October saw a number of major initiatives and events both in web hosting and technology areas in general. On the global front, October was the month NASA and Google signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) covering technology-focused research-and-development activities. This drove intense speculation as to just what exactly Google was planning! October also saw SCPanel.net launch a new hosting control panel that allows web hosts to setup and manage SHOUTcast radio servers alongside Comodo's 'Universal' H-Sphere control panel.
There was also a lot of Domain Name activity this month. There was a limited launch of ‘.travel’ domain extensions , Singaporen Web Hosting Company 8 to Infinity offering free ‘.CN’ domains and Indiana-based web hosting provider ‘ePlanet Unlimited’ offering ‘.CN’ domains free domain names alongside free business cards. GoDaddy.com, with 10 million domains in its portfolio announced the introduction of a Domain Appraisal service, ‘The Domain Name Aftermarket’- a new Internet auction site for domains, and the introduction of ‘AccountExec’- a new domain management system available free of charge to its customers. Host Color LLC also announced offered free .CA and .US extensions to customers, while Israeli ICANN accredited registrar Domain The Net announced the pre-registration for domain names with the ‘.EU’ extension.
A number of companies upgraded their hosting plans in October including Brinkster who upgraded Windows and Linux web hosting plans, and San Francisco Web hosting provider Hostito. Other hosts added value to their offerings including Aplus.Net who introduced ‘The Media Wiki’ to its customer service range, and the
CM4all Web siteCreator online web site design tool.
One of the key promotions for the month of October included Advanced Internet Technologies (AIT) who offered Dedicated Servers at $39 and a series. There were a number of seasonal promotions with ‘Halloween’ specials including that of California-based MochaHost.com. Other promotions included NetPublishHost who announced that they were celebrating their anniversary by offering 3 months free web hosting for new customers.
