iWeb Communities: Blog

This is 2009’s first day, and as such, I wish a great successful 2009 year for all readers and all customers of iWeb, on behalf of the iWeb team. As written previously, the previous year has been exceptional for the web, with its share of crisis, but most importantly with key innovations, revolutions & growth. For iWeb, this year is simple: provide you with the best web hosting services in the industry, with trusted, solid and better products and services.

This is also an ideal day to sit back and think what you and your company would like to achieve this year, a due exercise to start afresh with new objectives and new motivation.

Here are a few ideas to tinker with, if you are a web developer or programmer:

• look at traffic figures, and plan appropriate capacity for servers
• see if it would be easy to improve performance of the website, by working on the most immediate & easily fixable issues,
• install monitoring services,
• take the opportunity to update software you are using, or uninstall unused software. You might have missed a critical update, and starting fresh could boost performance of your server, with the same existing resources.
• do a security check-up of your server
• learn one or two new technologies from this list: javascript (see capuccino), objective-C, java (android), ruby (Rails 3), python (Google App Engine) etc.
• technology changes fast. So be sure to subscribe to the iWeb blog to get updates on new web technologies or any other new software relevant to the web hosting industry.

If you are a business owner or a consultant, here are other ideas:

• see how using web applications like the Zoho suit can save you money, instead of using desktop applications.  You can also use new online services for recruting, accounting, sales, marketing to capitalize on untapped resources
• see how web services like ning.com, Facebook group, pages and applications, twitter, or by having a company blog can provide you with guerilla marketing and promotion
• get metrics about your web presence. use web analytics (such as percute) to nail your most valuable customers, and focus on them to drive sales and revenue. You can also think about PPC advertising to reach more of those valuable customers.
• be up-to-date with latest web marketing news by subscribing to the iWeb blog

If you are into web entrepreneurship, if you are launching new web destinations and new web startups, here are a few ideas for 2009:

• Get real now and find paying customers. Focus on providing services to customers that will save them money, make them more productive, or get them immediate returns. Do not hesitate to differentiate and nail a niche where you will excel, instead of wasting resources into trying to capture entire markets.
• Track metrics, such as monthly revenues per member, cost of acquisition, viral loop coefficient, etc
• be lean, capitalize on rapid development and user-centric development
• keep an eye on growing markets: mobile (iPhone & Android), social platforms (facebook , twitter & associates), Asia (china and south-east asia), etc.
• Be up-to-date with latest tech news by subscribing to the iWeb blog (of course)

If you have any other ideas or resolutions for 2009, don’t hesitate to share with other readers in the comments area.

(Image Credits: Melbourne New Year’s Eve Fireworks)

We were pleased and happy to learn that we were rated among the top hosting companies in December!  

Findmyhost confirmed that iWeb came out on top for its Co-Location Editor’s Choice Award, this is the seventh time in 2008 that we have had the pleasure of being ranked first.

Two days earlier, Dedicated Server Directory announced that iWeb had been selected as a UNIX Server award winning provider, coming in second.

We would like to think that this might have something to do with the recent network expansions. In fact, in 2008 we have quadrupled the total network capacity to 43 Gbps and added 4 additional telecom  carriers (for a total of 9), which earned us a spot in the November Netcraft ranking.

All the credit goes to our System administrators, Network administrators and our customer service team -congratulations guys!

After what has been a very exciting year, the entire team and family at iWeb wishes you a very merry holiday season;

More specifically, we wish you success, health, wealth, happiness and a bit of luck (if you need it) :-)

Thank you for being an important part of the successes of our 12th and busiest year, we look forward to continue working with you in 2009! Hopefully, together we can make the web a little bit better for everyone, one project at a time.

Until then;

Cheers, Happy Holidays and all the best!!!

Reputed firm Netcraft has officially published its ranking of the most reliable hosting companies for November 2008.

The iWeb network is in the top 8, specifically ranking third among the top hosting companies. 

So far in 2008, several upgrades, updates and new carriers have been added to increase network performance and reliability - Congratulations to the network administration team for maintaining such a high quality of service for the IP network!!

The new version of Plesk, v9, is now available to customers, and is now the default plesk control panel for customers.

