“HostingCon’s promoters know how to facilitate networking like few others I’ve experienced.”

We’ve heard a lot of positive comments about the networking environment at HostingCon.  We’re happy to hear you’re all getting out there to meet and mingle!

I’ve posted all the photos I took to Flickr and they’re available in the HostingCon Group.  Please feel free to take a look and also to post any photos you may have to the group.

WebmasterWorld Weekly from Brett Tabke on Vimeo.

• When does iNET Interactive’s ownership of HostingCon become effective?

Answer: Under the terms of the acquisition, iNET Interactive’s ownership is effective July 31, 2008, the day after the close of HostingCon 2008. Interjuncture, the current owner of HostingCon, continues to be responsible for all aspects of HostingCon 2008.

• Where can I learn more about iNET?

You can visit www.iNETinteractive.com or feel free to talk with an iNET representative attending HostingCon 2008.

• Will HostingCon remain the name of the conference?

Answer: Yes

• What is HostingCon’s relationship with Web Hosting Talk? Will HostingCon become Web Hosting Talk Conference?

Answer: HostingCon will remain a stand-alone brand owned and operated by iNET Interactive and separate from the Web Hosting Talk brand. HostingCon – the world’s largest physical gathering of hosted services professionals – is a perfect complement to Web Hosting Talk – the largest online gathering of hosting services professionals.

• Will the format and programming of HostingCon change?

Answer: The current HostingCon format and programming has produced year after year growth indicating success. However, iNET will be evaluating exhibitor and attendee feedback from the 2008 show to better understand their evolving needs. The 2009 format and programming will reflect the feedback and demands of the HostingCon community.

• Why did iNET, an Internet social media company, want to get into the conference business?

Answer: iNET operates multiple online communities for Internet professionals and technology enthusiasts, who utilize various media beyond the Web to gather, collaborate and learn. HostingCon – the world’s largest physical gathering of hosted services professionals – is a perfect complement to Web Hosting Talk – the largest online gathering of hosting services professionals.

• Are Frank and George still going to be involved with HostingCon?

Answer: Yes – after the completion of HostingCon 2008 – Frank and George will remain involved as members of HostingCon’s advisory board.

HostingCon 2008

• Who do I call with a question regarding HostingCon 2008?

Answer: You can email info@hostingcon.com or call +1 815 261-4600 and select option 2.

HostingCon 2009

• Where and when is the HostingCon 2009 show?

Answer: The date and location of HostingCon 2009 will be announced during HostingCon 2008 and communicated via www.HostingCon.com and www.iNETinteractive.com following the completion of the 2008 show.

• Who do I call regarding HostingCon 2009?

Answer: You can contact Bev Yuellig, Event Manager at iNET Interactive, for information about HostingCon 2009 or visit www.HostingCon.com following the completion of the 2008 event.

HostingCon 2009: Exhibitors

• When can exhibitors register for HostingCon 2009?

Answer: Exhibitors can register during the 2008 show. After the 2008 show, exhibitors can contact an iNET Interactive Account Manager for registration.

• Do we still use HostingCon.com to register?

Answer: Yes – Exhibitors and attendees can register at www.HostingCon.com.

• Who do we contact for HostingCon exhibitor registrations?

Answer: HostingCon exhibitors have a single point of contact through an iNET Interactive Account Manager or they can visit www.HostingCon.com. In addition, if you are exhibiting at this year’s show, an iNET Interactive Account Manager will visit with you for a personal introduction.

HostingCon 2009: Attendees

• When can attendees sign-up for HostingCon 2009?

Attendees can register for HostingCon 2009 at www.HostingCon.com after the completion of HostingCon 2008.

• Can we still use HostingCon Connect?

Answer: Yes.

HostingCon 2009: Speakers

• Who do I contact if I want to speak at HostingCon 2009?

Answer: You can contact Bev Yuellig, Event Manager at iNET Interactive. For more information about HostingCon 2009, you can visit www.HostingCon.com after the completion of HostingCon 2008.

Founded in 2005, HostingCon is the world’s largest conference and trade show serving the hosted services industry.  This year’s event, to be held July 28 – 30 at Navy Pier in Chicago, is expected to draw over 1,500 hosted services professionals and nearly 100 exhibitors.  The event features keynote addresses from Serguei Beloussov, the Chairman and CEO of Parallels, and Mark Rogers, the Director of Cloud Computing Services at Microsoft.

The addition of HostingCon is a natural extension for iNET Interactive, further strengthening its position as the leading media company serving the hosted services industry.  The iNET Interactive portfolio also includes Web Hosting Talk, the largest online community serving the hosted services industry, HostingCatalog, the industry’s only pay-per-click ad network, and various specialty hosted services directories.

