The 3 Keys To Web Hosting Success by VirtualSystems CEO Vyacheslav Smyrnov

👋 Welcome to another interview by Website Planet. Bringing you insights on how the best companies are solving the current challenges in their industry, and how they are planning ahead for the future.

Our guest today is Vyacheslav Smyrnov, CEO of VirtualSystems, a hosting service company based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Under his leadership, Virtual Systems has grown to offer a range of hosting services including dedicated servers, VPS, streaming servers, and data storage across data centers in Kyiv, Amsterdam, and Seattle.

We discussed their different focus on 24/7 technical support, the innovative solution for crypto payments they have developed, and their entire playbook that helped them grow in one of the most competitive markets on the planet (and how this will change in the near future).

What problems are you solving for your customers and audience?

To answer this question, you first need to know WHO WE ARE 🙂

VSYS Host (Virtual Systems) is a reliable hosting provider with a variety of competitively priced hosting and infrastructure solutions designed to meet the unique needs of businesses of all sizes, from small projects to large-scale SaaS ventures. Our offerings include different types of servers (dedicated and VPS), shared hosting, cloud servers, private cloud, hybrid infrastructure services, and Managed Kubernetes, all backed by 24/7 customer support and our in-house technical expertise. High-performance network. Quality committed tech support. Customization options for hardware and network. You can get it all with us!

Virtual Systems strictly employs its own hardware, network equipment, AS & IP ranges, and official LIR status from RIPE NCC. Tier III data centers in Ukraine, the Netherlands, and the USA. With redundant Internet connections and peering, and backed by our exceptional capacity to counteract large-scale DDoS attacks. Our network provides IP traffic at a rate of 1 Tbps, with excellent availability within several convenient data center locations, unique peering arrangements, and automatic route optimization software.

We’ve got you covered for all things servers or any other hosting needs, with the ability to customize hardware and network, plus top-notch service and awesome tech support.

When it comes to who our clients are, it’s definitely technically savvy professionals, technical directors, or business owners who know what they want. They come to us for quality, service, the ability to handle even the most complex customization requests from our end, reliability, and even price (we’re very flexible on that and always open to negotiation).

Clients appreciate that our specialists “speak the same language” with them. In fact, all our specialists are technically skilled. We pay special attention to this, so our sales, customer support, and even marketing employees “speak the same language” as our clients, who stay with us for the long haul, so that we end up growing together 🙂

What problems we solve for our customers:

• Customization of Equipment and Network: We offer tailored solutions by customizing hardware when necessary, a service not commonly provided by many providers. And we cater to individual needs by customizing networks to ensure optimal performance and security.
• Rapid Provisioning of Resources: We swiftly provide hardware resources, even for large orders, ensuring prompt service delivery.
• Price Flexibility: Thanks to our ownership of server hardware and network equipment, we are able to offer attractive costs for our consumers without any reseller markup. Our ideal balance between incoming traffic from local customers and outgoing traffic to international customers allows us to provide competitively priced bandwidth.
• Anonymity and Privacy: We address the need for anonymity by offering a straightforward payment process without complex KYC requirements and accepting cryptocurrency payments.
• Technical Issue Resolving: Our team of specialists is available 24/7 to address any technical issues promptly, ensuring uninterrupted service and quick resolutions.

What makes people eventually choose you over your competitors?

Clients come to us through recommendations, marketing channels, or after experiencing dissatisfaction with previous providers, all in search of a tailored solution to their specific needs. Our expertise is a cornerstone of our service, and we take pride in showcasing it through external channels and by actively assisting users in open communities, forums, and social media.

We don’t just solve problems; we ensure clients are never left in the dark. Our commitment to being available for any questions or concerns sets us apart from providers who may offer predefined services but fail to provide timely support when needed. Whether the issue is big or small, our dedicated support team tackles it swiftly, ensuring client satisfaction around the clock.

One of our standout features is our custom approach, both to hardware and networking services. While many providers offer limited customization, we excel in meeting clients’ unique requirements. From advanced networking technologies like BGP to tailored hardware configurations, we do whatever it takes to deliver top-notch solutions efficiently and effectively.

In addition to our expertise, we’ve also positioned ourselves as pioneers in the hosting industry by becoming one of the first providers to accept cryptocurrency payments. This is particularly significant for users who value anonymity. It all started when our users began inquiring about the possibility of paying with crypto. We immediately recognized the market demand but found existing solutions to be unsuitable due to exorbitant fees and limited coin options—at least at that time.

Determined to meet this need, we developed our own in-house crypto payment processor SHKeeper. Interestingly, it’s now freely available, completely free of charge, and offers a direct way to receive BTC, ETH, LTC, DOGE, XMR, XRP, TRX, BNB, USDT (ERC20, TRC20, BEP-20), USDC (ERC20, TRC20, BEP-20).

