,
Domains-all.com added TippingPoint, and
Hostopia launched a site creation application.
Unlike other web hosts, rather than upgrading offerings, some brought in brand new plans and services. AIT offered Microsoft Hosted Exchange for the first time,
Nexpoint introduced Virtual Private Servers,
The Planet added enterprise-class storage to its private rack portfolio, and
Logicworks announced a managed JBoss hosting service. In addition,
Fasthosts launched new hosting plans, and
XO Communications Inc. offered customers a range of hosted applications.
Many hosts pinned their faith in promotions in May, and there were some pretty interesting ones.
Host Depot participated in Ensim's Pro X for Windows promotion,
PowWeb announced a special exchange hosting promotion, AIT doubled its bandwidth capacity, and
The Planet offered free server setup. In addition,
The Planet relied on ‘Peer Pressure’ to boost their fortunes,
CrystalTech Web Hosting announced a credit promotion, and
Headwind Host offered educational discounts.
Plenty of web hosts receiving awards in May.
UK2 won the hitwise UK top 10 award, the
President and CEO of Data Center Operator and Managed Services Company Peak 10, Inc. became a finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Carolinas region, the
CEO C I Host was named finalist in the 2007 Southwest Area Entrepreneur of the Year Program, and
Verio was named as a 2007 American Business Awards finalist. Down under,
Macquarie Telecom received ISO 27001.
Given the fast and furious pace of web hosting, there were plenty of people on the move in May.
Microsoft announced the appointment of Martha Béjar,
ServInt Internet Services appointed an executives team, Kate Craig-Wood was appointed to the
Intellect Board, and
Brenda Caudell joined web hosting provider Bayshore Solutions.
In the world of domains,
Free Rider Web Hosting offered cut-price .info domains,
123-reg offered 12 months’ free hosting with domain name transfer,
and Nicline offered .mobi domains. And a number of important milestones were met by hosts in May -
Jumpline.com celebrated 10 years in hosting and
SiteGround marked 100,000 domains hosted. In addition, there were plenty of partnerships, mergers and acquisitions.
IPOWER merged with a rival,
Memset appointed Momentous PR,
mobileStorm Inc. chose managed and dedicated hosting provider Layered Technologies, Inc. to enable SaaS offerings,
Easynet made Indicative a strategic supplier, and
NeoSpire partnered with DaimlerChrysler. In addition, Canada Web Hosting and Metafore partnered,
Easynet expanded its relationship with Level 3 across Europe, and
Fusepoint was selected by Org-Matters. On the acquisitions side,
AppServe Technologies acquired Sprocket Networks.
Let’s just hope June is equally as good!
