iWeb Communities: Blog

A Swedish working in the movie industry has built is own cluster in order to improve the rendering speed of its videos. To do so, he had to use a typically Swedish product : an IKEA cabinet.

Of course, it is an interesting experiment, but it has nothing to do with web clusters as offered by iWeb. A cluster to execute tasks such as video rendering needs a smaller system.

A web cluster uses at least two servers and load balancers to ensure high disponibity of your web services. A little drawing ?

The web cluster uses load balancing to send your visitors? requests to available servers. If a server fails, it is automatically removed from the available servers pool and your visitors are sent to servers capable of serving your web site’s functionalities.

Note that we don’t have any IKEA cabinets in our datacenters.

Blogs are a huge part of what constitutes today’s web. Their growth is exponential, and content publishing systems for blogs are constantly improving. It is the case of Wordpress, one of the most popular of those softwares. Wordpress (which powers this blog, by the way), provide tools to easily manage a blog.

Today is Wordpress fifth anniversary.

Recently, Automattic published Wordpress’ 2.5 version which brings many changes such as a brand new design for its dashboard. The new version allows, among other things :

- Multi-file upload with progress bar;
- Tag management;
- Password strength meter;
- Few-click plugin upgrades;
- Built-in galleries.

Installing Wordpress on iWeb?s servers is pretty easy, and many options are available. Wordpress requires a hosting plan including Apache and PHP and a MySQL database. It is therefore possible to use it on all iWeb?s servers under Linux

Shared hosting : Shared hosting customers that benefit from Panelbox can use the ?instant presence? to install Wordpress in one click. Just visit the ?Software? section and choose ?Fantastico? to access the installation menu. For others, simply upload to your server Wordpress’ files through FTP protocol and follow the installation instructions provided by Wordpress.

Dedicated hosting : If your dedicated server uses a control panel like Plesk or cPanel where Fantastico is installed, you can also install Wordpress in one click. Otherwise, you can always follow Wordpress’ instructions on their website.

Usually, in order to operate a simple blog, a shared hosting environment is enough. However, the popularity of some bloggers is so huge that their sites receive many thousands visitors a day. Many of the top bloggers are using Wordpress as their blogging platform. What about you ?

For a second year in a row, one of iWeb’s employee participates in the Shaved Head Challenge which aims at collecting funds to fight children’s cancer. This time, Yves Lafond, Customer accounts manager, is going to shave is head for the cause.

The Shaved Head Challenge, organized by LEUCAN is five years old and since then, 16,000 persons from Québec got their head shaved. You’d agree that it’s a lot of hairs !

“In 2007, the event set a new record of 6,550 shaved heads and raised close to $3.4 million! It was held in 26 locations throughout the province“, as explained on the Challenge website.

We would like to invite you to encourage Yves before june 8th in order for him to reach his 1000$ objective, an amount of money that will help, let’s hope, to give better living conditions to sick children who should not have to suffer this way.

As planned, iWeb’s employees spinned for the cause of cancer last friday during the Yellow Pages Spinothon. The event went really well and (almost) every registrants have taken up the challenge.

We have made a little video of this day highlights, a day which ended with an happy hour in iWeb’s backyard. A great opportunity to try our brand new barbecue. Note that the video is a subtle reference to the Tour de France and is a tribute to the strength of character of our cyclists.

Here are some photographs taken during the day :

To illustrate the various ways our customers use our services, to demonstrate the benefits from outsourcing web hosting, to give a little visibility to our clients which often offers great services, or simply to present different points of vue on the web hosting industry, we though it would be a good idea to invite bloggers on iWeb’s blog.

Let’s begin with Stéphane Guérin, a well-known blogger in Québec and France who is also running Percute Technologies, a web analytics service which is getting more and more popular. Thanks to Stéphane to have accepted our invitation.

Steph and hosting

iWeb Technologies asked me if I would be interested in writing a blog about web hosting. There were two reasons behind the request: 1. iWeb’s purpose is to host people like me. 2. Because for people like me, having servers in a secure environment is critical… and I just plain liked the idea, so let’s go.

So, Steph, why is hosting important for you?

As for many people, I am really busy. Web development is my expertise, not server management. Espacially not hardware, which is something I don’t get along with. In order to host my sites such as Tout Le Monde en Blogue, my blog, or a critical online application like Percute Analytique, I need top quality servers, but also an environment and support to ensure a 99.99% uptime.

