Just a little something R&D put together ‘unoficially’ for internal use, but I thought I’d put it up here for customers / friends who are discerning enough to enjoy both Hosting365 and Mac 
Will work fine on a PC, as long as you don’t mind the big apple logo 
Hosting365 Mac Skin – Click this link to download the file – it’s a 6MB .png
It’s been ‘in the wild’ for a few weeks now, and the new website is almost complete, so here is a preview of the new logo and branding for Hosting365….
As you can see, the orange logo is a stylised H but also represents the changing from one ‘lane’ to another – ie: changing from thinking internally and buying kit, to oursourcing to using infrastructure as a service.
Our tagline is now ‘Change the way you think about IT’ – again, reinforcing the idea that, particularly with our cloud platform, company’s need no longer worry about the physical kit, architecture or things like security, backups and hardware resilience…
New Hosting 365 Logo & Tag line
The work, as well as some other items, was completed by Irish agency – www.atomic.ie
The clever chaps over at Contrast – Eoghan and Paul – have excelled themselves yet again with the super smart and useful Qwitter web application – http://www.useqwitter.com/
If you’re a fan or user of the popular micro-blogging service – Twitter – you’ll know that sometimes your followers will depart, without so much as a ‘goodbye’ or ‘by your leave’!
Now, the solution is here! With Qwitter, you can pop your twitter name into the form, and an email for notifications and now, when a follower leaves, you’ll get a little alert to their departure -and- even better, you’ll get reminded of the last thing you said before they left! The perfect answer to that age-old question – ‘was it something I said?’
And better still, Qwitter is supported by and hosting on the Hosting365 Cloud Platform, giving it ample oomph and exceptional scalability to help cope with the deluge of traffic that has come, particularly after mentions on TechCrunch, TechMeme, Venturebeat, Delicious and sites, forums and blogs all over the web, as well as on Twitter itself!
At last nights awards ceremony, we found out that Hosting365 had, for the second year running, been ranked in the Deloitte Fast 50 – a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in Ireland !
We ranked in 25th place overall this year (Click here for the full list of winners in 2008)
Last year, we ranked in 7th place (Click here for the list from 2007) as the 5 year trend took in our first years trading, where we did a mere 250k euro turnover
Based on our performance in 2009, I would expect us to also be in the rankings next year.
While it can be ‘easy’ to feature in the rankings once, to sustain ‘Top 50′ levels of growth for two years running (and hopefully three) requires expansion in excess of 500% ! If nothing else, I hope this gives an insight into the growing pains Hosting365 has had to endure and cope with over the last 7 years!
Our stability and prospects on the back of that growth are a testament to the passion, commitment and engagement of a truley amazing team of people who work with me, both in Dublin and Krakow !
More details on the scheme:
About the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Programme
To enter the Fast 50 Awards, companies must meet the criteria listed below. Entries must be
sent in electronically, with the necessary supporting documents (audited financial
statements).
Entry Criteria:
Have been in business for a minimum of five years
Considered a technology company, which is defined as producing technology,
manufacturing technology-related products, be technology intensive, or use unique
technology to solve problems, devoting a high percentage of effort to technology
R&D
The parent company must be Irish-owned and have its headquarters in Ireland
(subsidiaries of multinational organisations do not qualify)
Operating revenues must be at least €50,000 for 2003
From the Deloitte Commentary on the Budget yesterday:
Carbon Levy
The Minister confirmed that the Commission for Taxation has been asked to examine how the introduction of a carbon levy might best be structured and implemented to ensure that Ireland’s economic prospects are protected and the vulnerable in society do not lose out. A firm measure is expected in next year’s budget.
The fact that the Minister is examining the matter in detail and awaiting a more rounded picture of the impact of the introduction of such a levy is commendable and it would be hoped that he would take on board the views of the Commission and other industry bodies before making a final decision next year.
Energy Efficient Equipment
Finance Act 2008 introduced 100% accelerated capital allowances for companies who purchased specific energy efficient equipment. These included Building Energy Management Systems, Lighting and Lighting controls, and Motors and Variable Speed Drives. Budget 2009 extended the accelerated capital allowance regime to include four new categories. These new categories are:
• Data server related systems and large energy saving office equipment associated with Information and Communications Technology
• Efficient heating/electricity provision equipment and control systems
• Efficient electrical and control equipment associated with process and heating ventilation and air-conditioning systems
• Alternative fuel vehicles
Any relief for business which commits to the Green Agenda is to be welcomed, particularly in current times when fuel and utility costs are at historically high levels and driving hidden inflation and additional cash outlay for business.
Source: http://www.deloittebudget.ie/
Of particular interest to me is that ‘Data Server related systems’ are now covered under this new measure, allowing for 100% capital allowance right off. For us, it means we could potentially right off our blade/san/virtualisation investments over 1 year, as opposed to the typical 3. It will be interesting to see how this, and the ’spectre’ of the expected Carbon levy next year influence IT spend in the coming months.
Our Cloud Platform already has impeccable green credentials, consuming a tiny fraction of the power of traditional servers and needing even less cooling.
I predict a gradual but accelerating move to virtualisation and cloud technologies, both onsite and outsourced, with more and more companys outsourcing entire IT functions as the costs of refit, refresh and staffing are compounded by carbon levys and penalties on inefficiencies.
Sugar CRM build on Hosting365 Cloud Platform for Irish on-demand Sugar platform…
… but never had the skill or budget to realise it?
The guys at Contrast have just launched App School 2008 - they will pick an idea submitted by an Irish startup, charity, non-profit or individual and teach it how to be a fully-grown app. And, will cover 95% of the cost!
I’m also offering to help by providing the winning application with a true enterprise, scalable platform to grow on, with the Hosting365.com Cloud solution – and stump up €3,000 worth of hosting to power the App for the first year of it’s life!
See more at http://www.contrast.ie/blog/app-school-2008/
on one of the fundamental benefits of using a cloud provider – namely, you do not have physical servers, routers, switches, firewalls and other kit to worry about!
http://www.johnmwillis.com/cloud/cloud-computing-101/
Now if only we could get fully automatic, belt fed weapons in this country for demos!
