January saw lots of web hosting activity - certainly a great start to a New Year. Biggest news of course - well, for us it is anyway - HostSearch.com celebrated 10 years at the top! Kicking off in 1997, we are still going strong and still keeping ahead of the pack! At the same time Hostedtoday celebrated five years in the industry, as did 2Macs. It was also a month when Ciberlynx settled with SIIA for software issues, Aplus.Net announced a new lineup, the CEO of Globix resigned, and - now an annual event - Go Daddy releases details of its Super Bowl advertising!
As you might expect at the beginning of a year, a number of surveys emerged to give people a bit of direction in 2007. One looked at what hosting customers look for, another looked at local shoppers, while Affinity Internet released its 2006 eCommerce survey results. A few name changes in January, EV1 became Planet, MonsterHosting.ca became BluFur.com for legal reasons, and Righteous Software shifted brands.
Also announced in January, Jimmy Wales' suggested his wikiasari would compete with Google - like to have a ringside seat for that one! Layered Technologies was also kind enough to invite the web hosting industry to a summit in January, and a Los Angeles law office came up with pre-paid legal services for web hosting providers and Internet companies - whatever next!
January was also a month when Media Temple put a feather in its cap by hosting the record-breaking 'A gift from OfficeMax' campaign. A new version on DotNetNuke was announced in January, four Asian countries were reported as being malicious software hosts, and HostICan announced reseller hosting upgrades. To top it all Krystle Clear launched Lifetime Hosting.
As ever, plenty of companies trying to keep ahead of the curve by enhancing products and services. AIT increased resources, ProperHost.net announced unlimited hosting, MochaHost.com offered a new control panel, and site builder, NNY Hosting upgraded its plans, and Lunarpages offered storage space and bandwidth upgrades. In addition, Netazen enhanced offerings, and Got Web Host added high bandwidth plans.
Alongside enhancements, many companies simply provided new products and services in January. Verio announced a data backup plan aimed at small businesses, groupSPARK offered Microsoft SharePoint Services v3.0, Host Gator introduced a speed widget, XSI Hosting launched online services, and DataHosts introduced its 'SafeServer' remote backup solution. In addition, Global Internet Services, Inc. launched Mac Mini dedicated server plans, AIT launched instant businesses portals, Media Temple introduced Dedicated-Virtual 3.0, and Hostbreak announced dedicated managed servers while UnitSpeed Host offered a global monitoring service and CrystalTech announced support for ASP.NET AJAX 1.0.
Of course, to pull the customers in, plenty of offers and promotions announced. Gearworx extended its money back guarantee, 1& 1 offered special discounts, and DemoWolf offered free DemoSuite.
Plenty of companies buying themselves belated Christmas presents in January - Group NBT acquired Ascio Technologies, Web Drive acquired Openhost, DigitalRacks acquired DCB, HostedToday purchases BigHostCompany.com, and Sitestar acquired Magnolia Internet Services - phew! Awards announced in January included Go Daddy who received a 5-star rating and Yahoo! Web Hosting who won a web hosting award.
In the world of domains, Purohits.com met its 1,500 names milestone and NetNames announced it would to protect Unilever brands. It seemed that 2006 was OK for many people - VeriCenter, Inc. increased annual revenues by 26%, Sonasoft announced 2006 results, as did midPhase. In addition, MyDomain.com offered a 'Happy Hour', , and Pipe Ten offered '.eu' domain discounts and '.mobi' domains.
Likewise plenty of partnerships kicking off in January - Grafdom became a Microsoft Windows Embedded partner, DigitalRacks partnered with Tufat, and Terremark's Managed Hosting subsidiary announced it was to host internal systems for Sandd. Unfortunately, Go Daddy and Shine Advertising parted company.
See what I mean? Let's hope February offers as much!
