Web Hosting Talk

Web Hosting Industry Survey Covers Resellers, Social Networking

Dedicated Servers, Reseller Web Hosting News — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:39:03 EST

Toronto, Canada - (The Hosting News) - September 5, 2008 - The results of an industry survey, conducted by Tucows Inc.'s reseller services group, OpenSRS at the HostingCon 2008 conference in Chicago last month, have been released.

Survey findings revealed resellers of email and domain names are missing significant business opportunities to tap into social network users. Of the respondents, 60% have their own blog or personal website, and nearly three-fourths use social networks like Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and FriendFeed to share information with friends and family.

Ken Schafer, Vice President of Product Management and Marketing for Tucows noted, ''While the web hosting industry does not view social networks as a threat to its business, people are going to functional-hosts for services that allow them to share information online. This demonstrates that there are opportunities for web hosts to tap into consumers who embrace social networks - but these opportunities are being overlooked by the very industry that knows the Internet best.''

The survey revealed, that despite the majority of people using social networking services, 81% of the respondents in the web hosting industry do not believe these 'web 2.0' or functional-hosting businesses could hurt their business.

Mr. Schafer added, ''It's important that as the web hosting industry moves forward, we understand that Internet users are seeking a customized, personalized, Internet experience for both personal and professional reasons. Ultimately, it's about customer relationships. Providers and resellers need to work together to provide the support, services and infrastructure that give users the best experience.''

Other results of the survey revealed that 73% of all domain name resellers enjoy working with their provider. In addition, three-fourths of domain name resellers believe their provider understands its needs and nearly one-half have no complaints with their provider, but of those that did, the top complaints were poor communication or support and lack of the full range of services their customers want.

Mr. Schafer noted, ''It's always great to receive positive feedback from the industry - OpenSRS has made a strong commitment to our reseller community because they have been incredibly supportive of us. By making it easy to sell and manage the highest quality Internet services, we give our resellers the tools they need to be successful.''

In 1999, Tucows became the first domain name wholesaler to be accredited by ICANN and chose the name OpenSRS for its domain name service. Recently relaunched to celebrate its resellers sustained loyalty, OpenSRS today remains one of the world's largest wholesale domain registrars as well as the most reseller-friendly, and has expanded its offerings to include hosted email and SSL certificates. OpenSRS has grown steadily each year and today boasts over 9,000 active resellers on six continents. Those resellers, in turn, have the potential to reach millions of end users.

OpenSRS is a global provider of wholesale Internet services to web hosting companies and ISPs. Wholly owned by Tucows, Inc., OpenSRS provides wholesale services for hosted email, domain name registration, Personal Names, and SSL certificates.

Tucows provides Internet services for web hosting companies and ISPs. Through the global network of over 9,000 service providers, its OpenSRS group provides millions of email boxes and manages over eight million domains. Tucows is an accredited registrar with ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). The company holds a domain name portfolio of approximately 150,000 domain names that are available for sale, monetized through advertising and support our wholesale Personal Names Service. Its Retail division sells Tucows services to consumers and small business owners through Domain Direct, IYD (It's Your Domain) and NetIdentity.

To learn more about OpenSRS, please visit: http://opensrs.com.

For more information visit: www.tucowsinc.com.

R1Soft Web Hosting Provider Partner Program, Welcomes Uniserver Internet

Dedicated Servers, Reseller Web Hosting News — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:27:35 EST

Heerhugowaard, Netherlands - (The Hosting News) - September 5, 2008 - Continuous Data Protection for Linux and Windows provider, R1Soft, has welcomed enterprise and SaaS hosting firm, Uniserver Internet, to its hosting partnership roster.

Offering a value-added data protection service for its clients, Uniserver Internet gains access to a variety of sales and marketing resources in R1Soft's Partner Program, in addition to priority technical support and pre-release software updates. R1Soft works with its hosting partners to help them maximize their return on investment and effectively deploy Continuous Data Protection.

Ronald Bezuur, CEO of Uniserver Internet noted, ''Providing a reliable data protection service is a sacrosanct commitment for a hosting provider in today's market. We have investigated a variety of backup solutions for both Windows and Linux servers, but none provided the flexibility, scalability and affordability offered by R1Soft's Continuous Data Protection solution. We have no doubt that we have selected the solution that will best meet the needs of our clients, large and small, for many years to come.''

Uniserver Internet will offer Continuous Data Protection as a value-add service for Dedicated Server and Shared Hosting clients. The service will be provided at no charge for Shared Hosting users and Dedicated Hosting clients will have the option to purchase data protection in increments as needed. Dedicated Server users can restore files individually or execute a bare-metal restoration of their entire server from a restore point.

David Wartell, Vice President of R1Soft division, BBS Technologies, Inc. remarked, ''Our solution will allow Uniserver Internet to meet the important requirement of providing its clients with data protection at a cost they can afford and with the flexibility they need. We are happy to partner with Uniserver Internet to help deploy this solution across their network.''