“We are excited to be able to add HostingCon to iNET Interactive,” stated Troy Augustine, iNET’s President and CEO.  “HostingCon – the world’s largest physical gathering of hosted services professionals – is a perfect complement to Web Hosting Talk – the largest online gathering of hosting services professionals.”

HostingCon was founded by George Roberts, the CEO of Interjucture, and Frank Spaulding, Interjucture’s COO.  The pair will remain involved in HostingCon as members of its advisory board.  “Although Frank and I will remain involved as advisors, we are very excited to hand over the reins to iNET Interactive”, George Roberts stated.  “We have complete confidence that iNET Interactive will continue to grow and develop HostingCon with the same passion and commitment that Frank and I have applied.”

About iNET Interactive

Founded in 2002, iNET Interactive (www.iNETinteractive.com) is a social media company operating prominent online communities for Internet professionals and technology enthusiasts. Its vertically-focused communities incorporate user-contributed ratings, reviews, and discussion augmented with professionally-produced content.

About HostingCon

HostingCon is the world’s largest conference and trade show serving the hosted services industry.  Founded by George Roberts and Frank Spaulding in 2005, the annual event has grown to over 1,500 attendees and nearly 100 exhibitors from more than 30 countries.  For more details about HostingCon, visit www.hostingcon.com.

Media Contact:

iNET Interactive

714 E. Monument Ave., Suite 120

Dayton, OH 45402

Kevin Gold, Director, Marketing

877.463.8468

Kevin.gold@inetinteractive.com

If you have not booked your rooms yet, we suggest you use the reservation link on our Hotel/Travel page for the InterContinental immediately to take advantage of our group rates before they end on Monday!

Please note that this is a new, beta feature, and as such you may run into problems.  If you do, please let us know.

Click here to register now.

Oh, and don’t forget to reserve your room at one of our two great conference hotels. Rooms are going fast and group rates end July 2, 2008!

If you want to get your registration for the least amount of money possible, register before June 13th!

The Hotel and Travel page has been updated accordingly.

Please feel free to take a look and let us know what you think!

Please see our speaker information first to view information on our conference tracks, speaker rules, etc. Then you can use our new proposal submission system to submit your proposal.

Please let us know if you have any questions.  Deadline for proposals is April 11, 2008.

There is an accompanying article on WebmasterWorld.com.

That was all I could say while watching the incredible fireworks display from the rooftop barbecue at Navy Pier on the final evening of Hostingcon 2007. It pretty much summed up the entire experience at HostingCon this year.

The barbeque was sponsored by CRE Loaded, a company the provides value added ecommerce service to hosting companies. What a great event! A rockin’ band on the roof with a killer view of the entire lake and the Chicago skyline, plus authentic Chicago food, and drinks a’plenty. Thank you so much CRE Loaded!

The final day of the exhibit hall was very exciting as well - seeing tons of vendor drawings and giveaways including a few iPhones, Wii gaming consoles, and skateboards. The foot traffic to the floor continued its strong pace right up until the show staff started tearing up the carpet. In fact, I was having a meeting in one of the booths while the carpet was being ripped up around us!

The keynotes and sessions were informative and productive as well - the details will be published at a later date - and the speaker’s presentations will be available for download here at the HostingCon.com web site.

Many congratulations to George Roberts and his HostingCon staff for pulling off the best HostingCon ever!

A couple of final notes:

If you are contemplating exhibiting at HostingCon 2008 (July 28-30, 2008) when the event returns to Chicago next year, sign up now. If you commit to reserving your booth space by August 3, 2007 - you will save 10% off your booth fees. That can add up to real money. Also - the best spots and booth spaces are available now - they will start to get snapped up as time goes on. For any further details use the ‘contact’ info here at HostingCon.com.

And finally, if you EVER ride in a car that Frank Spaulding is driving - for goodness sakes - PUT ON YOUR SEATBELT!!

It’s been fun writing about things leading up to the show. I’ll keep touching base here from time to time to follow up on HostingCon 2007 and to look forward to HostingCon 2008!

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and is provided courtesy of the dedicated server experts at The Hosting News.

There are some pictures available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sirtwist/sets/72157600985561496/.  I’ll post more as I get them in.

Thanks again and we look forward to seeing you at HostingCon 2008, July 28-30, 2008 at Navy Pier in Chicago!

The keynote panel featured a lively discussion between panel members Serguei Beloussov, CEO of SWsoft, Lou Honick, CEO with HostMySite.com, David Koston, with cPanel, and Sean Richards, Technical Director with Touch Support. Moderator David Snead directed the discussions through issues of virtualization, how to determine which products to offer, and what the future holds for web hosting companies.

In the exhibit hall many interesting and informative presentations, product demos, and booth presentations were on display. Many of the vendors were accepting entries for a variety of great giveaways including two wii gaming consoles, iPhones galore, tee shirts, a Cooper Mini convertible, $25,000 in services and servers, and tons of smaller, fun toys that you can pick up at most of the booths.