As a small business, we don’t have the means and ressources to maintain a quality datacenter: server updates, backups, generator, cooling system, security, etc. And I won’t even talk about the network administrator I would have to hire.

But Steph, why are you hosting your sites in Montreal at iWeb?

Let me tell you an anecdote to illustrate my point. While looking for the lowest price, I had found a host in Kentucky (not the chicken guy, but the state in the USA). For a still unknown reason, they closed my account without any warning and without any possibility of recuperating my data. Can you imagine the mess ?

Fortunately, it was only the beginning of my operations so I did not lose much. It could however have been really tragic if it had come further along the line. . Since then, I have sworn that I would never outsource my servers someplace I could not reach to kick some butt if need be.

Why iWeb ?

Ironically, after explaining my anecdote on my blog, iWeb’s boss (I’ve got VIP readers, you know !) offered their services. By talking with him, I realized iWeb had really competitive prices. Furthermore, they speak my language, what else could I ask ?

Why don’t you host everything at your place?

I’ve talked about it a little already : it’s to complicated when you’re not a specialist. Until we have enough volume to justify investing in a room with regularly updated servers, it isn’t worth it. And there is always the people I’d have to hire. Not many businesses can afford such infrastructure.

Manage my own servers? As little as possible. Outsource to experts using a turnkey service where I have nothing to do except taking care of my sites? Count me in !

This Friday May 16th, an event will take place just beside iWeb’s Nuns Island building. It is organized by the Yellow Pages Group in order to collect funds for the Canadian Cancer Society.

For the occasion, many maneges, a Spinothon and all sort of activities are planned. iWeb decided to participate to the Spinonthon, and nine employees will relay to spin for nine hours on a stationary bike. We hope there will be a medical team nearby because not everyone is in good shape. Some even panic a little when they saw the video of last year happening…

Last year, the Spinothon had helped raise more than $ 30000 for the cause.

So we would like to invite you and your family to join us for the event. Kids should have a lot of fun with all the maneges available. Here are some photographies of the “theme park” just to tease you. Well, it’s a bit sad with the cloud, but Friday should be better !

Here is the address so you can get there without any problem :

16, Place du Commerce (iWeb is at 20, Place du Commerce)
Nuns Island
Montréal

Map

iWeb and Google are pleased to present an exceptional offer that allows you to try Google AdWords? with no strings attached. Indeed, your hosting plan entitles you to AdWords credits that you can use to create your first AdWords campaign. This is a wonderful opportunity to engage in online advertising and raise awareness of your sites.

Google AdWords ads run right alongside Google.com search results, so you reach potential customers right when they are searching for the products and services you offer. AdWords makes it easy to create your ad, target your audience, track your campaigns’ performance, and stay in control of your marketing budget.

To get your AdWords code that will allow you to start benefiting from this offer, please access your iWeb account through the iWeb Customer Hub.

In the meantime, here’s how the Google AdWords can help you:

- Recruit new customers;
- Control your marketing budget by adjusting your advertising spend in real time;
- Refine your campaigns at any time with the statistics provided by Google;
- Find potential customers in all countries, or in a specific geographical areas;
- Attract visitors who seek your products;
- Modify the content and settings of your advertising campaigns whenever you want.

Log in now in the Customer Hub to benefit from Google AdWords credits, courtesy of iWeb!

MONTREAL, QUEBEC, May 13, 2008 iWeb Group Inc. (TSX-V: IWB) (“iWeb” or the Company), a worldwide internet hosting infrastructure provider, announces its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 ended March 31, 2008. All results are reported in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated. The Company’s full interim financial statements and MD&A will be available at www.iweb.com and www.sedar.com.

Q2-2008 Summary

- 56% increase in revenues to $3.6 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 compared to $2.3 million for the same period of 2007
- Adjusted EBITDA1 of $0.8 million for the second quarter, a 71% increase over the same period of fiscal 2007
- Company’s new website is now on-line: iweb.com
- Completion of work on phase 3 of Couture data center
- Completion of work on phase 1 of Nuns’ Island data center, and installation of first customers

?Our financial results show once again a steady growth in revenues and adjusted EBITDA? comments Martin Leclair, Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of iWeb. ?Everything seems to indicate that our growth will continue: the occupancy rate of our principal data center for dedicated servers is quickly increasing and we will soon begin the work on the last phase for that site; phase one of work of our new co-location data center of Nuns’ Island is almost completed and we already welcomed our first customers; our new website under the domain name iweb.com is now on-line and features additional products and functionalities, and we can already notice that it had a positive impact on the number of visits on our website and on new recurring revenues. Therefore, the current trend is very positive and explains our optimism over our future growth.

