Sylvain Leclair is the president of Funio
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Canadian web hosting provider iWeb Group (www.iweb.com) made waves earlier this year when it was one of few web hosting companies to go from public to private. Now, four months later, iWeb is making more changes by launching a new company to take over its shared hosting and domain name registration. The new company, Funio (www.funio.com), will enable iWeb to focus on the development of its dedicated “smart” servers, which iWeb launched a year ago.
Funio will operate independently from iWeb starting in 2012, and until then will work with iWeb to make the transition run smoothly for iWeb’s more than 15,000 existing shared hosting clients.
The new company will be headed by iWeb’s former CDO and VP of sales of marketing Sylvain Leclair. In an email Q&A with the WHIR, Leclair, Funio president, discusses the motive behind the creation of Funio as well as how iWeb will continue to operate in the future once Funio is its own separate entity.
WHIR: What was behind the decision to consolidate shared hosting and domain services into a separate business?
Sylvain Leclair: iWeb decided to make this decision because during the last couple of years we have put all our efforts into our dedicated server and smart server line. Accordingly so, we spent less time on shared hosting services. We still believe in the shared hosting services potential and this is the best way we found to improve our product and services. The shared hosting and dedicated server markets are different. We believe that we will be able to better target our customers’ requirements by providing our shared hosting customers a whole company who will take care of delivering the best out of the service.
WHIR: How have iWeb’s existing clients responded?
SL: We have had many positive comments from shared hosting customers on these changes, but we know that other customers are waiting to see what will happened next. We are now in a transition period until the beginning of 2012, but we are confident that our existing clients will see the difference, since we have so many great improvement projects on our roadmap.
WHIR: Do you think the iWeb brand recognition will help Funio acquire new customers?
SL: iWeb as built a great brand over the years, so during the transition period, being close to iWeb can not hurt. iWeb’s team has accomplished so much, it would be tempting to replicate the same branding strategies. This being said, it would be harmful to cling to iWeb’s brand since Funio and iWeb will not target the same markets anymore. Different markets mean different branding strategies and approach. The goal for Funio will be to build his own brand, its own enterprise culture, being autonomous within the next months, to be closer to our existing customers and potential customers.
WHIR: What was your previous role within iWeb?
SL: I’ve been with iWeb for the last 15 years, when we were 4 in the basement of Eric Chouinard (iWeb’s CEO and co-founder) house. I worked in many different positions in the company over the years and for the last couple of years, I was CDO and VP of sales and marketing.
I’ve learned a lot from Eric Chouinard and Martin Leclair (my older brother and iWeb’s co-founders), and also from all the iWeb team who did such a great job in building iWeb’s growth over the years. I am grateful I have learned so much from my team and the passionate people I worked with (and that I’m still working close with).
WHIR: Can you describe how iWeb will move forward after Funio begins to operate autonomously?
SL: iWeb will continue developing the “Smart server” technology. All the projects of the company will be aligned with the dedicated server innovation, they will be more focus on there targeted market and less spread between many different products. I have no doubt they will continue doing great like they are right now, at a faster pace.
About Nicole Henderson
Nicole Henderson writes full-time for the Web Host Industry Review where she covers daily news and features online, as well as in print. She has a bachelor of journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto, and has been writing for the WHIR since September 2010. You can find her on Twitter @NicoleHenderson.
No related posts.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
iWeb shared hosting use to be great. It’s been steadily going downhill and now, with the switch to this new Funio brand… it’s among the worst shared hosts I’ve ever used. Horrible. Constant DDOS attacks, ridiculous latency, slow as molasses, IMAP routinely dies for hours at a time on an almost daily basis. Really bad. I used to rate iWeb a 9/10 for shared hosting a few years ago… now I would give them a 2/10.