Jan 10, 2003 : The webhost industry: week review

📅 January 10, 2003 - This week saw a number of the companies operating in the Web hosting space make varied efforts to improve the performance of their businesses, some pulling back on the reins while others worked to expand the scope of their services.
In the former case there was a range of unpleasant news this week, announced by the companies in some cases, and received by them in others.
On Monday, communications carrier AT&T announced that it has plans to cut about 3,500 jobs and take charges of about $240 million as part of its efforts at reducing costs in its corporate services unit. The company says it expects the charge to have an impact of approximately 20 cents per share on its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2002. AT&T says the employees, more than half of whom are from management positions, were notified in 2002 that staff would be reduced in their organizations.
On Wednesday, storage software and services company StorageNetworks announced the resignation and replacement of its president and CEO, along with news that it would reduce its workforce by approximately 50 percent. Paul Flanagan, said the company, will replace co-founder Peter Bell as president and CEO. Bell will remain as chairman of the company's board of directors. The company also said it would reduce its workforce by about 50 percent, bringing its total employees to approximately 110.
And on Thursday, Web hosting company NetNation said that it had received notice from the Nasdaq stock market that its continued failure to meet the minimum $1 per share bid price requirement would result in the delisting of the company's securities from the Nasdaq SmallCap Market at the start of business on January 15. NetNation intends to appeal, requesting a hearing before the Nasdaq Listings Qualification Panel to present a plan for regaining compliance. The panel could grant an additional 180-day extension. If the company's common stock is delisted, says NetNation, they would likely continue to trade on the over-the-counter bulletin board.
While a number of companies pulled back this week, dealing with harsh circumstances and unfortunate news, several of the larger companies operating in the Web hosting business pushed ahead with new, expanded services and partnership arrangements.
On Thursday, IT giant IBM announced that it had introduced a new service, offering supercomputing power to customers on an on-demand basis. IBM customers, said the company, now have the choice of accessing supercomputing systems, paying for processing power by capacity and duration of use. IBM says it will begin building large supercomputing grids in its facilities to handle the demand for the new service.
Also on Thursday, computer systems maker HP and network access point operator Terremark Worldwide announced that they have formed a strategic partnership for the co-operative delivery of Internet infrastructure and a portfolio of managed services. The partnership will focus on combining the core competencies of the two companies, and offering them to enterprise and carrier class customers at HP's local facilities in Latin America, and Terremark's NAPs, including the NAP of the Americas.
And, along with the new services from some of the major players in the Web hosting business, this week also saw the introduction or enhancement of a number of the software tools related to hosting.
On Monday, VeriSign made a renewed push for its Network Solutions brand with the launch of a new suite of online Web building tools give small and medium-sized businesses an effective means for building and publishing professional-looking Web sites. The says it launched the product in response to research indicating that the majority of small businesses do not have a Web site, with most respondents saying they lacked both the time and the technical know-how to build a site.
Also on Monday, solution developer Oriensoft announced that it has released HostingAccelerator v1.2 for Windows, the latest version of its Windows-based Web hosting automation solution. The focus of the update, says Oriensoft, was on improved performance and stability, as well as the integration of several third-party products.
And on Wednesday, private-label hosting provider Hostopia announced that it had released Website Wizard 4.0, the latest version of its authoring utility designed to help small businesses build and launch Web sites without the need for programming knowledge. The online tool requires no downloads or installs, says Hostopia, and operates through a familiar Windows-like user interface. The Website Wizard 4.0 tool also includes access to 10,000 licensed and Web-ready images.
As the new year gets moving, many companies are acting to deal with baggage accumulated in previous years. At the same time, other companies continue to look to enhance their existing offerings through new partnerships, new products and the enhancement of existing products. 2003 has begun with renewal, a trend that may continue into the year.