Web Hosting

Verio Named Top Web Hosting Solutions Provider

Verio, a subsidiary of NTT Communications and a leader in global IP solutions, today announced that it has been recognized by industry organizations in several categories for its hosting solutions, including the top dedicated hosting and top e-commerce solutions by Web Host Directory, a vendor-neutral website that enables businesses to research and compare hosting offerings.

Web Host Directory presents monthly awards to Web hosting providers in each of several categories. Verio was ranked No. 1 through a tabulation of votes received from site visitors, as well as from the site's Review Board, which evaluates candidates in performance, cost, features, support, reliability and speed. The site noted Verio’s global reach and array of services, including managed hosting solutions, security and backup services, as well as monitoring and maintenance.

In addition to being named as the top provider in both categories, Verio was twice named the top shared hosting provider in recent months and was also ranked by Netcraft as one of the most reliable web host sites during February.

"Verio will continue to invest in its solutions offerings as well as our service delivery and support, to deliver the most business value to our customers," said David Chao, vice president of product management for Verio. "The recognition we have received from Web Host Directory, customers and other industry organizations is validation that these investments have not gone unnoticed, and demonstrates our continued commitment to ensure we are to delivering the best experience possible for our customers."

Verio also garnered recognition from other leading industry sites for its superior hosting services, including InternetTechnology’s TheWorldJournal.com, and HostIndex.com. These sites recognized Verio for its business hosting and called Verio a "leader in the field," citing Verio as "one of the most trusted and reliable companies serving hosting customers."

Lunarpages Offers Tsunami Site Hosting

January 6, 2005 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Shared Web hosting provider Lunarpages (lunarpages.com) announced on Wednesday it will offer free Web hosting to anyone wishing to support the tsunami relief effort through the development of a Web site for fundraising, communication, or general awareness.

"During a time when online communications via Web logs, donation Web sites and informational Web pages are essential means by which we deal with crisis, donating Web space to support a cause of such epic proportion is the least we can do," says Ron Riddle, CEO and co-founder of Lunarpages. "We hope that some good will come as a result of our small contribution."

To developers who sign up for the program, Lunarpages will provide 1Gb of Web space, unlimited email addresses and 40Gb of data transfer along with toll-free telephone and email support.

CNET's Most Popular Web Hosts

The Internet Services Most Popular List ranks hosting providers based on how many visits per week they get from CNET:

1 Aplus.net
$5.95 Web Hosting – Free Domain – 24x7 Live Support

2 iPowerWeb
Introducing $7.95 Hosting, Free Setup and $100 Marketing Rebate

3 Hostway

4 OLM

5 Rackspace Managed Hosting

IDC Ranks Verio Among Largest Web Hosting Providers

IDC predicts the U.S. Web hosting services market will grow to $6.1 billion in 2004 - up 10.6 percent from $5.5 billion in 2003 - and will increase to $10.4 billion by 2008.

ENGLEWOOD, CO, October 12, 2004 - (HostReview.com) - Verio, a subsidiary of NTT Communications Corporation and a leading provider of global IP solutions, today announced that its PowerPlatform Hosting framework was awarded the 2004 Innovation Award from Technology Marketing Corporation's (TMC®) TMC Labs. The TMC Labs Innovation Awards honor products and solutions that demonstrate innovation, unique features and significant contributions toward improving technology. Of the hundreds of products reviewed and considered for the award by the judging panel, only a select few were chosen as winners.

TMC judges recognized PowerPlatform for its modular nature, making it suitable for both mid-market and higher-end customers, as well as for some more basic dedicated hosting customer needs. Additionally, TMC Labs noted the solution's wrap-around service level agreements; tiered support and enhanced services, such as monitoring and reporting, managed security and storage solutions; and Verio's PowerPortal, for customer insight into a solution's health.

"TMC is proud to present the 2004 Innovation Award to Verio's PowerPlatform Hosting solutions. The award reiterates Verio's leadership status in the North American Web hosting and service provider market," said TMC President Rich Tehrani. "The award also recognizes that Verio provides customers the best possible offerings to grow their businesses and to prepare for the next generation of hosting."

Verio was also recently recognized by International Data Corporation (IDC), for its ranking as the sixth largest hosting services provider in the U.S. According to a recent report from IDC, Verio's strong position in the hosting market is attributed to more small, midsize and large enterprises relying on the company's wide range of services, award-winning customer service and network reliability that set it part from other Web hosting companies in the market.

