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Web hosting industry commits to action in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

(PRWEB) September 8, 2005 -- The web hosting community is rising to the challenge of hurricane Katrina. A broad-based humanitarian effort across the entire industry is being led by the stalwarts of web hosting: Affinity, Go Daddy, Interland, IPOWER, Rackspace and WebSiteHostDirectory.com.

In the aftermath of what is now recognized as the greatest natural disaster ever to hit the United States, the companies in a leadership role in web hosting are committing to action.

Affinity Internet, Inc. is no stranger to hurricane conditions and cleanup as its headquarters are in Fort Lauderdale, Florida - the scene of four major hurricane passes last year, and an early survivor of the first pass of hurricane Katrina as a Category 1 hurricane. John Enright, Affinity's Vice President of Marketing describes the company's response, "On August 25th, Hurricane Katrina passed directly over our call center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Fortunately for us, the storm was merely a "category 1" at the time, and did a minimal amount of damage to the area. Inconveniences that we thought were substantial suddenly became insignificant in comparison to the tragedy that is still unfolding in New Orleans and the surrounding areas. We're doing everything we can think of to help those along the Coast - we're making a donation to the Red Cross and matching donations made by our employees. Given the magnitude of the situation, we'd like to do more - and we're currently exploring several other ways in which we can contribute resources to help get individuals and business back on their feet."

Go Daddy has already announced a $250,000 donation to Americares, a relief organization which will be using the funds to deliver much needed supplies (bottled water, soap, cleaning supplies, diapers, etc.) to the devastated areas. "Go Daddy firmly believes that it has a moral duty and responsibility to help our fellow Americans in the wake of this terrible catastrophe," said Bob Parsons, President and Founder of Go Daddy. "We absolutely must share our financial resources with those in need and pray for them as well. Having donated funds to AmeriCares earlier this year in response to the Southeast Asian Tsunami, we didn't think twice about donating to them again since their funds go directly to those people who are in dire need."

Since early last week when the gravity of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina became apparent Interland has been encouraging customers and visitors to its heavily-trafficked web site to donate to the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief effort. Over the past week the company has worked with customers that are actively involved in using the Internet to provide relief such as Ken Burton of the GulfCoastNews.com. The GulfCoastNews.com is operating the Katrina Survivor-Connector List (http://wx.gulfcoastnews.com/katrina/status.aspx), an interactive database that permits users to list the person or families they are looking to find. With information on nearly 60,000 persons and families already available through this online database Interland has been working with its developers to keep the web site up and running in an effort to re-connect loved ones. "This is a tragic event and how people respond to it will define the future development of our nation," said Jeff Stibel, CEO of Interland. "Being able to use our expertise in online technology to help reunite families is the least we can do and we are happy to make the contribution."

IPOWER has also been affected by the recent hurricane events. IPOWER, one of the nation's largest hosting providers, has recently relocated its headquarters to Phoenix, Arizona, and is collecting goods for the over 500 evacuees that have already been brought to the Phoenix area. In addition, outside of its own donations, the company has pledged to double the amount of all IPOWER employee donations to the American Red Cross made on behalf the victims of Hurricane Katrina. "This is a terrible human disaster of unimaginable proportions," said Thomas Gorny, President and CEO of IPOWER. "We are deeply saddened by the losses so many people have suffered from this hurricane and are determined to do everything we can to help these people in need."

Rackspace Managed Hosting was also in close proximity to the disaster's epicenter, being located in San Antonio, Texas - a city responsible for many of the displaced residents of New Orleans. Annalie Drusch, Director of Corporate Communications with Rackspace issued this statement, "Rackspace is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas so this tragedy hits close to home. In an effort to help, we're providing free hosting to a number of missing persons sites and a relief portals. In addition, the company and its employees are making a large cash donation to the Food Bank. And we're working with our individual customers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to see how we can help them through this difficult time. As many of the hurricane survivors take refuge in San Antonio, Rackspace will continue to support their needs through our gifts and service."

WebSiteHostDirectory.com, a leading web hosting portal, has been working together with the greater hosting industry to announce relief efforts underway, and help its web hosting clients respond effectively to the disaster. Derek Vaughan, a respected web hosting analyst and principal with the company said, "We're proud to be part of an industry that bonds together in times of need. WebSiteHostDirectory.com will be donating a portion of our profits over the next few months to help with disaster relief, and we will continue get the word out about general web hosting industry efforts in the wake of Katrina."

For further information on the companies mentioned above or to contribute to their relief efforts, please visit: Affinity (http://www.affinity.com), Go Daddy (http://www.godaddy.com), Interland, (http://www.interland.com), IPOWER (http://www.ipower.com), Rackspace (http://www.rackspace.com), and WebSiteHostDirectory.com (http://www.websitehostdirectory.com).

Source: The Hosting News (http://www.thehostingnews.com)

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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/9/prweb281788.htm