Web Hosting, VPS Hosting and Dedicated Servers in the New Year.

In a few weeks 2008 will draw to a close. There are many events both within web hosting and external to it that will be remembered: Rackspace.com going public, the acquisition of HostMySite.com by Wachovia Capital Partners, and for certain the mortgage and credit crises that have led to a worldwide financial downturn. So it is that one can now turn their attention to the New Year of 2009. What will 2009 hold for those in the web hosting industry? Will the momentum of past years predominate, or will the credit crunch soften web hosting markets as has happened in retail? CompareWebHosts.com turned to a few industry experts to find out the answers. Read below to learn what web hosting professionals see ahead for web hosting, vps hosting and dedicated servers in 2009.

David Snead has served as outside General Counsel for some of the world's largest web hosting companies. His legal practice includes: licensing, copyright counseling, export and import licensing, telecommunications and bandwidth partnerships and joint ventures dispute resolution. Mr. Snead is a fixture at many of the industry's leading conferences, often moderating keynote sessions with web hosting's heaviest hitters. Here is Mr. Snead's perspective on developments on website hosting moving into 2009, ''I see an increase in the number of transactions, and a decrease in valuation. I don't see any material change in my business (for 2009). I do see more questions and legal issues stemming from questions other than content and licensing.''

Daniel Foster has been running UK vps hosting company, 34sp.com, with his business partner Stuart Melling since the year 2000. The company has offered shared, virtual and dedicated servers over the past several years. Here is Mr. Foster's prognostication for the New Year, ''In 2009, I'm sure there will be more buzz about cloud and utility computing. I'm also sure that ''traditional'' hosting companies which are good at what they do will continue to thrive. Not everyone has the technical expertise to manage a complex hosting solution so hosts that can provide solutions relevant to their customers should continue to see growth. At 34SP.com, we're expecting to see our growth continue in 2009, and to be able to offer even better service and solutions to our existing and new customers alike.''

William Toll is currently serving at managed dedicated hosting provider, Navisite, developing the company's small business hosted product lines, including one of the industry's biggest platforms - Alabanza.com. In the past Mr. Toll has worked in positions at Affinity Internet, Inc., Intermedia, and NTT/VERIO. Mr. Toll contributed his thoughts on what is coming in 2009, ''The traditional web hosting industry will transform significantly in 2009, primarily due to the economic conditions that will be a factor in 2009. Many of the smaller web hosting providers will be in jeopardy as they try to continue their operations in this difficult and competitive market. I am sensing that there is a flight to quality - 2008 was an important year where businesses of all sizes now realize the significant importance of exposure on the Web. Websites have moved on from being just information and or transactional, but the foundation of a strategy to be found. Downtime, slow response, blocked IPs, poor support, billing issues are driving businesses of all sizes to reconsider their hosting provider.

NaviSite's dedicated hosting business will benefit significantly from several trends in 2009. First, we expect an increased interest from small businesses looking for a quality full service managed hosting provider to move to deploy their services and applications with. Small, financially questionable providers are now seen as a risk - while companies with significant experience with the enterprise that provide an affordable and accessible service for the small business will win new business. The capital crunch, and the increasing needs for additional and upgraded CPU power and servers are combining to drive interest in hosted managed dedicated servers and virtual dedicated servers. Windows Server 2008 and open source Linux based applications require new hardware and new licenses. The 'rented' high-performance multi-core CPUs and virtual CPUs and monthly license rental model is far more conducive to today's finances than the massive capital outlays and consulting services required for onsite upgrades and new deployments.''

Leon Belenky is the founder and CEO of web hosting directory CompareWebHosts.com. Mr. Belenky is a verteran of many hosting cycles - both good and bad over the past decade. As the leader of an entity that deals with dozens of hosting companies at any given time he has specialized insight into the general direction of the entire web hosting industry. Here are a few thoughts posited by Mr. Belenky, ''Fortunately CompareWebHosts.com hasn't felt any effect of slowing global economy yet. The hosting companies that make up our core advertisers are continuing to buy advertising at a healthy rate. Managed hosting and virtual private servers are among the most popular categories because of the added values for the users. It is now evident that web hosting directories are a well known resource and tool among web masters in the Internet community. Sites like CompareWebHosts.com allow webmasters to quickly and easily find web hosting plans they need for their applications. We look forward to continued success in 2009.''

So the picture is somewhat mixed with many predicting stability and growth, and others seeing some bumps in the financial landscape as we move into 2009. As we approach the end of the year, CompareWebHosts.com wishes you great success and happiness in the New Year.

This content was written by Derek Vaughan exclusively for CompareWebHosts.com.

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