Gandi Upgrades Cloud Hosting Specs (March 19, 2009) - - European Web hosting provider Gandi (www.gandi.net) announced this week that it has doubled the CPU resources supplied to virtual customer servers through its cloud hosting system.
Gandi - originally a domain registrar - launched the Xen-based virtual server hosting product in October, offering server shares (each representing 1/60 of a 4x quad core machine) which customers can buy and use collaboratively to host their web applications.
The company says it made the upgrade to the server specs after analyzing the usage patterns of 5,000 customers, and soliciting their feedback.
"There's been a lot of talk within the IT industry about cloud computing tools and what they offer consumers, but this is one of the first products designed specifically for small businesses," says Joe White, chief operating officer for Gandi, quoted in the press release. "It's completely scalable so that it works just as well for a one person consultancy as it does for a mid-sized operation; it's cost effective; it's completely secure; and all the data can be fully backed up."
The company markets the product as a cost-effective alternative to acquiring and under-using dedicated servers for companies in the small to medium-sized business range.
Along with the announcement, the company provided a case study of Demotix (www.demotix.com), a monetization service for "citizen photojournalists" that hosts its site using Gandi's services. Demotix says it has saved two thirds of what it would have paid had it chosen to buy its own servers.
While the virtual servers can configure the Gandi servers however they choose, novice users are able to take advantage of Gandi's "Auto-Install" options and set up pre-installed server types such as web and mail servers.
The service is priced at $16 per "share" per month, with servers being made up of between one and sixteen shares. The company also offers a "flex" system allowing additional resources to be booked in advance starting at 10 cents per hour.
Gandi's website includes a flash demonstration that describes in detail how the virtual web hosting system works.
Gandi Becomes SSL Certification Authority (March 4, 2009) - -- Longtime French domain name registrar, which recently unveiled an ultra-flexible virtualised hosting offering, Gandi.net (www.gandi.net) has launched a line of Secure Sockets Layer certificates and services after becoming as a Certification Authority, allowing its customers to generate and manage digital certificates using the industry-standard SSL protocol.
According to Gandi.net's Wednesday announcement, there are three levels of certificate available, ranging from a simple online identity validation of the SSL customer, to high level certificates that require official paper based ID and guarantee transactions worth up to $250,000. SSL certificates give online traders a high degree of confidence in their services.
"Trust online is moving to the top of consumers concerns with the proliferation of phishing sites and the increasing variety of different and confusing domain names," Gandi.net chief operating officer Joe White said in a statement. "SSL certificates are one way that websites can give the assurance to their customers that they are who they say they are, and they do this by having their site accredited by a trusted Certification Authority like Gandi."
As part of its SSL promotion, Gandi will also be treating new and returning domain name customers to a free one-year certificate.
"Gandi is one of the most trusted domain name registrars which is something we are extremely proud of and have earned diligently over our 10 year history," White said. "Our customers have long asked for us to offer this kind of service, so we are extremely proud to be able to offer it today, and allow them to offer this kind of trust and assurance to their customers".
Gandi.net's SSL certificate launch is the latest step in Gandi's continuing evolution from being the largest ICANN-accredited registrar in France to a more well-rounded hosting provider. In October 2008, Gandi.net has officially launched its hosting service, which offers extreme flexibility, letting users can buy "shares" of a server's resources.
Pro TLD Grows Five-Fold in Five Months (January 28, 2009) - At least partly due to a recent relaxation of eligibility restrictions, the exclusive operator of the .Pro top level domain, RegistryPro (www.registrypro.pro), has reported explosive growth in the total number of registrations of .Pro domain names, the first and only domain name extension designated for professionals and professional entities worldwide.
On Tuesday, Hostway Corporation (www.hostway.com) subsidiary RegistryPro announced that the five month period following its relaunch of the .Pro TLD resulted in its quintupling in use. In that time, the TLD was operating under new guidelines that opened up its eligibility requirements to virtually any professional in nearly any country - which did not necessarily damage the exclusivity of the domain, which was at the root of its purpose of being - but rather made it more globally relevant.
In May 2008, ICANN (www.icann.org) approved RegistryPro's wishes to expand the "scope and availability" of the TLD beyond its original limitation to accountants, engineers, lawyers and medical professionals, in just a handful of countries. As well, the process of acquiring a .Pro domain, which previously involved the lengthy examination of credentials, was greatly simplified.
"We effectively made .Pro available to tens of millions of professionals and entities worldwide," RegistryPro general manager Catherine Sigmar said in a statement. "And, we have had some excellent partners like Network Solutions join us. Given Network Solutions' position in the top echelon of registrars worldwide, they are in a unique position to maximize the penetration of the .Pro TLD."
RegistryPro made special note of web solutions and domain provider Network Solutions (www.networksolutions.com), which provided a major push in the past five months.
"Network Solutions is dedicated to being the leading registrar for the .Pro domain," said , Network Solutions domain name services product management director Sean Kaine said in a statement. "We've put a lot of effort behind it, and we're delighted to be seeing such great results."
While .Pro registration does require vetting professional credentials, the process has been simplified and many registrars have adjusted their prices accordingly. Network Solutions' current rate for .Pro domains started at $29.99 for a year's term when checked Wednesday. French registrar Gandi (www.gandi.net) is offering .pro domains for as little as $24 per year plus value-added tax.
Register.com (www.register.com), however, has not changed its fee from $350 for one year, which includes a $100 non-refundable application fee.
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