That's it folks. You've got 10 years left before the hosting industry is redundant. :eek:

10 years to make your money, build your brand. It's all finished then. It's all over. Someone turn off the light before you leave. Imagine WHT becoming a forum that talked about what used to be? The industry that existed for 20 years that was made redundant. Cobwebs are forming.

99% of the population won't even know an industry has gone. They don't know what hosting is now, and won't care. You'll be at a family BBQ, 10 years from now, and someone asks you what you do. You say I used to be a host, but now I'm working at Walmart. They'll say, "what's a host"? :D

You're standing there, with a coke in one hand, a hamburger in the other, thinking of the good times, that are NOW!!! So you have 10 years left. Make them count!! :D

10 years is forever in this industry :)

10 years is forever in this industry


Hahaha, exactly, Bob, there's no middle age crisis creeping in is there?

sheeze..10 years left.

So should we have a farewell party? wait, no, how about a living funeral? :D

Hey, that`s good news! I`ve always wanted to retire before I`m 40.. :D

Where did you get the idea that there was that much time left? I'm surprised its still as strong as it is today!

--Tina

That's it folks. You've got 10 years left before the hosting industry is redundant. :eek:

How have you come up with this ?

How have you come up with this ?

It's easy! You take a hat, put some numbers in it and then pull one out!

So what happens once the 10 years is up? :P

I'm afraid 10 years is being optimistic.

With Google start showing signs of interfering (google aps) the web hosting industry, the whole industry can be gone within 1 or 2 years if that happen.

With Google start showing signs of interfering (google aps) the web hosting industry, the whole industry can be gone within 1 or 2 years if that happen.
Everybody keeps on saying this but it couldn't be further from the truth. Do you really think local businesses woud prefer to go with Google as opposed to someone who is local to them, can provide onsite service as well as phone support wheras Google appears to be reluctant to even give out an e-mail in which you contact them by?

This industry is just going to get more advanced (technology wise), it's never going to 'go away'. Companies with solid business plans will stay alive.

Everybody keeps on saying this but it couldn't be further from the truth. Do you really think local businesses woud prefer to go with Google as opposed to someone who is local to them, can provide onsite service as well as phone support wheras Google appears to be reluctant to even give out an e-mail in which you contact them by?

This industry is just going to get more advanced (technology wise), it's never going to 'go away'. Companies with solid business plans will stay alive. I agree, the bigger the compeitiion and name, the more people they bring to web hosting that eventually leave the big companies crappy support and service and seek out a quality local or quality national service. More customers for the little guys.

I don't think the market is going to disappear anytime soon. As technology advances though I think we are going to see some dramatic changes so the hosting landscape wont look the same in ten years time. I also think we are going to see continued consolidation in the marketplace as well.

- Chris

With 60% of the U.S. still on dial up, it is highly unlikely that this business will disappear anytime soon. If anything it will grow exponentially as soon as these people realize what they've been missing in terms of internet experience and it's only a matter of time until many gravitate to their own website, commerce or otherwise.

What if China lifts its restrictions on internet access?

What about every generation that is born from here on out who will not even know life without a website?

Most small companies don't have the resources to maintain IT departments. This isn't going to change unless the small business itself disappears.

A lot of large companies have already tried to crack the hosting market and most of them have since sold off the entire operation because they cannot afford to provide the support that is needed.

Just my two cents but until there is a 100% fibre buildout in this country, the hosting business isn't going to change much let alone go away.

Even that home users will get fibre in home, application/resource/experience sharing still required. Not all home user can order Ms SQL Server or something similar, not all user can order latest server/computer etc. Security problem also need to be managed by skilled support/admins.
As home DVD-theater is not competitor for cinema as same home hi-speed connection not a competitor for hosting business...

Agreed. I was simply implying that as the connection speeds increase and hardware prices come way down it will be easier for tech savvy people to setup and host their own sites (thus no need for an external hosting company). Just theory of course.

With 60% of the U.S. still on dial up, it is highly unlikely that this business will disappear anytime soon. If anything it will grow exponentially as soon as these people realize what they've been missing in terms of internet experience and it's only a matter of time until many gravitate to their own website, commerce or otherwise.


Two totally different market groups. My parents (separate households) and my mother-in-law all use dialup. They are *never* going to want or need their own websites. I believe that most dialup users are people who could survive quite nicely if they were never able to access the internet from home again.

--Tina

But that's what someone said to me 11 years ago when we first started, and here we are, 11 years later, and we've grown every year since inception. Hosting now is similar to hosting 11 years ago, except for the larger hardware, plans, and upgraded software. Service, service, service is what drives a host for the long term, not technology or competition.

I'll post again in 2016 with an update on the next 10 years. :)

- John C.

I believe that most dialup users are people who could survive quite nicely if they were never able to access the internet from home again.

Not really, dial-up isn't that bad...and now-a-days where it's common for more popular sites to be based moreso around CSS than tons of graphics, it's a lot easier on dial up users for page loads, etc.

I honestly would not have *that* much of a problem with a dial up connection at home, I can do most if not all of my work without complaints.