The Tophosts and FastServers.net business networking cruise was the highlight of last evening for tons of HostingCon attendees and exhibitors. A tri-level yacht with an incredible open bar and all-you-could-eat dinner set the stage for both dramatic city views from the lake and great networking with the folks onboard.

There was also a party sponsored by Microsoft - which I will try to get the word on later today. I know it was held at Riva Navy Pier and that they were giving away an Xbox 360 at the reception.

Overall, the quality of people that I have met in the last couple of days and the fun times will be the basis for great memories and successful business relationships.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and is provided courtesy of the hosting reseller experts at The Hosting News. Derek will be manning the TechPad Agency display in Booth #200 on the show floor.

The show debuted with a full day of conference and educational sessions which were attended with vigor by the audience which show organizer George Roberts estimated at well over 1,000 first day attendees.

Many exhibitors were spending at least a portion of the day putting the finishing touches on their display booths in anticipation of the opening of the exhibit area at 10:30 am this morning. As I was transporting our booth materials into the exhibit hall I was struck by the central (massive) display booths of the two Platinum advertisers for this year’s show - Microsoft and FastServers.Net. Both booths are in the middle of the floor with impressive teams of trade show experts working for hours to finalize the displays. I happened to bump into Aaron Phillips with FastServers.Net and he graciously gave me a tour of the FastServer booth’s ”inner sanctum” which only rarified HostingCon attendees will ever see!

On the conference front, the educational sessions were concise and impactful. The variety and quality of the speakers was appreciated by the attendees. Yesterday’s speaking sessions included yours truly, speaking on the Future of Web Hosting Marketing, and the likes of David Snead, Neil Patel, Isabel Wang, David Snead, Joe Bardenheier, Jeff Stibel, Hillary Stiff, Richard Rosenblatt and (for reals!) Carson Daly. Yes that Carson Daly (Total Request Live and Last Call with Carson Daly).

Today’s keynote will feature an expert industry panel discussing the Future of Service Enablement. David Snead will moderate as participants, Serguei Beloussov of SWsoft, Lou Honick of HostMySite.com, David Koston of cPanle, Sean Richards of Touch Support, and David Wippich of Ensim discuss the direction that the industry is headed.

I’ll see you out on the show floor today if you’re in town. Otherwise I’ll try to get an update in later today.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and is provided courtesy of the server hosting experts at The Hosting News. Derek will be manning the TechPad Agency display in Booth #200 on the show floor.

Upon check in I was presented with an overview of the show which I will briefly summarize here:

Registration / The Show starts at 7:30 am on Monday, July 23 at Navy Pier. There is no early registration.

There is a FREE shuttle bus service which will run between the conference hotels and Navy Pier from 7:15 am to 9:15 am each morning.

There is a networking reception on Monday evening at 5:00 pm in the Lakeview Terrace at Navy Pier, sponsored by cPanel, FastServers.Net and Microsoft.

Tuesday evening features events hosted by FastServers.Net and Tophosts (cruise) and Microsoft plus several others. Check the booths in the exhibit hall for more events / parties and details.

Wednesday evening will be the networking ”event to end all events” - an evening rooftop barbecue and fireworks.

The weather in Chicago is a bit warmer (actually a bit more humid) than Los Angeles - the forecast is calling for high temperatures in the 80’s and lows in the mid 60’s for the next few days - and no rain predicted. So great Chicago summer weather!

So travel safely if you are arriving from out of town and we’ll see you at the conference tomorrow!

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and is provided courtesy of the hosting experts at The Hosting News. Derek will be delivering a presentation on the future of web hosting marketing on Monday morning at 11:15 am.

The winners of a free (up to 4 night) stay at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers:

Ulrika Lindwall, Web Hosting Search 
Stephen Smart, Pleth, LLC

The winners of a free Full Conference pass to HostingCon 2007: 

Russell Weiss, InfoRelay Online Systems, Inc.
Tony Lucas, XCalibre Communications Ltd
Joseph Mack, HostPC Internet Services
Steven Job, Tiggee LLC
Emerson Nogueira, EWDhosting.com

Congratulations everyone!

Specifically, according to the NovaStor website, the company is a leading, international provider of software solutions for data availability and protection. NovaStor provides software and services for the backup, restore and retention of business-critical data which together cover a wide application area -ranging from home, mobile users, SMB users, all the way through Enterprise users, globally. NovaStor’s cost-effective solutions are platform- and hardware-independent and ensure that optimal technological and economical use is gained from the customer’s existing and future IT environment. NovaStor is headquartered in Switzerland (Rotkreuz), has offices in Germany (Hamburg) and the USA (Simi Valley), and is represented in numerous other countries through partnerships.

According to information provided to me by Mayle Li, Product Manager wioth NovaStor, the company is doing some interesting things at this year’s show - which will be the second that NovaStor has attended.

