GoDaddy Launches Cloud-based Servers, Applications for Web Developers

If you buy something through our links, we may earn money from our affiliate partners. Learn more.

GoDaddy, once known for the eccentric antics of its former CEO, Bob Parsons, racy TV commercials and cheap domains, is entering a new era of respectability, refashioning itself as a major player in the cloud computing industry.

Announced this month, GoDaddy is expanding its hosting services to include two new offerings, Cloud Server and Cloud Applications, which are intended to help Web developers build, test and scale cloud solutions, often in less than a minute, with minimal coding required.

The way GoDaddy can do that is through a partnership with Bitnami, a leading library for open source server application deployments. The partnership provides one-click optimized installation for application solutions such as CMS (e.g., WordPress, Drupal, Joomla), CRM (e.g., Odoo, OpenERP, Sugar) and eCommerce (e.g., OpenCart and Magento).

“We created the Cloud Server and Cloud Application products with the needs of small business Web developers in mind,” said Jeff King, senior vice president and general manager of Hosting and Security at GoDaddy, in a telephone interview with Small Business Trends. “Through our partnership with Bitnami, which has a catalog of more than 120 open-source apps that can be deployed in the cloud turn-key, often with just a single click, we make it easy for developers to get a development environment up and running quickly, saving them both time and money.”

GoDaddy is integrating Cloud Server and Cloud Applications with its other products, such as Domains and DNS, which allows customers to manage and maintain new and existing domains and subdomains. Additionally, Cloud Server customers have full access to multiple, public-facing APIs, said King.

---

---

Cloud-Based Servers and Cloud Application Pricing

Traditionally, GoDaddy’s pricing has been based on a fixed-cost model. For example, a small business could have a basic website hosted for as little as $1 per month. The new products operate on a “pay as you go” utility billing model. Businesses only pay for what they use on an hourly basis and up to a monthly limit, if they choose.

Even in this case, pricing is still very affordable, with packages starting at less than $5 per month. Most small businesses would never exceed a price of $20 per month, according to King. Also, as an incentive, GoDaddy is giving the service away free for the first 30 days.

Cloud-Based Server and Application Features

Web developers will likely welcome the features provided by the new products, which provide the ability to:

• Automatically backup data without downtime to keep Cloud Server user data and configuration covered for piece of mind (GoDaddy guarantees 99.9 percent uptime);

• Keep user servers in constant contact with each other with private networking;

• Flexibly assign permanent IPs and multiple IP addresses to a single server, with as many available as required.

How to Sign-up

The new products are part of GoDaddy Pro, a program offering free tools and support for Web designers and developers. Signup is free and enables developers to manage all their clients from a single dashboard. GoDaddy also includes 24/7 priority customer support as part of the package.

“We’re focusing on making it easy for someone building a small business website to get access to the technology needed to do that,” King said. “By offering what we feel are powerful, yet simple cloud-based services that integrate domains, DNS, security and backups all in one place, developers can save time and exceed their clients’ expectations.”

Image: GoDaddy 2 Comments ▼

---