Also, many of the people who are on dial up in the US are actively switching over to DSL/Cable, Verizon's DSL used to only be $14.95/mo (I saw continuous commercials) and I'm sure people realize that that they about that much or sometimes more for dial up access.

Eventually that number of 60% is just going to reduce, and once people start getting more involved with the internet (they will as they will have greater speed and thus greater ability to do more things on the web), they will without a doubt want their own blog, and perhaps even a website.

And let's not forget the business users. There are many business where I live who do not have a website yet, and I'm sure if you target the local market in your area you will find the same thing.

This industry is not at it's peak, and nowhere close, it will grow exponentially. Google can realize whatever they want, as their new services are only getting to help create awareness of their industry and increase demand for a smaller host that offers more personalized service.

At the end of the day we're in the technology industry, though hosting is only a small part, technology is going nowhere - just getting better and better.

Dan

It doesn't matter if the public gets fibre cables. It's like the circle of hard drive space.

"I'll never use 10GB" then the programs get bigger as I'm sure websites and the features on them will too.

I don't think hosting will go away soon... unless the Internet is gone or replaced by something else. It is because hosting is a service based industry. So, people will find someone to host their site even they have the equipment and the internet connection. It may be because they are lazy, can save money on power bill, don't have the knowledge or etc...

Nearly everyone's home has kitchen, but most people will go to restaurant or fast food shop, right?

Everybody keeps on saying this but it couldn't be further from the truth. Do you really think local businesses woud prefer to go with Google as opposed to someone who is local to them, can provide onsite service as well as phone support wheras Google appears to be reluctant to even give out an e-mail in which you contact them by?

This industry is just going to get more advanced (technology wise), it's never going to 'go away'. Companies with solid business plans will stay alive.

Very true, and what Bob posted isn't totally impossible. He could be very well right on target or very off ;) But what I can see is Google taking over a big chunk of the market or continue to do what they're doing any make $$ off of hosting advertisers. I'm sure some of the bigger hosting companies will end up becoming partners if not being bought out by Google in order to survive. Though the local businesses will still be hosting their site over at their own personal datacenter which isnt a big issue anymore.

Very interesting thread none the less, as I've been told by friends who do believe I'm stuck in an industry that may not be alive few years from now.

Cheers

I was being tongue_in_cheek folks. :dgrin:

Maybe it'll happen, maybe it won't, but let's not waste the good opportunities that still exist, NOW!! Get out there and make it happen! :gthumb:

Where it's says so ? Give facts please...


That's it folks. You've got 10 years left before the hosting industry is redundant. :eek:

10 years to make your money, build your brand. It's all finished then. It's all over. Someone turn off the light before you leave. Imagine WHT becoming a forum that talked about what used to be? The industry that existed for 20 years that was made redundant. Cobwebs are forming.

99% of the population won't even know an industry has gone. They don't know what hosting is now, and won't care. You'll be at a family BBQ, 10 years from now, and someone asks you what you do. You say I used to be a host, but now I'm working at Walmart. They'll say, "what's a host"? :D

You're standing there, with a coke in one hand, a hamburger in the other, thinking of the good times, that are NOW!!! So you have 10 years left. Make them count!! :D

Where it's says so ? Give facts please...

I read it. So it must be true!


I was being tongue_in_cheek folks

I read it. So it must be true!Yeah, I read it on the interwebs . . . . :uhh:

I'm such a bad boy. :angel:

There goes my $1000+ investment

(I HOPE YOU BELIEVE THIS AND QUIT THE BIZ, MORE ROOM FOR ME :) Just kidding!!)

I used to always worry about people getting home / small biz Internet with static IPs and running hosting. It's only become worse. Whereas when cable first came out (to most) it was wide open, it's now been throttled and firewalled to the point where if I *wanted* to host something from home, I couldn't, without some hacks.

10 Years??

I may be dead by then anyway.

But in the mean time I better gets busy and make as much as I can while the gettins good.

Well if only 10 years are left I am packing it in.....who wants my companies?...lol

You say I used to be a host, but now I'm working at Walmart. They'll say, "what's a host"?

Let's hope not :nervous:

Unfortuneatly Bob is right.

You are outright foolish if you don't see the fact that hosting has / is becomming a commodity and the market will dry up in the not to distant future. You would be wise to diversify your business into other verticals related to the hosting industry to create a more stable business that can deal with the rising cost of operations and the falling cost of hardware and intense price "wars".

So your saying, since broadband connections and hardware is getting so cheap and big corperations are moving into the scene (e.g. Google) that hosting will die in 10 years?

Well that's the biggest load of bull I've heard. If you can't adapt you shouldn't of even started a hosting business.

Local businesses, friends, friends of friends and relatives is who you should be adapting to, those who know you, trust you and can see in person, instead of someone in Russia behind a computer chat system and what happend to LOYAL customers who will always be with you?

The market is huge and no one can predict 10 years but what ever happens, if you lose out, if your company dies, your to blame, no doubt there will be tons of oppertunity to be something new and different will arise in that time which alot can't offer.

