WHIR Magazine, April 2005: Under the Hood at NASCAR

Liam Eagle: LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

From our base in Canada, we haven’t had much of a vantage point
for observing NASCAR’s steady rise to the top of the US sporting consciousness.
But lately it has been diffi cult not to notice NASCAR. The
organization’s concerted push to extend its audience has made it a major
television attraction inside and outside the US.

And with the increased television audience came an increased audience
for supplemental media, including the company’s Web site – not a
small milestone for a sport eager to reinforce
the technological competence
of an audience that has been stereotyped
as redneck.

Our cover story this month, written
by Dennis McCaff erty, follows Turner
Sports from its takeover of the management
of NASCAR’s Web presence
in 2000, adding to the site’s basic newsand-
information format with in-car audio
streaming and pre-race shows.

But perhaps the site’s biggest draw,
among the merchandise-loving NASCAR
set, is its e-commerce superstore,
which handles as many as 3 million
customers during its busiest month of
the year.

The other major feature in this issue,
Esther M. Bauer’s conference primer looks at a promising spring, packed
with industry events for Web hosts. Probably most notable to the hosting
crowd is HostingCon 2005, the fi rst event geared entirely toward
the Web hosting business in almost four years. George A. Roberts IV,
president and CEO of Web host and consulting fi rm Interjuncture set
out to be the new standard-bearer with the two-day event, which will
feature 48 exhibitors in a 25,000 square-foot hall in Chicago, Illinois.

The June HostingCon show is only one of the three major events to
address Web hosting this spring. Data Centres Europe in April and ISPCON
in May both promise to off er Web hosting providers plenty to look
at, even if it is mixed into a larger set of themes.

Along with highlighting some of the key sessions and exhibits at the
events, the feature discusses some of the tactics Web hosts can use to
make the most of their attendance.

Web hosts looking for insight into the trends aff ecting the business
will find it in our conversation with Peter Cassidy, head of the Anti Phishing
Working Group, an organization dedicated to educating the public
about Internet fraud and identity
theft, while working with financial
institutions and law enforcement
agencies to create a network for
the exchange of information and
ideas.

In his feature on hosted VoIP solutions,
Wayne Epperson looks at
one of the emerging technologies
currently providing one of the biggest
profi t opportunities for Web
hosts looking to incorporate new
products into their portfolios.

And finally our legal columnist,
David Snead, tackles the important
infl uence of the FTC on matters
of Internet law, both through
its congressionally mandated
areas of infl uence and through its jurisdiction over deceptive trade
practices. In particular, the column addresses the organization’s work
on matters of privacy and security, as well as its duties related to spam,
as outlined by the CAN-Spam Act.