August was another splendid month for web hosting. Here at HostSearch we managed to grab Paul Hirsch, President of the AIHSP Founding Committee for an interview, and later in the month the new organization started activity in earnest with a request for industry professionals to join five advisory subcommittees. Great to see this happening -- a genuine web hosting body! We'll keep you posted how events unfold.
Big news in August was of course the Rackspace Initial Public Offering, which unfortunately didn't go exactly to plan -- perhaps a lesson there as to why IT companies have stayed out of the stock market over the last several months... In the 'extreme hosting' category in August, the MD of the UK's Memset decided to "jump Everest" in a bid to "make more people aware of the issues facing women in IT". That's certainly one way of doing it! Amazing!
Of course, August had the usual round of surveys. One in particular got our notice... A survey by 1&1 Internet suggested Americans are the most "web-friendly", being the most likely to make a friend online. Brits, apparently, were the least likely to make a friend online... Now there's a surprise! Another survey suggested that resellers might be missing opportunities offered by social networking. Probably true of everyone -- Web 2.0 is becoming the biggest sales convention on the planet and it's difficult to maximize the opportunities it is offering. Also in August, a sniff of a rumor that Google was setting up a venture capital arm. And why not? No point having that kind of cash just sitting in the bank! In fact, I have an idea for a successful Web 2.0 application. I wonder if Google would give me some money! Dream on....
More in August's 'general' news category, IT and Internet solutions provider Spiderhost brought a "hurricane insurance" site online - probably timely given current events - and a report came out that Internet companies must police the 'dark side' on the web. A dirty job, but someone has to do it! Also in August, a triumphant return to C I Host for Erin Bullock and a triumphant return to the racing track for Go Daddy with both Ron Fellows and Dale Earnhardt Jr. lending their skills to the Go Daddy cause.
Good to see so many web hosts getting awards in August... HostGator came in 21st in Inc 5000 list and Hivelocity made the list once again. In addition, Newtek Technology Services' data center operator, i/o Data Centers, completed the SAS 70 Type II Audit, which certainly not everyone does. In addition, Intermedia became a Gold Member of the MSP Partner Alliance and Terremark became a certified SAP hosting partner. Excellent also to see that the green machine continues marching onwards... Hostivia went 'green' to minimize its impact on the environment, WWF-UK chose a green web host, and RichardsoNEyres offered data centers a 'green' action plan. The cloud also got bigger in August... AT&T launched a global 'next-generation' utility computing service, while Telco AT&T offered "Synaptic Hosting" -- sounds curious to say the least!
Some hosts expanded in August, notably iomart, who opened a new data center facility. In addition, plenty of activity in the world of domains. Easyspace launched the .ASIA domain name extension, AIT's domain arm offered a range of discounts, and the .ME extension crossed the 100,000 milestone. And as ever, August saw a very decent round of acquisitions. Momentum Advanced Solutions Inc. acquired the IT hosting division of BroadSpire, Inc., Scottish software and Internet services provider iomart bought web hosting company Easyspace, MYOB acquired SmartyHost and UnitSpeed Host transferred VoIP activities to GismoTel.
A veritable plethora of partnerships reported in August... LinMin^(TM) joined the Intel Certified Software Solutions Program, WpWeb joined the R1Soft Hosting Partner Program to offer Continuous Data Protection, likewise Data102, Webhost.uk.net and TheVisionWorld.com partnered, HostingPanama was named a Parallels Gold Service Provider Partner, and SingleHop announced it would provide infrastructure and managed services to Sphere Web Hosting. In addition, Brazil's Atitude Digital Media selected The Planet's managed hosting services, DiscountASP.NET partnered with Richer Components, and dotMobi landed a key licensing agreement for its leading mobile device database.
Of course, as ever, there were promotions galore in August... The Planet offered Celeron and Dual Xeon discounts, and reduced its backup storage space prices, British host 123-reg offered cut-price hosting, and Webeden.co.uk gave customers free AdWords vouchers. In addition, a search engine marketing consultancy offered free managed web hosting, DemoDemo resumed its 3-for-1 offer, Aplus.Net offered up to 40% discount on selected dedicated servers, Fasthosts Internet offered one month free on MS dedicated servers, and The Planet offered server discounts. In addition, MochaHost.com offered unlimited sites and bandwidth, and Rackspace upgraded its cloud computing product.
In addition, masses of web hosts offered enhanced products and services to keep ahead of the competition. Go Daddy offered unlimited email storage, Cirrus Tech updated dedicated hosting offerings, Fpweb.net updated its brand name, logo and website, while Canadian host Cirrus Tech upgraded its Windows and Linux Virtual Private Server offerings with 2 new plans. In addition, Vision Help Desk broke the language barrier with a new "multi-language" feature, and R1Soft released Windows 2.0 Continuous Data Protection Software.
Of course, as with every month, there was an avalanche of new products and services introduced. These included ProperHost.net, who launched Magento optimized web hosting,
Nooruu, who launched a global hosting platform, Cirrus Tech, who offered Windows Server 2008 on dedicated servers, and Host Color, who launched a new corporate website. In addition, SeeksAdmin introduced outsourced United States-based technical support and server management, SSA host introduced high-end dedicated servers for businesses, Cirtex unveiled an exclusive Video Script Installer^(TM) (VSI), Kentico Software offered a free CMS for ASP.NET hosting providers, HostMySite.com offered Hyper-V virtualization, DiscountASP.NET offered US and UK SQL 2008 hosting, Fpweb.net offered new hosting plans and pricing, Got Web Host launched SEO and a demo player, and Packet Island Inc. released a new SaaS-based on-demand converged network monitoring and diagnostics solution -- good for them!
All in all, I think you will agree -- another massive month for web hosting... Let's hope September is as big, or even bigger...