. . . But in the mean time I better gets busy and make as much as I can while the gettins good.
Make hay while the sun shines. :cool:

Make hay while the sun shines. :cool:Web hosting > Hay > What's next? :blush:

Unfortuneatly Bob is right.

You are outright foolish if you don't see the fact that hosting has / is becomming a commodity and the market will dry up in the not to distant future. You would be wise to diversify your business into other verticals related to the hosting industry to create a more stable business that can deal with the rising cost of operations and the falling cost of hardware and intense price "wars".
That's only correct if your business model is absolute crap.

Just think, in 10 years when all the doomsday whiners are gone how many more customers the rest of us will have.

I remember this conversation 10 years ago when I owned a local ISP when younger people whined about it. suprise! here we are!

Just think, in 10 years when all the doomsday whiners are gone how many more customers the rest of us will have.

I remember this conversation 10 years ago when I owned a local ISP when younger people whined about it. suprise! here we are!


The ISP business..
You may still be in it, but are you growing at all selling dialups these days ? :D

I haven't owned it for over 8 years. But they still sell dialup and t-1 service and they've got this thing called reselling DSL service through their own location now and are much bigger than they were then.

The bottom line is there have been people whining about the industry dying in every business line there is. This kind of garbage is nothing new. The key is being flexible and pro-active for new technologies and new fads. The whole dedicated server stuff is the latest one and it won't be the last.

I guess you guys have completely forgotten that world has many more countries other than US which still do exist.

Alright agreed google crap, 100% high connection no one buying hosting in united states. But, what about rest of world ?

China ? still growing they are not even close to internet world of US
India ? being an software giant is still behind in internet world

Remember two of the world most populated countries dun even have their 50% population using internet yet.

What about rest of world? they will use high speed internet at there home from US ?

So if you are just a regional provider may be you will end sooner than 10 years, but I don't know why there wont be new datacenter building in other countries? why they wont need fast web hosts?

So to me it looks like most of you are thinking regional :)

Just my 2 cents woth

I don't think anything will become redundant or disappear...

Like all things... I think webhosting will evolve. The companies who aren't able to adapt to the changes in the industry will disappear. When I speak of changes, I just mean changes in the medium we use, changes in the equipment we use to run our businesses and changes in the type of resources everyone's trying to oversell. lol

In 10 years, half the people who are here now will still be here, saying the same thing. The only thing that will probably change is what they're selling and how they're presenting it.

That's it folks. You've got 10 years left before the hosting industry is redundant. :eek:

10 years to make your money, build your brand. It's all finished then. It's all over. Someone turn off the light before you leave.

Fine, I will be under the table waiting for all of you to leave and then I'll turn the light back on. ;)

I figured five years, six years ago. Told the wife when I quit my regular job "it'll last about five years then we better have something else lined up".

That's only correct if your business model is absolute crap.


unfortuneatly most of the "companies" here have that type of business model :)

I think that if you look after your customers your business will survive. Can't see the entire hosting industry falling offline in 2016, if anything it will get stronger as connection speeds become faster, more video and audio content will be streamed, and people might get the 'website bug' and want to start making their own sites.

unfortuneatly most of the "companies" here have that type of business model :)
Point taken, but what about:

- WHT is not a good representation of the overall "hosting industry". Many of the companies here are considered *very small* and thus aren't a huge percentage. WHT in itself is commonly considered to be a 'market', mostly full of companies bargain basement pricing and customers demanding it.

- The hosting industry itself will still always be there, regardless of whether or not the 'WHT-style' companies will be there. There are plenty of companies out there who have a solid business model and will be around for a *long* time.

- Businesses almost *always* want service over price. If they can pay a little more to get 'better' (suited to their needs), hands-on service, I can almost guarantee you that they will. This 'mini-market' within the industry will never die. Many businesses have yet to even come online, and when they do, they'll always be wanting to implement new technologies into their site and improving order/sign-up rates.

- This market is a lot more than just purchasing a $69 'Super Celeron' (servermatrix) and selling $3/mo hosting plans. There are large data centers behind it. Large IP transit providers behind it, etc. When a hosting company grows, they will soon see themselves growing out of renting value-oriented servers from ServerMatrix, LayeredTech, SoftLayer, etc. instead they will be moving on to co-location, purchasing their own hardware & network gear. Pretty soon they'll be running their own network, with their own AS #, etc. That company could also be fueling other hosting companies with their network and real estate within a data center.

There is a lot of potential for growth in this industry, and to be perfectly honest with you the "WHT-market" doesn't matter one bit to the industry as a whole.

I think the only thing that would kill it would be if it became so automated, secure, and easy for the individual person to to on their own computer and their connection was rock solid there wouldn't be a need for hiring someone to provide that environment. That won't happen for a while. Eventually you'll be issued your own IP at birth that you will use for everything phone, Internet access, taxes :-) , identification, etc... Thats probably 30-50 years out.

