Dts Net Delivers Tailor Made Hosting Support And Education

Our Chat with DTS-NET CEO Craig Gendrolas — Celebrating 20 Years of Tailor-Made Hosting, Support, and Customer Education

Written by: Sean Garrity

Sean Garrity

Sean has more than 15 years of experience researching, writing, and editing for numerous industry-specific trade publications. His goal is to keep organizations and stakeholders informed of the latest trends and technologies that can help them streamline operations and thrive online. Sean loves to chat about all things IT infrastructure and covers a range of topics in his writing, including virtualization, cloud computing, the hyperscalers, IoT and edge technologies, and digital transformation, among others.

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Edited by: Lillian Castro

Lillian Castro

Lillian brings more than 30 years of editing and journalism experience to our team. She has written and edited for major news organizations, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the New York Times, and she previously served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Florida. Today, she edits HostingAdvice content for clarity, accuracy, and reader engagement.

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TL;DR: Founded two decades ago when the web was still in its infancy, DTS-NET was built to grant businesses wider accessibility to online markets. The company’s CEO, Craig Gendrolas, recently spoke with us about DTS-NET’s rich history in the hosting space, dedication to efficient customer support, and role as an educator in IT. Looking toward the future, Craig told us he and the DTS-NET team continue to embrace innovative solutions to evolving market demands and the developing technologies that will help modern organizations reach their audiences online.

In the late 1990s, the internet was just starting to master its baby steps. An increasing number of homes were powering connections to the web through phone lines, and the then Connecticut-based IT company, DTS-NET, saw a market opportunity to help widen this access.

“We originally started in 1997 as an ISP that provided dial-up internet access,” said DTS-NET CEO Craig Gendrolas. “I got into this business originally to help out individuals and small businesses, explaining to them the benefits of the internet and how useful it was.”

DTS-NET’s Craig Gendrolas told us the host’s mission has always been to help businesses leverage the power of the web.

Craig’s forecast was right on the mark. Over the next few years, the rise of broadband connections and increasing consumer and business demands required the B2C and B2B landscape to become heavily reliant on the web.

As a result, DTS-NET quickly branched out to offer web hosting and has grown its solutions in tandem with market demand ever since. Today, DTS-NET delivers a variety of hosting services and has embraced cloud-based computing and IoT technologies.

Though the company has scaled quite a bit, DTS-NET is still run by a small group of dedicated individuals who provide hands-on support and consultation to clients. DTS-NET delivers the perks, such as top-tier cloud, virtual, dedicated server, and colocation solutions, that come with a large provider with the personalized feel and support of a small host.

Teaching Clients Best Practices in the Ever-Evolving Web Landscape

Throughout its 20-year run, DTS-NET has embraced many shifts in technology, including quite a few in the hosting industry.

“Since ’97, we’ve definitely seen a lot of changes,” Craig said. “I remember setting up hosting accounts without control panels. Now, you’ve got cPanel — which we primarily use — along with Plesk and a few others.”

Over the years, DTS-NET has added tools for security and content management, and has adapted its personalized support and consultation services to meet the unique and emerging needs of clients.

Over its two-decade history, DTS-NET has evolved its hosting solutions to meet the demands of an ever-changing market.

According to Craig, the biggest challenge his company has faced has been educating clients about the ever-evolving landscape of the hosting industry.

“The biggest thing in the beginning was explaining the benefits of the internet,” he said. “Everyone was talking about (the) Yellow Pages and (how)the web was better than a hardcopy directory.”

Considering its original goal as an ISP was to introduce the web to as many people as possible, DTS-NET’s primary concern today is with helping its clients use the internet to its full potential and, thus, broaden business reach and usability.

“We try to benefit their brands, increase their ad reach, and help them better serve their customers,” Craig said.

Balancing Cost and Quality Through Automation and Support

DTS-NET’s willingness to directly consult with customers complements its already robust support system, which extends all the way to Craig himself.

“I still personally get involved with my customers,” he said. “I like to look over support tickets and do follow-up calls with customers and make sure they’re happy with the service.”

