March 14, 2008 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – Web hosting is under pressure and facing rapid transformation, says a report produced by New York-based Tier1 Research (http://www.t1r.com), an “independent research firm that analyzes the financial and industry implications of developments affecting public and private companies within the hosting, IT, communications and Internet sectors”.
Tier1’s 62-page research report, entitled 'Mass Market Quarterly Series: Spring 2008 Review', focuses on “mass-market hosting sector” which, it says, is being changed by the “proliferation of wireless and broadband access, web-enabled mobile devices, and the movement of personal and business lives to an online environment”. These have driven a range of online services that form a “new layer of value that hosters are fighting to deliver to their customers”.
"The transformation under way has forced hosters to reconsider old concepts, explore new opportunities and change the way they traditionally do business," explained T1R’s Senior Analyst, Mr. Philbert Shih. "But it has also opened the door to increased competition as the likes of Google, Microsoft and others look to target the mass market for various types of web-based services, of which web hosting is just one, albeit an important piece."
While shared and dedicated hosting have traditionally made up the bulk of the mass-market hosting sector, technologies such as virtualization and computing services such as those provided by Amazon represent a major challenge to their superiority. Likewise, social networks and “functional hosting services” are taking up market share that previously has been the realm of web hosting providers. Google, the report suggests, represents a major threat as it builds out services that will “make it a formidable challenger to the hosting sector”.
To establish their report, Tier1 considered 30 key public and private companies including 1&1, Amazon, Aplus.Net, Apptix, Arsys, Endurance International, eNom (Demand Media), Go Daddy, Google, Group NBT, Homestead, Hostopia, Hostway, Intuit, Mamut, MelbourneIT, Microsoft, NaviSite, Network Solutions, Newtek, OVH, Parallels/SWsoft, Peer 1, Pipex, Rackspace, Register.It, SoftLayer, Strato, The Planet, Tucows, Verio, Web.com, Website Pros and Yahoo.