I think the only thing that would kill it would be if it became so automated, secure, and easy for the individual person to to on their own computer and their connection was rock solid there wouldn't be a need for hiring someone to provide that environment. That won't happen for a while. Eventually you'll be issued your own IP at birth that you will use for everything phone, Internet access, taxes :-) , identification, etc... Thats probably 30-50 years out.

That sounds like a GREAT idea! Like e-passports with RFID!

If an industry is "going to die", it has to have their "higher point"...so, they will decrease from that.

WebHosting is really far of that "higher point"...Most of the people who uses internet want a webpage (for something) but they just don't know how to.

If we aim to the same target persons, yes, the webhosting will die..or at least your company, but there is a lot of people out there..it just a matter of time.

only 200 million of 6 billion people are currently internet users. the market for internet services hasn't even started yet.

only 200 million of 6 billion people are currently internet users. the market for internet services hasn't even started yet.
But 6 Billion is not your potential market. Out of those 6 billion people, how many have access to clean water, electricity, nevermind a computer, or the internet?

Many more than 200 million are on the Internet. There are over 1 bil people on the 'Net now. http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

Ok :) we're down from a possible market of 6 Billion to 1 Billion. Out of those 1 Billion using thet net, what % of them will actually build a website and pay for hosting? 1% or 2%?

Don't get me wrong, I think the market's huge, but it's not 6 billion or 1 billion folks.

A few months back a real estate client of mine dropped his hosting account with me and opened a an account with Myspace. Huh??? :eek:
He said it was free and was the popular thing to do. :confused:

I hope this isn't a trend.

I think I've stopped caring. At this point I pay my bills and I try my best to maintain a good credit rating. 10 years or 50 years, what does it matter. Let's enjoy the time we have now.

I don't think hosting is going to go away anytime soon. But I do think small hosting companies will become extinct in next few years. I see the same pattern happening with hosting that I saw happen with video rentals. The giants like Blockbuster were able to use their buying power and leverage to put small chains out of business.

In our industry, we have all the registrars and big players getting into hosting now. And some like GoDaddy are offering dirt cheap hosting with all sorts of add-on software and marketing packages. Even eBay is getting into hosting with their ProStores (www.prostores.com) brand.

Then you have the growing trend in templated personal web space like MySpace, Yahoo360, and AIM Pages -- as well as improved automated sitebuilding software. A lot of datacenters are finding it easier (with less hassle) to lease space or servers to these larger companies than to lease individual servers or colocation space to small businesses. That is the direction that the internet company I work for is heading.

But not to dispair. There is a TON of money to be made during this transition, and beyond, if you play your cards right and watch the trends -- and learn to adapt. I learned this personally when I ran a successful BBS (Bulletin Board System) back in the early 90s. I was able to get out early before being eclipsed by the world wide web, but where are BBSes today? Fortunately, I adapted and got into webdesign and hosting.

I also see that a lot of large media companies and internet portals have defined the path to riches online as being in control of content and advertising. AOL is now morphing to that model from a subscription based model.

The key is to put the pedal to the metal in whatever segment you're in right now.

If it were a perfect world, I believe the smaller businesses should be merging into eachother to create a stronger "threat" in the market. However since we're humans and some of us are greedy, this probably won't be happening.

But 6 Billion is not your potential market. Out of those 6 billion people, how many have access to clean water, electricity, nevermind a computer, or the internet?

You'd be suprised. Just check myspace.com... there's people from all corners of the world on there... even the really really poor 3rd world ones. So someone there's got electricity and the internet.

why do you need running water when you've got guild wars?

My point was that a huge segment of the future market isn't even online yet. $200m, 1b, doesn't really matter. Every generation from here on out will rely more and more on the web and the services provided on it.

Agreed. Just wanted the facts right.

My point was that a huge segment of the future market isn't even online yet. $200m, 1b, doesn't really matter. Every generation from here on out will rely more and more on the web and the services provided on it.
Yes, that's so true. I see a convergence of the web and TV too. IMO, eventually the big TV/cable networks will primarily be content providers, as folks stream their shows to their web enabled viewing screens, be that handheld devices or large screens in their homes.

The web is here to stay, and it will become more and more a part of our lives.

with the growing no. of businessses and the amount of sites that come up daily its unbelievable, businesses first go register a domain than do anything else because they do realize its hard to find a domain name and i dont think google or any government wants to host these sites , so they are better off letting the web hosting businesses do their job and if government shuts the internet down we are basically back into stone age

They way I see it, web hosting is going to branch out.
I see two new hosting markets emerging:

media hosting providers - live content, TV, music, voice, virtual meetings, gaming, etc. More on the entertainment side
technology hosting providers - hosts that provide a vast array of various server platforms and technologies to host a wide array of digital content (not just web pages). I see more and more web applications replace web pages and more server-client interaction. I see more integrated media, streaming and the use of many more languages and platform for real-time applications. This end of hosting would be more on the business side

Both media and technology hosting will probably remain in the hands of specialists for a long time to come, primarily due to licensing costs and the costs to hired trained people to administer software/hardware

personal hosting on the otherhand is probably what aussiebob is refering it. I see it migrating from the specialists domain (web hosts) to the domain where anyone with an internet connection could host a website. Probably personal hosting would be bundled with ISP and broadband services

I probably agree with the 10 years of the "traditional industry" are left.