Founded in 2001 in the Netherlands, Uniserver Internet specializes in Enterprise and SaaS hosting solutions. The company also provides domain name registration, shared Web hosting and dedicated servers, serving businesses large and small. Uniserver Internet hosts more than 40,000 websites worldwide.

Founded in 2003, R1Soft is a provider of disk-based backup solutions. The company's customer list includes some of the world's largest hosting providers. R1soft products provide Continuous Data Protection (CDP) for mission-critical Linux and Windows servers worldwide. In November, 2007 R1Soft was acquired by BBS Technologies, Inc.

For more about R1Soft and Continuous Data Protection, please visit: www.r1soft.com.

To learn more about Uniserver Internet, please visit: www.uniserver.nl.

Web Hosting NatiVIEW Analytics 2.0 Solution, Acquired by Edmond Scientific

Dedicated Servers, Reseller Web Hosting News — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:17:25 EST

Fairfax, Virginia - (The Hosting News) - September 5, 2008 - The NatiVIEW Analytics 2.0 web-hosting solution, as well as proprietary data processing software, developed by ALSS, was recently included in an acquisition package between Edmond Scientific Company (ESC) and Access Litigation Support Services (ALSS).

John Pitale, Founder and CEO of ESC noted, ''Initially, when we learned more about the solutions offered by ALSS, we were impressed by the gracefulness and power of the software's native file review, search, analysis, and foreign language processing features, as well as the potential to leapfrog our other development efforts and provide the foundation for our hosted review solution.''

Under the terms of the agreement, ESC purchased existing EDD (Electronic Data Discovery) software. In completing the acquisition, ESC not only complements its flourishing solutions-based litigation support business, but accelerates a strategy of service leadership through technological innovation in a rapidly growing e-discovery market.

Daniel Waldschmidt, CEO of Access explained, ''In keeping with our expressed goal to revolutionize the litigation support industry, we valued Access' market position over other possible alternatives. We intend to use our systems engineering-oriented approach for developing stable, robust solutions specifically tailored for client business processes, quickly building upon the complementary technological strengths and software assets of both companies, so to become a trail-blazer on the EDD frontier. Washington, DC-based Access Litigation couldn't be more pleased with this purchase.''

Mr. Waldschmidt added, ''Starting as a Mom-n-Pop organization, we took Access Litigation as far as we could. The growth of the company, in conjunction with continued software development, required new ideas and mature processes to be able to extend well beyond the e-discovery solutions currently available in the market. Of all the interested buyers, ESC was favored because of their ability to provide complementary skills and new discipline, while maintaining the developmental integrity of our products. We are excited for the future of e-discovery as we move forward with this deal.''

Edmond Scientific Company is a professional services firm that creates innovative business solutions for both government and commercial customers. ESC's systems engineering expertise began with the design and development of mission-critical systems and software for the Department of Defense, and has since applied those skills to both the litigation support and health informatics sectors.

To learn more, please visit: www.edmondsci.com.

Colocation Web Hosting Provider, Layer42, Enhances Californian Network Services

Dedicated Servers, Reseller Web Hosting News — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:06:22 EST

Stockholm, Sweden - (The Hosting News) - September 5, 2008 - Californian network and services company Layer42, based in Santa Clara, has improved its network and service,s following an installation of equipment from provider of optical networking solutions, Transmode.

Steve Rubin, President of Layer42 explained, ''Layer42's goal is to deliver the highest-rated level of Internet services and applications to businesses and organizations throughout California. These include reliable, dedicated Internet access and transport, cost-effective web hosting and co-location solutions, network security solutions to protect valuable data, IT outsourcing solutions that address a wide-range of needs and superior customer support.''

Layer42 provides co-location, managed services and Internet services to businesses and organizations throughout the state of California, from its base in Santa Clara, offering a broad range of Internet connectivity and web hosting services for businesses in every stage of development. Its quality hardware and software solutions offer businesses of all sizes access to a carrier-grade, fully redundant network giving customers a combination of reliability, security, and high speed. The company is committed to implementing innovative industry-standard technologies and open standards to guarantee the best network infrastructure for all types of business.

The installation of the Transmode TM-Series equipment was made as direct result of a need for higher bandwidth initially across the fiber network connecting San Francisco with San Jose. The TM-Series was selected as it offered a low initial cost point, while still providing the modularity and high capacity for future expansions.

The TM-Series is a flexible and scalable CWDM / DWDM platform supporting multi-protocol Transponders and Muxponders. Using Intelligent WDM (iWDM) technology, Layer 2 functionality and flexibility, the TM-Series provides network operators and enterprises with a true plug-and-play experience, greatly reducing network and service turn up times, cost and complexity. The initial deployment has already been expanded with additional wavelengths.

Mr. Rubin noted, ''The installation of Transmode's TM Series equipment enables us to meet the bandwidth needs of our customers in our increasingly busy San Francisco to San Jose connection. The fact that the Transmode's system allow us to expand in a modular way was one of the major factors in our choice of this supplier.''

