On September 20, 2007, managed hosting provider Verio (verio.com) commenced its viaVerio Partner Summit in Las Vegas, immediately following Tier 1 Research's (tier1research.com) third annual Hosting Transformation Summit (hsvsummit.com). The event remained at The Venetian Hotel and Casino.

The two-day conference, themed "Welcome to the Services Evolution," kicked off with a brief introduction by Jim Ciampaglio, senior director of the partner channel at Verio, who outlined the company's determination to listen to partner requests and introduced key Verio players to attendees to encourage a more meaningful exchange of information and to help everyone put faces to names.

That was followed by a presentation by Verio's president and CEO Kiyoshi Maeda, who outlined Verio's future direction and offerings, and an analysts perspective in which Tier 1 Research's Philbert Shih discussed the evolution of the hosting space and how Verio's partners could enhance and alter their businesses to successfully grow with the industry.

There are 16 breakout sessions throughout the event, at which attendees will have the opportunity to learn more about effectively packaging and selling Verio offerings such as Microsoft Exchange and e-commerce solution ShopSite.

The event continues the next day with a panel discussion about SMB-focused go-to-market strategies and additional breakout sessions.