For webmasters and sysadmins considering plesk, there are demos on the Parallels website, with different login credentials, depending on your desired profile (reseller, admin, customer, user etc.)

The new Plesk9.0 brings a new facelift, with a familiar Vista theme, and should be easier to pick up for website owners new to web hosting. Here are the other new features:

• streamlined user interface
• postfix support for mail
• install web applications such as forums, blogs, ecommerce carts directly from plesk
• new backup functionality
• possible integration with billing

The Montreal Canadiens‘ centennial celebrations now extend online with the official website highlighting the history of legendary Hockey Club, available at ourhistory.canadiens.com.

The project’s developers have trusted iWeb’s infrastructure to ensure the performance and availability of the site during the anticipated high-traffic periods, notably because of iWeb’s experience with projects whose performance and availability are key success factors.

A site of this magnitude and depth is a historic first in the world of professional sports. “Our History” is an easy to use site where virtually all aspects of the history of the organization can be viewed. Visitors of the groundbreaking site have access to hundreds of player’s biographies, thousands of videos, photos and statistics as well as the detailed results of every game played by the Habs in the last 100 years.

“We are delighted to be helping fans enjoy this historic element of the Montreal Canadiens’ centennial celebrations,” says Eric Chouinard, President and CEO of iWeb. The creative teams at Bluesponge and Turbulent Media completed the development portion of the site, after which iWeb designed, configured and provisioned a dedicated server “cluster“; an advanced setup which will ensure top performance at all times; “a vital element to the success of any large-scale project.” insists Mr. Chouinard.

“It’s important to have a reliable infrastructure, but it must also be flexible, scalable and should be able to adjust very quickly when traffic increases,” added Marc Beaudet, President of Turbulent Media, who worked on the site in partnership with Montreal firm Bluesponge; interactive partner of the Montreal Canadiens.

The historic site is located at: http://ourhistory.canadiens.com

The Montreal Canadiens‘ centennial celebrations now extend online with the official website highlighting the history of legendary Hockey Club, available at ourhistory.canadiens.com. 

The project’s developers have trusted iWeb’s infrastructure to ensure the performance and availability of the site during the anticipated high-traffic periods, notably because of iWeb’s experience with projects whose performance and availability are key success factors. 
(more…)

If you go through popular technology sites like digg or techmeme.com, it’s all about web applications, mobile gadgets, google, startups, plus the occasional stab at Microsoft. I think it’s time to change, and talk about what matters: web hosting. Here are the top 9 reasons why web hosting is awesome and why you and everyone should care:

1. Because web hosters power the internet
   
   All the talk you hear about the iTunes Application Store, Android, Xbox Live, Google Maps, well, they’re very cool, and the one common thing behind them is data centers and web hosting companies. Web servers are the alpha and the omega, that’s where everything begins.
2. Because it’s one hell of an explosive industry
   
   Innovation happen every day, both in hardware, software and services. Teams around the world think about new systems, and release every day new innovations such as green hosting, virtualization, new automated managed hosting services, new server architectures, plus new software that is going to harness all this power.
3. Because it has a business model
   
   Compared to your cool typical web2.0 startup, (I’m looking at you, facebook or youtube), a web host has a rock-solid business model, with revenues and *real* money coming in. Whatever you read on blogs like TechCrunch, money is the oxygen of any company — web hosting companies have it, which means they are sustainable, and they are going to be there tomorrow, and the next year, regardless of economic conditions. If there’s trouble, web hosts will be the last to close shops.
4. Because it covers all technology fields, more than any other tech company
   
   Whatever background you have, there’s a place for you in web hosting. A web hosting company needs to have work on multiple kinds of software, design & engineer data centers and their architecture, work with telecommunications providers, implement operations, etc. Which means if you want to broaden your horizons, it’s the place to be. Web startups, IT companies, web development agencies in comparison have it easy.
5. Because it’s damn challenging
   
   Making software is hard. Making software and managing hardware at the same time is twice as hard. And then you get to deal with customer support. And then with external vendors and partners. And then be hyper-creative in marketing. But, in a way, that’s the beauty of it. You get to tackle challenges. And when you think you’ve solved a problem, something else comes up, such as people wanting to serve massive traffic similar to youtube’s. Or someone who wants to do real-time multimedia broadcasting. Everyday is a new day and an opportunity for invention.
6. Because it’s rewarding
   
