User:Jess Taylor/Netfirms: Difference between revisions

Netfirms, Inc. File:Netfirms logo.gif
Type: Private Company
Founded: Toronto, Ontario (1998)
Headquarters: 5160 Yonge Street, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
Industry: Internet
Products: Domain Name Registrar, Website Hosting Services, Website Design Services
Website: http://www.netfirms.com

Netfirms, Inc. is a domain name registrar, website hosting provider, and website design services company. Founded in 1998 by York University students, Thomas Savundra and Suhan Shan in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Netfirms became an ICANN, accredited domain name registrar in 2003^[1] and a CIRA accredited domain name registrar in 2004.^[2] Netfirms, along with GeoCities, was one of the first hosting companies to offer ad-subsidized free web hosting, and was the first to offer sub-five dollar domain names.^[3] The company is one of the fastest growing domain name registrars^[4] with over 200,000 domains,^[5] and currently hosts over one million websites.

History

In 1998, Netfirms launched advertisement-supported free web hosting. In 1999 they introduced (ad-free) paid web hosting services. From 2000-2002, Netfirms developed and implemented a clustered (grid) platform, a type of reliable load-balanced server architecture. In 2004, Netfirms introduced Commerce Pro, a point-and-click e-commerce shopping cart platform, and announced sub-five dollar .com, .net, .org, .info, or .biz domain names. Netfirms launched it's Canadian presence, Netfirms.ca, in 2005. In 2006 Netfirms began working with Microsoft to develop an integrated Windows/ Linux platform called Netfirms MultiPlatform^TM which allows for Windows Server 2003 powered IIS, ASP.NET, Classic ASP, SQL Server, and Linux powered Apache, MySQL, Ruby on Rails, Perl, and PHP to run simultaneously under the same file space and website address. In 2007, Netfirms and Microsoft issued a joint press release announcing the availability of Netfirms MultiPlatform. Other notable announcements from 2007 include the introduction of a green program whereby the company switched their data center from alternating current to direct current power using Rackable Systems DC Power technology^[6], and the introduction of custom website design services.

Awards

In 2005, Netfirms was recommended as an inexpensive and easy-to-use e-commerce web host by The Wall Street Journal^[7] and as the Fastest Growing Company in 2005 by HostReview.^[8]
Netfirms was recognized by BusinessWeek as one of the best values on the web for small business in 2006.^[9]
Netfirms was recognized as one of the Fastest Growing Companies in 2006 and 2007 by PROFIT 100.^[10]
In 2007, Netfirms received an award for excellence, leadership, and innovation in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector from the Toronto Board of Trade.

Mission Statement

To connect small businesses with the tools they need to succeed on the Internet.

Headquarters

5160 Yonge Street Toronto, Ontario, CANADA

2316 Delaware Avenue Buffalo, New York, USA

External Links

http://www.netfirms.com
http://www.netfirms.ca

References

1. http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html
2. http://ro.cira.ca/re_choose_en
3. http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2005/02/09/netfirms_cuts_domain_price_to_495_a_year.html
4. http://www.registrarstats.com/Public/TopDomainChanges.aspx?type=Gain&time=Month
5. http://www.webhosting.info/webhosts/reports/total_domains/NETFIRMS.COM
6. http://www.rackable.com/
7. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB112128496920384836.html?mod=2_1163_2
8. http://www.hostreview.com/webhostaward/200509top10fastestgrowingwebhost.html
9. http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/sep2006/sb20060905_359906.htm?chan=search
10. http://www.canadianbusiness.com/rankings/profit100/list.jsp?pageID=profile&profile=12&year=2006&type=profile&listType=P100