The news was teased in local media outlets on Monday. Everyone had heard that the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce was going to announce a new company moving to town with 300 jobs, but nobody knew who it was. But we were told who it wasn’t going to be. In the end it turned out to be web hosting company HostGator, as they plan to expand into Austin, initially employing 200 people, ramping up to 300 over the next 36 months.

Something about hosting companies always bring out the ire of ex-customers. Who has the best web hosting is like arguing about religion or politics. Normally the Statesman blog contains entries that get little to no comments, but not so with this announcement. Entertaining reading at the most.

HostGator will officially open for business in Austin in July in space at 8100 Cameron Road in Austin. The 100,000 square foot building was purchased by Oxley Leasing of Austin and HostGator will serve as the anchor tenant. Jim Ballard, Stream Realty represented the building owner. With more than three million domains hosted by the company, HostGator makes up approximately two percent of the world’s internet traffic. “We do business all over the globe,” said Lance Custen, President and CEO, HostGator. “Because Austin is such a hot market, we felt comfortable investing in property for our company’s continued growth.”

“We’re delighted HostGator has selected Austin for this expansion,” said Tim Crowley, Chairman, Opportunity Austin. “Clearly, our community is a magnet for successful, technology-driven companies like HostGator.”

HostGator is headquartered in Houston and provides service to clients in more than 170 countries. The company was founded in 2002 by Founder and Board Chairman Brent Oxley, who started the company from his dorm room at Florida Atlantic University. Since then, HostGator has grown from a small hosting company with just three servers into a world leading and industry recognized hosting provider with more than 8,000 servers under management.

In 2008, HostGator was recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest growing private companies in America. According to Inc. Magazine, HostGator is the 21st fastest growing private company in America, the second fastest growing private company in the “business services” sector and the fastest growing private company in Texas.

“Industry-leading customer service is at the forefront of what HostGator does on a day-to-day basis and the Austin environment is the perfect atmosphere for our employees,” said Custen. “We treat employees like family.”

For employment opportunities with HostGator visit www.hostgator.com/jobs.