Second Quarter of 2008 Financial Review

Consolidated revenues of the second quarter ended March 31, 2008 were $3.6 million, compared to $2.3 million for the same period of 2007, an increase of $1.3 million or an improvement of 56%. Without taking in account the impact of the stronger Canadian dollar against the U.S. currency, growth in revenues would have been even better since 75% of Company?s revenues are generated in U.S. dollars.

Gross profit margin for the quarter was 53%, compared to 56% for the corresponding quarter of fiscal 2007. This decrease is mainly explained by the strength of the Canadian dollar against the U.S. currency. Contrary to revenues, a great portion of cost of services sold is expensed in Canadian dollars.

Operating expenses decreased to 52% of revenues for the second quarter of 2008, compared to 55% for the same period of last year. This improvement is mainly explained by a better control on advertising expenses, and by interest revenues generated by investments in term deposits coming from the net proceeds from the issuance of shares of November 2007. These positive impacts in operating expenses were partly reduced by higher stock-based compensation expenses.

Adjusted EBITDA increased to $0.8 million, or 23% of revenues, for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, compared to $0.5 million, or 21% of revenues for the same three-month period of previous fiscal year, an improvement of 71% year-over-year.
Net earnings remained nearly at the same level of the preceding year and were $19,225 or $0.0007 per share for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, compared to $21,710 or $0.0009 per share for the same period one year-ago.

Selected Financial Information

Second quarter ended March 31 (2008 vs 2007)

Revenues : $3,574,627 $2,290,877
Gross profit : $1,896,807 $1,281,904
Net earnings : $19,225 $21,710
Earnings per share ? basic : $0.0007 $0.0009
Adjusted EBITDA(1) : $837,976 $489,144
Total assets : $21,516,345 *$14,788,031
Shareholders? equity : $5,814,903 *$1,957,453
Cash and term deposits : $2,287,568 *$844,456

*As at September 30, 2007

1- The Company defines Adjusted EBITDA as Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and stock based compensation.

About iWeb Group Inc.
Founded in 1996, iWeb is today one of the leading Canadian providers of advanced IP hosting services either through shared hosting, dedicated servers or co-location in three data centers, featuring over 52,000 square feet of floor space and the latest technological equipment. iWeb provides services in English, French and Spanish to more than 13,000 clients from more than 135 countries. For more information, please visit the Company?s website at www.iweb.com.

Caution concerning forward-looking statements
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or iWeb?s future economic performance and reflect the current assumptions and expectations of management. Certain unknown factors may affect the events, economic performance and results of operations. iWeb undertakes no obligation, and does not intend to, update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable law.

-30-

The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

For more information

Marc Guindon
iWeb Group Inc.
Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer
(514) 286-4242 ext. 121
mg@iweb.com

Olivier Niquet
iWeb Group Inc.
Communications
(514) 286-4242 ext. 192
oniquet@iweb.com

Last Friday was the 20th edition of the ESTim award held by the Montreal East Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Patrice M. Pelletier, President and CEO of the Port of Montreal was the host for the evening. The actor and singer Frédéric De Grandpré was also part of the event.

iWeb was there for the occasion and is really proud to have received the ESTim award in the “Investment project” category. It seems that the efforts made in the establishment and expansion of our St-Leonard datacenter are paying off.

If iWeb has already invested a lot in the East Island, other enhancements are planned for iWeb-CL datacenter. We’ll keep you posted about it.

For many people, RAID is an obscure concept. Fortunatly, somebody with to much time on their hands (not on company time, we hope) decided to shine some light on the confusing world of RAID with? bottles of water :

We’ll give them an ‘A’ for effort…

In fact, RAID means “Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks” and “is a technology that employs the simultaneous use of two or more hard disk drives to achieve greater levels of performance, reliability, and/or larger data volume sizes.” More details can be found on Wikipedia.

RAID controllers are available on all of iWeb?s dedicated servers and, among other things, can be used to run a backup server.