Timeline | Hostpoint milestones since 2001

2001

Apple launches iTunes and revolutionizes the music industry

The free online encyclopedia Wikipedia is launched

The birth of Hostpoint: three young entrepreneurs on a mission

In 2001, the internet is not yet a mass medium in Switzerland. Creating a website, managing a web server or setting up an e-mail address are arduous and often very expensive tasks. That is why three young entrepreneurs – Markus Gebert, Sandro Bertschinger and Claudius Röllin – set out to offer everyone in Switzerland affordable web storage space and an e-mail address with an easy, intuitive user interface.

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2002

A first version of the browser later known as Firefox is launched

Icon illustrating digital storage of information

For the first time, more information is stored digitally than analog worldwide

2003

From Geneva to Glattbrugg: a new home for our infrastructure

Only two years after the formation of Hostpoint, the racks at the server center in Geneva are at full capacity. There are servers everywhere! At the same time, the company continues to expand, professionalize and upgrade its infrastructure. In a meticulously planned operation, the servers were driven overnight in minivans from Geneva to their new home: the Interxion server center in Glattbrugg in the canton of Zurich. With their own server rooms, redundant connectivity, separate fire protection zones and biometric access controls, the Hostpoint servers’ new site is extremely secure.

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Apple creates its Safari web browser

WordPress, initially designed as a blogging platform, goes live

2004

Mark Zuckerberg and some of his fellow college students form Facebook

Google launches Gmail on April 1; many think it is an April Fool’s joke

Website creation with "web-o-mat" in three easy steps

Easily creating your own website? The web-o-mat makes it possible

Everyone can be their own webmaster now! Thanks to Hostpoint’s new web-o-mat, individuals and companies can easily design, create and manage their own websites now. The launch of the web-o-mat is accompanied by a sassy advertising campaign that underscores the grand ambitions of the young hosting provider. It is Hostpoint’s first milestone in the Swiss internet landscape. And success follows on its heels: in 2004, the company doubles its turnover from CHF 1.5 million to CHF 3 million!

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2005

A Hostpoint founder in front of old computer monitor

Your own domain with .ch, .com or .it? Hostpoint does it all

Only four years after being established, Hostpoint is already managing 40,000 domains. It has become Switzerland’s largest web hosting provider. The change from the GmbH (LLC) format to an AG (PLC) is a logical step toward further growth. At the same time, Hostpoint massively expands its portfolio of available extensions (top-level domains). With more than 220 top-level domains, customers are spoiled for choice.

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The first video is published on YouTube

The online map service Google Maps goes live

2006

Julian Assange launches the whistleblowing platform WikiLeaks

The short-message service Twitter begins its conquest

2007

Hostpoint Control Panel operated by different hands

In-house Hostpoint Control Panel sets new standards

A product is only as good as the software that runs it. With its new control panel, Hostpoint aims to offer its customers a more comfortable, intuitive software for managing their hosting service. Some elements of the user interface were already home-made to begin with. Now, the entire panel receives a makeover – with everything “made in-house” and “made in Switzerland”, of course.

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Shaking hands to represent the conclusion of a contract

Hostpoint makes its mark by taking care of Sunrise’s private hosting customers

As the largest provider in the Swiss hosting market, Hostpoint takes over the web hosting business for private customers of the Swiss telecommunications provider Sunrise. This move allows thousands of Swiss internet users to benefit from the best hosting in Switzerland.

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The first iPhone is presented to the world. It kick-starts the rise of mobile internet use.

2008

Various icons to illustrate the functions of Open-Xchange

Open-Xchange enables customers to also manage their work through Hostpoint

Adding to the website and server administration services, Hostpoint Open-Xchange lets customers manage their team communication and collaboration more efficiently. The software, which changed its name to Cloud Office in 2014, combines e-mail, calendar, contact and task management functions with an innovative document management system in an integrated application. With its launch, Hostpoint offers genuine value to small and medium-sized businesses in particular. Once again, it sets a milestone on the Swiss internet services market.

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Google launches its Chrome web browser

Group of support employees from Hostpoint

More than half of Hostpoint employees work in support

Hostpoint outdoes itself in its 2008 recruitment drive: the number of support employees doubles. For the first time, there are more employees in Customer Care than in all other divisions combined. Personal, individual, competent customer support has always been important to Hostpoint. The increase in staff numbers intensifies this focus.

