Netfirms.com acquired by Endurance International Group

March 10, 2011

Netfirms.com, is not exactly a host the I had in my sights. But one of their customers contacted me because they got an email telling them that the company had been taken over, upon further review the customer found the new owner is Endurance International Group which is a company that is in my sights as it has a lot of hosts, most of which engage in over the top affiliate commission’s which in turn motivate the so called “top host” lists. Thankfully the customer that has posted to my blog was willing to send me a copy of the email, I tend to wonder if this is the same email that goes out to all customers that are acquired by Endurance International Group. This is the first EIG acquisition that is openly acknowledged. On top of that migrations are not always smooth, Host4life comes to mind. I had meant to post this sooner, but I had to set up a new machine, not to mention my copy of Photoshop went bonkers.

For details in to why Endurance International Group: https://hosting-reviews-exposed.com/endurance-international-group/endurance-international-group-inc.html

The Netfirms email

I am pleased to announce that Netfirms will soon be transitioning to a new hosting platform, allowing you to benefit from:

Increased network security and a larger systems operations team, providing additional performance monitoring.
More disk space and data transfer for hosting accounts.
A new control panel with improved layout and navigation, custom designed from the ground up, based on user feedback.
Access to more than 200 tools and services for managing your website, domains and email, including more one-click application installs.

Plus, the new architecture is similar to our current clustered hosting technology in that your website and applications will continue to be distributed across a pool of servers, providing greater redundancy than traditional shared hosting platforms, with faster load times and fewer disruptions.

What You Need To Do

In the weeks and months ahead, we will be working very hard to make this transition a successful one. As with any change, there will be differences in the way you manage your account, and we will need you to be involved in the migration of your website and email. Not to worry, though: we will be in frequent communication with you to walk you through the process.

If you have any questions in the meantime, be sure to visit our transition information site, where you’ll find the most up-to-date information on the migration. We will continue to update the site with new information as it happens. Also, please do not hesitate to contact us by calling 866-317-4678 (press “1” for information regarding the transition) or emailing transition@netfirms-inc.com.

Please note: as part of the transition, domains will be transferred from the Netfirms registrar account to a registrar account with Tucows. Partnering with a company to manage the registrar side of things will allow us to focus on improving our core hosting services. This transfer will have no effect on your domains or where they point, and you will continue to manage your domains through your Netfirms control panel, just as you do today. More details >>

Why We’re Changing Platforms

We started Netfirms 13 years ago with a goal of delivering top-notch hosting and domain services to as many people as we could. Today, with 1.2 million hosted domains, we can’t help but be proud of how far we’ve come — and how far you’ve taken us. And now it’s time to take the next step: bringing our vision, our passion and our support to even more people in the coming years.

To help us take that next step, one of the top web hosting and domain management teams in the industry has acquired the Netfirms hosting and domain business. We realized that we needed a more scalable infrastructure, and that moving to an existing hosting platform, with proven reliability, would cause far less disruption to customer accounts than developing a solution in-house.

Please take a moment to review our revised Terms of Service, which will take effect on April 1, 2011. When customer accounts are migrated to the new hosting platform, which is located in the United States and managed by the new owners, customer data will, of course, continue to be hosted on a secure and confidential basis. Please review the new Netfirms privacy policy if you have any concerns.

The new Netfirms team has been in the business even longer than we have, and we trust them not only to continue providing the great service you’ve come to expect, but also to offer a variety of new features to help you better manage your websites and domains. More importantly, they have a proven track record of delivering on the same vision that we’ve all worked toward for the past 13 years.

We appreciate your ongoing support, and we understand that you, our customers, have made Netfirms the company it is today. On behalf of the entire Netfirms team, I wish you all the best.

I recommend reading those links in the email if your a netfirms.com customer.

http://www.netfirmstransition.com/

“Unused Domain Credits
If you currently have one or more credits for a new domain name registration, we encourage you to use them prior to March 15, 2011. Outstanding credits will not be carried over to the new hosting platform automatically. Reinforce your brand identity or protect yourself against visitor misspellings by using your domain credits to register alternate domain names.”

I don’t think I have ever seen a point where Endurance International Group has acknowledged buying a host before. I suspect Netfirms is the first.