   Whenever we see a customer having a business, getting new customers, or a blogger getting world-wide fame, we do get also a sense of satisfaction. It’s also one of the rare tech industries where companies can go public (IWB, or RAX) and where founders are rewarded for their entrepreneurship & risks taken.
7. Because anyone can do it
   
   It’s not rare to see 16 year old kids getting a server, and try to resell shared hosting. There are simple things that can be setup easily, and then you can work up in the value chain, as time goes. Web hosting has the same beauty as running, in athletics. Any kid can do it, and you have then the opportunity to become a champion through learning & practice. 
8. Because you get to speak multiple languages after a while
   
   Hablas espanol? Well, if not, you’ll learn quickly the words. iWeb has customers in more than 140 different countries, in every continent of this globe. I can’t think of another kind of company where you get to deal with customers coming from all over the globe, and learning about countries you never knew they existed.
9. Because we have fun too
   
   Most web hosting companies blogs (such as iweb’s (of course), or bluefur’s or any other you are following) have at least one thing one common: it’s taking things lightly and in a fun way. If one wants to be successful in the industry, all it requires is innovation, entrepreneurship, flexibility and results. As a result, work environments are young, energetic and fun. I mean, just look at these pictures.

:-)

iWeb just acquired the Sun Storage 7410 Unified Storage System to fulfill its needs in large volume storage. To be specific, it will be used to support the email system in shared hosting, instead of the previous data servers NetApp F740 and F820.

The Sun Storage 7410 has been chosen for its very good performance, reliability, ease of use and modularity. It allows for instance: 

• Monitoring in real-time of the CPU, ram, network, filesystems, and and also specify actions with DTrace. Maintenance of the server will then be easier.
• A new hybrid architecture, which uses SSD hard drives, which have a lower access time, and lower energy needs, and which uses at the same time traditional hard drives with larger capacities.
• A good modularity, which will allow iWeb to add resources according to its needs,
• Possibility to create configuration with no single point of failures, by clustering.

Moreover, compared to other hardware vendors, Sun offers free access to its software, which means lower costs and also better flexibility to iWeb.

For iWeb customers in shared hosting, this means they will have access to a storage server with larger capacity, which will be better maintened, and also a guaranteed continuity of service.

Formerly with Cirque du Soleil, Michel Thivierge is iWeb’s new Director of Human Resources.

Having previously held various Human Resource management positions at Cirque du Soleil, Bell Canada, Dessau and MIL Davie, Mr. Thivierge joins iWeb, for whom the management of Human Resources is becoming increasingly important.

“iWeb has grown from 42 employees in 2006 to more than 130 employees today, and we have nearly 50 new positions to fill by the end of the year, “confirms Michel Thivierge, whose first weeks were devoted to developing a strategic plan for the management of Human Resources. “I am really proud to be joining iWeb at such an important moment in its evolution. The foundations are solid, the original team is still in place and the web hosting industry is experiencing tremendous growth. There’s a lot of enthusiasm in the air, and I am convinced that many here, myself included, are aware that we are participating in a great adventure; we are a part of something special.”

This sentiment is echoed by iWeb’s President and CEO; “We are delighted to welcome Michel,” said Eric Chouinard, who was recently named the FIQ Personality of the Month for October 2008. “He has tremendous expertise in HR Management, and complements our management team extremely well. ”

One of the challenges facing the company is to continue its sustained growth while preserving its corporate identity and personality, “iWeb is growing rapidly, but we want to grow without compromising our values.” added Martin Leclair, Co-Founder and President, Products and Technology.

In addition to seeking the right candidates to fill jobs typically associated to a Montreal technology company such as Programmer, Programmer-Analyst and Customer Service Representative, iWeb is also seeking Data Center Operators, a Financial Analyst, Assemblers, System Administrators, a Research and Development (R&D) Manager, a Director for Managed Services (Managed Hosting), as well as several others; iWeb expects to have most of these positions filled by Spring 2009.