Superb Internet Celebrates 10 Years
By Anastasia Tubanos, theWHIR.com
July 28, 2006 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Superb Internet (superb.net) has come a long way from its beginnings on a single university server, to owning and operating three – soon to be four – of its own data centers and serving a customer base in the hundreds of thousands.
In celebrating its ten-year anniversary, Superb founder, president and CEO Haralds Jass says the company and the business have changed considerably
Superb began in 1994 when Jass launched Superb Entertainment, an online collaborative effort in game development. By 1996, Superb Entertainment was experiencing numerous lengthy outages and other problems with its hosting service. Jass privately contacted the disgruntled customers suffering from the same outages and brought them with him as he launched Superb Internet. Jass rented a dedicated server in 1996, which became profitable in less than two weeks. In 1999 Superb Internet’s growth led to Jass building a data center from the ground up in Georgetown, near Washington DC. The company has since built two more data centers in McLean, Virginia and Seattle, Washington, and is actively seeking a fourth data center.
Jass says a variety of factors have kept Superb on top of its game, such as a measured and well-planned growth. The company never took on more than it could handle, but kept things moving so it would never become stagnant. Jass says Superb never compromised on quality to bring down the price, something the company’s long-term customers have often expressed appreciation for. Superb emphasized nurturing the human side of the business, where customers were never seen as numbers, but as individual businesses that Superb could help to grow.
Next to the customer focus, Jass believes his company’s ability to adapt to market changes has helped Superb stay competitive over the years.
“The biggest growth we’ve seen over the last few years has been in game server hosting,” he says. “Back in 1996 we would never have expected to be hosting hundreds of thousands of game servers, as we do now. Customers tell us that due to our superior-performing network, apparently many end-users for game-server slot resellers demand to be on our network. So, our investment in one of if not the best networks in the industry has paid off with Superb becoming the network of choice for serious game server users.”
In celebration of its ten-year anniversary, Superb has launched special offers designed to thank its clientele. One promotion gives customers $30 a month off specific self-managed servers with an additional three months free after one year and an entire year free after two years. This offer is one of the first among many planned specials in Superb’s customer loyalty program, which rewards the longevity of customer accounts.
Superb is also showing its appreciation by giving every one of its clients a gift to thank them for their business over the years. Superb is sending personalized emails to all of its clients, with links to a landing page where customers can claim their gifts until August 25.
Susan Gillard, director of sales and marketing for Superb, says this aspect of its anniversary offer has been getting a lot of positive feedback from customers.
“They love it. People love to be acknowledged,” she says. “It just makes such a difference when someone says ‘thank you,’ because at the end of the day the only thing that makes you different from your competition is your clients. We’re all out there selling the same thing, and we want to stand out. We’re taking the time to recognize that our clients are important and that’s a strong message we want to send out. The email they’re getting is personalized to each individual. It’s just another step in a more personalized touch with our clients. There’s a place for automation, but you still have to have a human on the other end. Clients demand it. It does set you apart from the rest.”
Jass says despite how much his company has changed, one thing that has remained consistent, and he hopes will always be consistent, is the approachable and accessible reputation Superb has built for itself.
“It’s hard to say where Superb will be in the future as this business changes rapidly,” says Jass. “We will continue in our efforts to offer quality service without cutting corners, and continue on using our reputation as our strongest marketing collateral, as opposed to competing on price or gimmicks to attract customers. We will continue growing, changing and adapting our business to the current market trends and our customers’ needs, as we have done over the last 10 years. We will be where our customers need us to be.”
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