Back by popular demand, NovaStor will be handing a beautiful selection of Long Board Skateboards to the lucky visitors whose names will be drawn from business cards dropped off at the booth.

NovaStor is also debuting its latest online backup solution, NovaNet-WEB, at HostingCon 2007. That means that show attendees will be the first to get a look at the new product.

When asked about the importance of HostingCon to the company, Mr. Li had this to say, ”This is the 2nd year NovaStor will attend HostingCon. Being in the industry for more than 10 years, NovaStor continues to provide one of the best online backup solutions to thousands of partners. Our product adds value to the hosting business, therefore, we see HostingCon is an important channel for us to meet our partners and prospects.”

So if you drop off your card in Booth #520 - you’ll learn about great backup and disaster recovery solutions - and you may just ride off on a cool Long Board Skateboard!

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and is provided courtesy of the dedicated server hosting experts at The Hosting News.

Trent Gabriel Spaulding was born on Friday, July 13th.  Trent was 7lbs, 6oz and 21 1/2 inches at birth.

Congratulations Frank and Tracy!

The company describes itself as follows, ”DotNetPanel Software specializes in development of cutting-edge solutions for hosting businesses. Our leading product is DotNetPanel - the control panel for Windows hosts. DotNetPanel was chosen by hundreds companies across the world to help managing their hosting operations. Today DotNetPanel Software is not just a control panel vendor, but it is the company pushing the whole industry forward by offering a full range of SaaS-oriented products and solutions.”

We asked Feodor Fitsner, CEO with DotNetPanel Software to tell us more about what the company has planned for HostingCon this year. Mr. Fitsner stated, ”Well, this is our first time we are going to the event of such scale like HostingCon. Compared to other companies (especially to big market players like The Planet, FastServers, Microsoft, SWSoft) I’m afraid we will not surprise attendees with some gorgeous booth decoration, but I’m sure our presentation content is the most strong part here. Of course, we are not going to present a plain booth – we’ve prepared a very nice DNP banner with company logo, a number of attractive posters presenting our new products/technologies. Additionally, we’ll have about 250 paper folders and 50 CDs with presentation materials for giving away to booth visitors. The interesting part is that each CD contains a gift – free DNP 50 web sites license + modules pack ($200 value)! We are not going to install the plasma panel – we believe that personal contact with a visitor is more effective. As a support tool when discussing/presenting something to the visitor we are going to have a big note pad and markers. Also, on Tuesday, 11:30 in the Presentation Theater I’m going to have 30-minute presentation of our Hosted Exchange solution and B2B Extensions technology.”

When asked specifically what new items or products will be debuted at the show, Mr. Fitsner replied, ”First of all we are going to shock the whole hosting industry with our brand-new B2B Extensions initiative! DotNetPanel Business-To-Business Extensions is Service Virtualization Technology enabling hosts to securely offer their hosting resources to other hosting companies and allowing to build amazing business models! This product will be covered in more details during Tuesday presentation.

Secondly, our brand-new Hosted Exchange solution for Exchange 2007. Despite it was released 3 months ago, I bet not every company out there is still aware about its existence. Hosted Exchange module will be mentioned during the presentation too.

Third, we are going to demonstrate never-seen before DNP Mobile product! DNP Mobile is a web application for smartphones and pocket PCs enabling hosts to manage business-critical operations while they are on the go!

Fourth, we are going to present DNP Desktop application. DNP Desktop is Windows-based desktop application helping hosting end-users easily perform routine operations like local-remote databases synchronization, local-remote folders synchronization and many others!

As you see exhibit days are not going to be boring.”

To learn more about DotNetPanel Software, please visit: www.dotnetpanel.com.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and is provided courtesy of the reseller hosting experts at The Hosting News.

The official company description as presented to HostingCon is as follows:

”The Planet is the leading provider of On Demand IT Infrastructure solutions, hosting more than 22,000 small- and medium-size businesses and 2.8 million Web sites worldwide. By offering the best choice of servers, software tools and world-class support, backed by state-of-the-art facilities and unmatched network connectivity, The Planet helps turn information technology into a powerful competitive advantage that enables customers to successfully grow their businesses.”

According to Ms. Donaldson, The Planet plans to showcase a full range of products and services at the upcoming HostingCon show. In addition the company will be featuring its ”Lowest Hosting Price on The Planet”.

Visitors to The Planet’s booth (booth #505) can register to win a new 80 GB video iPod simply by dropping off a business card.

Whether you’re looking for information on The Planet’s technology, on marketing or sales, the company is bringing a full contingent of representatives, including three senior executives: Vice President of Marketing - Steve Kahan; Vice President of Sales - Jimmy Treuting; and Vice President of Technology - Will Charnock.

