Not quite "just in time for Earth Day," as far as this blog is concerned, but April 22 (Earth Day) was actually the day we shipped the files for the latest issue of WHIR magazine off to the printer.

The date is fitting because May's issue is our "green issue," in which we look at one of the most notable issues in hosting from a variety of angles.

It's possible, I suppose that you're reading this blog for some reason other than the fact that you follow web hosting news, but if we accept my general "you, dear reader, are at least interested enough in web hosting to pay attention to the general industry news" assumption to be true, then it is probably also safe to assume that you've noticed the overall increase in "green" hosting news, not just in the last few weeks, but over the last few months.

Last year, not long after we settled on the notion of putting together a "green" issue, I began receiving the green issues of just about every magazine I regularly receive - I've got everything from Toronto Life to PC Magazine to Vanity Fair piled up around my desk.

Eco friendly living and business practices are a big issue across the board, and they've become a serious concern in the hosting business, which has an interesting relationship with environmentalism.

Hosting's biggest impact on the environment is through the consumption of electrical energy. Data centers, and the servers they contain, are an enormous draw on electrical power and, consequently, a significant producer of greenhouse gasses. But energy is also becoming one of the biggest expenses for hosting providers, making it possible for companies in this business to serve their bottom lines even as they pursue more environmentally responsible business practices.

This isn't the case in every industry. A lot of business are struggling to figure out ways to dispose of harmful waste, or to curb other destructive practices without the cost putting them out of business. For hosts, the path is clear.

There isn't yet a specific model for building a green hosting business. But it's on its way. What we set out to do with our green issue was describe the atmosphere in the industry relating to green initiatives, and we approached it form three angles.

The first was the movement itself, where, driven by the motives of conservation for its own sake and conservation for the sake of the bottom line, a culture is building among organizations and outfits working to build the standards by which we measure our "green" efforts.

Second is the practical implementation of green procedures in the data center. We examine the real-world limits most hosting companies face, and map out strategies for building efficiency into the data center.

Third is the message. Hosts pursuing green projects face a decision about the message they bring to customers. And those customers are not always receptive to marketing efforts tied inextricably to an ethical question.

Chances are, your experience with green hosting isn't going to begin, or end, with our green issue. But I'm hopeful that it will be helpful to you in mapping out your business's relationship with environmental issues.

The January 2008 issue arrived at the WHIR office from the printers today (we sent the files over last week), and while I'm not explicitly, technically there, my understanding is that the new issues are looking good and ready to go.

They ought to be arriving in the mailboxes of subscribers shortly, and with this issue it's particularly worth understanding in advance what to expect.

As you may already be aware, the January issue is the first of what we intend to be an annual exercise, the Hottest Hosts guide to Web hosting services. Of course the notion of gathering Web hosts or similar service providers is nothing new. I can think of at least one very relevant online example.

This particular directory is, to the best of my knowledge, unique to the printed medium, and an interesting extension of the hosting directory ecosystem into a new format.

We'll be going to great lengths to put this issue in the hands of new users, particularly those who might be unfamiliar with theWHIR's work. This will be our largest print run ever, and we'll be distributing the issue at events and conferences throughout 2008.

As I see it, there are several distinct groups of people for whom the issue is of particular value:

Hosting customers or potential hosting customers:

Web hosting consumers will find a long list of hosting providers, arranged into a broad set of categories that make finding the solution to a specific need a simple process.

Hosting providers, or similar service providers:

For hosting providers, the guide provides the obvious vehicle for reaching those readers through their listings. But it puts them on the other side of that transaction, listing many categories of vendor services for Web hosting providers. And it inherently provides a thorough, if not completely exhaustive, portrait of the competition in some of the key areas of the hosting business.

Vendors serving Web hosts:

They have similar access to a venue for reaching customers in the hosting space, as well as a lengthy listing of possible partners.

Companies looking to partner with Web hosts:

People seeking to develop business relationships with providers in the hosting space can look to this guide for cues on where and how to contact important providers in the business.

While on the one hand, we hope the guide will help introduce some new readers to theWHIR, we hope our existing users will find it a useful tool as well.

I’ve got a copy of the October issue of the WHIR magazine sitting on my desk, which means it ought to start hitting mailboxes this week or next. It seemed like now would be a good time to give you an idea of what to expect from this issue.

 

This one is a bit of a departure from some of our past tendencies. That is, we tend to cover events (the things that happen in the Web hosting business) and trends (the over-arching ideas that direct the industry’s progress).

 

 

With this “Who’s Who” issue, we follow those thoughts upstream a little bit, to the companies whose efforts produce those trends and events, and the individuals whose ideas and actions drive the efforts of those companies.

 

It’s pretty rare in the hosting business that a particular individual is recognized as being a great individual influence on the hosting business, but it does happen. And we set out to profile some of the most notable characters in the hosting business, illustrating some of its biggest personalities, brightest ideas and most interesting stories.