Johan Hammarstrom, Regional Sales Director North America of Transmode added, ''Transmode is pleased to be the key supplier and adviser for Layer 42's expansion in the Californian marketplace. This growth is validation of both Layer 42's business model and of Transmode as their optical networking supplier. With our dedicated North American team and our characteristic consultative sales approach we are in a very strong position to meet the needs of growing US and Canadian communications companies.''

The privately owned - and financially sound - company Layer42 has one simple mission: to be the one-stop shop for all the Internet services that Californian businesses require to succeed. The company offers a broad range of Internet connectivity, web hosting services for businesses in every stage of development. Its quality hardware and software solutions are customized to clients' business requirements - at affordable rates.

Layer 42 engineers are active in the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) and NANOG (North American Network Operators Group) and the company is committed to implementing innovative industry-standard technologies and open standards to guarantee the best network infrastructure for all types of business.

Transmode is a provider of optical networking solutions for transport of data, voice and video traffic, based on WDM-technology (Wavelength Division Multiplexing). Its customer base consists of more than 200 network operators, service providers, large enterprises and public institutions across Europe, the Americas and Asia. Transmode's comprehensive product portfolio and strong global organization enable customers to cost efficiently grow the capacity and to improve service level of their regional, metro and metro access networks, without compromising on functionality.

For more information about Transmode, please visit: www.transmode.com

To learn more about Layer42, please visit: www.layer42.net

Web Hosting Provider, Server Intellect, Premieres Microsoft SQL Server 2008

Dedicated Servers, Reseller Web Hosting News — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:54:36 EST

Orlando, Florida - (The Hosting News) - September 4, 2008 - Advanced Windows-based shared, virtual private server (VPS), dedicated and enterprise web hosting solutions, Server Intellect, has unveiled its new Microsoft SQL Server 2008 line of Windows Dedicated Servers.

Eric Pratt, CEO of Server Intellect noted, ''Server Intellect is jointly partnered with Microsoft in the SPLA program (Service Provider's Licensing Agreement). We are proud to be one of the first Microsoft Gold Certified Partners to offer Microsoft SQL Server 2008. I feel this new product release justly reflects our commitment and experience with the entire Microsoft product line and better positions Server Intellect as an Industry Leader in the Windows Server market.''

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 is a major upgrade to the previous 2005 version. It offers an array of new and advanced features such as a new Resource Governor, full Database Encryption, Improved Auditing, Row based Index Exclusion and IntelliSense - Microsoft's implementation of auto-completion - for writing and editing SQL Queries.

The SPLA provides Server Intellect the ability to provide customers with the most current Microsoft product versions at a flexible cost structure. Server Intellect offers SQL Server 2008 across its entire Dedicated Server product line and provides full managed support for the product. SQL Server 2008 is available in multiple editions to support the varying server needs of businesses of all sizes. Server Intellect offers five editions including; Express, Web, Workgroup, Standard, and Enterprise. The Express Edition is offered on all dedicated servers at no additional charge, and the other editions begin at $25 per month.

Adam Cady, CTO of Server Intellect remarked, ''As a company who is focused on Microsoft hosting technologies we are excited to offer the latest edition of Microsoft SQL Server on all of our dedicated servers. The addition of SQL 2008 support fits into our focus of providing our customers with the latest technology to meet the growing demands of the online marketplace. We have drawn on our close relationship with Microsoft to be one of the first providers to offer Microsoft SQL Server 2008 on a dedicated server platform.''

A detailed comparison chart which lists the differences between the five versions is available on Server Intellect's Website. For more information about SQL Server 2008, please visit: www.serverintellect.com/dedicated/sqlserver2008.

Server Intellect is a subsidiary of Client Intellect, Inc, and is a provider of managed Dedicated Server solutions. The company was founded in 2003 and is located in Orlando, Florida. Options range from basic web hosting services and dedicated server packages to sophisticated enterprise solutions encompassing multi-server load balanced configurations. All of the options are explained in detail on the site, allowing visitors to make better informed decisions.

For more information about Server Intellect, please visit: www.serverintellect.com.

Port City Web Hosting Firm, Offers Edge CMS Solutions, with Ektron

Dedicated Servers, Reseller Web Hosting News — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:44:15 EST

Portsmouth, New Hampshire - (The Hosting News) - September 4, 2008 - Website hosting, design and development firm, Port City Web, has partnered with technology and web content management software provider, Ektron.

The partnership will extend Port City Web's offering of business-grade, 3rd party applications that the company integrates into business web sites. Ektron CMS400.NET content management system allows any business user to easily add and modify web site content and take advantage of innovative features such as social networking, RSS feeds, web alerts, blogging, enterprise search, document management functions, eCommerce and more.

By integrating Ektron's CMS into Port City Web's customer web sites, development and content management production is streamlined for the end users, and businesses can invest in tools which offer value across their entire organization. Ektron CMS400.NET provides an all-in-one platform for rapidly creating, deploying and managing interactive web, extranet and intranet sites and eliminates the need for businesses to invest in multiple solutions, in-house development staff and other web editing tools.

