ISPCON IS DEAD
The last ISPCON had the feeling of, well, life-support. Alex Goldman has announced the expected, ISPCON is dead.
I have been going to the trade show since 1997 where 15,000 to 20,000 attendees marveled at this Internet thing. It was a good vibrant business function that was a critical part in launching the digital age. Life was good.
But things happen. The 2001 ISPCON trade show crumbled after the September 11, the World-Trade Tragedy. ISPCON opened on October 9th, just 28 days later; it was at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas. Attendance was about 500, probably 5,000 + short of expectations. The exhibit hall was in a 178,000 sq ft. state of the art convention center facility, ISPCON at best used 10,000 sq. It echoed.
Over the years ISPCON tried to bolt WISPs, ASPs, Hosting and Data Centers onto the brand. None really worked out. I don’t believe the name ISPCON helped either. Saddled with the term ISP it announced itself as old technology. Possibly this is a lesson in marketing.
The last ISPCON was in San Jose, November 2008. There were possibly 400 in attendance and about 100 paid attendees.
HostingCon is in Washington DC August 10-12, 2009
More about Tom: NCC - New Commerce Communications
E-Mail Tom Direct
Tom Millitzer provides merger and acquisition services to Internet service firms including Web Hosting, Data Centers and similar sectors. In 1994 he founded and is President of NCC - New Commerce Communications, Inc. He has been involved in almost 300 mergers and acquisitions , finance an... (Read full bio)
Read Back Issues of WHIR Magazine
October 2009 - Web Hosting's All Star Team
This has been, for us, one of the most interesting, exciting and challenging build-ups to an issue of the magazine yet, Web Hosting's All Star Team. The balloting process was our first experiment with a kind of user participation we're planning to do a lot more with in the months to come. We had thousands of ballots submitted, with hundreds of write-in suggestions and a demonstration of user engagement that has us feeling super positive about the project.
About This Issue | Read Digital Edition
July 2009 - What am I Worth?
One of the interesting luxuries of working on a project like the printed WHIR magazine is that it allows us to play with things like our point of view from one issue to the next. In recent months we've been giving added attention to the kind of practical and applicable advice aimed at smaller hosts and resellers. This issue carries on with that point of view, asking, in our cover story, "what am I worth?" It's a complicated question without a clear-cut answer.
About This Issue | Read Digital Edition
May 2009 - The Blueprint for a Small Web Host
I was a little surprised by how difficult it became to see this idea through. We set out to assemble a blueprint for a small hosting business, but butted up pretty quickly against the general impossibility of covering all the territory that was out there to be covered. The basic constraints of a printed magazine, and the less-than-infinite amount of time we had available forced us to face the fact that we could never produce an exhaustive guide to starting a hosting company.
About This Issue | Read Digital Edition
Read more WHIR Magazine back issues
Comment anonymously or log into your WHIR account
Logging in allows enhanced commenting features (such as external linking) in news, features, blogs and more.