And whoever said that their business model is full-proof for 10+ years and above, I think you are mistaken. My business model cannot even predict whats going to happen in 2 years from now. You need to be up to date on whats new and what you think is going to be the next big thing. I certainly spend alot of time researching..

No one can predict the future of Web Hosting, or any industry with real accuracy, but where I work, we have long believed that Web Hosting will go the way of the auto industry... and all other industries.

In the early days of the automobile there were a lot of independent automakers... but over time the car companies consolidated. Some companies got bigger, but most companies found it hard to compete and simply went out of business or were absorbed by the bigger companies.

It happens in every industry. Pick one. Books stores. Hotels and motels. The PC industry. All of them. It is hard, if not impossible, to compete as newer ideas and technologies are developed by companies that have better R & D, more money, or in some cases, just work smarter.

A lot of people get into an industry like automobiles or Web Hosting with grand ideas but not all of them have what it takes to make it work and grow big enough to compete.

Opportunities will always be there for creative people with new ideas, even if Google and other companies come up with substitute hosting services, but the industry will by and large travel the same natural road that all industries follow. At least, that is what we basically think here.


That's what makes this industry so dynamic!

There's a difference there. The car industry involves R&D, the more money you put into research the more you get out of it.

The web hosting industry is a service industry where you provide services using licensed products. The money was put into the products which we webhosts use.

The difference in spending of web hosts isn't going to make a huge visible difference in the end product, like it would be in the auto industry. A host with a small investment could still compete with the bigger players.

Hence, I don't think we will see wide scale consolidation. I see a fragmented market for sometime to come, until alot of money = alot of difference in the end-product, and the entry costs get dramatically higher

The car industry was an analogy...

However the Web Hosting does have its share of R & D too. Consider the amount of R & D that went into making the control panels that allow so many people to even begin to think about getting into Hosting. The different software we use for eCommerce, for reselling, for programming, for developing web sites, the different tools need to secure websites. The technology you purchase from Hardware vendors. The different way companies load balance a server. The Networking hardware and software. There is a TON of research and development in the web hosting industry whether it is software or hardware.

In fact, Control panel R & D is a good reason why the Hosting industry is so dynamic and so teeming with so many thousands of entrepreneurs. It is a good thing, and it is certainly a huge difference in this industry and others.

I hope the trend continues and that the industry will continue thriving as it is now and that it will break the normal trends that industries take.

And it is true the end product might only be slightly different. but those factors are changed drastically when you see what is driving it, e.g. the engine. Most cars are relatively the same except for what is under the hood and the quality. If your products aren't record breaking, or maybe have an awful control panel, or your server isn't secure, or your uptime isn't top notch, and when their site does goes down and you don't have excellent service, your customers will notice and will want a test drive in another car. This is the difference in buying a Plymouth or a Lexus.

why do you need running water when you've got guild wars?Uve got it right serversupport guys.
I know some guys in africa through my hosting busines sand they have comps and internet down there.

With 60% of the U.S. still on dial up, it is highly unlikely that this business will disappear anytime soon.

That's not true... Broadband penetration passed 50% a couple of years ago, and that was even before YouTube existed.

Er, 10 years?
Not a chance, I'm going to be doing this fore...er nevermind.

The industry is going to begin changing. Rather than hosting websites in a few years we'll be hosting 'computers' -- pcs will be driveless and we'll be handling the application management and security on behalf of home users.

Start getting up your POPS now!

Yay, lets scare everyone with giving them 10 years and see how many replies I get!!

What will happen to web hosting?

USA is going to remain major hosting provider for rest of the world. With video streaming demand increasing 100% every six months web hosting needs will increase. Soon every mobile punk on the street would want to see videos streams on his mobile phone, all those contents has to be hosted. Its another thing that most of the hosting stuff will become automated and big companies may host 40-70% of web sites in the world and rest of the 50% will be left for small companies then companies based on service and low cost will be able to survive others will be just reselling.

I agree that content and video streaming is the direction things are heading. I also think the auto industry analogy is a good one. Same with videos. Same with pager to cell phones. A few years ago there were all these small video rental and pager businesses. Now there are just a few big video and cell phone companies.

The big companies are still trying to get their "sea legs" on the net. Everytime they think they've got a business model down, something like MySpace, blogs, or YouTube comes along -- content they cannot control -- and they have to scramble to copy it, or buy it.

I think the difficulty for businesses like ours, will come when companies like Comcast start pushing the whole enchilada to their customers. A person signs up and they'll get everything (for extra fees of course). Movies, internet, email, personal website, e-commerce business site, merchant account, etc. Just select from the menu -- point and click using your remote (or cell, or PDA) -- all linked together with the bluetooth in your car, etc. With one login to control everything.