Although the partnership has been formalized, the relationship between Port City Web and Ektron has been ongoing for almost 2 years. During Port City Web's re-branding and re-designing of Service Credit Union's corporate web site, Ektron's CMS400.NET was selected to manage the credit union's site.

Port City Web not only re-designed the credit union's web site, but also developed the new web site and implemented the Ektron content management system into the new Service Credit Union web site.

Erik Crago, President and CEO of Port City Web noted, ''Finalizing the partnership was more of a formality, something we had planned to do after seeing how powerful a tool it was for managing web sites. Ektron has so many powerful features, but the search engine is my favorite. Google has taught people to search for what they're looking for, and it's no different when people visit a web site. If they don't find what they're looking for, they leave - period. Ektron's built-in search engine is the best I've seen in a CMS, and it will keep users on the web site, and that's huge.''

Since its founding in 1998 Ektron has been committed to providing affordable web content management and authoring solutions. Ektron CMS400.NET empowers non-technical business users by providing an intuitive user interface for managing their web site's content and messaging. Ektron has a complete set of social networking tools and fully supports all Web 2.0 functionality. An open API provides web designers and developers all the tools to extend Ektron's solution. Headquartered in Nashua, N.H., Ektron has more than 20,000 customer implementations worldwide, including NASA, Kodak and Johnson and Johnson.

Port City Web is a full-service website hosting, design, development, and marketing company. Specializing in online commerce, also known as ecommerce, Port City Web provides cost effective electronic marketing tools that are built to work with current systems, including web 2.0 business solutions. Past and present clients include The University of New Hampshire, Born and Bicknell, Columbia University, Service Credit Union, NAPS, K2, Lonza Biologics and Smith and Wesson.

For more information about Ektron, please visit: www.ektron.com.

To learn more about Port City Web, please visit: www.portcityweb.com.

Web Hosting Business Operations Management Software, Released for Small Business

Dedicated Servers, Reseller Web Hosting News — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:34:57 EST

Dulles, Virginia - (The Hosting News) - September 4, 2008 - Integrated business management software system for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), Everest Software, has released its Knowledge as a Service (KaaS) option for companies.

Designed for streamlining web and multi-channel operations, KaaSsm is designed to lower the barriers of entry to learning and managing new software with a complete package of services and technology that provides total business process operations available at a subscription rate. KaaS now allows small companies focus just on what they know best - their business.

KaaS delivers access to all of the advantages of the Everest system, including the software, hardware, hosting (as needed), integration, customization, and related IT management services as a complete package. Other specialty services can also be provided via this one resource, such as website design, content management, Web analytics, SEO and SEM, synchronized selling via comparison engines and shopping portals, and integration with Everest partners for specialized services such as EDI.

Having been involved in SMB software development for fourteen years, Everest intimately understands the needs and issues of the market. Everest Advanced has been offering the most flexible solution available, in a centralized platform that integrates all critical business operations with real time information, as well as allowing for a great deal of customization.

Edwin Miller, CEO of Everest noted, ''We know for a fact there's a pent-up demand out there for KaaS in small business. Especially in this economy many companies are not ready to make a big upfront investment in software and systems; they need a more affordable way to be competitive. We're leap-frogging the limitations of SaaS (software as a service) that doesn't allow ownership of a company's own information, offers them no control and no customization. KaaS is here and it's ready to go. It allows companies to pay for growth on an ongoing basis, spreading out the investment while alleviating a lot of the daily technology headaches.''

As with most software, the time to implement the complete solution, train key staff and then do customizations differs from company to company. Everest Software also knows that companies who are expert at their own businesses have difficulty keeping pace with technology and the network implications of integrating different product updates. It can be cost-prohibitive for them to acquire all the resources needed to efficiently manage a Web business, where the complexities change on an almost daily basis. For companies that don't have extensive resources and want an accelerated path to improved business productivity, Everest now offers KaaS.

Everest's KaaS provides a faster way to transform all a company's business operations with the Everest shared environment. It's a way to launch, improve or combine web stores and multi-channel businesses with the expertise it could take an individual company months or years to acquire. Everest knows our own software better than any customer ever can. This is all delivered for a single monthly subscription fee that maximizes productivity and helps a company to grow without having to research and acquire yet more technology.

To learn more, please visit: www.everestsoftwareinc.com.

Dedicated Server Survey Monthly Results, Released by Netcraft

Dedicated Servers, Reseller Web Hosting News — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:24:44 EST

Somerset, United Kindgom - (The Hosting News) - September 4, 2008 - Internet services company, Netcraft, has released its August 2008 survey, with information cultivated from approximately 176,748,506 web sites.

This month's overall growth of 1.3 million sites reflects Apache's growth of 1.2 million and Google's gain of half a million sites, but a loss of 760 thousand sites using Microsoft IIS. Aside from Apache's and Google's leading growth, Igor Sysoev's nginx shows the next largest gain, climbing by 170 thousand sites to a new total of 2.4 million and retaining its position as the 5th largest web server vendor.

