07/18/2006 Hosting Industry News Briefing

Here’s your hosting industry briefing for 07/18/2006

HostingCon 2006 Gets Underway

The second annual Hosting Convention got off to a great start at the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The convention, which ends on Wednesday, experienced a bigger turnout that anticipated.

“It’s definitely bigger than last year,” says George Roberts IV, executive director of HostingCon 2006. “There are many familiar faces in the exhibit hall, but there are also many companies who are new to the event. Things have been good today so far so we’ll see how things turn out.”

Several companies were using the convention to debut new services, products and applications, and numerous giveaways, sweepstakes and games were also being held. Visitors to the convention were treated with live demonstrations, educational classes and the chance to meet with actual software and hardware vendors.

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Microsoft Rolls Out Hosting 4.0

Microsoft rolled out Hosting 4.0 at HostingCon 2006 on Tuesday. According to the company, Hosting 4.0 will allow companies to, “rapidly launch new services, target developers of Web applications and increase operational efficiency in their business through best practices, tools, scripts and code samples.”

“There is a significant trend toward commoditization at the lower end of the Web hosting market, driving service providers of all sizes to seek new ways to add value, increase revenues and lower costs,” says John Zanni, director of worldwide hosting at Microsoft. “With the added support for updated Microsoft products SQL Server 2005 and ASP.NET 2.0 in version 4.0 of the Solution for Windows-based Hosting, we’re giving service providers the ability to easily host software-as-a-service applications and target the developers who are building them.”

The company also stated that, “The new version also enables service providers to offer profitable managed services to their customers and resellers, including database hosting with SQL Server 2005 and security update management.”

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A Phishing Spree

MarkMonitor, a firm specializing in corporate identity protection, announced that phishing is experiencing a significant rise, putting millions of people and thousands of companies at risk.

“Our study showed that the Web address is used more than any other indicator – including ‘https’ in the address bar, a padlock icon, or a certificate – to determine whether a website is legitimate or not,” said Harvard’s Rachna Dhamija, a co-author and lead researcher of the study. “Therefore, it is not surprising that phishers are manipulating the domain name as a strategy for scamming more people.”

The company stated, “domain-based phishing attacks now represent 73 percent of all attacks, up from 35 percent just 18 months ago. The impetus behind this rapid increase is illustrated in a recent independent study by several researchers from Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley, titled ‘Why Phishing Works,’ which showed that 36 percent of participants rely primarily on the domain name, in addition to website content, to determine a site’s legitimacy. It also found that participants were less suspicious of a website displaying a recognizable domain name versus a numerical IP address.”

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Affinity Joins Forces with WebUnited

Affinity, a provider of hosting solutions, announced that they have partnered with WebUnited, another hosting provider. The partnership will allow WebUnited customers the ability to use WebUnited’s hosting plans, coupled with Affinity’s ecommerce and interactive medial resources.

“Affinity is committed to providing the most complete web service packages in the industry, and partnerships such as this, will enable small business owners to reap the benefits,” says Steve White, director of sales for Affinity Internet. “Adding a trusted leader of colocation and connectivity to our roster of industry partners furthers the value of Affinity’s offerings.”

The partnership should help Affinity cement their position as a company that is offering some of the best and comprehensive services on the market, according to industry analysts.

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Posted on 07/18/06 10:14 PM

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