Welcome to May’s industry news in review... Interesting month May... Globat were at it again, this time
sponsoring a hamburger trip and
buying advertising space on a man’s neck ... Where will it end? Why don’t they sponsor a bank robbery or something and just get it over with? Or they could just
sponsor students from developing countries like CHIhost.com... they will be providing students with free hosting packages... good call I say! Also in May,
110 Media Group clocked up 500,000 clients,
Packt publishing released a book on cPanel, and Yahoo! showed its human face. In addition, pressure from high places meant that the
controversial.xxx” domain extensions were scrapped.
May was also a month where
Canadian web hosting enjoyed a higher profile and
!HostSearch.com reaffirmed our commitment to stopping fraudulent reviews appearing on our site... easier said than done, believe you me! There were also a few celebrations in May;
Downtown Host celebrated its 5th year and AIT celebrated 10 years in the business by launching a new dealership. As ever, May saw hosts enhancing the resources available through their packages, but there were fewer promising the world, which is, of course, a good thing.
VoxDomains.com announced a range of improvements, as did
Host Depot, and
Web Host Department.
SiteGround also increased features while
UpStream Networks announced ‘Unmetered Live Streaming’ and
CyberHive, amongst others, launched support for websites built using Ruby on Rails.
A number of hosts also launched a number of additional options -
InetServices announced managed options,
Web Hosting Express announced free website hosting accounts,
Spoonlabs launched phpWordPress Version 3.2 and
Hostway launched Hosted Exchange. In addition
DomainRightNow added Web-Based Email 4.0. Something a bit different...
Verio offered a Podcasting tool to enable small business hosting customers to benefit from this technology, while
Aplus.Net enhanced customers’ web security and
Host Color added a chat facility.
There were of course the usual round of promotions in May... BlueModus donated
web solutions to Denver’s Catholic charities,
HostingOption.com also kicked off a promotion and
RackFirm Inc. offered "My Server Gives Me Money!" – interesting title! There were also competitions with Boom'n Web Services offering a draw for signups who could win
an iPOD Powerpak valued at over $900. In addition, a number of web hosts gained awards in May -
DiscountASP.NET received awards from readers of asp.netPRO Magazine,
Netcraft gave IPOWER a high rating, and
DiscountASP.NET attained Gold Certified partner status with Microsoft.
Plenty of activity in the dedicated arena in May,
EIRCA Internet Solutions announced a suite of reseller and dedicated server options,
The IceStorm Network offered fully managed Dell dedicated servers and Virtuozzo enabled VPS, while
VeriCenter, Inc. announced the launch of a range of dedicated server options targeting small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
!RackForce also announced lower prices on unmetered dedicated server bandwidth. In the domain arena,
BulkRegister gave a sneak peek at ‘The Next Level of Domain Management”, !
ResellerClub offered .ORG domains for $1.49,
Host Color offered ‘.EU” domains, and
dotWORLDS offered free customized domain names.
People on the move in May included
Think Partnership who launched Hong Kong offices and
ColoServe who expanded its data center in downtown San Francisco. May also saw a number of acquisitions...
The Planet and EV1 merged,
United Internet acquired British web hosting provider Fasthosts, and
Web.com acquired WebSource Media. There were also announcements of key partnerships in May, with
Hosted Solutions inking a deal with Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Template Monster partnering with Hostgator, and odd couple
Google putting software on Dell computers. Intermedia.NET also added a new CEO and new vice presidents to its ranks.
As far as those fighting spam, etc. is concerned, May saw
Comodo offer a free anti-virus solution and we heard the alarming news that a
spammer was intimidating members of the Blue Community. On the SEO front,
Hostway webcasts offered advice on leveraging search engine marketing,
Centrica Hosting offered SEO services, and
Aplus assisted businesses with search engine marketing.
Not a vintage web hosting month May, but a robust one with a heady nose and a strong, fruity aftertaste. Let’s look forward to more to come in June!