Once people become conditioned into going to certain sites or companies for certain things -- and get locked in -- it will become harder to pull them away, esp. if you can no longer beat their prices. And you can bet they'll design it all to be proprietary so the process of transfering a website away from them will be extremely difficult or impossible.

But that's the future. If this were 1985 and we were all in the pager business, the answer would not be to get out of the business, but to make your money while you can, and keep to having these conversations so we can all keep up on the latest trends -- and change accordingly.

I agree that content and video streaming is the direction things are heading. I also think the auto industry analogy is a good one. Same with videos. Same with pager to cell phones. A few years ago there were all these small video rental and pager businesses. Now there are just a few big video and cell phone companies.

Great insight.

Are you saying that in 10 years, not a single person will want to create a website and have it hosted?

Are you saying that in 10 years, not a single person will want to create a website and have it hosted?

They will all use Comcast. I think the point is, competition is going to get more sophisticated and hosting will become more standardized than ever. I've been AT THIS for 10 years and can tell you much has changed. Things like PHP (I remember PHP/FI) have boosted our hosting offerings by allowing us to offer web app hosting to small business (E.G. SugarCRM).

No one knows for sure, but you can bet the business will change. I've used hosting as a springboard to other businesses the past 3-4 years and have found some things that generate much more cash and much faster than hosting, which I'm working on scaling up now.

Cost effective, redundant fiber connections with real time patching and security will not be accessible outside of DC's for many years (if ever).

If hosting was a viable business for the large IP's they'd be in it by now. There is NO WAY Comcast or AOL or any other large IP can sustain the support for a hosting client base and turn a profit.

This has been tried by the hardware manufacturers and they all bailed.

Providing infrastructure for software services and media delivery will soon take a big roll in this business (in my opinion) as the niche people start multiplying. The amount of servers and connections needed will be vastly larger than what is currently available.

Hosting will be around for a long time. Not likely in the current form but around all the same.

Da'Gum - I need to launch.

Providing infrastructure for software services and media delivery will soon take a big roll in this business (in my opinion) as the niche people start multiplying. The amount of servers and connections needed will be vastly larger than what is currently available.

I agree with the rest, but that part. In ten years storage space and processing power will be insane.

100 or 200 Ghz processors, terrabytes of non volatile storage space on a "drive" with no moving parts, for the price of an average week's disposable income.

And people will still be sitting in front of their 256Ghz processor with 8TB Ram & 500TB of disc space complaining about the slow piece of crap. And whining because it doesn't hold all the media files ever created. And even if it could it would take like 3 days to download. Or maybe the entire Internet will reside in the browser cache and if a server dies it wont matter, but will only take 5 minutes to restore anyway.

I agree with the rest, but that part. In ten years storage space and processing power will be insane.

100 or 200 Ghz processors, terrabytes of non volatile storage space on a "drive" with no moving parts, for the price of an average week's disposable income.

And people will still be sitting in front of their 256Ghz processor with 8TB Ram & 500TB of disc space complaining about the slow piece of crap. And whining because it doesn't hold all the media files ever created. And even if it could it would take like 3 days to download. Or maybe the entire Internet will reside in the browser cache and if a server dies it wont matter, but will only take 5 minutes to restore anyway.

Computing power will be insane, I agree. It's the other services such as security and support that will needed for a long time. Not sure the home broadband router will be able to handle a million page hits a month or 300 simultaneous connections for a very long time.

Then again...........

As with all things - when technology advances so will our technology and thus be the need for hosting. As long as there is the internet and sites requiring onlice services, there will be some form of hosting needed. To what degree is the question - but - I am sure - we will advance along with the coming technology. We always have. Think about hosting 10 years ago and look where we are now. The space offered then and the space offered now. Sure - we might all be running our hosting company off our 1TB IPod but hey - we are still in business.

If hosting was a viable business for the large IP's they'd be in it by now. There is NO WAY Comcast or AOL or any other large IP can sustain the support for a hosting client base and turn a profit.



Ah, but many aren't going to support it or run it. They will co-brand with other large companies that already have the infrastructure and support. Observe these co-brands.

http://personals.aol.com - AOL gives up their personals and co-brands with match.com. If you got have a problem on that site, you talk to match.com support, not AOL.

Through my TIVO service, and using my remote, I can access Yahoo weather, music, and my yahoo photos by "adding your yahoo account to your TIVO box." TIVO is also linked to my home computer through wireless and I can control it all through www.TIVO.com from any location.

For hosting, here is one that is obvious:

http://www.valueweb.com/costco/costco_faq.htm -- Costco is offering hosting through an already established hosting company. Who support it and host it for them.

Here's some that are not so obvious:

http://www.prostores.com/ -- eBay doesn't run it on their servers or support it. The IPs for prostores.com belongs to Affinity Internet.

Comcast Business hosting - http://www.comcastcommercial.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=50. The IP shows up as being overseas, but can't tell if Comcast is outsourcing it.

AOL plans to do the same with Verio -- "Shares of Verio soared 21.54 percent at the opening bell today after the Web hosting firm announced an agreement with giant Internet service provider America Online to be the exclusive business Web-hosting provider throughout several of AOL's online properties."

