The European Web hosting market has certain opportunities ahead as well as serious challenges.

The recent financial turmoil has descended on the world with great force, effecting sectors ranging from financial markets, to banking and lending, to automotive manufacturing and retail. For many Web hosting companies the future may seem an uncertain place, and one that may present challenges unlike those seen before. For those hosting companies in other regions it may seem that Europe is a long way away, but in fact the world hosting markets may be impacted in concert.

Therefore, in order to better understand the current state of the Web hosting market in Europe, TopHosts.com queried hosting experts and executives with deep insight. We asked what the current state of the market looks like, and whether there are opportunities or challenges ahead.

Rob Lovell, Director of Service Provider Alliances with Parallels (Rob works extensively with European web hosts) provided the following comment. “The recent financial turmoil has affected hosting companies both in a negative and positive way. In a negative way, consumers will generally tighten their belts and thus cut things like blogs, hobby and family sites, which are not essential and in some cases not even updated or used…so I have heard that the attrition at mass hosters has increased slightly. In the case of small to large businesses, they are looking to save money on their existing internal IT, and hosting companies offer a reduced cost option to deliver the same services. So dedicated server volumes and VPS for instance have increased.”

“The biggest trend in European hosting this year is certainly Software as a Service. Hosting companies are in a fantastic position to start to offer more than just Web and email, but focusing on line or business applications, which almost all businesses use - and have to buy and support. Hosting companies already have an infrastructure and people to deliver these services and I think with higher margins on offer, this will be seen as a much more common option. Look at companies like www.intuit.com. Definitely hosting companies need to explore the markets more instead of being insular. Web hosting is now about delivery of IT services, and understanding the opportunities for SaaS. I would definitely recommend hosters in Europe to attend large events like the Parallels Summit to meet with SaaS companies and ISVs while learning how to deliver those services.”

Hans Kind, Chief Executive Officer with FlyingServers International issued these comments: ”With 12 years in the hosting business, I can say there are interesting times ahead. In Europe, we have a floor space shortage, and with the current financial crisis, most of the plans to build new data centers are being suspended or even canceled. This will lead to increased pricing, and maybe we’re going to see a shake out, this industry very much needs. That being said, I also see a change in the market. Customers I’m working with are ‘sick and tired’ of the mergers that created these large hosting companies… where they are never able to get something done. I see an opportunity for smaller hosting companies, that offer personalized services.”