Heading towards the holiday season, there was plenty going on in the world of web hosting in November. It was announced that with only a meager 18,000 sites gracing the web in August of 1995, the Internet now features 100 million.
Trying to keep these site's customers safe, Go Daddy reportred it is was ahead of the SSL curve and Intermedia.NET discussed what fuels the fire - 84% of IT professionals work Thanksgiving said their servey which also suggested IT people are more likely to be called into the office for an emergency than the boss!
One of the big events in November was ISPCON 2006, where 3Tera, Verio, and SWsoft all played their role. November also saw the launch of the curiously titled 'No Web Host Left Behind' campaign - has George W. got into hosting? It was also a month a DDoS solutions provider was "wrongly accused of hosting a gambling website" and one question on everyone's lips was YouTube or UTube? Tier1 Research released a report analysing the "mass-market" web hosting sector in November, and HostSearch was forced to issue a clarification of its artwork usage policy. On very a serious note, November also saw EarthLink's President take medical leave after being diagnosed with cancer - we wish him well and a speedy recovery.
Financials looked pretty good in November; Sitestar reported third quarter results and Hostopia reported second quarter financials (?) - both pretty good it seems. In a bid to generate even more money, a number of hosts initiated affiliate programs including WebHostingBuzz.com, Hostaga, and the marketing arm of 3FN. As ever, plenty of web hosts enhanced their packages to stay ahead of things... The Planet-EV1Servers enhanced their systems, while Easy CGI upgraded Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL and PHP,
Simplify Hosting expanded services, STRATO added online backup tools, Cheapville made text messaging easier, HostIgnition added a private JVM option to four hosting plans and HostedToday added a free website builder tool.
Plenty of hosts announced new options in November... My Spot Online launched "all-in-one" plans, Layered Technologies launched a utility computing server grid,
TheFamilyBusinessOnline.com launched a website building solution project for small businesses, Zen Internet announced the launch of Zen Office 8000, and
RackForce announced its 5100 series server.
November was also a time of plenty of acquisitions - DataPipe acquired a San Jose data center, Ckrush Digital Media announced it would acquire TriSoft Media, Inc., and
Traverse Global Communications acquired VirgoHost. Of course to keep ahead of the game you can't be stagnant, so hosts came up with new plans and technologies for offer -
Tucows releases a new Platypus version, and SCPanel added features to its SHOUTcast hosting control panel, Of course coming up to the holiday period there were lots of promotions - Go Daddy offered online gift cards, AIT offered a Veterans Day special, a dedicated hosting promotion, and a holiday promotion,
MochaHost.com announced holiday promotions, Web.com announced a free Microsoft Exchange trial, ResellerClub announced Value Hosting, and
SiteGround launched a $3,500,000 Christmas Giveaway (not bad all things considered).
Plenty of awards in November - Inc. magazine selected AISO.Net as one of the top 50 green companies, Digital River's BlueHornet Networks won ClickZ Marketing Excellence award, Applied Innovations got Microsoft Gold, Hostopia got into North America's 2006 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and the Webby Awards decided to include dotMobi sites. On the domain front, Go Daddy registered a third of .MOBI domain names,
Budget Hosting 4 U offered new domain manager features, IdigitalNet Inc. offered an introductory price for .MN and .BZ domains, David's Domains offered a .MOBI-enabled web site builder, as did Hostway. Most intriguing of all, Microsoft became an ICANN approved domain registrar - curiouser and curiouser! Good news that plenty of people kept up the good fight against viruses, spam and other bad things - VariLogiX upgraded its FraudCall Fraud Prevention software, Canadianwebhosting.com offered email protection, and Rackspace Managed Hosting chose AppRiver SecureTide virus and spam filtering.
There seemed to be a lot of people on the move in November - Isabel Wang joined 3Tera's advisory board, Register.com announced a new CEO, the
world's second-largest web hosting provider announced a new Vice President of Engineering, Lanham Napier was named Rackspace's Chief Executive Officer,
Web1000.com's parent body Web2Corp engaged a new Communications Director, and Robert McCabe Jr joined Goldleaf as Chairman of the Board. In addition, there were also partnerships a plenty... DemoWolf partnered with ResellerZoom, Fasthosts and Sedo joined forces, Web.com partnered with LegalZoom.com, KnownHost LLC partnered with Hyperspin, MailBigFile partnered Rackspace, Doreo Hosting partnered with Righteous Software, StreamlineNet partnered with Electric Studio,
Verio and Doba formed a referral partnership, Fusepoint Managed Services Inc. announced an agreement with Maax, Internet Group (iG) selected Comodo's control panel solution, Future Hosting announced an SWsoft Partnership and Cobweb Solutions and USA.NET partnered to deliver next generation messaging services.
All in all another cracker! Can't wait for December...
