Aug, 2002 : VIA Launches Sphera-Based Virtual Servers

📅 August 28, 2002 - Managed Web hosting company VIA NET.WORKS USA (VIANETWORKS.net) has added a new element to its operations, choosing Sphera's HostingDirector software to automate its shared hosting operations and launch its new Virtual Dedicated Server solution for Linux.
VIA USA says the solution will offer greater control to Linux developers, while reducing the overall cost of Linux hosting. VIA customers will have access to more than 40 development, e-commerce and general Web applications, including MySQL, Miva and Coldfusion.
"Our Virtual Dedicated Server gives our customers dedicated server control at shared-server prices," Rich Grady, managing director of VIA USA said in the release. "In addition to saving them money on hosting costs, we are also helping our customers find new ways to make money by offering them free access to more than 40 time-saving and profit-building development tools. This all comes in addition to VIA USA's outstanding tech support, which touts an average first-level response time of two minutes or less."
The Virtual Dedicated Server solution allows customers to purchase dedicated space on an as-needed basis. They can manage hosting and Web services accounts through a control panel, greatly reducing the burden on customer support.
Scott Armour, VP Americas at Sphera says the HostingDirector platform and the Virtual Dedicated Server offering will provide a variety of benefits for VIA. "It allows them to offer a differentiated, or more compelling, offer to their existing customer base," he says. "It also allows them to define a set of offerings of higher service levels, and therefore higher revenue levels, than they could have provided under the previous architecture. In both environments, it allows them to increase customer satisfaction and retention and reduce their internal operating costs because of all the customer self-service. It makes the whole business more profitable, which, in the Web hosting space, is no small trick."
Armour says the VIA announcement is an important milestone for Sphera because it illustrates the confidence some of the leading hosting providers have in the HostingDirector product. "I think we derive satisfaction from the fact that when the industry leaders are picking our stuff," he says, "it shows that we've met our design point."