The Web Host Industry Week in Review

By The WHIR, April 20, 2007
  Digg
  Delicious
  Reddit
  Newsvine
  Stumbleupon
  Twitter

(close)

From:

To:

(close)

Share | Send | Print | Comments (0)

Level 1 PCI DSS Certified Service Provider! DataPipe delivers the best network & support; top tier data centers; New York metro, Silicon Valley, London, Hong Kong, Shanghai. DataPipe - Personal Touch, Global Reach.

By Liam Eagle, theWHIR.com

April 20, 2007 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- It was one of those weeks when the biggest Web hosting related news was also the week's biggest business news, as Google revealed its $3.1 billion purchase of ad serving network DoubleClick, and the reactions poured in.

On Monday, Google reported that it had acquired Internet marketing group DoubleClick in an all-cash transaction worth $3.1 billion. The deal extends Google's search-based advertising service into the display advertising market. Combining the assets of the largest search advertising provider with the largest display advertising network, the deal leaves Google with an extremely large share of the Internet advertising market.

As the deal became public, several organizations began expressing their concerns about the anti-trust implications of such a significant player operating in the Internet advertising space. In particular, Microsoft and AT&T voiced concerns, urging the FTC and Justice Department to examine the deal for possible anti-trust implications. Google, which does not currently face any specific challenges, said it disagreed with the suggestion that the deal would limit competition in the advertising space.

While Microsoft, with its antitrust allegations, had a hand in the Google news, the company also made its own news, announcing the launch of its SaaS incubator program.

The company said Monday that it had launched the Microsoft SaaS Incubation Center Program, an initiative designed to help independent software vendors adopt the software as a service delivery model. The program will provide ISVs with technical guidance, consulting and access to an established hosting channel. The program will also help Web hosts develop partnerships with ISVs.

While Microsoft added a new program for partners this week, one of its long-time hosting partners, SWsoft, announced that it had extended its status in the Microsoft Partner Program, attaining competencies in the ISV/software solutions and networking infrastructure categories, becoming a Microsoft gold certified partner. SWsoft has been a Microsoft partner since 2004, signing a three-year partnership deal in February of this year.

The certifications continued, as managed hosting provider Data393 anounced Monday that it had completed the SAS 70 Type II audit certification of process controls. Data 393 says the certification covers its processing of financial data and other sensitive information under Sarbanes-Oxley section 404. The company also successfully completed the audit the previous year.

Along with the certification and regulatory news this week, there was some legal activity from AIT, a Web host that has been pursing an end to click fraud for years.

On Monday, AIT announced that it had accused the Fayetteville Publishing Company, a customer, of click fraud, unfair and deceptive trade practices and breach of contract. According to AIT, the company feels the FPC was over-billing AIT for advertising. The Web host monitored traffic to and from the Fayetteville Observer's Web site, and concluded that up to 50 percent of the ad clicks sent by the site were manufactured or inflated. FPC sued AIT following the accusations, and AIT sued FPC to "protect its rights."

And on Thursday, AIT issued a press release describing what it believed to be a new form of click fraud, which it called the "bang box" scheme. According to AIT, the scheme sees a search engine affiliate host its servers in an ISPs data center, and then have a third party place a Web server inside the ISPs data center to drive impressions to the affiliate site without generating suspicious external traffic.

While this week saw several stories of particular significance, it was also unusual for the number of lingering questions left by those stories. Will Google's acquisition be scrutinized for anti-trust implications? How will AIT's lawsuit play out? Observing the ongoing result of this week's news will reveal some interesting results in the coming weeks.

Tags: certification Partnerships Week in review managed hosting Software as a service billing Search engine Data393 E Solutions ETT Google Microsoft