Congressmen of the US House of Representatives recently passed the Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act by a vote of 248 Ayes against 168 Nays. The approval of the bill sent shivers in the US web hosting community as it opens the doors for government agencies to look into accounts of suspected cyber-terrorists if these accounts are stored in servers based in the US. Web host providers also fear that because of this bill, people will opt to jump ship to other providers if they found out that their information can be scrutinized if saved in US servers. Christian Dawson of Servint and Save Hosting expressed this fear in a statement when he said, ” People can host anywhere in the world – it’s a global marketplace. If they feel their data will be less private and secure if it’s hosted in the US, then the United States is going to see hosting business go abroad.”

For its part, the House of Representatives sees the bill as a boost to increase service offers and jobs because the bill provides the private sector with a legal support to increase its cyberspace defense efforts and to lawfully utilize classified data to provide protection to networks and systems. The CISPA is an amendment to the National Security Act of 1947 to include provisions about web-based threat investigation and data dissemination.

Although the fear about the effect of the bill to the web-hosting industry is real, the anxiety it caused may be premature as the CISPA still has to be approved by the US Senate for it to formally become a law. According to reliable sources, there aren’t enough votes among US senators that will seal the deal. President Barrack Obama appears to be unsupportive of the bill as well.

Google, the number one internet search engine, has joined the growing ranks of providers offering cloud storage. In a recent announcement, the search engine giant introduced its version of cloud storage—Google Drive. According to Sundar Pichai, the company’s Senior Vice President, customers will be provided with 5 gigabytes of free cloud storage. Users who prefer bigger storage space can opt to subscribe to paid plans with monthly charge. In a similar move, Microsoft also launched its own drive of offering seven gigabyte storage to new customers, while existing customers can get as much as 25 gigabytes.

The news of about Google’s cloud service has been anticipated for so long as there are persistent rumors going around in the internet world for a number of years. Google Drive is compatible with other Google services like Gmail and is specifically designed to keep existing customers to its fold, rather than getting new customers. The new cloud service is equipped with the ability to create real-time documents, spreadsheets, and a lot more. It can also work well with Yola, a web-hosting service that offers free website creator.

Google drive can prove to be a challenge to existing cloud providers and web-hosting sites because of its cheaper price plans compared to the ones offered by current providers. Its 25 GB plan costs only $2.49 per month, more affordable compared to the same plan offered by DropBox. Its 100GB plan can be purchased at $4.99 per month, while its enormous 1TB plan costs only $49.99 monthly. Web-hosting services with additional cloud storage offers can compete evenly with Google if they also include in their package additional email and privacy protection services.

Webzilla is deemed as one of the biggest and most renowned hosting provider in the market today, having served a good number of enterprises since it started its operation. Just recently, it unveils to the public another innovation to its hosting services—the use of Linux server administrator to meet the growing demands of its hosting customers. This is a result of the company’s realization that in order to provide the best service to its customers, it must be able to provide a better service management tool.

The new management system is the latest in the series of innovations that the company implemented the past few years. This is a testament to the company’s commitment to provide the best services to its customers. Linux admin service is now available to its customers and is capable of providing Webzilla with the flexibility to effectively manage its clients servers, take command of the operational infrastructure, establish firewalls, install and upgrade software effortlessly.

This latest development provides assurance to the customers that the servers they are subscribed to are very well managed. It also eliminates the need to hire a server administrator which can eat up an enterprise’s bottom line. The administrative task of the service is well taken care of by Webzilla through the Linux version of FreeBSD OS as demanded by customers.

Konstantin Bezruchenko, Chief Technology Officer of Webzilla, says that the Linux system is most appropriate for the business sector. According to him, there is a growing number of customers who require managed servers and this prompted the company to include Linux admin services among the list of services that the company offers.

CPWebhosting introduces its latest website, CPWebhosting.org, that promises to give its clients the best services at the most affordable price. The company is popular worldwide as a provider that gives its client the best alternative solution to their web-hosting needs. Discriminating customers choose hosting services that attend to their needs with utmost urgency to allow them to concentrate in the actual operation of their businesses. CPWebhosting has made its mark as a company that answers to this client call, thus garnering the attention of many players in the industry of webhosting.

By using the DotOrg domain, the company is able to expand their efficacy almost ten times, while being able to provide much lower cost for their growing number of customers. It focuses in developing the minor items in their list of hosting products to provide much better service. CPWebhosting’s ability to resolve issues and challenges had made it an industry leader and had made it gain a lot of respect and admiration from customers worldwide. The new site provides the different features of its services together with the systems and methods that the company employs to look out after its clients.

