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(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Web hosting provider The Planet (www.theplanet.com) announced on Monday it has joined the Microsoft WebsiteSpark program (www.theplanet.com/WebsiteSpark), where it will provide small Web development and design firms with free Microsoft licenses for the latest versions of Windows Server and SQL Server, key tools for building and designing websites.
Launched last month, WebsiteSpark delivers Microsoft's server operating system, free licenses for Microsoft Expression and Visual Studio software, as well as training and access to MSDN newsgroups for free to eligible developers.
The Planet joins several other hosting providers that have recently joined the WebsiteSpark program, including Webfusion, Fasthosts Internet and PacHosting.
In addition to being a hosting provider partner of the program, The Planet is also an official WebsiteSpark network partner.
To participate in the program, companies must be privately held professional service firms that provide Web development and design services, with less than 10 employees.
"With more than 20,000 customers, Web designers and developers comprise a key customer segment for The Planet," says Todd Mitchell, general manager for dedicated hosting and global services at The Planet. "However, for small firms, the capital expense of running a business can often be insurmountable, especially in today's economy. We're leveraging our partnership with Microsoft to provide these firms with valuable software and solutions at a low cost. Together with The Planet’s world-class network, data centers and customer support, the program provides tremendous value for cost-sensitive businesses."
Those companies that qualify for the WebsiteSpark program gain access to full-featured development tools at no upfront cost, including Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008.
They also receive pprofessional technical support from Microsoft, with access to a global community of hosting partners and Web designers and developers that offer a wide range of technical and business resources.
The Planet recently launched its own marketing program. Entitled the Partner Plus program, the new initiative offers industry-leading commission rates and access to a portal with a range of marketing and sales tools.
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Read Back Issues of WHIR Magazine
October 2009 - Web Hosting's All Star Team
This has been, for us, one of the most interesting, exciting and challenging build-ups to an issue of the magazine yet, Web Hosting's All Star Team. The balloting process was our first experiment with a kind of user participation we're planning to do a lot more with in the months to come. We had thousands of ballots submitted, with hundreds of write-in suggestions and a demonstration of user engagement that has us feeling super positive about the project.
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July 2009 - What am I Worth?
One of the interesting luxuries of working on a project like the printed WHIR magazine is that it allows us to play with things like our point of view from one issue to the next. In recent months we've been giving added attention to the kind of practical and applicable advice aimed at smaller hosts and resellers. This issue carries on with that point of view, asking, in our cover story, "what am I worth?" It's a complicated question without a clear-cut answer.
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May 2009 - The Blueprint for a Small Web Host
I was a little surprised by how difficult it became to see this idea through. We set out to assemble a blueprint for a small hosting business, but butted up pretty quickly against the general impossibility of covering all the territory that was out there to be covered. The basic constraints of a printed magazine, and the less-than-infinite amount of time we had available forced us to face the fact that we could never produce an exhaustive guide to starting a hosting company.
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