Webhostingday - Cologne, March 12-13, 2008

On March 12-13 Webhostingday was held in Phantasialand Event Center in Bruehl - near Cologne, Germany. Some of the biggest companies in the web hosting industry were represented. The main conferences, as well as the work shops, were all concerning topics related to the industry in some way. Everything from green hosting to how to build an optimized infrastructure was being discussed.

Next to the HostingCon conference in Chicago this is the biggest one there is. Contentwise these two also differ in the way that the conference in Chicago is more directed to web hosts while the conference in Bruehl is tad more technical. Not to say that that it's just interesting.

The Web Hosting Day consisted of two days really and it was a great opportunity to meet people in the industry as well as to learn and listen to prominent speakers.

March 12 - Day 1

Michael Korbacher, from Microsoft, spoke about the next generation of hosting on the first day. During his speech he said that partnerships are the key and that Microsoft is committed to being a strategic partner for their hosting partners. What they put their focus on is business e-mails.

Another interesting speech the same day came from Serguei Beloussov, chairman and CEO at Parallels. Parallels is a world wide leader in virtualization and automation software optimizing computing for consumers. Serguei spoke about what hosts could do better and how to do it. For example he mentioned differentiation as a way to attract new customers.

After a fantastic lunch it was time for the workshops to begin. As a visitor you had many interesting subjects to choose from. Everything from the next generation of webmail to new ways to offer flexible services was being discussed.

March 13 - Day 2

The second day wasn't a crying shame either. The morning sessions consisted of conferences about the future of server infrastructures, hidden costs and ROI of message security for web hosting providers, the evolution and revolution of enterprise platforms and how SaaS, open source & mobile solutions can save ones business.

The workshops on day two were just as impressing and interesting as the ones the prior day. Among the topics this day was how content reaches the customer, payment processing and risk management and how to protect your hosting reputation.

Great meeting place!

Both of these two interesting days ended with a party where you could meet other people working in the same industry. This is where you many times make some of your most important connections. With a packed schedule this conference truly was a great meeting place. We hope to see you there next year!