July was a strong month for hosting companies in the Netherlands, four of whom experienced one-month growth of 23 percent or more, as measured by our Hosting Provider Switching Analysis. New sites accounted for nearly all the growth at NXS, Leaseweb and ProServe BV, while NETHolding/Garnier Projects gained 3k hostnames from yet another Dutch provider, BIT.

New.net, which offers domain names outside the ICANN top-level domain (TLD) system, had the largest one-month improvement, as measured by percent growth in hostnames. New.net domains (which include .shop, .xxx, .ltd and .mp3) aren't recognized by the centralized domain name system, but are accessible to customers of partner ISPs or those who have downloaded software enabling New.net domains. New.net claims that 174 million Internet users worldwide are able to access sites using its domains.

The hosting strength in Europe extends beyond the Netherlands, as European providers accounted for seven of the 10 fastest-growing providers in July. For all but NetHolding/Garnier, the gains are overwhelmingly new sites, rather than existing sites switching from other hosts. Europe also fills seven of the top 10 spots when July growth is measured in total hostnames gained, instead of percentage growth.

The strong showing of NectarTech, which runs the RackOnline dedicated server business, was driven by a shift of 14.8k hostnames from SAVVIS (formely Cable & Wireless USA).