Finnish Provider Offers Reliable Hosting and Customer Service Since 2002

TL; DR: XetNET is a web hosting provider based in Lempäälä, Finland. Founded in 2002, XetNET has seen the web hosting industry grow and evolve in real time. As an early cloud adopter, XetNET has built a high-performance hosting infrastructure and offers scalable virtual servers with great uptime for its customers. We spoke with Erno Räsänen, CEO of XetNET, about the hosting platform, its emphasis on customer relationships, and how it uses its location to improve sustainability.

The web hosting industry has come a long way in its 30-year history. In 1995, GeoCities was the first company to provide a commercial web hosting service. Although its service was limited, it gave hobbyists and other internet users their first taste of owning digital property on the web.

As the internet grew in popularity, paid hosting services emerged. At the turn of the millennium, the dot-com boom brought an explosive expansion of internet services, and many of the web hosting pioneers we know today opened their doors for the first time.

This boost saw richer feature sets within the hosting industry. Users could choose between dedicated and shared hosting and access more features, such as cPanel and domain registration, in their plans.

Then, VPS and cloud computing joined the fray, giving users more flexibility and scalability than ever before. These latecomers changed the game for the entire web hosting industry.

In business since 2002, the XetNET team has seen the evolution of web hosting firsthand. The team now offers all the popular products, including shared, WordPress, VPS, and Docker hosting. But it remembers the time before these solutions came to the market and how it adjusted to meet customer demands.

“We try our best to stay agile. I love this industry, partly because it’s changing all the time. It at least isn’t boring, right,” said Erno Räsänen, CEO of XetNET.

XetNET has responded to user needs year after year, updating its platform to fit the current environment and accommodate new technologies. Its plans include all the essentials and offer domain registration so users can search for domain names within the platform.

Below, we’ll explore XetNET’s offerings, its emphasis on customer service, and how it adds a sustainable touch to its operations.

XetNET launched its web hosting service in the early aughts when the rise of web hosting had just begun. As one of the first web hosts to emerge in Finland, XetNET onboarded new features and evolved its plans as the tides changed.

Before XetNET had high-performing cloud infrastructure, the team had strict criteria for previous data centers. Erno told us his old criteria for a data center required it to be no more than an hour away from his home so he could quickly repair issues if servers were to crash.

But times have changed. The XetNET team integrated cloud services into its infrastructure and never looked back. About a decade ago, XetNET built its own public and private clouds to meet customer demands.

“Since we started using cloud services, there hasn’t been a single time we needed to do a reboot visit to a data center because the high availability provided by the VPS platform itself takes care of those things,” said Erno.

XetNET adopted cloud hosting with speed, and it has reaped the benefits. Erno said it has helped the team save time and provide higher performance and uptime. XetNET has two data centers in Finland and uses a service in the U.S. and Germany.

XetNET’s data centers include multi-redundant servers and redundant network connections. XetNET also ensures customers don’t receive overconsumed resources. Its Finnish servers are not overbooked but well-balanced so users can have fair and reliable hosting for their projects.

The team also offers specialized Docker hosting for developers who want to offload server configuration. Handling virtual servers can be a complicated experience. XetNET’s Docker hosting allows developers to set up their environments in a few clicks and scale quickly.

A highlight of XetNET is its emphasis on customer service. The team values its customer relationships, as you can see throughout its website. You can’t go a page without spotting a testimonial from one of XetNET’s many customers.

The XetNET team works with a variety of customers, from individual developers to small businesses. XetNET also has many lifetime users. Erno said the team prioritizes responsive and attentive customer support to help build customer relationships and help users along their hosting journey.

“Customer service seems to be the best way to develop relationships with customers. The speed of the response, monitoring their websites, and letting them know if there is something we could help them with, such as increasing their alert times, are extremely important,” said Erno.

Hannu Ala-Harja has been a XetNET customer for over a decade. As a software developer and a small business owner, Hannu juggles multiple tasks and client projects at a time. The XetNET team stepped in to help him manage.

“Working with XetNET on the management and development of virtual servers has helped me to focus on the client projects themselves – rather than on the technical maintenance of the servers,” said Hannu.

Hannu also shared how XetNET’s fully customizable virtual servers have helped him. He works with the XetNET support team to create and customize hosting solutions for his different projects, leading to the best possible outcomes for his clients.

XetNET ensures users receive all the features they need to carry out successful projects. Its plans include ample disk space, backups, domain services, cPanel, and SSL encryption.

Here are some standout features included in its virtual server plans:

• Horizontal scaling
• Managed services
• CloudLinux, which isolates users from one another
• Imunify360 for enhanced security
• A public IPv4 address
• Service-level agreements

XetNET offers plenty of features and customer support to help users launch a reliable hosting environment. And the team is always there to assist and resolve any issues through phone, email, or its online support system.

XetNET’s web hosting offerings are easy to use, performant, and affordable. Many of its features are included, which means users don’t have to pay extra for add-ons.

XetNET’s sustainable placement may play a role in its cost savings, which it has transferred to its users. “Because of our cold nature, we don’t have to pay much for the cooling, which has greatly benefited our business,” said Erno.

Located in Lempäälä, Finland, XetNET uses its natural climate and resources to cool its data center. That means it’s sustainable, saves on cooling costs, and is better for the planet.

“We can take the cold air from outside during the colder months for cooling, but then the excess heat the servers are producing is typically used to heat other buildings, for example, water, room temperature, etc,” said Erno.

Servers within a large data center can generate 20 to 50 megawatts of heat on average. A data center campus can produce up to 300 megawatts of heat. Erno told us that’s why many HVAC companies consider data centers viable heat sources and use them accordingly. XetNET takes a similar approach, utilizing the energy generated from their servers to heat the buildings where the servers are located.

As for what’s ahead, Erno told us to stay tuned as XetNET has more on the horizon — most likely in the upcoming year.