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AIT Expands Hosting Dealer Program

October 18, 2006 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Web hosting provider AIT (ait.com) announced on Wednesday it has undergone a major expansion of its dealer program. The company plans to achieve a large market presence throughout the United States with the establishment of more than 100 dealerships nationwide.

 

Each of AIT’s dealerships will be locally owned and operated. The next phase in the expansion of the AIT Dealership program will begin with the Fall 2006 Dealer Conference, held November 14 to 17 at the Fayetteville, North Carolina corporate headquarters.

At the conference, AIT will discuss solutions small businesses can employ in achieving success, overcoming barriers in the areas of capital funding for facilities, health benefits, advertising and marketing assistance, instant credibility of brand name and sales lead generation.

AIT provides small and medium-sized customers with a range of services that includes Web hosting, domain name registration, Web design, email services, technical training and enterprise network solutions.

Last week, AIT announced that it had discounted the price of its Web hosting services.

Gabriel Murphy Discusses Aplus Buy

October 18, 2006 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Web hosting provider Aplus.Net (aplus.net) has been acquired by New York-based venture capital group Catalyst Investors (catalystinvestors.com) for an undisclosed sum, according to a TopHosts.com interview with CEO Gabriel Murphy.

 

The interview states that the deal closed in late July, at which time, Murphy assumed the role of CEO. Murphy co-founded CommuniTech.Net, which he sold to Interland (now Web.com) in February 2002.

Catalyst Investors and Murphy currently hold a stakes in Aplus, which was founded by Ivan Vachovsky in 1995. Murphy says former CEO Ivan Vachovsky and his wife Lillian both still maintain equity positions in the company. Vachovsky serves in an active role on the board of directors, which includes Murphy and three senior executives from Catalyst Investors.

Murphy says Aplus is looking at half a dozen companies for possible purchase, both in Canada and the US, with at least $20 million in hosting revenues. Murphy also says the company is considering a European strategy as well.

Aplus currently has a clientele in excess of 200,000, 4,000 of which are dedicated server customers. The Web host has more than half a million domains registered to date.

Universal Sues Video-Sharing Sites

October 19, 2006 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Universal Music Group (umusic.com) took legal action against video-sharing sites Bolt Media (bolt.com) and Grouper Networks (grouper.com) this week with a copyright infringement lawsuit, according to a report by Online Media Daily.

 

The lawsuit charges Bolt Media and Grouper Networks with hosting Universal-owned clips and seeks $150,000 in damages for each piece of infringing content.

“User generated sites like Grouper and Bolt,” said Universal in a statement, “that derive so much of their value from the traffic that our videos, recordings and songs generate, cannot reasonably expect to build their business on the backs of our content and the hard work of our artists and songwriters without permission and without in any way compensating the content creators.”

Josh Felser, president of Grouper, which was acquired by Sony for $65 million six weeks ago, denied that the company violated Universal’s copyrights and says the lawsuit lacks merit and that he and his company expect to win. He says Grouper complies with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which protects hosts from liability if they remove copyrighted material when owners complain. A Bolt Media spokeswoman also stated that the company always takes down any copyrighted clips as soon as it’s notified of complaints.

Some attorneys believe that if Bolt and Grouper as a matter of policy remove copyrighted material when record labels ask them to, they likely have a defense to the lawsuit. Other legal experts aren’t so sure, as the DMCA doesn’t directly address whether hosts are protected if copyright owners file suit without first complaining to the site.

The Universal Music lawsuit comes several weeks after CEO Doug Morris publicly threatened to bring a case against video-sharing site YouTube for copyright violations.

Server Intellect Sees Growth

October 19, 2006 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Web hosting provider Server Intellect (serverintellect.com) announced on Thursday that WebHost Automation (webhostautomation.com) had named the company the fastest growing HELM dedicated server provider for the third quarter of 2006.

 

Server Intellect has increased its clientele by 300 percent in the past year, according WebHost Automation, the developer of HELM. Its growth during the third quarter of this year made it the fastest growing dedicated provider using the HELM control panel. Both companies attribute the growth rate to its focus on the Windows hosting and developer sectors of the market.

“By utilizing a server environment that favors developers while still retaining a layer of flexibility and usability, we have been able to effectively target emerging sectors of the hosting market, namely Windows developers,” says Eric Pratt, managing director of Server Intellect. “There’s no question that the HELM control panel system has given us an edge in doing just that.”

A subsidiary of Client Intellect, the Orlando, Florida based Sever Intellect provides shared, VPS, application, and dedicated Web hosting solutions. WebHost Automation develops software-based systems and services for the Web hosting industry, including the HELM control panel system.

FastServers Adds Affiliate Program

October 19, 2006 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Managed hosting provider FastServers.Net (fastservers.net) announced on Thursday that it has teamed with advertising and Commission Junction (cj.com) to introduce an outsourced affiliate marketing program.

 

According to FastServers, the company will pay affiliates 100 percent of the first month’s fees for all conversions. Its products range from $200 to $5,000 per month, with average recurring revenue per customer of $500.

“We selected Commission Junction as our first-ever outsourced partner,” says Aaron Phillips, vice president of marketing at FastServers, “in order to take advantage of their direct access to the world’s top affiliate marketers, also known as publishers, and ease of integration into their advanced affiliate tracking technology. This makes it easier for us to continue providing solid products and services to the fully managed dedicated server market while maintaining a level of satisfaction to our affiliates as they grow their revenue streams.”