WorldCom rolls out hosting packages

(Telephony) In a move that takes advantage of its expanding relationship with Digex, WorldCom has announced a set of managed web hosting packages for enterprises.

The offering contains six different packages that can run on three different software platforms: Windows NT, Windows 2000 and Solaris. They range in price from $4140 per month for a single server site on Windows NT to $99,733 for a high availability application site package with e-commerce capabilities on Solaris.

According to Ron McMurtrie, vice president of E-Services for WorldCom, most web hosting packages are constructed from the ground up for each customer. By creating packages with features on approximately the same service level, the process of choosing one’s web hosting requirements is simplified. “Our goal was to help customers in easing that decision,” he said.

According to McMurtrie, this is not, however, a cookie cutter approach to hosting. Services can be enhanced or added to a package at the customer’s request. In addition, the packages are scaled upon each other, allowing for easy movement along the food chain.

For WorldCom, the announcement represents the company’s first major partnering with Digex. WorldCom is in the process of gaining controlling interest of Digex via its acquisition of Intermedia Communications, and hopes to become a dominant force in the Web hosting sphere by combining Digex’s offerings with its own assets.

The new offering, said McMurtrie, “is an approach for WorldCom which represents us pulling together our UUnet assets, solidifying our relationship with Digex, and starting to build some critical mass with our $1.2 billion data center build.”