Ms. Donaldson went on to add, ”HostingCon is the premier industry event that attracts not only a cadre of customers, but also suppliers and potential employees who can get a first-hand experience of The Planet. We’re always scouting for new technologies, as well customers who can tell us what they want to see from our company. And if you’re interested in learning what it’s like to work at The Planet, stop by and speak with anyone who’s at our booth.”

So stop by Booth #505 to see a great hosting team - and while you’re at it, why not sign up for the giveaway? Everybody can use a cool new video iPod!

To learn more about The Planet, please visit: www.theplanet.com.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and is provided courtesy of the hosting experts at The Hosting News.

Mr. Curtis will be a speaker at the show on Monday, July 24, 2007 in a session entitled, ”Load Balancing and High Availabity Traffic Management for Everyone”. The description of the session is as follows, ”In the current online environment, expectations of 100% availability is increasing at an exponential rate. Even the smallest of online content and application providers now expect high availability, 99.99(9)% uptime, minimal latency and guaranteed delivery of content. They are seeking ever-increasing flexibility in how traffic is directed based on a variety of factors such as server capacity, availability, response time, current load and geographical location; utilizing integrated adaptative traffic management solutions which include geo load-balancing and server-clustering.”

Another impressive development with Superb for HostingCon attendees - SuperbHosting.Net, a subsidiary of Superb Internet Corporation, is giving away “FREE for 1 year; a high availability, geographically load-balanced Hosted Solution, complete with Coyote Point Load Balancing, and dedicated servers located in both the Seattle, WA and McLean, VA data centers – valued at over $25,000″.

Wow. 25 large (in services) for one lucky attendee. Pretty impressive giveaway. As I understand it - you simply go by the Coyote Point Systems booth - #220 - and sign up to win. Why not? It’s easy to do, and you can always use the $25,000 worth of servers, right?

According to the official release on the giveway - here’s what Curtis R. Curtis had to say, ”We would like to invite every attendee of Hostingcon 2007 for whom having a high availability, mission critical, completely redundant online solution is their number one priority for 2007, to stop in at the Coyote Point booth to enter to win what every serious online company should have; a high availability hosting solution. With the hosting solutions we provide using Coyote Point technologies, balancing across geographically distributed server clusters is no longer rocket science. We are able to deliver advanced hosting solutions that will ensure that your data is always online and optimized for performance.”

To learn more about Superb Internet and their products and services, please visit: www.SuperbHosting.net.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and is provided courtesy of the web server hosting experts at The Hosting News.

I have had a personal relationship with the team at TopHosts.com since around 1999 - and they have exuded class and professionalism as long as I have worked together with them.

At this year’s HostingCon the team at TopHosts.com have joined forces with FastServers.net to offer one of the most anticipated events of this year’s show - the Business Networking Cruise.

According to information released by the two companies, the Business Networking Cruise will depart on Tuesday July 24th commencing at 6 PM, directly after the daily HostingCon conference activities.

While aboard the well-furbished and beautifully crafted Mystic Blue vessel, which sports three enclosed decks and one open-air deck, cruise participants will have three hours for business discussions, “shop talk” or just enjoying the spectacular view of the Chicago Skyline. The panoramic, world-famous view from Lake Michigan, voted among the best in America, offers unmatched scenes of the Sears Tower, the John Hancock, the Field Museum and the Aon Center. Barbecue fare, light food menu items and an open bar are included.

TopHosts and FastServers.Net will be inviting special guests to the limited seating VIP section on the open-deck. While most of the seats are reserved for business partners, clients and confirmed guests of TopHosts and FastServers.Net, there will be several spots open to hosting executives attending or speaking at HostingCon.

Early registration for this prestigious event is highly recommended as only 400 attendees can be accommodated. For a minimal fee, you can enjoy what will be an unforgettable business event and incredible networking opportunity.

To learn more and request a spot on the ship - please visit: http://www.hostingconcruise.com.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and provided courtesy of the dedicated server hosting experts at The Hosting News.

Well…why not stop by Booth #304 at HostingCon and sign up to win an new iPhone for FREE?

Website Magazine, who’s mission is to “help our readers and visitors succeed by providing helpful and valuable information about online business trends, industry insights and best practices” will be providing live session coverage of panels and exclusive interviews with many of the presenters and exhibitors during HostingCon 2007. Another point of interest, the company is headquatered in the city of Chicago (so they can give you pointers at the show on local eateries and diversions).

The company which publishes both a print and digital edition of its magazine is also currently working on an invitation-only showcase of a new user-generated social news and commentary section of their website which will be available during HostingCon.

According to Mr. Peter Prestipino, Editor in Chief at Website Magazine, “We’ve built many successful relationships through previous appearances at the show and believe that HostingCon is a perfect fit because of its core focus on the Internet’s best and brightest.”

You can check out the magazine’s digital website at: www.websitemagazine.com.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and provided courtesy of the hosting experts at The Hosting News.