LiteSpeed also shows strong growth this month, more than tripling the number of sites that run on this web server. Most of this growth is seen at the German company Hetzner Online, which remains the largest host of LiteSpeed sites. LiteSpeed is now used by 160 thousand sites around the world, which has taken it up to be the 16th most popular web server.

Netcraft is an Internet services company based in Bath, England. Netcraft is funded through retained profit and derives its revenue in the following ways: Providing Internet security services, including anti-fraud and anti-phishing services, application testing, code reviews, and automated penetration testing. Providing research data and analysis on many aspects of the Internet. Netcraft has explored the Internet since 1995 and is a respected authority on the market share of web servers, operating systems, hosting providers, ISPs, encrypted transactions, electronic commerce, scripting languages and content technologies on the Internet. Accepting advertising on the Netcraft web sites. Netcraft has a cosmopolitan client list, spread through the UK, the USA, mainland Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Clients include Aegon, British Telecom, Capita, John Lewis, Lloyds of London, Microsoft, Rackspace, and Securicor.

To learn more, please visit: www.netcraft.com.

Website Hosting Provider, Future Hosting, Joins DirectAdmin, NEWEDGE

Dedicated Servers, Reseller Web Hosting News — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:23:07 EST

Novi, Michigan - (The Hosting News) - September 3, 2008 - Web hosting and Internet solutions company, Future Hosting, LLC, serving small to medium sized businesses internationally, will offer automation software for Virtual Private Servers.

In addition, the DirectAdmin control panel, will be offered with client management and billing platform, and ClientExec, to its Virtual Private Server customers.

Future Hosting clients can use the innovative control panel at no additional charge. DirectAdmin provides a viable alternative to Plesk and cPanel, and offers enhancements in usability and performance. DirectAdmin's minimal resource footprint also makes it an ideal choice for Virtual Private Servers.

Charles Kowalski, COO of Future Hosting noted, ''Many of our customers are themselves small business owners, and when they succeed, we succeed. By providing them with valuable and feature-rich tools to help them better run and manage their business, we hope to contribute to their success and retain them as customers in the long run.''

Future Hosting has also forged a partnership with Newedge Services Inc., to offer the company's ClientExec customer management, support and billing suite. Future Hosting Virtual Private Servers customers can utilize ClientExec starting at $5/monthly. ClientExec's intuitive interface includes a series of powerful tools, including a fully-featured support center, customer database, billing module, and a reports generator.

Server Doctor, developed by Future Hosting and released in February, is a revolutionary system that provides a proactive approach to maintaining Virtual Private Servers - automating everything from account provisioning to weekly security scans.

Founded in 2001, Future Hosting is a privately held leading Internet Solutions provider specializing in managed hosting, including both Dedicated Servers and Virtual Private Servers. The company has built a strong reputation for its high-quality customer service, innovative pricing models, and 3-hour Service Level Agreement. Future Hosting is based in Novi, Mich.

For more information about DirectAdmin VPS plans, please visit: http://futurehosting.biz/directadmin.htm.

To learn more about Future Hosting, please visit: www.futurehosting.biz.

SoftLayer Dedicated Server Solutions Firm, Honored by Metroplex Technology

Dedicated Servers, Reseller Web Hosting News — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:11:10 EST

Dallas, Texas - (The Hosting News) - September 3, 2008 - On-demand hosting services and virtual data center provider for the small to medium enterprise (SME), SoftLayer, has been added as a Fast 50 Technology Company, by Metroplex Technology Business Council.

The Metroplex Technology Business Council (MTBC), is the largest technology trade organization in Texas. Its 2008 Fast 50 contains the 10 fastest-growing technology companies in the Dallas/Fort Worth area based on percentage revenue growth over the last year and the 40 fastest-growing technology companies in the Dallas/Fort Worth area based on percentage revenue growth over the last five years.

Cindi Keith, partner/technology marketing industry leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and co-chair of the MTBC's Tech Titans steering committee noted, ''The Tech Titans and Fast 50 Awards provide the premier recognition of fast-growing, highly innovative companies that contribute to the vibrancy of the North Texas economy and make our region an exciting place to live and work. We look forward to showcasing the true leaders in our industry and celebrating their hard work and creativity.''

The rankings of the Fast 50 will be revealed at the Tech Titans and Fast 50 Awards gala event at the Marriott Legacy Town Center in Plano, Texas on Friday, September 26, 2008.

George Karidis, Chief Strategy Officer, SoftLayer Technologies Inc. remarked, ''SoftLayer is thrilled to be recognized for the Tech Titans/Fast 50 Technology Companies. We consider MTBC's Tech Titans to be a very prestigious award and are honored to be considered for the 2008 Fast 50.''
The North Texas region is one of the leading centers for technology business and innovation both in the U.S. and globally. The AeA (American Electronics Association) recently ranked the Dallas-Fort Worth area fifth among U.S. cities in high-tech employment, with approximately 176,000 high-tech workers. In addition, the Dallas-Fort Worth area ranked second nationwide for employment in both the telecommunications services and internet services sectors, and the region is also home to one-half of Texas technology workforce.