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The first Android mobile phones are launched

2009

Satoshi Nakamoto introduces the cryptocurrency Bitcoin

WhatsApp revolutionizes the exchange of short messages

2010

Hostpoint founder with server hardware in his hands

Nothing left to chance: Hostpoint now offers managed servers

Anyone relying on excellent availability, performance and security of their website now has a real alternative to conventional shared hosting: the new Hostpoint Managed Servers. High-availability storage clusters store web and e-mail data alongside the service level agreement. Platinum support included!

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Apple presents its new iPad and kick-starts the tablet boom

The Instagram and Pinterest platforms are launched

2011

Ipv4 addresses are nearly exhausted, and IPv6 becomes more widespread

Two sites and webshop customers hold up tablets and show their websites

A new generation out of the cloud: website builder and e-commerce for all

Want to put together your own website? The new Hostpoint Sites service makes it a piece of cake. Equipped with countless templates and widgets, the website kit is aimed primarily at individuals, associations and small or medium-sized companies who wish to launch their own website with minimal experience. At the same time, Hostpoint launches its own e-commerce solution called Webshops. Auch hier gilt: It is another web tool based in the cloud. Anyone wishing to sell their products online can do so with Webshops.

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2012

Facebook takes over Instagram and registers over a billion users

Icon representing one trillion USD e-commerce sales worldwide

For the first time, the value of online transactions exceeds more than a trillion USD

2013

Hostpoint is the first Swiss registrar with ICANN accreditation

Hostpoint is the first web hosting provider in Switzerland to be accredited by the ICANN internet administration authority. The strict, multi-stage audit certifies that Hostpoint is a provider with a high level of security and dependability when it comes to the administration of domain names. In the same year, Hostpoint’s annual turnover exceeds the magical figure of CHF 10 million for the first time.

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Eye with American flag to represent surveillance

Whistleblower Edward Snowden exposes NSA surveillance

2014

We present rankingCoach, our clever SEO tool for private individuals

The buzzword “search engine optimization” is sweeping SMEs and private households. Anyone who presents themselves online wants to be found. Hostpoint responds to this need by launching rankingCoach, a smart, cost-efficient and professional SEO solution. Thanks to rankingCoach, anyone can optimize their website without having to pay for expensive SEO agencies.

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Young man in sporty clothes with a whistle

Hostpoint now also enables IPv6 for its customers

IPv6, the Internet Protocol Version 6, has been an important topic for quite some time. It was created as a solution to the increasing scarcity of traditional IP addresses. The Hostpoint website, for example, has been available on Ipv6 as well as IPv4 since 2011. Now, Hostpoint customers can activate IPv6 for their own websites, too. With this step, Hostpoint completes one of its most important technological transitions.

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Icon representing one billion internet hosts

The number of internet hosts crosses one billion

2015

A man points to .ch domain in front of two playing children in the background

Welcome! Thousands of SWITCH customers change to Hostpoint

The Federal Office of Communications orders the Swiss registry SWITCH to discontinue its service for end customers with .ch domains. The reason behind this change is Switzerland’s new “Ordinance on Internet Domains”. Many of SWITCH’s domain customers find a new home in Hostpoint. In the same year, Hostpoint begins to register .swiss domain names, an exclusive top-level domain that is available exclusively to companies and organizations from Switzerland.

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Alphabet is founded as Google’s holding company

Index finger of two hands pointing at representation of a padlock

The world’s first free SSL certificates

A global innovation from Rapperswil: Hostpoint customers can now obtain a free SSL certificate for each domain they own. This technology effectively encrypts data flows to and from the websites. Customers thereby benefit from greater security for their sites. With its FreeSSL initiative, Hostpoint sets yet another milestone and makes an important contribution to internet security.

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Edge replaces Internet Explorer as Microsoft’s standard browser

2016

First Hostpoint apprentice and his trainer give the thumbs up

Hostpoint becomes a professional training place and hires its first trainee

Fifteen-year-old Maurin Ludwig, a budding business IT specialist, becomes Hostpoint’s first trainee. Training young people is a way of giving back to society. As the market leader in the web hosting sector and an established IT company, Hostpoint wishes to contribute to Switzerland’s dual education system.

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2017

Entrance area of the new Hostpoint offices

Relocation and upgrade: the new Hostpoint offices are in a class of their own

Hostpoint moves to new office facilities to give its employees an inspiring oasis of well-being and productivity. Besides various quiet spaces and an in-house bar, the new offices have a lot more space than the old building in the St. Dionys district of Jona. In the same year, the two co-founders Markus Gebert and Claudius Röllin buy back all Hostpoint shares in equal amounts, making the company fully owner-managed.

