Even with a global recession kicking in and a US Presidential election just round the corner, October was still a good month for web hosting. Google's Eric Schmidt endorsed Barack Obama for the US Presidency, and promised to continue his efforts supporting the presidential hopeful. It might sound a bit apocalyptic, but can anyone else envisage a time when corporate logos actually replace the symbols of political parties (Google V Microsoft?). Even if they aren't ready to run a whole nation yet, I could see mega-corporations running state-sized economies. With that in mind, the biggest news in October was of course Microsoft's venture into the Cloud with the launch of "Azure" at the Professional Developer Conference (PDC) in Los Angeles. Microsoft also announced that the next version of Office (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) will allow documents to be edited online via web browser and mobile. Looks to me like Microsoft are changing direction from software solution provider to end user service provider. Exactly where that is going to leave the web hosts who once filled that gap by providing services to end users using Microsoft software, only time will tell. I suppose it was inevitable, but for a number of web hosts, alarm bells might well be ringing.
Good to see plenty of web hosts winning awards and achieving various things in October. INetU gained EU Safe Harbor Certification in October, while Memset became a British Computer Society 2008 Awards finalist, and was then awarded best web host for the third year running. UK2.net on the other hand celebrated ten years in the business while 34SP.com celebrated 8 years. The were also a few people on the move in October, including Rod Siemers, who joined Aplus.Net as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and Tom Brauch who joined Fpweb.net as President. It was also nice to see that the momentum for green hosting continuing last month. EZPZ Hosting offered carbon negative, planet positive' web hosting services, HostGator went green, and 1&1 supported rnewable energy for its US data center. And as with any month, companies offered discounts and promotions to get ahead of the curve. Being October, Host Color offered a Halloween promotion, while Infrenion.com reduced dedicated server prices, The Planet announced a "Bargain Bin" availability, and offered discounts on dedicated private racks, and the Christian Web Hosting Company gave away over $1,700 of web design and hosting services.
October was also a time for financial facts and figures. Google reported its third quarter results, as did The Planet. In addition, the financial front saw The Planet secure a $45 million credit facility. That should be enough to weather any economic storm. However, most companies are keeping ahead of the pack by enhancing their products and services, while others are bringing in new offers. The 'enhancers' in October included The Planet who expanded their network, Aplus.net who launched a new customer community website, AIT who launched an email marketing and anti-spam solution, and 3FN who increased dedicated server uptime. In addition, A2 Hosting added Xen VPS, PlusNet upgraded its web hosting platform, HostV added a full data backup for Virtual Private Servers, HostGator upgraded shared plans to offered unlimited space and bandwidth, and Go Daddy enhanced services based on customer input. Likewise SingleHop completed a $100,000 memory upgrade project and DiscountASP.NET enhanced security with new FTP management tools on their Windows 2008 hosting platform. Of those who provided new products and services, ReliableSite.Net LLC introduced semi-dedicated clustered hosting, Host Color launched a custom blog service, Cirrus Tech announced managed hosting with R1Soft Continuous Data Protection, The Planet launched Alpha Managed Backup, and The Planet announced shared load balancing for Virtual Racks. In addition, Mondoo announced it would launch low-cost web hosting and Virtual Private Servers based on Parallels Virtuozzo Containers and Parallels Automation, Go Daddy launched SmartSpace, Re-invent Technologies launched Windows 2008 hosting (and celebrated 10 years in hosting), SAVVIS announced it would offer SaaS hosting, and RackForce launched DDS-V based on Microsoft Hyper-V.
For some reason October offered a glut of surveys and reports. A Rackspace survey predicted a significant rise in hosting services, Hosting.com released a colocation industry trends report, a Hostway survey suggested virtualization has increased Software-as-a-Service, and a Microsoft study showed growing demand for Software as a Service amongst small businesses. However, showing just what a vibrant industry web hosting really is right now, there was plenty of acquisition and meager activity in October. HostDime entered the Colombian hosting market with an acquisition of GrupoDW, RSDV announced it would acquire web host AptHost.com, the Audax group sold Endurance, Chesley Consulting acquired ICTNS' web hosting, Namecheap acquired PeopleHost, and Dotable.com announced it would join the UK-2 Group. In addition, an overabundance of web hosts gaining contracts and making partnerships indicated just how healthy the industry is. RCI Financial Services Limited signed a three year hosting contract with Attenda, Open-Xchange and Funambol partnered on mobile email and PIM Sync, Future Hosting partnered with Pingdom to offer proactive server monitoring, Inmagic chose SAVVIS for social knowledge network hosting, hosted Microsoft Exchange services provider Cobweb announced it would provide email and Internet access to 140 Belvoir Lettings Offices in UK, Wigadoo selected DediPower for managed hosting and GoDaddy offered Exchange services in partnership with Microsoft. October was also a month when web hosts opened new facilities - Peak 10 announced its Cincinnati facility would opens in 60 days and Gazzin.com relocated to a new datacenter.
All in all, given the current situation, not a bad month for web hosting at all! Let's hope November is even better! |
Partners
