October! What a month! We launched a new sister site to HostSearch - TheWebHostBiz.com - a one-stop resource for the web hosting industry. Check it out -- not the usual faire. This time it is strictly for web hosts and not end users! October also saw Go Daddy in the news, this time unleashing its latest Go Daddy Girl and announcing her as the "Sexiest Athlete in the World"... Hmmm... not so sure -- get Anna Kournikova on board and I will DEFINITELY sign up for a domain account.
Of course, the big news was out of hosting, but also had implications for the industry. MySpace partnered with Skype to offer a call service and Microsoft took a 1.6% stake in Facebook. It just makes you wonder how long it will be before such sites turn into massive business directories! Whatever happens, they will continue to take a chunk out of hosting.
The impact of YouTube and similar sites on copyright infringement was also thrashed out in October. Media companies came together to support guidelines aimed at controlling copyright-protected videos on the Internet. Adobe underscored the trend of throwing everything on somebody else's server with its purchase of Buzzword and ATT flexed its muscles by expanding its European Internet data centers to increase web hosting operations.
October was pink! At least it was for FatCow Web Hosting who participated in the "Pink for October Program" to bring attention to breast cancer. Also on a charity note, Stealth - ISS Inc. announced it was giving free web hosting to military support organizations, commands and families honoring soldiers. Good to see such initiatives! On another note though, not even the Terminator could stop Federal officials disrupting California's "ca.gov" web network. In addition, Supanet Hosting conducted a survey that suggested tutorials and prices are key to gaining web hosting customers. Prices, eh? There you go....
Quite a few people on the move in October - Melissa Best joined Hosted Solutions as Senior Account Executive, and Aplus.Net elevated management staff to executive roles. Lots of awards received and milestones achieved in October, too. DataPipe received a job creation award, The Planet was named in Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 List for Texas, Peak 10 were announced a 2007 NCTA 21 awards finalist, and Port City Web was announced MITX awards finalist for 'Online Commerce'. In addition, Arsys Internet reached its 500,000 domains milestone. Quite a few companies growing their premises and opening new premises in October as well... SAVVIS responded to strong customer demand with new data centers in Boston and Chicago, and iWeb announced it would open a colocation data center in Montreal.
Plenty of partnerships emerging in October as well as acquisitions and new contracts won. Hosted Solutions was chosen for a multi-year colocation and managed services deal, Enterhost partnered with SmarterTools, UK-2 Group acquired Stargate Holdings' customers, and Forbes.com extended AT&T's web hosting contract. In addition, Macquarie Hosting signed a three-year deal with truelocal.com.au, 1&1 partnered with Funambol to offer BlackBerry-like services, UK2 and Comodo partnered on free SSLs, Oddcast.com and Easy CGI partnered on SitePal, GNi was selected by BigWorld as a global hosting partner, AxisHOST acquired BuyAVPS, Rackspace bought Webmail.us and FrontPages Web Hosting Network partnered with PixelMill on SharePoint hosting and design.
Plenty of activity in the world of domains in October, too. GoDaddy.com offered live domain name auctions alongside .ASIA domains, and Free Rider Web Hosting offered free private registration for certain customers.
As ever, zillions of hosts launched new products in October. Cirrus Tech introduced ecommerce shopping cart applications, eUKhost launched a new 100% uptime business hosting plan, Fastnext launched a new EasyStart Plan, and Cirrus Tech introduced plans for its dedicated server offerings. In addition, Verio took a new direction with on-demand software services for SMBs and mid-market companies, Triple Fiber Networks announced dedicated plans, JAlbum offered free photo album hosting, Simply Mail Solutions launched advanced web hosting services to resellers and ServerPoint announced it was to offer new VPS services.
There were, of course, plenty of promotions in October! MochaHost.com announced a Halloween promotion, ResellerChoice offered low-cost managed dedicated Windows servers, The Planet launched its triple play promotion, MyDomain launched its "Website for $1.00" promotion, and OLM, LLC launched ServerADay.com. In addition, many hosts enhanced their products to stay ahead of the curve. Layered Technologies leveraged 3Tera's AppLogic to offer grid-based private servers and web hosting, Flexihostings.net.au doubled shared hosting plan resources, WebHostingBuzz enhanced reseller plans, Got Web Host offered SEO hosting with dedicated IPs, CWCS managed hosting upgraded its starter plan, and Crucial Paradigm upgraded reseller plans and introduced value-adds. In addition, Host Gator added WHMCS billing software to reseller and dedicated hosting accounts, 3FN enhanced features, SiteGround introduced the newest cPanel theme and Joomla 1.5, Cartika Hosting added Microsoft SharePoint to reseller hosting, and Hostland offered a unique approach to resellers.
A pretty solid month for web hosting October -- here's to November being just as good!