I have to be honest and tell you that there were some snags with our stay - mainly a bit of confusion over switching rooms after one night of our stay. Nothing really major. But the point I wanted to get across was that the facilities at the W are absolutely first class in every respect. Very stylish and comfortable with magnificent views of the Lake. Cool furniture in the lobby and a very interesting bar in the entry as well. Notwithstanding the fact that it is very close to Navy Pier and convenient to downtown shopping and restaurants.

So I was going to recommend that during your visit to Chicago for HostingCon - you consider staying at the W. Well…there’s just one little problem with that plan: according to Sue Church with Interjuncture (Director of Operations for the show) there is a 72 person waiting list to get in during that period - at the discounted HostingCon rate. I am pretty sure that myself and the TechPad Agency crew reserved the last rooms. You may still be able to reserve a room at the normal full rate.

It’s too bad that they are now full - it really is a great hotel experience.

So while I have not yet stayed at the other hotel which is giving a great rate for HostingCon - The Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers - I would recommend getting your rooms reserved sooner, rather than later. The Sheraton Chicago is discounting their rooms for HostingCon participants. The normal room rate is at least $259 per night. For HostingCon attendees the rate is just $179 per night. you can click through this link to reserve your room online now.

With the show now just 4 weeks away - and many attendees and exhibitors now making travel plans - be sure to get in early and support our HostingCon partners at The Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers.

See you in Chicago!

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and provided courtesy of the dedicated server hosting experts at The Hosting News.

If you are having issues registering using the Firefox browser, please let us know.  We may suggest that you use Internet Explorer or another browser to complete your registration.  We have not been able to track down the cause of this issue since it does not appear to happen to everyone using Firefox (we can’t replicate it here).

The company will be discussing and demostrating it’s anti-spam solutions for web hosting companies.

I spoke with Bill about what he and his team would be up to at this year’s event. Here’s what he had to say:

”We will be exhibiting at Hostingcon and hopefully setting the bar significantly higher for best practices in anti-spam within the web hosting community. We have created an anti-spam solution that meets the specific needs of the Web Hosting industry. Right now the anti-spam solutions in most Web Hosts are home grown. They have anti-spam solutions that they are not happy with but the alternatives out there are too expensive. They are trying to protect their customers from spam in what is a very complex and demanding environment.

We will be showing off significant improvements in our CanIt-Domain-Pro anti-spam software for Web Hosts. We have added two major new features that will be announced at Hostingcon.

I also asked Bill about why Roaring Penguin had chosen HostingCon 2007 to discuss their products and services. He commented, ”The Web Hosting marketplace is a significant opportunity for Roaring Penguin. We came because this is where the Web Hosts are.

We come to Hostingcon because it is the premier North American event for Web Hosts. Companies like Roaring Penguin have a responsibility to help support events that further the education of our customers and help spread best practices throughout the Industry.”

You can see Roaring Penguin Software, Inc. and their anti-spam solutions in booth #319

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and provided courtesy of the hosting experts at The Hosting News.

As CEO of HostMySite.com, Lou Honick has always been a staunch advocate of outstanding customer service. His contribution to the Keynote panel will be surely be felt in his customer-centric approach.

HostMySite.com is also doing something interesting in the hosting product area prior to HostingCon. The company has launched the new beta of the most recent release of Adobe’s ColdFusion - formerly code named ‘Scorpio’ now named ‘ColdFusion 8′. The new beta release has been available since May 30, 2007. At this point the full commercial release of ColdFusion 8 is anticipated to be in a couple of months. Adobe hasn’t set a specific date yet, as the company is leaving a bit of time to react should they discover anything through the public beta. According to the company that puts the estimated delivery of the full releases at pretty much dead center of the calendar year.

When asked to distill the key features of the new ColdFusion 8 into a brief statement, Tim Buntel, Senior Product Marketing Manager, ColdFusion at Adobe stated, ”The tip of the iceberg on new features is already a pretty long list. I think if I had to say one thing about the release, this is Adobe ColdFusion. ColdFusion 8 shows what happens when you inject ColdFusion with Adobe’s DNA. It’s really about making this great experience for the application user, with a whole slew of new features: PDF’s, rich Internet applications, and multimedia presentations - simply a much more meaningful experience for users. There is also a lot more integration in the enterprise. We’re Doing for .NET what we’ve done for Java in the past. Plus Exchange integration. Then also enhancing the developer’s experience.”

To get started, if you feel comfortable installing ColdFusion on your own computer or workstation – all you have to visit the Adobe Labs and they will provide you with the full product along with all kinds of documentation and helpful articles to get you started. You can also access multimedia demonstrations as well. That is all free. According to Tim Buntel, ”A developer can just grab that and go to town”.

He continued, ”If you don’t want to install or are unable to install the product on your machine for any reason, then with a ColdFusion hosting partner such as HostMySite.com, you’ll be able to go sign up and have a small account that is running on ColdFusion 8 that will allow you to start writing code and use the features that environment. Those accounts are free as well.”

