With the number of web hosts proliferating at a cockroachian rate...it makes you wonder how much actual business there is in this sector.
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Dell Computer to Create, Manage Web Sites for Small Businesses
Round Rock, Texas, Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Dell Computer Corp. is offering customers a new service to set up, host and manage Web sites as the No. 1 direct seller of personal computers looks to grab more recurring profits from services.
Dell will help small businesses set up a Web site on a Dell- owned server starting for as little as $17.95 a month. For customers that want to sell products on the Web, hosting packages start at $299 a month and go up to $1,448 a month.
As profits on PCs narrow and sales growth slows, Round Rock, Texas-based Dell and others are looking to nab a piece of what analysts expect will be a $16 billion annual business by 2003. Dell's sales growth, which was higher than 50 percent for several quarters, has slowed in the past 12 months because of parts shortages, delays in purchasing by corporate customers and falling prices for PCs.
``Dell doesn't get into anything where we don't think we can be successful,' said Tim Mattox, vice president and general manager of the Dell Hosting Group. ``We're being asked by a lot of customers to do this.'
No. 1 computer chipmaker Intel Corp. opened its first data center last year. Exodus Communications Inc. hosts Web sites for hundreds of companies. Dell, the No. 1 provider of servers to small businesses, hopes to use its direct relationship with small- business customers to win accounts.
Dell will have servers running Linux and Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 2000 and Windows NT operating-system software. Customers can choose to run their site from a server shared with other companies, or from a dedicated server.
Dell's focus on small business separates it from Intel and Exodus, host sites for larger customers. Only 26 percent of small businesses have Web sites, Mattox said, and only 15 percent of those businesses use the Web to sell products.
Feb/22/2000 1:23
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