US webhost swallows Sydney firms

GlobalHost's virtual hosting arm was bought by internet-based services provider Destra Corporation.

Hostway entered the Australian market in April, announcing a “major expansion drive” for the webhosting and online tools-related business of Asia Pacific SMBs.

The company, which claims to be one of the five largest pure-play webhosting companies in the world, is building local data centre facilities and expanding support for its Australian customers, it said.

Microsoft and Linux platforms would be supported, Hostway claimed, while Sydney-based GlobalHost's customers and infrastructure will complement Hostway's US, north Asian and European data centre facilities.

Hostway said it was contractually obliged to honour both GlobalHost's and Dedicated Hosting's customer agreements.
 
The six-year-old company, which had offices in South Korea, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and the US as well as Australia, had around 300,000 customers globally and had been continuously profitable, it claimed.

Webhosting, co-location, managed services and hosting services reseller Dedicated Hosting, also a Sydney-based company, had about 1,000 customers and managed nearly 2,000 doman name registrations, Hostway said.

Aneel Gupta, founder and managing director of Dedicated Hosting, said in a statement that the merger signalled further market consolidation.