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The WannaCry virus attacks computers all over the world

Icon representing high internet usage in Switzerland

The Federal Office of Statistics reports internet use in Switzerland is over 90%

2018

Growing plant and a rising growth curve in the background and the sales figure of 20 million

CHF 20 million in turnover and more than half a million domains

Hostpoint continues to record strong growth. Switzerland’s largest web hosting provider increases its turnover by 12% and crosses CHF 20 million. Within only two years, the company has increased its turnover by CHF 4 million. It now manages more than half a million domains for the first time – yet another milestone!

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The data analysis company Cambridge Analytica closes operations

The Swiss ICT associations Swico and Simsa merge

2019

Icon of SSD against the background of a server

Managed Flex Servers for a virtualized future

Thanks to Hostpoint’s new Managed Flex Servers, Swiss SMEs and agencies managing their own websites now benefit from greater flexibility, an infrastructure optimized for the integration of new technologies, and maximum website stability and availability.

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Two Hostpoint support employees in front of the illustration of a server

Hostpoint makes a significant investment in renewed network infrastructure

Hostpoint invests in the maintenance and expansion of its infrastructure every year, but rarely were so many resources directed towards an infrastructure project as in 2019. In a complete renewal of the network, system engineers replaced the hierarchical network topology with a flat architecture. All network points are now connected to each other via a maximum of three “hops”, and the backbone of the network is working with triple redundancy and 30 times the bandwidth. The gradual expansion, modification and removal of features during live operation was particularly challenging.

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2020

DNSSEC icon against the background of a mountain landscape

Free video conferences on secure Swiss servers

During the coronavirus pandemic, Hostpoint is forced to make the switch to working from home at very short notice. It implements its own video conference solution, Meet, to keep communication and collaboration flowing. Soon after, it is made available to the public for free and without restrictions. Switzerland’s largest internet provider has thereby added one more field to its extensive portfolio of services.

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Young woman waves at camera for the purpose of showing video conference

A bit more security online thanks to DNSSEC and DANE

Hostpoint now supports domain signing with the DNSSEC security standard and the DANE network protocol. Domains that are equipped with these additional functions increase the security of communication and data traffic online. By enabling DANE and DNSSEC support for its domains, Hostpoint once again makes an important contribution to better security on the internet.

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Icon representing increased internet usage during Corona pandemic

Internet use increases by 30% during the coronavirus pandemic

2021

Facebook is renamed and is now called Meta Platforms.

Icon for symbolic representation of Web3 and Blockchain.

Web3 and blockchain technologies reach great popularity.

The two Hostpoint owners in the new offices down a hallway

20 years at the service of Switzerland – and still as sprightly as ever

Time flies! Twenty years of Hostpoint history are behind us. What began as a tech start-up from Rapperswil has matured into an established IT service provider, clear market leader and attractive employer. It has grown continuously while staying down to earth and close to its roots. At its heart, the Hostpoint culture has never changed. It is still exactly what it was twenty years ago, when the company was born in the childhood bedroom of one of its founders.

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2022

Support is expanding: we now take calls on weekends, too!

You’re having a quick work session on your website on Sunday afternoon – and then a question pops up. In this scenario, the only option for Hostpoint customers used to be contacting support by email or via the contact form. Starting January 2022, however, Hostpoint becomes the first Swiss web hosting provider to offer tech support by phone on weekends. That means customers can contact Hostpoint support by phone, email, WhatsApp, Skype and contact form seven days a week, from 8 am to 6 pm.

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Magical milestone reached: more than 1 million managed domains

We’ve worked on it for a long time and now we’ve done it! Hostpoint has reached the “magical” milestone of one million managed domains. This success underscores Hostpoint’s position as Switzerland’s leading domain registrar and internet service provider. And it shows that domains can find a good home with Hostpoint. Our domain hosting infrastructure is designed to meet the highest standards in terms of security, availability and performance.

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Elon Musk acquires Twitter for 44.2 billion euros

2023

Hostpoint launches new e-mail services with E-mail & Cloud Office

We’ve always had a lot of e-mail customers. But since January 2023, customers have been able to set up their own e-mail address without web hosting. The new E-mail & Cloud Office services are aimed primarily at SMEs, start-ups and private individuals and offer a personalized e-mail address with a custom domain name as well as extensive collaboration features. A calendar, an address book, generous Drive storage space, shareable documents and even a free migration service for the old e-mail account are included!

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