Verizon Press Release 09/13/06 - "To meet the increasingly complex information technology demands of large businesses, Verizon Business today announced further expansion of its managed hosting capabilities to support five of the world's most widely deployed computer operating systems - Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris, IBM's AIX and HP's UX."

Amazon is slowly creeping in...

Amazon ECS -- (Price - FREE) - "Amazon E-Commerce Service (ECS) exposes Amazon's product data and e-commerce functionality. This allows developers, web site owners and merchants to leverage the data and functionality that Amazon uses to power its own e-commerce business. ECS 4.0 makes it extremely easy for developers to build rich, highly effective web sites and applications."

Time Warner Cable/Road Runner (Business Hosting) - http://www.timewarnercable.com/centralny/products/businessservices/internet/web.html

A lot of these companies are just now testing the water to see if they are going to jump into these services 100% or contract it out and offer it as an add-on service to their core business models. At the moment, none of them are pushing hosting full tilt from their main websites, and for the most part, they are all primarily going after the small to midsize business customer when it comes to hosting.

Of course, this is just my interpretation of the trends I see happening and I could be totally off base.

A few months back a real estate client of mine dropped his hosting account with me and opened a an account with Myspace. Huh??? :eek:
He said it was free and was the popular thing to do. :confused:

I hope this isn't a trend.


I know a lot of companies use myspace, but technically its against myspace' terms of service, and if reported, they would most likely be shut down. Not very professional. Also, myspace doesn't exactly give you an outside email address. I think very businesses will use myspace.

AOL plans to do the same with Verio -- "Shares of Verio soared 21.54 percent at the opening bell today after the Web hosting firm announced an agreement with giant Internet service provider America Online to be the exclusive business Web-hosting provider throughout several of AOL's online properties."


Whoa there, soldier. What's the date on that snippet? I seem to recall it being from late 1999, maybe 2000. And in exchange, Verio agreed to pay something like $45 million to AOL? I never saw anything come of it. It may have been part of that runup where AOL was doing deals with everyone with inflated numbers. In any case, Verio is no longer publicly traded - they were bought out by NTT in the fall of 2000.

So this point, apart from your other points, isn't really up-to-date.

Kevin

Hosting from home will NEVER replace hosting in a DC (well maybe in 200 years but not anytime soon...not in 10 years). No matter what type of hardware/software you use it will never be as reliable as hosting with a hosting company. And I don`t think hosting at home will ever be cheaper than hosting with a company because leaving your computer on 24/7 costs much more than 3 bucks a month for webhosting.

I know a lot of companies use myspace, but technically its against myspace' terms of service, and if reported, they would most likely be shut down. Not very professional. Also, myspace doesn't exactly give you an outside email address. I think very businesses will use myspace.

I`ve seen many people come my way from Myspace. Sites like myspace actually support companies like ours because by providing free webspace new people get interested in webhosting. These people will later upgrade to a paid plan and only some of them will stay with the free host where they have been before.

The only thing that could kill webhosting would be something like a webhosting + domain name without ads included in Microsoft`s operating systems. Or if one day people don`t have a hard drive in their PC but Microsoft hosts their files then maybe this space would include a domain name and then maybe Webhosting would die because everyone could host on Microsofts network. Apart from MS I don't think any company could kill Webhosting. I hope if MS tries that customers will protest against it and governments will regulate it. I don`t hope it cause I don`t like MS...I just hope it cause I need to eat.

I agree with your point about myspace, that it is an additional venue for advertising various services, and myspace may overlook it for the time being, but the fact remains that its a violation of their terms of service, and I still maintain my opinion that its unprofessional. Perhaps my opinion will change one day, but for now, I think using myspace would be more trouble than its worth. Just my opinion, though.

This thread realy shows how small most hosts are on WHT.

You need to understand what Aussie-Bob means, this industry is indeed set to vanish within a decade, not that hosting itself will die, but how hosting is sold and provided is seriously under threat.

We are seeing a rise in specialized hosting sites, say photobucket for people who only need image hosting, NING for application deployment, and who knows, tomorrow Google and Microsoft ?.

Somebody here said your family, friends and their friends will want to host with you .. true .. but then you have no ambition, thats no different than selling hot dogs on a trolley, but thinking your a restaurant.

Somebody else pointed the obvious rise in Broadband speeds ... nice isn't it ?, I wonder how long before you can host your own "myspace" kind of site on your XBOX.

And of course, today's photobucket and myspace are tomorrow's Google's Bucket-of-Picures and MSN Spaces ... the big keep on buying and growing .. and the small keep on being left behind.

The mid-sized hosts today are on a frantic quest to buy each others, and tomorrow they themselves are set to be bought, consolidation is the only way to fight the giants who will show up in the next few years, to think anything less is to bury your head in the sand and hope for the best.

