Hostworks MD resigns

Broadcast Australia is hunting for a new managing director to lead its Hostworks business after revealing the exit of Paul Mullen.

An internal email to staff, obtained by iTnews, announced Will Berryman would step into an "interim CEO" role at Hostworks from August 19.

Berryman and Broadcast Australia group CEO Jim Hassell are expected to visit Adelaide "in the next few weeks to talk more about the impact of this change and the challenges and opportunities we face in 2013/14", the email stated.

Mullen was appointed managing director of Hostworks in June 2009, replacing the founder of the business, Marty Gauvin.

Hassell told iTnews today Hostworks was after "a strong IT person with a strong IT and service background" to permanently replace Mullen.

"[We want] somebody who can work with what is a good and existing strong brand to help to build a direction for that in the future in what is a rapidly changing and evolving marketplace," he said.

Hassell said there was still opportunity in a hosting market that is being encroached by the local presence of cloud service providers such as Amazon and Rackspace.

Hostworks lost part of its flagship ninemsn account to Amazon in December last year, but Hassell doesn't see it as a cause for concern.

"[Web hosting is] a growing and exciting market with room for lots of different players," he said.

"The overall market is expanding, and as it expands there are markets emerging for different types of services — those which are provided by the likes of Amazon, [and] other types of services which are higher touch.

"I don't really see it as a one-size-fits-all market."

Hassell said the company was considering "a number of potential opportunities" to grow its share of the web hosting market, but declined to provide further details, citing commercial confidentiality.