Join me on a trip down memory lane as we welcome in 2009 and all of the new technology and ideas it will bring.
10 – Will it blend?
From Layered Tech buying Fastservers to The Planet acquiring Touch Support, among many other mergers, 2008 was The Year of Acquisition as noted in my previous article. Never before have there been so many buyouts in the hosting industry. 2009 should be another record year that most likely will include just as many new combinations, if not more.
9 – “Um, whoops.”
The biggest blip in the accounting department for 2008 belongs to DreamHost. They accidentally overbilled customers to the click of over $7.5 million in January 2008. Their billing software mistakingly read that all of their customers were a year late on their payments.
8 – Taste tests without blindfolds
Network Solutions denied they were front running domains after many customers noticed fishy behavior after searching for domains to register. Later NetSol began to refine their policies to shine up their name again. This entire story made consumers more aware of domain tasting and related issues.
7 – Sun’s billion dollar baby
We know all too well the love between PHP and MySQL on servers all over the world. So when Sun purchased MySQL, one of the most successful open source companies for $1 billion in 2008, it was an interesting move for us to see. (And yet another merge.)
6 – On Cloud 2009
Virtualization technologies or “cloud hosting” became one of the most popular buzz terms of 2008. Many hosting companies will be introducing cloud hosting into their services in the next year. We will also watch as new companies bridge cloud software and hardware together.
5 – Planet explosion
In June of 2008, one of the biggest data center disasters happened in Texas at The Planet facilities. An explosion and resulting fire led to over 9,000 servers being without connectivity for nearly 48 hours.
4 – DNS fiasco
DNS cache poisoning is nothing new, but an article published by Dan Kaminsky gave a new spin on DNS vulnerabilities which in turn gave many customers a scare. Hosting companies had to explain their preventive measures and that there was nothing to worry about.
3 – Security received spotlight
In the beginnings of the web hosting industry, security was not the top concern of many companies. But as hacks and outdated applications created impossible days, we all began to pursue a smarter way. And as we all grew more aware of good and bad practices, we watched as even Google was on top of the badware list.
2 – Green was the new black
One of the most lingering buzz terms of 2008 was green hosting. Whether you leased servers in a green facility or bought carbon credits, if you weren’t already going green it is definitely on your to-do list for the upcoming year. In 2008, IBM opened its greenest data center to date in Colorado and other companies show no plans of stopping their environmental plans.
1 – The heart of the web hosting industry is its people. No one knows the industry better than us, especially if you are reading this article right now. According to astrologists, 2009 will be a year of completion and closure since nine is the last number. If this notion is applied to the hosting industry, we should be planning our own noteworthy news for 2009. If you’ve been thinking about a new feature or service, now is the time to get everything up and running for the success of your business. And with that token of inspiration, I also wish you a Happy New Year!
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