March 17, 2008 — ( <http://www.thewhir.com> WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — With the boldness of its Nordic namesake, IT service provider DataViking issued a press release Monday that announced the company’s official launch and, in the same sentence, referred to it as “the premier technology management services company for business.”

March 17, 2008 — ( <http://www.thewhir.com> WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — BMC Software announced on Monday it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire data center automation provider BladeLogic for $28 in cash per outstanding share of BladeLogic common stock, or a total of approximately $800 million.

March 17, 2008 — ( <http://www.thewhir.com> WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Last week, we reported that Rackspace had, in the past month, quietly launched a corporate blog, and that it had been using that blog to, among other things, disseminate its ever-present “fanatical support” message.

March 17, 2008 — ( <http://www.thewhir.com> WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Domain registrar and hosting provider Go Daddy (godaddy.com) responded Monday to allegations that the company shut down a police watchdog site last week for reasons of “suspicious activity.”

March 17, 2008 — ( <http://www.thewhir.com> WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Application traffic management software provider Zeus Technology announced on Monday it has added a number of new US resellers to its global channel program.

March 17, 2008 — ( <http://www.thewhir.com> WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Hosting provider SoftLayer announced Monday that it is “massively” upgrading the back end systems of its Dallas and Seattle data centers, as well as its soon-to-be-opened Washington DC facility.

March 17, 2008 — ( <http://www.thewhir.com> WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Utility hosting services provider Layered Technologies announced on Monday it has named John Faulkner the company’s chief financial officer.

March 17, 2008 — ( <http://www.thewhir.com> WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — RatePoint and VeriSign announced that VeriSign will integrate RatePoint’s online reputation management and customer feedback platform as a value-added offering for customers to purchase as part of VeriSign’s retail SSL certificate.

March 17, 2008 — ( <http://www.thewhir.com> WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — ISPs in Japan have agreed to work with copyright holders to identify customers using peer to peer file sharing services to infringe on copyrighted material and unplug their Internet services.

March 17, 2008 — ( <http://www.thewhir.com> WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — The EFF announced that The House has passed by a narrow margin a surveillance bill that does not grant retroactive immunity for telecoms alleged to have helped in the National Security Agency’s unauthorized wiretapping program.