 

Some of the personalities we profile in this issue include former EV1 Servers CEO Robert Marsh, former Communitech CEO and current Aplus.Net chief Gabriel Murphy, Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons, Demand Media CEO Richard Rosenblatt, and former Dialtone Internet CEO Alvaro Albarracin.

 

Obviously there are other notable individuals, but since we’re operating with a limited amount of space we set out to put together some quality work on these specific stories, rather than fit in everything under the sun. So if you happen to think somebody is “notable” but you don’t find them mentioned on these pages, you’re not necessarily wrong. In fact, I might go so far as to say you’re necessarily right, since you would appear to have noted them yourself.

 

I’m looking forward to hearing some feedback on this issue, as it’s a bit different from many of the things we’ve done in the past. If you happen to be at ISPCON in two weeks, might I suggest that particular venue as a good opportunity to both pick up a copy of the new issue – that is, if you’re not already a subscriber (it’s free) – and to let me know what you think face-to-face.

The latest issue of WHIR magazine is most likely in the mail by this point, and ought to be arriving at the mailboxes of subscribers soon.

 

With this issue, we address a matter that I believe should resonate more within the hosting business than it does, despite the amount of discussion it receives.

 

There’s no doubt that we, and everyone else, regularly refer to the notion of adding services around the basic functions of Web hosting as a way for hosting providers to add revenue while making their overall offerings more attractive.

 

At this point, however, that process has become key to succeeding in the Web hosting business. Value-added services, as they were once most commonly called, have evolved from a Web hosting strategy into a central tenet of the successful hosting business model.

 

 

 

Web hosts and the vendors that supply them tend to agree that only a select few can successfully compete on price, in either the shared or dedicated hosting space.

 

The answer, for hosting providers that aren’t in a position to compete on price with the Googles and Go Daddys of the world is to build value into their offerings. Moving up the value chain has two distinct benefits for Web hosting providers – it increases the revenue generated by every customer, server or square foot of data center space, and it increases the value of the host’s offering to its customers. It makes them want (and to a certain extent need) to stick with that provider.

 

Our July issue includes a feature from Dennis McCafferty, who discusses how dedicated hosting providers can combat the commoditization of their business by moving into managed services, offering customers things like monitoring and management.

And on the shared side of the business, Esther M. Bauer delivers a feature examining the modern shared hosting business model, in which hosts up-sell add-on services surrounding the basic discounted Web hosting product.

 

Most of the ongoing influences on the Web hosting market have pressed its evolution in this direction. Adding value and assembling services around the basic offering to maximize the value of each customer relationship is now an important part of building a Web hosting business.

I hope that the upcoming issue of WHIR magazine will help you to develop a system for maximizing each of your customer relationships.

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.

TAGS: whir magazine, Web 2.0, SaaS

We're sending the February issue of the WHIR magazine off to press next week, and along with this issue we're including a supplemental booklet that will help you to make plans to get the most from the vast selection of conferences scheduled for 2007.

Our guide includes a calendar listing details for more than 70 Web hosting related events scheduled for 2007. Some of them you're probably familiar with. Some of them may surprise you.

For some of the conference schedule's most well-traveled spots, we provide tips on some of the best places to stay, ways to stay connected while traveling, and places to meet up while attending events.

Smaller Web hosts hoping to get more out of attending Web hosting events will make good use of features offering expert advice on how best to plan your trip to make sure you make contact with the other attendees that might best benefit your business - too many hosts leave the kinds of encounters that make or break these events up to chance.

There's always plenty to take in at a conference, but small hosts underestimate the opportunities for them to capture some of the spotlight, even if they don't have the budget to set up a booth. For these hosts, we've included a guide to getting noticed on a budget.

So when the February WHIR magazine arrives in your mailbox, pull out the guide and start planning out your conference attendance for the year.

I'll be at many of this year's big hosting events myself, And I'm looking forward to making connections with more of the many Web hosts out there.

Earlier today I spoke to Gabriel Murphy, who recently acquired - and became CEO of - Web hosting provider Aplus.Net. The interview will appear in the upcoming issue of the WHIR magazine (and eventually on the Web site), but there were a few interesting points I thought it would be worth sharing right away.

As you may know, Murphy founded Communitech many years ago, and at one point owned iNet Interactive, which operated HostingTech and WebhostingTalk.

We talked about his recent investment in Aplus.Net, and his plans for making that company into a force, in terms of technology and scale, in the Web hosting business.

A big part of that plan to add technology and scale involves acquisition. And he hinted at some upcoming news to that effect.

Murphy and Catalyst Investors bought Aplus.Net quietly in July of 2006, but didn't officially announce the deal until December. Part of the reason for that, he says, was that they were waiting to announce another acquisition at the same time.

He said the new deal is about 45 days away. And about that deal, he said this:

"We're not buying $5 million to $10 million hosting companies. Were looking to scale. We're looking at substantial Web hosting firms in terms of size."

You heard it here first (I think): expect Murphy and Catalyst to announce another "substantial" acquisition about a month from now.

Tags: gabriel murphy, aplus.net