European web hosting and domain name registration
company 1&1 Internet has launched in the US, and is offering a
free, three-year web hosting service to any customer that signs up
between now and 14 January.
The service would normally cost $29 per month, said Sebastian
Moser, director of technical development for 1&1 Internet.
"The idea behind this whole thing is to get the word of mouth
around to influence the decision-makers when it comes to deciding
which web hosting company to choose when we offer our whole
portfolio," he said.
More than 4,000 companies have signed up so far.
The Linux-based shared hosting service features 500MBytes of web
space, 5,000MBytes per month of traffic, 12,000Mbit connectivity,
a 99.9% uptime guarantee, no limits on simultaneous hits/bandwidth
and firewall protection.
1&1 Internet, the largest web-hosting provider in Europe, is
coming to the US because it sees it as a more fragmented market,
and thinks it can use its best practices in engineering and web
hosting in the US market, said Joshua Beil, an analyst at Tier 1
Research.
"They're basically giving away a $29 a month hosting package for
free for the next three years to anybody that signs up. So the days
of web hosting and the internet being free are not dead just
yet."
Helen Chan, an analyst at The Yankee Group, said 1&1
Internet is being very aggressive in the market. She added that
other web hosting companies might offer a free 30-day promotion,
but never for three years.
The move into the US web hosting market comes at a time when
other companies have either pulled out or have revamped their
operations.
In June, Sprint said it would lay off 500 workers and end its
web hosting business.
Cable & Wireless also announced it was leaving the US web
hosting and services market. Last month, however, C&W announced
a "business-ready" hosting service designed to shore up its
customer base for potential buyers of the company.
Linda Rosencrance writes for Computerworld