As you may have already guessed from the title, the general (although not strict) content topic is meant to be focused on the (Web) Hosting industry and everything that comes along with it. Now to make sure that there is no ambiguity there, let me define what I view as 'hosting'. Hosting is any web site, application or technology that is delivered over the Internet, or anything that enables the delivery of a web site, application or technology over the Internet. For the sake of simplicity, we are going to refer to these web sites, applications, and technologies as hosted services (or just services). Hosted services can be typical, traditional web hosting and email, DNS or custom application hosting. Pretty much anything that can be delivered through the Internet in some way leverages a hosted service. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
Who am I, and what do I do? I am a Hosting Technology Specialist with Microsoft. It is my job to help service providers architect and deploy their hosting infrastructure. I have been directly involved in the hosting industry since 2000(ish), and have been working in IT in one respect or another for a few years longer. <o:p></o:p>
Why hosting? I believe that hosting (or at least some of its incantations) represents the fundamental enabling technology for the major changes in the way we will develop, deploy, support and use software over the next 5 years. Hosting is at the heart of the Internet, and as we move into the Services revolution (more on that some other time) the way in which we develop our hosting infrastructures will be a crucial component to the success or failure of business. Although it's not the most glamorous or sexy part of IT, it is the most broad reaching single industry within IT, enabling, interacting with and depending on every aspect of technology in one way or another.<o:p></o:p>
So... I invite you to join me as I continue to explore this tiny, yet indispensable aspect of the Internet. I welcome your feedback, ask for your insight, and humbly request your patronage.<o:p></o:p>