On Monday, Telecommunications firm Covad Communications announced that it had been acquired by Platinum Equity for approximately $304 million in cash. The investment group will pay $1.02 for each of approximately 298 million outstanding Covad shares. The deal must be approved by Covad shareholders and the Federal Communications Commission, as well as state public utility commissions. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2008.

On a somewhat smaller scale, hosting and colocation provider AxisHOST said Monday that it had acquired virtual private server hosting provider BuyAVPS. As part of the deal, AxisHOST will make significant changes to the company, including the enacting of a service level agreement promising 99.99 percent uptime and a maximum latency of 85ms. The additional support staff required in the deal, says AxisHOST has enabled the company to reduce average ticket response time to less than an hour for non-emergency issues.

And on Tuesday, security company McAfee announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire Internet security auditor ScanAlert for approximately $51 million in cash with an earn-out of up to $24 million more if certain performance targets are met. McAffee says the deal with enhance its position in Web security and will help guide online shoppers to safe websites.

Along with the notable acquisitions made this week, several other Web hosting providers sought to enhance their standing this week with the appointment of new executives.

Late last week, Irish managed service provider Servecentric announced that it had named Helga Muir its sales and marketing manager, making her responsible for sales and business development strategy for the company's managed service and data center businesses. She previously was corporate account manager with Magnet Networks, and was sales director of the Original Pasty Company, which she co-founded.

On Tuesday, dedicated hosting provider The Planet announced it had named Stan O. Barber its VP of network operations. Barber will report to CEO Douglas J. Erwin and will be responsible for the company's global network operations center. He will also assume management of the company's abuse department, which oversees issues related to violations of the company's acceptable use policies.

And on Wednesday, managed hosting provider Layered Technologies that it had appointed John "Jack" Finlayson its CEO and chairman of its board of directors. Former CEO and co-founder Michael Platner will continue as a board member, and vice-chair of the board of directors. Finlayson was previously a director at Layered Technologies, and was COO of SAVVIS Communications for six and a half years. Finlayson will officially take over the position on November 26, 2007.

While this week's news lacked perhaps the odd or unusual news of some recent years, it carried a considerable dose of the kind of activity that really makes Web hosting work. And "business as usual" certainly isn't a bad thing.