Direct support and engagement from CEOs is virtually unheard of in hosting — or any market, for that matter — and makes DTS-NET an instant hit for many customers. The DTS-NET team is relatively small with fewer than 50 employees. While this makes DTS-NET’s approach to customer concerns much more personalized, the company sees maintaining its high quality and speed of service as a challenge as more clients are onboarded.

To make its outstanding support a possibility, DTS-NET has implemented automation features that ease the workload on staff and make the support ticket system flow much quicker. Automated processes provide both a way to simplify the web-building experience and attempt first-round troubleshooting solutions when problems do arise.

“We use a lot of automation to help customers,” Craig said. “If they can’t figure something out, they can get in contact with us through live chat, support tickets, or phone calls.”

Considering the unique problems that customers may face, this automated system is a helpful supplement to the human support available directly from HQ.

In addition to an advanced ticket system, DTS-NET has dabbled in AI and other innovative technologies. Before a customer reaches out to support, AI-based bots are available to handle general questions and troubleshooting.

“It really helps our customers out with getting questions answered, and if that doesn’t answer their questions, a live person will,” Craig said. “A lot of tech startups actually come out and ask us to sponsor them, so we get our hands on a lot of early technology pretty quickly.”

These industry connections are the result of DTS-NET’s attendance at a variety of trade shows, where developers share their latest innovations with potential business partners.

Catering to Business Needs with Custom, Feature-Rich Hosting Plans

In addition to highly personalized support and consultation, DTS-NET offers packages customizable to any size business in any industry.

“We walk our customers through questions they have and tailor our approach to their needs,” Craig said. “There’s a vast variety of options they can choose from, and we offer professionally managed services that depend on what they require from us.”

Types of packages offered by DTS-NET include shared hosting, reseller plans, dedicated servers, and VPS hosting. Packages are modified based on need and can include additional services, including business consultation, design, SEO, and eCommerce.

Dedicated, managed servers and colocation opportunities are also available for businesses looking to downsize on IT spending. These services are both customizable to individual businesses and are kept in line with evolving tech trends.

“One of the things we focus on now to keep our competitive advantage is looking into load-balance technology and security enhancements,” Craig said.

Load balancing increases the reliability of applications by distributing the workload more evenly across resources. By keeping up with the latest technology, DTS-NET is able to offer customers the most efficient means to run their businesses.

Embracing Innovation and Cutting-Edge Tech With VR-Based Sites

For two decades, DTS-NET has welcomed new forms of technology that benefit businesses. The current incarnation of DTS-NET is primarily focused on hosting and has innovated through the adoption of AI and other automated services. Looking forward, DTS-NET plans to embrace additional cloud services as well as social media.

“One of the things I want to get more involved in is using social media platforms,” Craig said. “I think it’s going to be a huge advantage for our customers.”

Social media pages are a major source of site traffic in their own right. The integration of social media plugins makes it easy for webmasters and readers to share content soon after publication.

Throughout the years, DTS-NET has continuously welcomed cutting-edge technology into its platform. Like artificial intelligence, virtual reality has become a major trend in tech circles, and Craig speculates that it’s going to be the next big thing.

“We’re definitely looking forward to the next trade show, which is focused on VR,” Craig said. “We’re going to focus on making VR platform-type websites.”

This new platform is targeted toward medium-to-large businesses, such as car dealerships and medical equipment manufacturers, looking to demonstrate their products in enhanced detail.

Born at a time when the web was just starting to grow up, DTS-NET was founded to make the most of new technology. And that’s just what the company is doing today through its VPS, colocation, and business consultation solutions.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sean has more than 15 years of experience researching, writing, and editing for numerous industry-specific trade publications. His goal is to keep organizations and stakeholders informed of the latest trends and technologies that can help them streamline operations and thrive online. Sean loves to chat about all things IT infrastructure and covers a range of topics in his writing, including virtualization, cloud computing, the hyperscalers, IoT and edge technologies, and digital transformation, among others.

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