Liam Eagle: LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Europe cuts an interesting figure in our coverage of the web hosting industry. From a purely news standpoint, it is very possible to treat Europe in more or less the same way that we treat North America – that is, report the facts, ask the right questions, try to anticipate the issues raised. From an analytical standpoint, however, we present a distinctly North American point of view – this being the product of circumstances (our location), rather than a bias.

In cases where we offer opinion or analysis, Europe is most interesting as a point of view – its most remarkable aspects often having to do with how its hosting business differs from what we know and think and strive toward in North America. In addressing Europe as a subject in and of itself, we tend toward comparing the size and growth of its markets, the maturity of those markets, industry trends, its regulatory and even philosophical trends to North America.

The cumulative effect of this, we imagine, is that we serve as a sort of filter for processing the European web hosting market on behalf of the North American market. Understanding the differences between the two is probably worthwhile academically for anyone in the hosting business, but it has an obvious practical application for any North American company seriously looking to do business overseas.

I’d like to think that, viewed from a European perspective, our coverage of Europe serves the opposite function – providing those businesses with insight into the North American point of view, particularly as it pertains to Europe. We definitely have a significant readership in Europe. And we specifically set out to have this issue of the magazine finished in time to get it to WebhostingDay in Germany.

In attending WebhostingDay, one of our editorial objectives is certainly to continue to develop our understanding of the European market, and to make contact with the sort of people who can help us achieve that understanding.

In this month’s cover story, Dennis McCafferty examines many of the issues I described, coming at the European hosting market with the questions of a North American provider who might be looking to do business there.

Turning our gaze mostly on the North American market, I contributed a piece on attempting to glean some insight on the coming year in web hosting by examining the interests of private investors.

And we examine two of the big hosting trends of recent years through a different lens. Wayne Epperson looks at how the hype around green hosting went quiet. And Esther Bauer looks at ways for small hosting companies to get into the cloud business.

Throughout the issue, however, we come back to Europe, in the Next Big Thing, in David Snead’s legal column and in Tom Millitzer’s M&A column.

Hopefully, you’ll find that a budding understanding of the European market is a real asset for your business.