The company’s goal, as expressed by its President Jim Partner, is to guarantee that their hosting customers are afforded with the best hosting deal together with the best service quality possible. Among its packages are Monthly Hosting, Business and Business Pro Hostings, and even a $1 Hosting. Any customers interested in webhosting will surely find one plan that will fit their requirements. Currently, CPWebhosting is servicing multitude of clients spread in 80 countries around the globe.

VPS.NET opens its doors to customers who are looking for web-based cloud apps. The online store offers a hundred apps that are open source and appropriate to a lot demands. It caters to web-hosting firms that produce their own web tools and can serve as add-ons to entice more customers. Using the cloud application development system Standing Cloud, VPS.NET produced various cloud apps that web-hosts can provide to their clients as a quick and easy way for them to create and initiate their personalized cloud apps.

The online supermarket is considered as a diamond pit for hosts and users who are in the market for creative instruments, software, launch alternatives, and apps that can are ready to use for cloud computing and applicable to the VPS.NET network. Once the app gets underway, Standing Cloud will give clients the leeway to supervise them regularly, keep an eye on their progress, and revise if necessary. According to the Managing Director of VPS.NET Rus Foster, ” Standing Cloud customized the marketplace with our own look and feel, and taps directly into our API to run seamlessly on our infrastructure. Making it easy to launch and run fully configured versions of popular products like WordPress or Drupal in a just a few clicks is a great value-add for our customers, and Standing Cloud made it easy for us.”

The internet store permits cloud service providers to utilize seamless apps tiers and ISVs that will allow cloud hosts to create brand new apps and manage them accordingly for their customers. It utilizes platform-as-a-service or PaaS system to easily manage a variety of programming languages that include PHP, Rails, Python, and Java in conjunction with a number of cloud service providers and launch tool infrastructures.

Internap’s recent acquisition of Voxel cloud hosting service has enabled the content and webhosting provider to enter the cloud computing arena. Agile Hosting is the offshoot of the $30 million transaction which transferred Voxel’s webhosting and cloud services alongside its system operations and drivers to Internap. Agile Hosting allows customers to self-manage the servers and customize them according to their preference using a wide range of elements that include archives, systems, personalized settings, hardware, and a lot more. Pricing depends on the preferred settings of the users, but they also have the option to be charged at per hour rate.

The transaction was concluded not too long ago, but Internap has already started marketing its products to many customers, owing to the existence of Voxel’s cloud hosting network in Singapore, Amsterdam, Santa Clara, and New York. This is in support of Interlap’s own network facility in Forth Worth, Texas which was inaugurated in December 2011. According to SVP Raj Dut of Internap, ” Our global Agile Hosting offering builds upon our world-class data center and network foundation and layers on full pricing transparency and automation, all backed by world-class support and availability guarantees.”

The launch of Agile hosting is among the latest ventures of Internap which included its endeavor in Sahara Force, the Indian F1 racing team, where the company served as the team’s CDN and hosting service provider. As Dutt aptly expresses, “The Internet has become mission-critical for almost every business. Infrastructure must be high-performance, cost-effective and flexible to meet enterprises’ increasingly demanding needs.”

Rackspace, a service provider of web and cloud hosting, reveals its latest Rackspace Green Survey that illustrates how a lot of customers of web-hosting services prefer sustainability over cost. This is an eye-opener for a lot of hosting services to market their product as eco-friendly with the use of environment-friendly means. The survey was conducted across 24 countries from different continents. 72% of US customers prefer cloud hosting services which use green fuel, while 80% of other nationalities give their nod to the use of green energy over cost of operation. Likewise, 91% percent of survey participants are more likely to go for hosting services which have proven track record of being environment-friendly. The emphasis on sustainability has been the main focus for the majority of the survey-takers.

Melissa Gray of Rackspace says that sustainability is now becoming a “need to have” instead of “nice to have.” This, she said, is because companies are beginning to comprehend the need to select unyielding partners as essential parts of their supply chain can result to reduced risks, better efficiency, and more gain. “Rackspace views sustainability in a very holistic manner: that decisions should factor benefit to people, pocket, and planet. We were happy to see that many of our customers also view it this way, with more than 53% of respondents echoing this holistic view,” quips Gray.

