The Planet: Free Servers for 500 Entrepreneurs

free servers The Planet

Don’t take it from me, take it from The Planet’s Chairman and CEO Douglas J. Erwin in a prepared statement:

“While there are indicators of a turnaround, the economy cannot recover without job creation, and we continue to hear the recovery will not automatically mean new jobs,” said Erwin. “With eight data centers, we’re in a position to offer a single server to 500 individuals who want to start their own businesses. These 500 servers could create 500 jobs, and then we’ll have taken one small step to pay it forward and be part of the solution. We challenge other companies to think outside the box and create meaningful opportunities and incentives.  If more companies follow this path, our collective contributions will help move the needle toward job creation.”

Getting Started

All someone has to do is provide The Planet with their vision for a software application or a Web-based design service and register a domain within six months of acceptance into Sand Castle. Then, they’re eligible to receive a Dell server with 10MBPS of unmetered bandwidth all to themselves.

It’s a bold move and there doesn’t seem to be any hidden business agenda. Rather than offer up any kind of freemium managed hosting service, The Planet is giving these servers away. Sure, those entrepreneurs could someday become The Planet’s customers for life. But this offer seems to show that sometimes a good deed is just a good deed.