The Tech Titans Awards were launched in 2001 by the Metroplex Technology Business Council, North Texas' most comprehensive organization supporting technology. The prestigious annual contest recognizes outstanding information technology companies and individuals in the North Texas area who have made contributions during the past year locally, as well as to the technology industry overall. The Tech Titans committee is a group of dedicated volunteers who organize the awards ceremony each year, and judges for the contest are drawn from a variety of disciplines in technology, leaders in the DFW area and past winners.

Founded in 1994, the Metroplex Technology Business Council (MTBC) is a non-profit organization composed of approximately 300 members that include technology businesses and providers from across the DFW Metroplex. The MTBC produces numerous events, including monthly Management Luncheons, Technical Luncheons, RFID Special Interest Group events, CEO Forums, Tech Week in Austin and the annual Tech Titans Awards and Fast 50 event.

Headquartered in Plano, Texas, SoftLayer provides next-generation web hosting and on-demand datacenter services on a global basis from facilities located in Dallas, TX and Seattle, WA. Utilizing proprietary management tools coupled with the industry's first network-within-a-network topology, the company delivers unprecedented power and control to securely manage IT environments while providing unparalleled scalability.

More information about the Tech Titans Awards event, please visit: www.metroplextbc.org/techtitans.

To learn more about SoftLayer, please visit: www.softlayer.com.

Web Hosting Application, SmarterMail, Releases Upraded Web Analytics Software

Dedicated Servers, Reseller Web Hosting News — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:00:11 EST

Phoenix, Arizona - (The Hosting News) - September 3, 2008 - Developer of web log analytics and help desk applications, Smarter Tools, has developed and released its new SmarterStats 4.x Web Log Analytics Software.

Tim Uzzanti, CEO of SmarterTools noted, ''SmarterStats is the perfect application to cost-effectively deliver relevant, accurate, and detailed Website reports. Site owners, businesses, and webmasters need statistics that they can trust without exposing their data to unrelated third parties. SmarterStats provides the solution without requiring them to spend time and money re-coding their sites like competing script-based solutions.''

SmarterStats provides website statistics, custom reports, data mining, geographic mapping, Spider and Bot detection, an industry-leading web interface with Silverlight dynamic charting, among other things.

Version 4.x easily differentiates Spider and Bot traffic generated by search engines and other automated sources from actual user visits - a feature unavailable in conventional script-based solutions such as Google Analytics. Depending on site popularity, experts estimate that 30% to 60% of Web site traffic is generated by Spiders or Bots making the tracking of these automated visits vital to effective Web marketing and SEO efforts.

SmarterStats 4.x joins the rest of SmarterTools' products (SmarterMail, SmarterTrack) by including an optimized Web interface with advanced AJAX controls and keyboard shortcuts that bring the performance of desktop applications to the web. Dynamic charting utilizing Microsoft Silverlight technology gives SmarterStats a truly advanced and intuitive interface experience.

SmarterStats can be easily configured to measure statistics on a single Web site or up to 30,000 web sites on Windows or Linux servers - locally or across large distributed networks from one central SmarterStats installation. Linux server support is via FTP and SAMBA - Windows server support is local or via UNC, FTP, and/or Remote Agent.

Log files are viewable within the SmarterStats interface and can be reprocessed again and again as reports or data needs change without any loss in accuracy.

Mr. Uzzanti added, ''Since the acquisitions of competitors DeepMetrix and Urchin by Microsoft and Google, SmarterStats has become one of the few established options for those who want accurate statistics without being forced to make their data accessible to outside companies.''

A complete list of features, additions, and improvements is available on the SmarterStats Release Notes page. SmarterStats 4.x is available at the SmarterTools Web site and through Authorized Resellers.

Founded in 2003, SmarterTools Inc. is an information technology-management software company based in Phoenix, Arizona. SmarterTools builds a Windows Mail Server, Customer Service Software, and Web Log Analytics reporting tool that simplify and automate the day-to-day IT operations of businesses and hosting environments in over 100 countries.

To learn more, please visit: www.smartertools.com.

Web Hosting Green Services, Premiere at Hostivia

Dedicated Servers, Reseller Web Hosting News — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:48:17 EST

Las Vegas, Nevada - (The Hosting News) - September 3, 2008 - Web hosting service provider, Hostivia, offering shared and reseller Linux hosting, has launched a new 'Green' Initiative.

In an effort to offer customers an environmentally friendly alternative the company plans to minimize negative impact on the environment.

Rob Tyree, CTO of Hostivia remarked, ''Going green is about more than just corporate responsibility, it's also good business. As we researched 'Green' hardware configurations, we learned we can deliver more powerful and reliable hosting solutions while trimming off a huge portion of our energy usage. We reduce our negative impact on the environment, save costs, and meet an important ethical standard; this is a real win-win situation for our company and our community.''