With regard to the beta accounts mentioned above, Monish Sood, Director of Marketing at HostMySite.com explained the details, ”The ColdFusion 8 Beta comes fully loaded with features including a 600 MB MS SQL Server database, 4 GB of disk space, and ASP.NET 3.0 framework access. We want developers to be able to test the newest release of ColdFusion in real-world situations with features that are available with our ColdFusion developer edition plans.”

Mr. Sood continued, ”We have worked closely with Adobe throughout the beta process to transfer all feedback from participating developers. The developers get access to production level features to test in a beta environment. HostMySite.com provides the same level of support and service for the beta as any production plan.”

For futher details on the new beta release of Coldfusion 8, please visit the Adobe Labs at: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/coldfusion8.

To sign up for the free ColdFusion 8 beta account with HostMySite.com, please visit: http://www.hostmysite.com/CF8. And be sure to check out HostMySite.com CEO Lou Honick in the Keynote panel at HostingCon entitled, The Future of Service Enablement.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and provided courtesy of the dedicated server experts at The Hosting News.

So what will Microsoft bring to HostingCon 2007? Here is what a few of the folks at Microsoft had to say when asked what we can expect at this year’s show.

”At HostingCon 2006, attendees had a number of questions about our product and solution roadmaps. Since last year, Microsoft has broadened its hosting commitment on at least half a dozen fronts, including solution enhancements, software plus services enablement programs, and product investments, which will enable our hosting partners to easily and quickly deliver powerful applications and value-added services to end users in multiple segments. I’m looking forward to sharing information about these investments with the hosting community.” – Chris Samson, Senior Hosting Technology Specialist, Microsoft Corp.

”This year Microsoft aims for attendees to walk away with fresh perspectives on how to compete with the giants entering the industry, how to do more for their customers and where they should be making their investments. In addition, Microsoft looks forward to demonstrating its latest Web products, as well as exciting new offerings planned to come out in the next few months.

2007 is going to be another exciting year for Microsoft as we approach the launch of Windows Server 2008, and without letting the cat out the bag, we plan to have some interesting announcements at the conference, as well as demos of Silverlight, Expression, Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS7), and SQL Server 2005.

HostingCon has proved to be an important forum for dialogue on important industry issues. Microsoft recognizes the invaluable opportunity that this provides and we are thrilled to be involved as platinum sponsors once again.” – Michael van Dijken, Lead Marketing Manager, Hosting Solutions, Microsoft Communications Sector

”HostingCon is the best hosting-centric venue for Microsoft to demonstrate its products and solutions that enable service providers to offer value add services while focusing on lower TCO.” – Chuck Ladd, Hosting Technology Specialist, Microsoft Corp.

Be certain to stop by Booth #309 at this year’s HostingCon to see everything that a world-class exhibitor brings to our event!

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and provided courtesy of the dedicated server hosting experts at The Hosting News.

Jinesh Varia, Evangelist with Amazon Web Services will be co-presenting the keynote presentation entitled, Hosted Services - What’s Next?. Jinesh will explain the benefits of Amazon’s Web Services products and how these concepts will change the landscape of hosted services.

I recently caught up with Jinesh to see what might come up in the presentation. Jinesh commented, “We will be showcasing our newest Infrastructure-As-A-Service offerings Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (still in beta) and Amazon Simple Storage Service from the hosting perspective and highlight its advantages over traditional hosting.”

According to the Amazon Web Services website, “Amazon has spent 11 years and over $2 billion building the infrastructure, technical knowledge, and operational excellence to operate a world class web-scale computing platform. Amazon Web Services has now released a variety of web services (programmatic access to its open APIs) that enable developers to leverage Amazon’s data and robust infrastructure, easily and inexpensively. These fundamental services allow external developers and businesses to build their web applications in a reliable, scalable, and cost-effective manner.”

The essence of the product is that one can dynamically scale an online system up or down and pay only for what’s used.

Jinesh went on to comment on his thinking on attending this year’s event, “HostingCon attracts the finest and brightest people from the hosting industry and it will be the right place to spread our vision. We feel that our infrastructure services - especially Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3 - will change the way people think about hosting. Features like the ability to consume hosting services in variable units (by the hour or by the GB), and the ability to spawn up an Amazon-class server by a web service call will not only give resellers, distributors, and hosting providers new ways to do businesses but also give developers new way to develop cost-effective applications.”

Jinesh also provided the following links for reference:

Here’s a good overview of the Amazon Web Services done by BusinessWeek Online.

The Amazon Web Services that will be the subject of Jinesh’s presentation -
Amazon EC2, and - Amazon S3.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and provided courtesy of the hosting experts at The Hosting News.

There are are also photos posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sirtwist/sets/72157600289436216/.

