Sep 8, 2001 : Public Web Hosts - Last Week in Review

📅 September 8, 2001 - The trading week was cut short in North America thanks to the Labor Day holiday on Monday, but that didn't stop the Nasdaq from sliding consistently the rest of the week.
A less-than-stellar job outlook, combined with some bad news out of the tech sector, forced the technology-heavy Nasdaq in to negative territory for most of the week.
The Nasdaq lost 17.94, or 1.05 percent, to finish the week at 1687.70.
Probably the biggest story to hit the hosting world this week was the resignation of Ellen Hancock on Tuesday from troubled Web hosting firm Exodus Communications. Hancock, who served as CEO, will be replaced by L. William Krause, a member of the Exodus board of directors since June 2000.
"We agreed with Ellen that it's time to transition the leadership of the company as it maneuvers through challenging times," Krause said.
Shares in Exodus were hammered on the news, and closed at 41 cents on Friday after starting the week just below a dollar.
Tier 1 Research released an interesting report on the Web hosting market Friday in an effort to analyze the rampant consolidation the industry has seen over the past few months. The 12-page report analyzes the hosting landscape, recent merger activity and details the reasoning behind mergers and acquisitions. The report also says that "A 50-percent drop in the number of companies in the industry would catapult the remaining companies toward profitability," according to a release from Tier 1.
British telecommunications firm Cable & Wireless added a little boardroom firepower on Thursday when the company announced the addition of Doug Loewe as president of enterprise markets. Loewe will take charge of a team that includes a staff of more than 1,000 and that handles business worth more than US$1 billion. Prior to joining Cable & Wireless, Loewe held a number of prominent positions, including Vice President of UUNET.
Tech giant IBM announced the opening of a second Tokyo data center Tuesday, giving it 35 e-business hosting centers worldwide. The company has been on a bit of a tear recently when it comes to opening data centers, unveiling IDCs in Shanghai, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Buenos Aires, Argentina during the past four months.
IBM also announced the availability of a small business server that "delivers more processing power, along with self-management technologies" at a starting price of $699.
Enterprise hosting firm OptiGlobe said Tuesday it was teaming with hardware giant Hewlett Packard to provide IT solutions to Latin American businesses.
The two companies will join forces to provide sales, marketing, and solution development services to businesses. The agreement further leverages a February 2001 infrastructure and financing agreement between the two companies valued at over $100 million.
Looking ahead to Monday, keep an eye on managed services provider Loudcloud. The company said late Friday it would cut jobs and introduce "organizational changes" in order to reduce cash burn. It will be interesting to see how investors react on Monday.