The other emerging trend among this week's news was the launch of custom CDN services by a number of hosting providers, in some cases through partnerships.

On Monday, hosting provider SingleHop reported that it is in the early stages of launching its content delivery network, which it is calling IP Cast. The company says it is taking reservations for an initial 300 accounts, 200 for new server purchases, and 100 for existing customers.

Also on Monday, UK-based managed hosting provider NetBenefit said it had partnered with content delivery network Panther Express to offer its customers a CDN platform along with its regular services. According to NetBenefit, some of the company's customers are already using the new service.

This week also saw new growth for several of the major environmental organizations associated with hosting.

On Wednesday, Extreme Networks announced that it had joined The Green Grid, the non-profit group working toward establishing energy efficient standards and processes for the hosting industry. Extreme Networks develops data center hardware technology, including switches.

Earlier in the week, Equinix announced that it had joined the US Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program, which has recently set its sights more directly on dealing with the data center business. Since its initial partnership with 365 Main in March, the organization says about 215 data centers have volunteered to supply data on their energy usage.

Along with the other trends, this week saw the announcement of several new data center facilities, including a rather unique undertaking from IBM.

On Tuesday, the company announced that this week would see the launch of a new eco-friendly data center built in the virtual world Second Life. The data center will reportedly be secured by a private firewall in IBM's "green spot" in Second Life. The company intends to use the virtual facility to demonstrate its eco-friendly products and services.

On Wednesday, INetU reported that it had completed the construction of its fifth data center. All of the company's facilities are located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, with some disaster recovery locations in the Midwest.

Also on Wednesday, real estate investment firm Stream Realty announced that it had begun construction on a second data center, located in San Antonio, Texas. The facility is being constructed on a 33-acre site in what the company refers to as San Antonio's "premier corporate office park." According to the company, the data center is expected to be complete in February 2009.

While much of this week's news was related to well-established trends, such as hosting's green movement and the rapid proliferation of data center space, the host-issued CDN trend seems to be more of an emerging service offering that could produce some more interesting announcements in the months to come, particularly if it picks up steam.