Hello, members of Web Hosting Talk!

It is the time of the year when the chatter about HostingCon is getting even more frequent. The conference was first held in Chicago in 2005, then moved to Las Vegas for 2006, and is now going to be in Chicago once again for 2007.

This July, an estimated 1,100+ professionals from the web hosting industry will be heading to downtown Chicago’s beautiful Navy Pier from July 23 – July 25 to attend the web hosting industry’s premier conference.

Web Hosting Talk and iNET Interactive are going to be involved with HostingCon as well. WHT will have booth #711 to itself and will be manned by WHT moderators and iNET Interactive staff members. Be sure to stop by and put a name to the usernames you have been interacting with over the last year.

HostingCon 2007 is sure to be a blast. There are lots of interesting people, speeches, and events. Everyone at Web Hosting Talk and iNET Interactive hopes to see you there.  If you're not able to attend the convention this year, WHT will be creating a HostingCon special section, featuring blogs from the show floor, industry headlines, photos and more! We'll have more information about our HostingCon plans in the next newsletter.

Ahmad Permessur
- Newsletter Editor
 

Highlights of HostingCon 2007

The theme of HostingCon 2007 is The Future of Hosted Services. The HostingCon Advisory Board realizes the web hosting industry is ever changing from both a business and technology perspective and wanted the conference’s theme to reflect that. The choice is an interesting, but appropriate one, especially as more companies start to think about how their industry is changing and how they can adapt to the changes.

Like in 2006, this year’s HostingCon has an interesting lineup of speakers and keynotes. The three major keynotes are Next Generation Web: What Lies Ahead for Hosting (Monday), a panel on The Future of Service Enablement (Tuesday), and Hosted Services - What's Next? (Wednesday). All three are very interesting topics with executives from well known companies like Amazon.com, Ensim, cPanel, and more.

HostingCon 2007’s individual sessions and workshops should also be very exciting. Divided into four tracks (Marketing, Growing, Technology, and Leaders), the sessions feature topics from customer service to more technical topics like the best practices associated with load balancing. Each session is 45 minutes. Workshops (which are held in the morning of the first day) are two hours. Keynotes are all one hour.

Some of the most interesting parts of any conference are the companies, products, and services in the exhibitor hall. HostingCon 2007’s major sponsors and exhibitors are cPanel, FastServers.net, and Microsoft. Each company will have a major presence at the conference in one way or another. Other companies that offer services ranging from outsourced support to security solutions will also be exhibiting. The exhibitor hall is a great place to meet new people, make connections, and learn about interesting companies.

Interjuncture, the company that organizes HostingCon, has a variety of improvements planned as well. The HostingCon Information Network will provide attendees with at-a-glance information about what’s up next (sessions and events) and what is happening currently (Flickr photos and Twitter messages). HostingCon Connect, which is the conference’s tool to connect and network more effectively, is also new in 2007.

The Future of Hosted Services – Web Hosting Talk’s Research Revealed

In partnership with HostingCon, Web Hosting Talk surveyed consumers and providers of hosted services to get a read on what’s really happening in the industry. The results of the survey will be unveiled and discussed in a session scheduled for Wednesday morning at 8:30am.

Attendees will learn which factors consumers of hosted services (both individuals and businesses) feel are most important when choosing a hosted service provider and which hosted services are in demand. You will also learn which challenges the industry ranks as the greatest, and the industry’s plans to offer advanced hosting services and hosted applications.

This is a must-attend event for industry executives and marketing professionals who want insight into market demand and the competitive landscape. Attendees will gain access to research that would normally cost thousands of dollars.

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