The new initiative is focused on improving energy usage in the datacenter. Namely, all future server deployments will utilize components from Intel, Supermicro, and Seagate that are designed to decrease power consumption without sacrificing performance. New server configurations will ultimately consume 30-40% less power than older systems.

With the always-on nature of web servers, the overall reduction in energy usage will be significant and noteworthy. For the energy that is inevitably consumed, Hostivia purchases its electricity from Nevada Power, a national leader in renewable energy. Nevada Power utilizes vast arrays of solar panels to generate electricity. The state of Nevada ranks first nationally for solar watts generated per capita. Other renewable energy sources include geothermal, wind, and individual small scale projects.

Founded in 2008 as a subsidiary of R and D Technologies, Inc., Hostivia is a leading provider of Shared and Reseller Linux cPanel Web hosting. Hostivia offers round-the-clock customer support and a variety of exclusive value-added features for all hosting customers.

To learn more about renewable energy in Nevada, please visit: www.nevadapower.com/renewablesenvironment/renewables.

For more information about Hostivia, please visit: www.hostivia.com.

Web Hosting Provider, 3FN, Premieres New Discount Program

Dedicated Servers, Reseller Web Hosting News — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:25:58 EST

San Jose, California - (The Hosting News) - September 2, 2008 - Dedicated server, colocation and shared web hosting company, 3FN.Net, has launched a new discount program for all web hosting customers.

A web hosting brand since 1999, Triple Fiber Network has instituted its new discount program for all web hosting customers, designed to allow all 3FN web hosting customers to receive generous discounts off the price for the company's web hosting service. The requirements to participate are simple, and any web hosting customer of 3FN is eligible and welcome.

Dean McToner, 3FN spokesperson explained, ''Our web hosting company invites all our customers, who use our web hosting services, to participate in our newly launched discount program. We always go towards our customers creating the most favorable web hosting conditions, and our new discount program proves this once again. The application for a discount is simple. Our customers can apply filling the online form to send a request. The discount for web hosting services is granted for the exchange of placing a small company advertisement anywhere on websites of our web hosting customer. The present rates start from 5%, and both dedicated server customers and virtual hosting customers can participate. In the future, it is also very possible that the amount of the discount will be increased with the program efficiency progressing. We have a strong intention to bring more benefits to our web hosting customers, which become a pleasant addition to our high-quality web hosting services.''

In addition, the recently launched new discount program makes premium web hosting services more attractive price wise. The constant concern about the quality of the provided web hosting, and the creating the most favorable web hosting pricing policy shows the company's attitude to its customers. The web hosting by 3FN stands not only for the quality web hosting service, but also for a significant devotion and commitment to the company's customer community. The new discount program makes web hosting by 3FN more affordable and customer-friendly.

In July, 3FN enhanced its hosting services, with new backup shared hosting plans and backup dedicated server offerings. The new offerings are as in response to the growing customer demand. The company created the new hosting solution, as an ideal comprehensive backup solution, meeting all customer backup requirements. The new backup dedicated server is particularly notable, for its cost-effective pricing structure, and high reliability.

The company has added newly created backup web solution to its comprehensive range of various provided web hosting plans and dedicated servers. New dedicated server is provided with the full set of monitoring and management services and tools as well as all 3FN dedicated servers and web hosting plans, however, this backup server is powered with additional backup features in order to create complete backup solution that will satisfy every customer demand.

New backup dedicated server and backup shared hosting plan deliver end-to-end recovery that allows 3FN's hosting customers to receive the original state of their data and files. Backup servers are powered with advanced services that guarantees the success of all recover processes without failure. Backup processes and services on this dedicated server may be customized depending on customer needs, customers can schedule backup on servers as they need.

The US based provider of dedicated servers, shared hosting and collocation hosting services, Triple Fiber Network, 3FN, Inc. is best known for the quality excellence and high reliability of all hosting services provided on a global basis. Triple Fiber Network has a flawless reputation of reliable hosting provider, providing the high-quality and efficiency of all dedicated hosting services within last 10 years. Since that time the company has created one of the most biggest and powerful network of dedicated servers with main datacenter located in Silicon Valley. The Headquarters are located in San Jose, California, the company has also established offices in UK, India, Ukraine and EU. Triple Fiber Network has founded the subdivision called 3FN Marketing - an online pay per click advertising network and webmaster affiliate program. 3FN Marketing offers optimized targeted pay per click advertising for those who want to promote their websites or products and generous revenue shares up to 95% for webmasters. The company provides customers with 24/7/365 support via the toll-free telephone, online chat and ticket system.

To learn more, please visit: www.3fn.net.

Data Center Green Study Results, Released by Consolidation Specialists

Dedicated Servers, Reseller Web Hosting News — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:15:56 EST

Buckinghamshire, United Kindgom - (The Hosting News) - September 2, 2008 - Data center consolidation specialists, RichardsoNEyres, has conducted a new survey, which has revealed that a large number of organizations are making energy cuts a top priority for 2008.