This exemplifies our approach to problem-solving by leveraging our expertise 🙂

What is the current techstack you use to run your online business?

At Virtual Systems, we leverage a combination of industry-leading technologies to ensure seamless operations and optimal performance. And when it comes to our tech stack proficiency, we excel in ALL the popular technology stacks!

1. Our backbone is WHMCS, which streamlines our client management processes and facilitates seamless transactions.
2. Proxmox empowers us with powerful virtualization capabilities, enabling efficient resource management and scalability.
3. For our hosting infrastructure, we rely on cPanel.
4. This, coupled with the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP), Nginx and Cloudlinux form our hosting environment’s foundation.
5. Also, we embrace modern containerization technologies such as Kubernetes (K8s) and Docker. These tools enable us to deploy, manage, and scale applications with unparalleled agility and efficiency, ensuring a seamless experience for our clients.
6. Moreover, we integrate Xtream UI, a powerful IPTV management platform, to cater to the specific needs of our clients in the streaming industry.

It’s also worth mentioning that we utilize additional services for analysis, analytics, and streamlining marketing operations. We’ve experimented with various popular AI services for content creation but have concluded that no service can convey the right expertise better than a specialist directly, especially when it comes to technical issues and topics. Therefore, currently, our experts create content independently, with AI services simply assisting in framing it elegantly.

As for the design of our website, we did not change it for a long time but only worked on the content and services that we provide. Last year, we decided to change the design. Now, it is more modern and minimalistic.

Our Old Site Design:

Our NEW Design:

Since you started, what helped you grow and retain your audience?

In the beginning, our plan was simple: focus on delivering high-quality work and let our satisfied clients do the talking.

A BIT OF HISTORY:

Initially, our company was created in 2009. Our first domain name was stop-ddos.net, and the prime business was related to providing anti-DDoS protection services.

Back in 2009-2010, only a few hosting companies provided adequate security against volumetric DDoS attacks. The prime challenge was the required significant amount of bandwidth and the ability to filter out malicious data.

However, thanks to the ideas that originated from our client’s requests, demand for protected servers has risen, which led us to the concept of protected hosting in 2010 (v-sys.org), whereas by 2019 company was rebranded to VSYS.host.

Until the very end of 2019, we’ve focused our efforts on the development of our office in Ukraine but in 2020 successfully expanded further into continental Europe, the Netherlands, and Amsterdam in particular. And in 2022, we expanded into the USA.

Our team is THE TEAM. Our people are fully aware that the company recognizes their achievements and values success, which provides extra motivation, reflected by the end quality delivered to our customers.

Overall, talking of our strong sides what helped us grow and retain our audience, it is worth mentioning the following points:

1. Our top technical specialists are prepared to walk that extra mile for the customer.

2. Customized solutions for dedicated servers and VPS.

3. The cheapest bandwidth in the niche.

What perspective do you have about where your industry is headed?

The demand for flexible cloud infrastructure and GPU services is on the rise. With the advancement of AI and the increasing adoption of microservices by various companies, we are witnessing a surge in demand for such services. And where there’s demand, there’s innovation. Consequently, we can expect to see the emergence of new niche companies catering to specific needs in this space.

Increased focus on security. With the increasing number of cyber-attacks and data breaches, security is becoming a top priority for businesses and individuals alike. We believe that web hosting providers will need to invest more in security measures to protect their customers’ data and websites.

More emphasis on user experience. With so many web hosting providers to choose from, user experience is becoming a key differentiator.

Data supports this industry shift towards greater security, scalability, and user experience. For example, a recent survey by PwC found that 87% of consumers believe that security is a top priority when choosing a web hosting provider. Additionally, a study by Gartner found that by 2023, more than 50% of enterprises will adopt cloud-native architectures, highlighting the growing demand for cloud solutions.

However, one challenge the industry is still facing is the lack of understanding of the technical aspects.

What’s in the roadmap for your future?

At VSYS.host, we are constantly looking for ways to improve and expand our services to better meet the needs of our customers. Here are some of the plans and goals we have for the future:

1. Expansion service list (for example, CDN will be available soon).
2. New niche solutions.
3. Expansion data centers cover Europe and Asia (Singapore).
4. New updates for SHKeeper – our crypto payment processor.

Our short-term goals include increasing our customer base, improving our website’s search engine rankings, and expanding our social media presence. Our long-term goals include becoming a leading provider of web hosting services, expanding into new markets, and developing new and innovative solutions.

In conclusion, we plan to cope with changes in the industry by staying agile and adaptable, investing in new technologies and skills and continuously improving our services to meet the evolving needs of our customers.