Liam Eagle: LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

To begin, of course, I’d really like to offer a thank you to our readers for your positive reception of the fi rst issue of the new magazine. It was quite an experience seeing that fi rst issue through to completion, and we were very excited to have connected with readers the way we did.

Needless to say, we’re excited to be returning with a second issue, and eager to explore all of the possibilities it presents for developing a better understanding of Web hosting.

What began with our first issue, and continues here, is a systematic dissection of the Web hosting industry – a revealing look at its every part. And with this issue, we’ve taken advantage of the collected nature of the magazine to pair contrasting perspectives, viewing the hosting industry from both sides.

The first perspective we explore is the straight-on, face-value impression, as Esther M. Bauer studies the public face of Web hosting through its various marketing tactics, attempting to determine how the outrageous efforts of a select few hosting firms fits in with the considerably more studious approach taken by the larger crowd.

By contrast, Dennis McCafferty’s piece on cyber-crime offers a glimpse at a darker, more sinister side of the Internet, where online fraud and other illegal activity has become the province of sophisticated criminal organizations eager to stake their claim on what is quickly becoming a very profi table, if wholly illegal, online industry.

Along with contrasting Web hosting’s public face and its darker elements, this issue takes a lengthy look at the ubiquitous reseller channel from two very different, and ultimately complimentary, angles.

On the one hand, Max Smetannikov looks at the growing group of small-butsophisticated Web hosting customers who may already be unknowingly doing the work of operating reseller hosting companies, making them ideal candidates for the reseller channels of most larger hosting firms.

And in comparison, Wayne Epperson looks at the increasing ease with which Web hosting is being offered as an add-on service by large ISPs and other organizations, from a wide array of industries, all eager to capitalize on their powerful brands through private-labeled Web hosting offerings.

Ultimately, what we’ve assembled is a cross section of Web hosting today, but a cross section viewed from opposite sides – a fusion of perspectives from which, we can only hope, will flow some valuable insight.