Even still, it appears that many are not taking green issues seriously enough and are adopting a do-it-yourself approach argues. The DIY approach has been revealed in research commissioned by RichardsoNEyres to highlight the main data center challenges IT managers are currently facing. The research was conducted in association with industry analysts IDL and it has prompted RichardsoNEyres to announce a six-step action plan to help businesses achieve greener data centers.

Adam Kemp, Director, RichardsoNEyres remarked, ''Organisations going for the informal approach can lack structure in their environmental policies and this can affect the level of success that they achieve in reducing both energy costs and CO2 emissions. While computers may drive efficiency, the data centers that run businesses are often far from efficient. They are at the heart of environmental challenges created by IT but the average retailer just does not have the necessary knowledge to bring about change. They need specialist help and the actions we offer in our Thought Leadership initiatives are designed to illustrate how they can improve their carbon footprint and wider environmental position while also reducing operating costs and improving IT service delivery.''

Details of the research include:

- Infrastructure review. To kick off their green data center campaigns, retailers must first undertake an IT infrastructure and data center review, leading to an action plan to simultaneously reduce cost, improve performance and cut environmental impact.
- Emissions review. Conducting a data center power and emissions review will create a foundation for understanding how to meet or exceed government or corporate environmental targets and will help meet the requirements of ISO14001 which specifies the requirements for an environmental management system.
- Power priority. With power costs undoubtedly continuing to rise and with many estimates suggesting that the price of running and cooling hardware will soon outstrip the cost of the hardware itself, this is clearly an area for improvement.
- Virtualisation. Server and storage virtualisation enables you to concentrate workloads onto fewer servers and storage devices. Replacing physical servers and storage devices with virtual machines reduces the energy required to run them, thus reducing CO2 emissions and running costs. It also improves utilisation of available hardware.
- Consolidation. Whether it involves moving remote IT facilities into a centrally managed location or combining existing data centers, consolidation can reduce your carbon footprint as well as simplifying management and reducing cost.
- Star rating. When purchasing new IT equipment, always check its rating under the European Community Energy Star programme for energy efficient office equipment.

RichardsoNEyres provides infrastructure solutions for the data center across the networking and storage spectrum. It works with companies to make their data centers more efficient and their businesses run more effectively. RichardsoNEyres' qualified technical specialists ensure that valuable data remains safe, secure and highly available to support business critical applications.

The company has partnerships with leading IT companies including VMware and Riverbed and is one of a small number of HP Authorised Business Solutions Providers (ABSP) in the UK.

Established in 1987, the company is privately owned and employs 50 staff at its HQ in Chesham, Buckinghamshire. Last year, the company had a turnover in excess of 21 million pounds.

To learn more, please visit: www.richardsoneyres.co.uk.

Colocation Web Hosting Provider, ServerPoint, Deploys Integra Backbone Network

Dedicated Servers, Reseller Web Hosting News — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:05:16 EST

Las Vegas, Nevada - (The Hosting News) - September 2, 2008 - Shared, reseller, colocated, dedicated and VPS hosting solutions, ServerPoint, has added the Integra Telecom network, as a backbone provider for its infrastructure.

Erik Johnson, CTO of ServerPoint noted, ''In the last year alone we have seen the bandwidth needs of our clients grow almost exponentially, especially with the rapid proliferation of SaaS and streaming multimedia content. It has become more important than ever to boast a fully redundant network that can not only deliver faster speeds to more ISPs, but that can also absorb traffic spikes that have become ever more common.''

In adding Integra Telecom, ServerPoint is able to deliver lower latency connections to subscribers of Comcast, as a result of peering points between the two providers. Integra Telecom also eliminates network hops for a variety of other ISPs in North America and abroad. ServerPoint will continue to add new providers in the coming months as it seeks additional redundancy and bandwidth capacity.

ServerPoint offers a variety of unmanaged and managed hosting services. Virtual Private Servers start at $27.99/monthly and hosted on servers utilizing 8 Intel Xeon cores, 32GBs of RAM, 8-drive RAID 10 arrays and redundant power supplies. Windows plans include 2-hour backups, Silverlight, Windows Media Server, IIS, Active Server Pages, and SQL Server Express. Dedicated servers and shared hosting are also available.

In January, ServerPoint added a new gigabit uplink from XO Communications, providing additional network redundancy and capacity for its Las Vegas, Nev. datacenter facility. The addition of the new connection provides ServerPoint with new routes for data entering and leaving its network, allowing many visitors to connect to hosted sites at lower latency. With the added redundancy the connection provides, ServerPoint can also minimize the chance of any possible network downtime. ServerPoint hopes to increase its network capacity to 8-10 gigabits within a year.

Founded in 1998, ServerPoint is a recognized web hosting industry leader, providing an array of Shared, Reseller, Colocated, Dedicated and VPS hosting solutions to thousands of customers in over 100 countries. ServerPoint has been formerly known as APlusHosting.com.

To learn more about ServerPoint, please visit: www.serverpoint.com.