Additionally, Greenpeace also conducted its own survey regarding cloud computing services. In its “How green is your cloud?” study, this environment protection proponent reveals that Amazon failed the survey because of the lack of green infrastructure that supports the ecommerce giant’s operations. Moreover, Greenpeace also censured Amazon for its secrecy regarding the operation of its cloud storage systems.

Peak10, a webhosting provider, is adding its fourth data center that will service many of its existing cloud storage and webhost customers and provide new opportunities to new clients. The new facility will cover an area of 62,000 square foot and will be built in stages. To be located at UNC-Charlotte, this latest addition to the company’s veritable network of data centers will be equipped with the latest security system, unlimited power supply, fire protection, HVAC system, and will be in operation all year round. This will provide the webhosting company’s customers with a distinct advantage of unlimited internet usage plus an added security prop up by the existence of other data centers.

The move has been prompted by the growing demand in cloud storage and hosting services in the North Carolina area, alongside the State’s drive for more cost-efficient power usage that can be achieved by having more data centers. The location of the new data center in University Research Park in Charlotte is easily accessible to many businesses within the city and its surrounding counties. The main objective of the center is to be at the forefront of disaster recovery and continuity of business for customers who have widespread geographical requirements. Peak10 VP and GM Pat O’Brien quips, “Peak 10 continues to grow its managed services portfolio delivered via our cloud and our customer-owned platforms based on increasing demand from new and existing customers.”

The announcement of the construction of the new facility came a few months after Peak10 inaugurated it Fort Lauderdale data center in Florida. The company also has recently opened its own Virtual Private Data Center. The new structure will be situated in the David Taylor Corporate Center which is managed and owned by Beacon Partners. On completion, it is expected that the facility will cover more than 100,000 square foot of land space.

After the frustration of the failed bid in 2010, Google has made a great comeback by bagging a $34.9 million contract with the US Department of Interior. In a recent news released by the government agency, it proclaimed that it awarded Google the contract to provide online email and other internet tools to the agency’s more than 90,000 employees. The contract will run for a good seven years.

In 2010, Google went after the department after it opted to provide Microsoft $59.3 million, 5-year contract for the use of the computer giant’s set of web-based software. In its petition, Google alleged that DOI showed bias to its competitor by allowing Microsoft to determine the criteria for the bidding to award which email system to use. Google eventually withdraw its petition after the government agency said that it will take all alternative methods into reconsideration.

The contract is part of the department’s effort to slash on expenditures in its various aspects of operation with the end-goal of saving approximately half a billion taxpayers’ dollars by the end of 2020. Ken Salazar, DOI Secretary, believes that by using the cloud-based system of Google, the agency will be able to modernize its business communications while at the same time generate a lot of dollars in savings. Emails and supplementary services using cloud-computing software practically eliminate the need to purchase and operate special systems on separate employee’s PCs, as well as on IT-support staff and server networks. For its part, Google spokesperson said that the company is honored with the deal to have DOI select Google Apps and that Google will work closely with the agency to ensure that all employees will be able maximize the benefits of the latest communication tools.

In an attempt to corner the MobileMe users of Apple, MacAce inaugurated recently its beta-version of the MacMate. The Mac ISP specialist and webhost service provider banks on the popularity of MobileMe which currently hosts about 250,000 internet sites—a very substantial number of potential customers for the new service. MacMate was originally introduced in the market in 2007, but the current version carries no similarity with the older one because of its new offer. The brand-new MacMate provides users with a total of 10 gigabyte cloud storage space, three email accounts, plus an opportunity to upgrade the cloud storage up to 100 gigabytes accompanied by unlimited email accounts.

Apparently, MobileMe from Apple will be decommissioned by June. This is the opportunity that MacAce CEO Gary Hall would like to take advantage of. When the computer giant announced the apparent closure, MacAce received a lot of enquiries about a similar service that will provide basically the same features. Although MacMate is patterned after the Apple model, the company says that they are doing better what Apple has started. As Hall says, “We retained the functionality that people want from MobileMe, but we put our own stamp on it.” There are also other features of the Apple brand that the company deliberately did not include in their own version because according to Hall, “Applie is doing it with iCloud so we don’t feel like going up against Apple.”

The MacMate apparently is designed to address exactly what MobileMe users want—something that competitors are not able to provide. The new service features a service similar to that of Apple’s, but with a simplified way of customizing. It also has the ability that will allow users to directly publish to iWeb using a drag-and-drop feature in the desktop. These features go hand-in-hand with the file saving and sharing function that can be managed using an online control panel.