Infomaniak is
Switzerland's largest
web-hosting
A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that hosts websites for clients, i.e. it offers the facilities required for them to create and maintain a site and makes it accessible on the World Wide Web. Companies providing web h ...
company, also offering
live-streaming
Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but ...
and
video on demand
Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...
services.
History
The company started as a
user group
A users' group (also user's group or user group) is a type of club focused on the use of a particular technology, usually (but not always) computer-related.
Overview
Users' groups started in the early days of mainframe computers, as a way to sha ...
founded in 1990 by Boris Siegenthaler in the
Canton of Geneva
The Canton of Geneva, officially the Republic and Canton of Geneva (french: link=no, République et canton de Genève; frp, Rèpublica et canton de Geneva; german: Republik und Kanton Genf; it, Repubblica e Cantone di Ginevra; rm, Republica e ...
, offering a
bulletin board system to its members. In 1994, Siegenthaler and fellow developer Fabian Lucchi opened the Siegenthlaer & Lucchi computer store in the Genevan suburb of
Châtelaine
''Châtelaine'' is a French-language magazine of women's lifestyles, published in Quebec by St. Joseph Communications.
History and profile
The magazine was first published in 1960 by Maclean-Hunter Publishing. It covers issues and interests o ...
. They offered low-cost, custom-built computers – acting as an alternative to the larger distributors available at the time. The same year, the pair purchased a
modem
A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...
and
64 kbs line, becoming the first privately owned
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privat ...
in the canton (after
CERN and the
University of Geneva
The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...
). From 1995 on and for a few months, the store offered complimentary internet access to all customers who purchased a computer with them.
In May 1997, Infomaniak became a fully-fledged ISP with the creation of TWS Infomaniak SA – the company developed its offer based on low-cost
internet access and web-hosting services alongside its staple of computer equipment retail.
On 1 January 1998, the Swiss
state monopoly
In economics, a government monopoly or public monopoly is a form of coercive monopoly in which a government agency or government corporation is the sole provider of a particular good or service and competition is prohibited by law. It is a monopo ...
on
telecom services came to an end and new providers were allowed onto the Swiss market.
Sunrise
Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects.
Terminology
A ...
, a joint-venture between
Tele Danmark
TDC Holding A/S or TDC Group (formerly Tele Danmark Communications) is a Danish telecommunications company dating back to 1879. TDC Group is the largest telecommunications company in Denmark. The company's headquarters are located in Copenhagen ...
and
BT, started offering free internet access services, forcing the company to revise its strategy: in 1999, TWS Infomaniak was reincorporated to create Infomaniak Network. They specialised in web-hosting services for private users and
small and medium-sized enterprises
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...
, including basic.ch, the first Swiss
web radio
Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...
.
By 2003, Infomaniak was the largest web-host in
Western Switzerland
Romandy (french: Romandie or )Before World War I, the term French Switzerland (french: Suisse française) waalso used german: Romandie or , it, Romandia, rm, Romanda) is the French-speaking part of western Switzerland. In 2020, about 2 milli ...
, and by July 2005, it was the largest web-radio broadcaster in Western Switzerland and France.
In 2007, the company created and launched their
sustainability charter.
As a result, it implemented a number of key measures including joining an
ethical pension fund on behalf of its employees, a commitment to sustainable travel, and donating 1% of its annual revenue to a range of
NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...
.
In 2010, the company created a subsidiary – Infomaniak Entertainment – marking the company's expansion into the ticketing, staff, and accreditation-management.
Infomaniak's main business remains as a webhost and registrar. In 2011, the company announced that they managed more than 100,000
domain name
A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...
s. They opened their third
data centre
A data center (American English) or data centre (British English)See spelling differences. is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommun ...
in 2014. As with all their facilities, the new data centre was fully sustainable – using
100% renewable energy
100% renewable energy means getting all energy from renewable resources. The endeavor to use 100% renewable energy for electricity, heating, cooling and transport is motivated by climate change, pollution and other environmental issues ...
and low-voltage technologies. The centre was heralded as the "greenest there is in Switzerland" with a
PUE under 1.1 which won the company the Geneva sustainability prize. A few months later, Infomaniak obtains its
ISO 14001 and
ISO 50001 certifications for environmental and energy management systems.
Infomaniak fully switched to
SSD technology at the end of 2015. The latest figures from the company suggest that it managed more than 200,000 domain names, 150,000 site, and 350 radio/TV stations in 2016. It has also become one of the first web companies to implement the new
Let's Encrypt
Let's Encrypt is a non-profit certificate authority run by Internet Security Research Group (ISRG) that provides X.509 certificates for Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption at no charge. It is the world's largest certificate authority, used ...
SSL Certificates.
According to CEO Boris Siegenthaler, Infomaniak's customer base is composed of businesses (70%) and individuals (30%), small to mid-sized businesses representing a significant portion of sales. Around 30% of customers come from France and Belgium, and as of 2016, the company had 60 employees.
References
{{WebManTools
Companies based in Geneva
Technology companies established in 1994
Information technology companies of Switzerland
Online companies of Switzerland
Web hosting
Streaming
Video on demand services