At the Microsoft Hosting Summit 2009, company updates Web hosting strategy and provides tools and resources for partner success.

BELLEVUE, Wash. — March 4, 2009 — This week at the Microsoft Hosting Summit 2009, Microsoft Corp. will discuss its comprehensive strategy for enabling hosting providers to be successful in today’s evolving hosting industry. To meet the industry shift toward software plus services, Microsoft is helping hosting providers benefit from their partnership with Microsoft through various programs and initiatives, effectively capitalize on their investments in Microsoft platform technologies, and achieve cost savings. At the summit, Microsoft will outline new and existing programs for hosting partners, including the Dynamic Data Center Tool Kit, which provides technical expertise, service operations guidance and marketing tools to help hosting partners deploy managed hosting offerings. In addition, Microsoft will highlight momentum with its platforms including Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V technology and Microsoft System Center, and announce cost-reducing updates to its Services Provider License Agreement (SPLA).

“During these difficult economic times, hosted services are more important than ever as customers look for ways to reduce cost and increase efficiencies,” said John Zanni, general manager of the Worldwide Software Plus Services Industry for the Communications Sector at Microsoft. “There is a tremendous opportunity for hosting providers to partner with Microsoft to transition from mass-market hosting into higher-margin managed services to deliver compelling new solutions to their customers. Microsoft is making major investments in technology innovation and in its partners to ensure that hosting providers are successful as the industry evolves in response to new competition and economic conditions.”

“The emergence of small and midsize business (SMB) managed hosting is the product of larger, irreversible trends, as large players begin to enter the market and businesses move more of their operations into an online environment,” said Philbert Shih, research analyst at Tier1 Research. “It represents an opportunity that is critical to the long-term survival of mass-market hosters. SMBs will continue to grow and move their operations online, and there is no question that they will continue to have expanding and more sophisticated IT infrastructure needs. Being unable to capture this opportunity will leave hosters competing for the less-lucrative, lower-margin and what will eventually be the shrinking portions of the market.”

Partner Commitment and Support

In order to be successful and to grow as the industry evolves, it is imperative for hosting providers to offer managed services. Microsoft’s new Dynamic Data Center Tool Kit contains guidance, sample code, best practices and collateral to help hosting providers rapidly build and launch managed services powered by Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and Microsoft System Center. It provides step-by-step instructions that assist hosting providers and independent software vendors (ISVs) in building a virtualized infrastructure which is scalable in a matter of minutes. In addition, marketing guidance and customizable content in the tool kit articulate how hosting partners can market and sell managed services and solutions. The tool kit will be available to all hosting providers that are enrolled in the Microsoft Hosting Community, an extension of the broader Microsoft Partner Program.

MaximumASP LLC, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a provider of Web hosting and IT services based in Louisville, Ky., recently used the Microsoft Dynamic Data Center Tool Kit to improve the performance of its MaxV Virtual Dedicated Servers. MaximumASP collaborated with Microsoft on the Dynamic Data Center Tool Kit as a way to offer instant scalability, increased support through advanced monitoring, disaster recovery and ultimately higher customer satisfaction.