May 2, 2003 : The webhost industry: week review

📅 May 2, 2003 - One of the most interesting themes present in the news from the Web hosting industry this week was the further buildup of a large and growing movement to stop the proliferation of unsolicited spam email, which saw the announcement of some big-name corporate support from some of the largest organizations involved in handling email, as well as some governmental support, with the passing of several new anti-spam laws.
On Monday, three of America's largest technology companies, Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo!, announced in a joint statement that they planned to work together on developing new ways to block unsolicited email messages. They said they would bring other companies on board in their efforts to develop industry guidelines and new technical standards designed to block spam. According to the companies, they hope to significantly reduce the proliferation of spam, and will step up enforcement efforts while working with legal authorities to target senders.
On Wednesday, the state of Virginia enacted a law imposing felony penalties using fraudulent practices to send spam email to or from Virginia, home to a number of major Internet providers and a high volume point for Internet traffic. According to reports, the new statute makes certain common spamming practices illegal, including forging the return address line of an email or hacking a computer to use in sending spam. Any person found guilty of sending more than 10,000 emails in one day would be subject to a prison term of one to five years. Virginia is one of more than two dozen states with anti-spam laws.
And on Tuesday, Integra Telecom announced that it would begin offering a new range of services designed to guard against viruses and unsolicited email messages. The company says it will provide spam filtering and virus protection to customers with email hosted by Integra. The virus scanning service is available at a cost of about $2 per email box per month, while the spam filtering service is available for free.
Along with the spam-related news this week, there were several announcements of management changes at several companies involved with the Web hosting business, as well as reports of possible future changes at one.
On Wednesday, blade server manufacturer RLX Technologies announced that it had appointed Douglas J. Erwin as its chairman and CEO, and Kevin Klausmeyer as its CFO. Erwin was previously CEO of PentaSafe Security Technologies, from 1998 to 2002. Prior to PentaSafe, says RLX, he was executive vice president and chief operating officer for BMC software. Klausmeyer previously served as CFO of PentaSafe, and was chief account officer at BMC before that.
On Tuesday, XO Communications announced that it had appointed Carl J. Grivner as its new CEO, beginning May 15, 2003. Grivner will succeed Daniel Akerson, who resigned January 16, 2003. On May 1, said the company, Grivner would join the company as a member of its newly created Office of the Chairman. Before joining XO, Grivner served as chief operating officer at Global Crossing. The company says he brings with him a wealth of telecom industry experience.
Also on Tuesday, it was reported that Host Europe had posted a notice to shareholders of an extraordinary general meeting to be held Friday May 16, 2003. Abby Hardoon, Victor Gareh and Marcus James Paul Lauder, who together control almost 40 percent of the company's shares, requested the meeting to propose resolutions that would remove the company's entire board of directors from office, with the exception of Hardoon, and replace it with a new team. Host Europe's board issued a statement to shareholders recommending they vote against the resolutions. The board says it has been considering dismissing Hardoon, citing lack of leadership skills, poor management decision-making, inability to communicate effectively and highly irregular attendance.
Along with the many intentions announced by organizations this week, the Web hosting business was delivered some balance in the form of research, as the META Group announced the release of its latest METAspectrum evaluation for the managed Web hosting market. The report focuses on the fully managed hosting segment, and specifically on the North American operations of 11 significant vendors. META Group says the managed Web hosting market has seen significant change during the past year and should see more stability in 203 with large providers continuing to dominate the market. The company says it sees room for improvement in service offerings, and recommends that customers seek providers with strong financials, proven track records and a broad service offering.
More interesting than this week's announcements could be their short and long-term results. With legal officials and some of the industry's largest players committed to eliminating unsolicited emails, spammers could see their fortunes failing fast, and email users could soon see a lightening of the loads faced by their in-boxes.