By Anastasia Tubanos, theWHIR.com
November 6, 2006 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- With the fall installation of North America's largest ISP and WISP conference ISPCON 2006 (ispcon.com) just around the corner, the Web Host Industry Review caught up with show organizer Jon Price to gain some insight on what he thinks are must-sees at the event this year, particularly for Web hosting providers.
With over 45 sessions and more than a quarter of them geared towards Web hosts, Price says there are many presentations Web hosts should take a look at. However, there are several sessions which Price believes will be most useful and informative for Web hosts.
Leading the presentations is "The Shift in Hosting: Are You on the Upside?" (November 8, 8:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.), which features industry expert Isabel Wang and attorney at law David Snead discussing the Web hosting industry and the shift it's undergoing. Price says attendees of this seminar will leave with real world examples of marketing strategies that work, along with legal 'check lists' that can be employed to minimize risk.
Other sessions Price believes will help Web hosts gain some insight are "Hotshots in Hosting" (November 7, 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m.), which will feature real-life examples and helpful tips from Web hosting leaders, "VoIP for Hosts: Requirements, Expectations and Models for Success" (November 8, 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.) where attendees will learn how to begin offering VoIP from a Web host's perspective rather than a carrier's perspective and "The SuperCharger Part 1 and 2" sales track sessions (November 9, 12:45 p.m. to 1:45 p.m., 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.) where small and large Web hosts can learn valuable sales tips from seasoned sales expert and Dale Carnagie Training VP David Robertson.
One panel discussion Price believes hosts will get the most out of is "Offering Utility Computing for SaaS and Web 2.0" (November 8, 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.) where open source technology provider 3tera and hosting providers Layered Technologies and SiteKreator will discuss how to leverage new technology to convert commodity servers into shared grids that are easy to manage and that run and scale existing applications.
"I talked to 3tera quite a bit after reading about them and it was very startling to see how what they're doing is going to impact hosting in general and create this shift," says Price. "I think 3tera has created something that's pay-as-you-go and that's got some serious potential for certain providers to compete with what Microsoft and Google and all these other companies are doing, so that's exciting."
The exhibit hall gives Web hosts the opportunity to meet and interact with a large number of vendors, but sometimes attendees will find there are too many exhibitors to see in too little time.
According to Price, there are certain companies Web hosts should make an effort to go see first. The ISP-Market Launchpad at booth #317 is a pavilion featuring new and emerging, or startup applications that Price says hosts could benefit from, particularly from chatting to vendors like 3tera (#317-G), Biztology (#317-A), Caspio (#317-L), OpenDNS (#317-O) and SiteKreator (#317-K).
Outside of the Launchpad, Price says checking out private label Exchange hosting providers like GroupSpark (#313) or Intermedia.NET (#721) could be useful for smaller hosts who aren?t interested in managing hosted Exchange on their own and want to get started quickly.
In addition, there are many other vendors who can provide email, anti-spam and collaboration services, tools and outsourcing like Everyone.net (#506), BlueTie (#410), Aladdin (#712) and Barracuda (#1105).
And of course, Price says a lot of the current suppliers have new offers and interesting things worth looking at as well, such as SWsoft (#115), HostMySite (#308), Coyote Point (#204), CheckPoint (#606), Hostopia (#200) and IKANO (#1103).
As for some changes exhibitors and attendees can expect to see, Price says one of the biggest differences this season is with the event schedule.
"We're trying something new and different this time," says Price. "We're going to close the hall during session time. We had so many people ask us for more exhibit hall time and at the same time talk about how they didn't want to miss the sessions because they felt rushed to network or had to stand at their booths. I don't know how long this is going to last, but we're trying it and we're curious to see how it goes."
Although Price is an obvious proponent for most of the event's seminars, he says his bottom line is that he's deeply concerned for companies who are unable to shift their focus and adapt to change. He says he hopes that ISPCON will help them offer more to their existing customers as well as open their eyes to what's out there.
ISPCON Fall 2006 takes place from November 7 to 9 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California.
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