Free Web Hosting vs. Paid Web Hosting

Publish.com recently posted an article on free web hosting vs. paid web hosting. They noted the following reasons not to run with free web hosting for your business endeavors:

You would be better served to choose a paid-hosting provider. And here are some reasons why:

If your site goes down, you will need 24/7 customer support to get it back up to speed as quickly as possible. Most free hosting providers do not have 24/7 customer support, unless you pay for it as an additional service.

If your site is graphics-heavy and you decide you want to put up some MP3’s, your likelihood of finding a free host who can support those Web site files without passing the cost on to you is slim. Free hosting is not synonymous with “unlimited space.” Note: Most free host providers charge for upgrades as another revenue source.

Free hosting may mean your data is not backed up in a timely fashion, or not backed up at all. With paid hosting, even at the lowest economical level, there is a higher level of support and reliability.

Free hosting means banner ads, unless you want to pay a fee for no banner ads.

Free hosting generally means a bare bones Web site offering, with little or no room for traffic, growth, graphics, database, customer acquisition and product offerings via your site.

Free hosting generally does not include an 800 number to call if there is a problem with your site. If your site is down, and it’s anything other than a ‘hobby’ site, remember “time is money.”

If you’re a newbie on the Internet and you just simply want a very simple site to showcase your poodle, your poetry or your collection of fake cactus; or if you’re a family who wants to keep in touch with other loved ones via the Net, then free hosting might be the best way to do that.

1&1 Web Hosting Upgrades Shared Hosting

1&1 announced upgrades to their shared web hosting packagings - making the service an even more compelling web host:

Free Increases to Bandwidths, Web Space and E-Mail Allowances Give Users 'Harder Working Web Sites'

PHILADELPHIA, PA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 09/15/2004 -- 1&1 Internet, Inc. has strengthened the key features of its Linux and Microsoft shared hosting packages by more than tripling the bandwith, doubling the Web space and adding up to four times the available e-mail accounts -- all at no charge to new or existing customers.

Effective today, 1&1's Home Packages will offer 1,000 MB of web space, up from 500 MB; 200 POP accounts, up from 50; and 25 GB of bandwith, up from 5 GB. The company's Business Packages will include 2,000 MB of web space, up from 1,000 MB; 500 POP accounts, increased from 150; and 50 GB of bandwith, which has more than tripled from 15 GB. Finally, 1&1's Developer Package now offers 4,000 MB of web space, up from 2,000 MB; 1,000 POP accounts, up from 300; and 100 GB of bandwith, an increase from 30GB.

1&1 has implemented the package upgrades to provide customers with additional resources for optimizing their web presence. The increases in bandwith and web space will allow faster connectivity and the capacity to accommodate more site traffic, graphics and other large files. The added POP accounts equip users with the ability to meet ever-expanding email requirements. The boosted features will be added automatically to existing customer packages, while new users will receive them upon signing up.

"These new features will enable our customers to benefit from a harder working website," said Andreas Gauger, 1&1's chairman of the board. "The free enhancements are a further sign of 1&1's commitment to providing adaptable, innovative products at the most competitive prices."

The world's largest Web hosting provider by known servers, 1&1 currently maintains over 3 million customer contracts and has registered some 4.4 million domain names. The company operates four highly-secure data centers that process monthly over 700 Terabyte hosting traffic and more than 850 million emails whilst housing 25,000 servers.

In August, Web Host Directory named 1&1 its Number One Unix Web Hosting Provider. In July, 1&1 was named a Top 5 Host in HostIndex's Top 25 Web Host Rankings.

Web Hosting News: C I Host Will Open San Jose Data Center in Silicon Valley

Industry News:

California Center Expands North American Colocation Foothold

C I Host, a global leader in Web hosting and Internet solutions, will open its fourth data center, a 10,000 square foot facility in San Jose, Calif., in November. The center will further extend the company's foothold in the North American colocation market.

"Many of our customers house their equipment in at least two of our data centers for redundancy and geographic content distribution," said Christopher Faulkner, CEO of C I Host. "We have received hundreds of requests for a Silicon Valley location and we are happy to be able to provide it."

Housing equipment and serving data at different locations around the globe is important for companies who have customers in several locations. The closer the server is to the customer the more quickly the web page will load and the more likely the customer will stay on line -- an important consideration in eCommerce.

Acquisitions Still Occuring in Web Hosting Space

Iomart nets web hosting company

IOMART, the Scottish software and internet services company, today added 140,000 new customers after snapping up web hosting firm Easyspace for £12 million.

The Scots company said the acquisition - being funded by a share placing and cash - would "significantly enhance the scale and profitability" of its internet business.

The transaction comes on the back of similar deals involving internet services firms Internetters and Nicnames which have now been integrated into the same division and are already "performing ahead of budget".

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