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Web Hosting Report praises IBM
IBM is among the leaders in Web hosting services in the United States and leads in market share for fully managed hosting services, according to a new METAspectrum report published by META Group, a leading technology research and consulting firm.The report, which evaluated product and service attributes from hosting vendors, reviewed 14 criteria areas: vision/strategy; channels/partner; awareness/reputation; geographic coverage; business drivers; investments; share; technology; services; pricing; execution; agility; personnel and financials. META classified IBM as a leader for "its ability to grow Web hosting as a viable business while evolving services, increasing leverage, and extending partnerships."
According to the report, IBM's strengths are its understanding of the industry, relationships with key customers, broad service offerings, strong integration, financials and reputation. Meta noted: "A Web hosting vendor's reputation is more important than ever. As a result, this is the most heavily weighted criteria area within the presence category (along with share)... IBM is one of the companies most widely recognized as the Web hosting vendors with staying power...Customers are hesitant to trust vendors with small market share. IBM is well positioned in the market for fully managed hosting services, as measured in revenues."
"IBM is very pleased to be recognized by META Group for its Web hosting capabilities," said Jim Corgel, general manager, IBM e-business Hosting Services. "With 234 data centers worldwide, IBM combines strengths from hosting, infrastructure management and industry consulting to provide the platforms and services businesses need to unlock true business value and transform companies into on demand businesses. Our leadership in Web hosting contributes to our ability to provide innovative on demand computing services for customers large and small."
Going forward, META said, "the managed Web hosting market will be dominated by larger players and high-end Web hosting services are not sufficient to support a standalone business. Successful vendors will provide hosting services as part of a broader services portfolio. The key differentiator in the enterprise market is professional services. A vendor's ability to extend beyond infrastructure and enter into application-level services is critical to being able to solve high-end managed hosting needs on a broad basis."
IBM Managed Hosting services provide flexible hosting infrastructure and server management configurations at three price points -- entry, standard and enhanced. Flexible pricing options allow companies to tailor the infrastructure and server management services they need by adding additional hardware or services at any time. This flexibility enables companies to expand their infrastructure easily as business demands increase.
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