New research into the Australian hosting market has revealed a competitive but fragmented market, particularly within shared hosting and the mid-market sectors, with market consolidation a strong probability in the longer term.

According to IDC study "Australia Hosting Competitive Analysis", the telecommunications carriers and IT outsourcing firms dominate the enterprise segment of the Web hosting market, positioning hosting as one element of networking and computing solutions. IDC claims the threat to such providers is that the control of the web site will be taken from IT by the marketing department.

Collectively, the top 10 web hosting service providers accounted for three quarters of the hosting market, led by WebCentral, Telstra and Hostworks.

"Web hosting market players would be increasingly aware of the many influences currently at play across their market space. As a discrete and still evolving market, the web hosting sector is typified both by its relative immaturity as well as its inherent diversity and fragmentation. All facets of market activity will therefore continue to be subject to further change and development. At the same time, activities across a wider market spectrum are beginning to have a greater impact on the web hosting sector," said Phillip Allen, IDC research manager for vertical markets.