WHIR Mag, Oct. 08: Big Money

These posts usually come a little further before the issue is distributed, but the October 08 issue of WHIR magazine is sitting on my desk, so I'm a little behind on this one. The good news is, your print copy is in the mail, and the digital edition is online and readable right here.

As you've likely noticed, we tend to focus on a "theme" with a given issue of the magazine, and as I've pointed out in several other things I've written about this issue, we didn't intend, originally, to do that with this one. However, one kind of developed as we worked on the issue.

The first thing we wanted to address was this issue of outside investment in the hosting industry - the growing interest of big-money backers in this industry, and the kind of influence that interest has had, and is having, on policy in web hosting.

There are a few things. There's the obvious influence of newly-installed executives at companies acquired by the big firms - say, Doug Erwin at The Planet, or Art Zeile at HostMySite. And the less obvious, but implicit influence of those acquiring or investing companies in the businesses in which they've invested. And beyond that, the potential for outside investment is having an influence on a lot of smaller hosting providers who may be operating their businesses with an eye specifically toward being acquired - a motivation that has its opportunities and pitfalls. Dennis McCafferty covered this in our cover story.

That was the main idea. But as we watched Rackspace's IPO approach, and saw the attention being given around the hosting business to the big event, we became particularly interested in the process for Rackspace, particularly as the role of the company shifted somewhat. Rackspace had always been considered a sort of example by other companies in the hosting business, and as it went through the IPO process, and the reporting that followed, it began to notably become, almost by default, a sort of representative for the hosting business to the investment community. I wrote a feature myself about this process.

Those were two big ideas that had a lot in common - in particular they highlight the fact that the hosting business seems to be in an evolutionary stage that is stripping away some of that entrepreneurial flavor the business has had for so long. This isn't a bad thing, necessarily.

I won't go on forever here, because frankly, there's a lot to read in the magazine. These are the big features. And there are a few other pretty excellent features in there. Wayne Epperson attempts to clear up some of the confusing and conflicting discussion around "cloud computing." Esther M. Bauer offers a look into reseller opportunities for resellers in the CDN market. David Hamilton looks at the emerging role of "hosting evangelists." We interviewed NaviSite as the company prepared to break into the dedicated hosting market, and Fasthosts as it moves into the US.

And more, of course. It's a good read. And the price (free) is right.

Oh, and one more thing: while you're here, check out this blog post about accessing the digital edition from your iPhone.