Web Hosting will become easier to signup for, easier to use, and a part of everyday live, the digital generation shares online photo-albums as once before people sent postcards, emails is to be the only way to contact others, and this is to become even bigger and greater .. but make no mistaque, this is not "web hosting" as one knows it, people will not be loging in to a Cpanel/Plesk/H-sphere accoutn to do it so, or bothering with browsing the web foo fony hosting directories to tell them with who they should host (AKA, who paid them the most), they will be logging to streamlined, dull and idiot-proof versions of it created by the "giants", with specialized "hosting" sections for whatever your need is, the bill ?, most likely bundled with their electric bill or something blase like that (or free).

Users wont know whats "bandwidth" and "disk space" .. yes, Unlimited is the future, but of course, provided by companies who really mean it, not some pimpled face on a VPS offering what he doesn't have.

It is evident that a certain percentage of the business is still to be run by the small entrepreneur, there is always space for small biz to make a buck, but the day that you can go to .. say "google" .. and click on "my site", alongside "my pictures, my mail, my calendar, my maps ... etc" is the day that huge chunk of less than tech savy, or that other chuck of clients that simply do not have the time or the patience to deal with a fantastico or easyapps script cancel their web hosting subscription.

The fact of the matter is .. will "web hosting" as we know it survive ? or will it evolve into something else .. I am willing to bet it will evolve.


---

Carlos

Most of the people seem to be afraid of people hosting at home which is never ever going to be a threat because power costs are always higher than $2 or $3 a month to keep an electronical device on 24/7 and then nothing will ever be as reliable as a DC.

Webhosting on an X Box you say ??? Does an X Box have diesel backup generators ? If an X Box is broken you have to send it in to be repaired and you`ll have it back 4 months later. Not a good way to host a site if you are asking me. Now you can say: What if they make X Boxes that don`t fail ? But then I would have to ask: Why don`t they make bulbs that don`t fail eventhough we`ve had bulbs for quite a while now. Why are cars not fail safe today ?

Even if it dies... You can still sell Marketing, SSL certificates (or whatever they call it in 10 years), domain registration, copyright protection services, backup services, affiliate programs, web design, consulting, SMS services, support services. There are a trillion things you can sell online. If all else fails you can still sell porn LOL. And only if that fails too you`ll have to go to Walmart :D

Lol, yeah, maybe Wal-mart will get into hosting. Its about the only thing it doesn't sell right now.

Webhosting on an X Box you say ??? Does an X Box have diesel backup generators ? If an X Box is broken you have to send it in to be repaired and you`ll have it back 4 months later. Not a good way to host a site if you are asking me. Now you can say: What if they make X Boxes that don`t fail ? But then I would have to ask: Why don`t they make bulbs that don`t fail eventhough we`ve had bulbs for quite a while now. Why are cars not fail safe today ?

:rolleyes: - You completely missed the point.

:rolleyes: - You completely missed the point.

Great...will you also let us know why ?

As always, another nice thread from Aussie. Each time I drop by, I really enjoy the discussions you initiate. Thanks ;)

I think that in 10 years time this industry will not have disappeared. However I believe it will have utterly transformed itself. So in a sense everyone is right: won't be as we know the biz today but does not mean we all have to go home and retire. Market will move ahead to new skilling horizonts, and many of us will follow, that's all.

I hope to see you all in the biz, with money in your pockets and, of course, in mines ;)

Cheers,

Q

NO WAY, i will left this market die. Than again, who the hell am i to say this. Lol.

I believe in 10 years time this market will not die, but will change alot to match the needs in the future. As long as we follow the lead, we will not be history. If not, let have a farewell party before we retire...

This thread realy shows how small most hosts are on WHT.

Nah .. doesn't show that to me, what it shows me is how insular most of the WHT crowd are.

Nah .. doesn't show that to me, what it shows me is how insular most of the WHT crowd are.

Fair enought.

A lot of large companies have already tried to crack the hosting market and most of them have since sold off the entire operation because they cannot afford to provide the support that is needed.

Yes, figuring out how to profitably meet client's support expectations seems like the heart of the issue to me.

You know, client's want to pay $15/mo or less. AND they want a support policy that "answers any question anybody may have about anything" and within a few minutes.

Obviously these expectations can't be fully met. So finding a sustainable, profitable, realistic real world support compromise clients will accept seems like the heart of the hosting biz art.

I don't see big companies being in an especially good position to master this support balancing act.

Most clients who are good at reading tech manuals and online instructions already have a website.

The future market would seem to be ever more comprised of those who require hand holding and personal attention. I don't see any form of technology being able to fully automate the service of these needs.

We're in the support biz, not the technology biz, and that's why I doubt the hosting biz will vanish any time soon.

People want lots of choices. Lots of choices involves lots of learning. Great numbers of people will always prefer learning via person to person instruction. The more the business evolves, the faster the pace of change, the more stuff that has to be explained.

I say this having just spent 8 months coding a web publishing interface from scratch. I went out of my way to make it really easy. Newcomers are my market.

But once you add all the ego satisfying gizmos folks want, it's still going to require support.

A good exercise could be to find all those people in your life who have no idea whatsoever how to make a website. There are still millions upon millions of them. They are our future, and our best teachers, imho.