While there are hundreds of hosting companies offering a variety of services and options, most of them focus on clients who do not require more than 1Gbps connections. That’s where 10Gbps.io is different – they are one of the few hosting companies who are able to offer a stable, unshared 10Gbps or more connection to the Internet. Who are the companies that require such guaranteed bandwidth and how does 10Gbps.io support them? Read our interview with Tereza Hubkova of 10Gbps.io.
HostAdvice: Tereza, please tell me a little bit about yourself.
I joined 10Gbps.io after I returned from my studies abroad. With my knowledge of online marketing for global markets and my previous project management experience, I was offered to launch the new company 10Gbps.io. Under the great leadership of our CEO Zdenek Cendra we have managed to build the business, which competes with many big players in this field.
HostAdvice: When and why did you decide to join 10Gbps.io?
I decided to join 10Gbps.io while I was still studying for my master’s degree in business administration in Asia. I wanted to come back to Europe and work in a technology startup, which would allow me to get closer to innovations, work with smart people, and let me have a significant role in further developing the business. Being ambitious and eager to develop myself, I could not find a better opportunity than being at the start of a business such as 10Gbps.io.
HostAdvice: 10Gbps.io actually has a few sister companies / web sites – right? Is there cooperation between them?
Yes, our company Datacamp Limited started already in 2011 with a successful service CDN77, which is now rated among top 10 CDN services worldwide. CDN77 and 10Gbps.io are currently managed under one company therefore we have very close cooperation, especially when speaking about networks and developers. Besides Datacamp our CEO founded 2 other companies, which are mostly famous on local Czech and Slovak markets.
HostAdvice: 10Gbps.io seems to target mainly the high-end of the hosting market – is that correct? Who is your target audience? How do you market to them?
You are partly correct. We can fully accommodate clients with the highest requirements for hardware and network access. Our flexibility allows us to find the right solution for any client. Our customers range from small and middle-sized companies, streaming websites and other kinds of video delivery services to cloud solutions and large storage services. Basically any website or app with high traffic and data flow can benefit from the use of our servers.
Although companies use our services mostly on a long-term basis, we also have short-term clients who need our service for testing purposes. An example of a client like that is Asperasoft which used our servers in Los Angeles and Atlanta for connectivity testing across the US.
Marketing in this field has many specifics. We are targeting individuals with strong backgrounds in technology. These people are usually immune to regular marketing so we have to be natural and get straight to the point.
HostAdvice: What are the types of companies and/or applications that are drawn to such high-powered servers?
Most of them are “young” companies. By that I mean companies which develop for the Internet and totally rely on it. One might say that they are technology companies, usually with end users from multiple countries, but that is not always the case. One example would be Netflix, which needs to store large files as close as possible to their end users and only a top-notch network will do.
HostAdvice: Who are your main competitors? How do you feel you are better or different from them?
There are hundreds of hosting and server providers, however most of them focus on small companies or clients who do not require more than 1Gbps connection. That’s where we differ. There are not many companies who are able to offer a stable, unshared 10Gbps or more connection. So the main competitors are the high-end providers like Leaseweb and Singlehop. We excel in network quality (IP quality of service) and we never oversubscribe our lines, meaning we always reserve enough connectivity. Fast technical support, friendly customer care and strong flexibility are our other common attributes.
HostAdvice: Are I am correct in understanding that you do not offer any managed services – you are selling just the hardware and network connectivity – meaning clients must manage their servers themselves?
Yes, you are right. We provide clients with a fully installed server upon their needs (including any OS, Raid, disk partition, custom network etc.) and then they manage servers by themselves via IPMI/KVM. We do not access a server unless there is a technical issue and the client asks us to help.
HostAdvice: About how many customers do you have today? How do they break down – percentage wise – among your different product offerings?
We have hundreds of customers from all around the world. Clients usually start with one server with unmetered 10Gbps for a month or two. Once they test our network and the cooperation with us, they install more servers and grow with us very quickly.
HostAdvice: What are your projections for your future growth?
Our short-term target is to enter the market in Asia. Within a few weeks we would like to broaden our offer with servers in Singapore to be able to deliver fast local data. Companies often deliver traffic to Asia from the west coast of the US because it is significantly cheaper however it takes at least 5 times longer than locally. Of course, we can also deliver data from Los Angeles – however we want to offer high demanding customers a faster option. Another one of our goals is to open another location in the US and reach 1Tbps+ daily traffic.
HostAdvice: Are all of your customers Europe-based or do you also have companies from outside Europe that want to have a presence in Europe?
We have customers from all around the world; however most of our customers are companies from Europe, the US, and developed parts of Asia.
HostAdvice: Does the European market differ in any significant ways from the US or North American market?
I would say that countries differ on a cultural level, which we can see in the way they communicate with our sales team. Usually, the whole process with a company from EU is faster but I cannot say that is always true.
HostAdvice: Please tell me a little bit about your data centers. Did you build your own data centers? Do you have any plans for Asia-Pacific?
No, we did not build any data center. We are renting the space in top-level facilities and invest in our own hardware. This allows us to have the high-end servers (latest model of CPUs, 1TB SSDs etc.) and network hardware because we do not need to spend capital on building expensive data centers. We also have our own local support in all of those facilities.
HostAdvice: In describing your data centers, your web site says: “Upon request: Madrid, Stockholm, Dallas, Moscow” – What exactly does that mean?
Since we launched CDN77, which offers to cache data on our servers, we have spread these servers already to 27 locations worldwide. Upon request we are able to ship more servers into these locations for 10Gbps.io clients, but we do not do that very often.
HostAdvice: How do you see the server/hosting market evolving – in the next 1, 2, and 5 years?
We are already testing 100Gbps network cards so this will be the next big step. I expect rising demand for faster and more stable data delivery. More providers will join the market so customers will be in a better position to choose a provider that better suits their needs. This will also bring greater requirements from customers and more pressure on prices. Flexibility and customers’ needs will play a key role. I also expect that in some parts of the world, such as Asia, the Internet will become more available than it is today and the current high prices for traffic will decrease significantly.
HostAdvice: If you were asked to give the graduation address to the class of 2016, what would be your message to them?
Do what you believe in – what matters to you. Be yourself and do not listen to people who say it’s not possible; in most cases they just did not have enough courage to try harder.
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