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HostSearch > Interviews >

Web Hosting Interview - VistaPages.com

September 2006

Kaumil Patel, Director of Operations for VistaPages, Inc.

In September we interview Kaumil Patel, Director of Operations for VistaPages, Inc. in Toronto, Canada. VistaPages offer a range of services including shared and reseller hosting alongside colocation and a robust affiliate program. Their shared hosting options feature support for a range of Open Source solutions such as Mambo, Joomla and OSCommerce. We ask about the web hosting scene in Canada and why Open Source has such an important place amongst VistaPages� offerings.

HOSTSEARCH: Mr. Patel � thanks for spending some time with us today. How about we kick off with you letting us know a little about VistaPages and your role in the company.

KAUMIL PATEL: No problem, it�s a pleasure! VistaPages opened its doors in late 2004. We started with just 1 employee (me), one shared plan (vistaPak) and a single server at a dedicated server company. Being involved with computers, hosting and web design for over 8 years at the starting point, I was involved in every aspect of the company�s operations, from account activations, to canceling the accounts. We have grown since then, offering more services, including reseller and collocation. We now have 5 full time employee�s and over 3,000 customers under our belt. My primary role in the company is to take care of administrative tasks, including overseeing all the activities of all of our employee�s to ensure everything is running smooth.

HOSTSEARCH: Have you been with the company from the start? What�s the history behind VistaPages?

KAUMIL PATEL: I founded VistaPages alone. I had left a previous company that I started to create my own.

HOSTSEARCH: Your range of services is quite varied and quite recently you introduced colocation. How does that fit alongside shared hosting? Doesn�t colocation require a very different business operation? Why did you venture in this direction?

KAUMIL PATEL: The colocation service was brought onto our web site, because we have seen several shared hosting customers leave on occasions, or request more high-end services. We�re offering them an upgrade path. We�re working on VPS and Dedicated as well. We�re all about scalability. As for the operations side of it, we have our own space, and the infrastructure has already been set up; why not make use of it! We have already been doing colocation, even before we made it public.

HOSTSEARCH: Is colocation becoming more mainstream or is it still the domain of an IT elite?

KAUMIL PATEL: It�s nothing like setting up a cPanel server, that�s for sure.

HOSTSEARCH: Tell us a little about your affiliate program � how many people are involved in it and how does it operate?

KAUMIL PATEL: We currently have over 300 affiliates, and are continuing to grow it. We pay our affiliates $70 per qualified sale that is brought in through their link, we do offer bonuses and increases in commissions, if the affiliate brings in more than average number of sales. We provide the affiliate with creatives, and ideas on how to market our services.

HOSTSEARCH: You have a solid range of Open Source offerings through your hosting. It is clear Open Source is making many inroads but do you think it will ever become standard? Will business in general ever ditch MS and other solutions in favor of Open Source?

KAUMIL PATEL: To be honest, I don�t think many of the customers that use the �Open Source� products even know it�s Open Source. With web hosting companies, over the years, I have seen the offering for Open Source increase, and become more standardized, but to replace Microsoft� I doubt it. Doesn�t Google have a word processing service? Why did you send me correspondence for this interview via Microsoft Word?

HOSTSEARCH: We asked this question of another Canadian host we interviewed recently, but I am interested in your take on the subject - why has Canadian web hosting suddenly taken center stage over recent months?

KAUMIL PATEL: The Canadian economy in general has been becoming stronger and with that hosting companies located here are able to take advantage of the considerably lower colocation costs, compared to several years ago. This obviously has impacted the price offering to the end-consumer, which has allowed us Canadians to compete aggressively against the US-based hosting companies. Along with that, it seems that US-based customers are slowly realizing that there really is no difference having your web site hosted in Canada.

HOSTSEARCH: Are there any particular benefits for VistaPages being based in Canada? What is Canada like as a place to work?

KAUMIL PATEL: Toronto is the financial capital of Canada and there is a lot of business to be made here, VistaPages being located in Toronto gives us a competitive edge. Canada itself is a great place to live, work and simply put enjoy yourself. The multi-culturalism is great, if you�re ever bored of eating burgers, there�s always something more just down the street. Oh, and if a server was to fall on top of you, there�s always free health care! I have lived here all my 22 years, and just love it.

HOSTSEARCH: We ask this question of everyone: What�s the next big thing to hit the Internet and how will it impact people�s lives?

KAUMIL PATEL: If I knew the next big thing to hit the Internet, I would be developing it right now!

HOSTSEARCH: I guess a place like Canada offers a number of leisure opportunities � what exactly do you do to relax?

KAUMIL PATEL: Playing a game of hockey every Friday with the guys is not much relaxing, but it is satisfying. Definitely sitting in the backyard on a hot summer day, BBQ�n is always fun and relaxing and just spending quality time with friends and family. Not much different from anywhere else in the World, maybe the hockey bit!

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