May 7, 2007 | Posted By : Liam Eagle at 1:58 PM PERMALINK | Blog Comments (0)

WHIR Magazine, the May 2007 Issue: Building Blocks

We just sent the May 2007 issue of WHIR magazine off to the printer, which is good news, because we're just about out of midnight oil around here (it having been all burned up, you see).

It should be arriving in mailboxes starting the week of May 21, but I thought I'd offer a little advanced notice on what to expect from what I happen to think is a very timely issue.

If you're not a subscriber, incidentally, you could become one via a fairly simple and free-of-charge process here.

For about a year now, we in the Web hosting business have been experiencing the impassioned discussion surrounding the subjects of Web 2.0 and software as a service. These terms, we are told, describe the future of the business - a world in which applications have moved from the desktop to the Internet, and information is passed seamlessly between them.

You have every reason to believe this is true. Whether the "future" is two years away, or five, the companies designing the platform for hosting are determined that the term "hosting" will come to describe application hosting.

Now is the time for you to figure out how your business fits into that environment. And it's appropriate that I feel that way, because it's exactly the subject we cover in our "Building Blocks" issue.

The term Web 2.0 is used to describe the user's experience relative to the new system of applications available via the Web, which can be pulled together to create an Internet experience, and a presence on the Internet. This has, to an extent, reduced the appetite for Web hosting as it was once understood. In a feature on the new Web 2.0 ecosystem, Wayne Epperson helps to define the hosting company's role in this new environment.

SaaS, on the other hand, describes the service delivery side. The term is associated with hosted applications for business - the market where analysts see the real revenue potential for service providers. Dennis McCafferty contributes a feature on how hosts can best go about building the platform for delivering those hosted applications.

For hosts looking to make that first step into the hosted application market, Esther M Bauer describes the potential of hosted Microsoft Exchange, an easily understood, and universally needed business tool with a built-in audience and a vast support network. It's sort of the closest thing to a no-brainer in the hosted application business.

Keep an eye on the mailbox for the latest issue of WHIR magazine. My hope is that, after reading through it, you'll have a better sense of where your business stands with regard to the Web's emerging ecosystem.

ALSO: I understand I've already occupied one of your eyes with the previous paragraph, but if I might humbly recommend a target for the other one, I'd suggest you keep it on this blog for updates from the SWsoft Global Hosting Partner Summit, which begins today in Washington.