In his presentation, Mr. Bardenheier will cover what to expect in the due diligence process, what buyers are looking for in valuing a web hosting company, plus what recent valuation multiples have been paid and the types of deal terms and structures being utilized. You can also rest assured that he will field questions from the audience on the recent M&A activities of Endurance International Group.

I recently caught up with Joe Bardenheier and he had this to say about the upcoming HostingCon 2007 event, ‘’ HostingCon has become a wonderful forum for the Endurance International Group to stay in close touch with the latest happenings in our industry. It is the one place all year that we can easily meet with so many vendors, customers, partners, competitors and potential sellers.  HostingCon is as much about education and the sharing of information with others in the industry as it is about previewing and selling new products and services. I very much enjoy participating as a speaker and in panels to contribute what I know about the industry in general and mergers and acquisitions within the hosting industry. Hillary Stiff from Cheval Capital and I have presented on the subject of M&A over the past few years at HostingCon to what inevitably amounts to a very engaged and interested crowd, there is always a lively question and answer session. ‘’

So if you are interested in learning more about what your own web hosting company is worth, or learning from the seasoned professionals about how to structure your own mega-deals then keep your HostingCon calendar open on July 24^th at 8:30 a.m. for ‘Mergers and Acquisitions in the Web Hosting Industry’.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and provided courtesy of the dedicated servers showcase at The Hosting News.

“Our booth is Top Secret this year.”

What?!?!!?! You’re talking to an industry insider! A guy that has to be in the know all the time. For freakin’ goodness I’m on the HostingCon Board with you man!

Okay - so it’s gonna be like that, huh? Well two can play at this game, Aaron. I have developed several working theories on what FastServers.net may have planned - based on countless hours of pure scientific research, 37 cups of coffee, and a long weekend spent watching X-files re-runs.

My first step was to gain Top Secret clearance for myself. I figure that way Aaron can feel comfortable giving me the trusted information and know that the U.S. govenment has looked into whether or not I can keep a secret.

So I check out a few online sources and find that “A Top Secret clearance may be granted to those persons who have a “need-to-know” national security information, classified up to the Top Secret level.” Perfect! I SO “need-to-know”! I figure I’m a shoe-in. Then I read this article about how the White House is trying to get faster Top Secret clearances because they are backlogged by 350,000 applications. Crap! That means that I can’t get my Top Secret clearance until after HostingCon - at least.

So after much more deliberation I arrive at the solution: the HostingCon booth secret is embedded either in an Easter Egg on the FastServers.net website - or as an anagram inside Aaron Phillip’s bio on the site.

I tooled around the FastServers.net website and clicked on practically every link - but still no sign of any hidden messages.

So I turned to my anagram theory. Here’s where things get very interesting.

I used my deep intellectual reasoning skills (okay…I actually used this online anagram solver tool) to see what words might be embedded in the anagram for FastServers.net. Some of the Top Secret words embedded are:

EASTERNERS
FATTENERS
NEAREST
TAVERNS

Aha!! So the booth will have something to do with Easterners who will be taken to the nearest taverns to the HostingCon venue and then fattened up. Hmmm…well that certainly can happen - but that’s just regular trade show stuff. Nothing really secret there. So I moved on.

Why didn’t I see it before? It was so obvious. Right in front of me! The motherlode was when I checked the anagram for…drumroll please….wait for it….Aaron Phillips!!

PIRANHAS
SIRLOIN
PIANOS
PARIS
ASPIRIN

Suddenly it was all so clear:

This year at HostingCon, FastServers.net will have a large tank filled with man-eating piranhas on display. While a soothing piano player serenades attendees, Aaron Phillips himself will throw large cuts of raw sirloin into the tank to whip the fish into a feeding fenzy. FastServers will also be accepting entries to win either a trip to Paris, France or to win a date with Paris Hilton - after which FastServers.net will supply the lucky winner with aspirin. 

HA! Take that Mr. Aaron Phillips! I have cracked your TOP SECRET HostingCon booth code! Now everyone knows what you are planning!

So to see how RIGHT I am about FastServers.net and their transparent attempt to keep their booth TOP SECRET, why not stop by and say “Hi” to Aaron and his team of dedicated server experts in booth #409. FastServers.net is a Platinum Sponsor again this year at HostingCon. FastServers.Net is a leader in managed dedicated server hosting. Featuring Windows and Linux solutions with cPanel, Plesk, HELM, Urchin FastServers.Net provides high availability single server and multi-server solutions.

FastServers.net is teaming up with TopHosts.com for a Business Networking Cruise at the show. The cruise will be a 3 hour long tour of Lake Michigan and allow exclusive access to key industry analysts, experts and companies that are shaping the web hosting industry. I hope to see you all there!

This content was written by Derek Vaughan and provided courtesy of the dedicated server providers showcase at The Hosting News.