In 2010?

2010, for Gandi, was of course our 10th anniversary, during which we rewarded are most loyal customers with 55,000 free domain names, either for their own use, or for their friends or acquaintances. Given that our success rests solely in your hands and based on your recommendations, we opted to use this means to hand out these gifts, and it proved to be immensely successful … as well as a nice demonstration of our hosting platform

It was also the year in which we passed the one millionth domain name managed through Gandi (and sent one of our customers on a week's vacation in the Maldives ;))…

We started off the year with the release of Gandi V3 : new colours, and a new interface. We also had our fair share of outages and hiccups of course, but our hosting platform was continually upgraded and improved throughout the year, and we have to date seen more than 42,000 servers created.

We additionally opened our new offices and data centre in the United States, partly to take advantage of the market on the other side of the pond, but also and above all to better serve our customers on the American continent as well as extending the available hours to support our customers!

During the course of 2010 we have added 25 new domain extensions to our portfolio, welcomed 9 new members of staff, and (perhaps equally as important) managed to snarf through several hundred kilos of coffee beans !

So, What's in Store for 2011?

Yup, of course we have a very detailed roadmap, along with a precise idea of what we need to accomplish, clearly defined and time-bound objectives, and so forth. But we know full well from experience that very often the cumulative effect of little things, emergencies, new opportunities, may sometimes have a consequence on this roadmap and that in order to maintain the timelines some things have to be re-prioritised… nothing new in the world of tech companies, but equally the case for any dynamic business.

Nevertheless, we can give you a sneak peek at some of what is in store on this precious roadmap, not really to dangle the proverbial carrot, but simply to let you see what is being and will be developed over the course of the next year.

Be advised that even though our development team has its "specialist" domain name section, as well as its alter-ego for hosting, in 2011 Gandi Domain Names will be back with a vengeance! Expect a new backend (the nuts and bolts of the system), the construction of which actually began last June. Although the bulk of the work is for now still invisible from outside, certain of the processes already show signs of increased speed, simplicity and efficiency.

The first process to have recently come up to bat on the new backend is the domain transfer system, and "on deck" is domain renewal. We estimate that this work will be completed by the end of the first half or 2011.

Of course throughout the year, we will continue to introduce new domain extensions for which we are already accredited (mx, dk, so, nf, ki, no, af, pe, ag, lc, fi, and coop), and will become accredited for still others (ca, co.nz, ie, gr, si, ee, au…).

Another important revamp underway concerns the billing process. Our current billing platform is starting to show signs of age, dating back to Gandi V2, and after several patches along the way it has become less flexible and less adapted to our dynamic evolution. This renovation project will be spread over the course of the year.

We are also working on the "Corporate Services" activities, with dedicated customer managers and new associated products being implemented.

For hosting, the projects that we have already announced (load balancing, snapshot, optional bandwidth, etc.) will obviously be continued by the team, and even though this is a bit of a tease, the second half of the year will not be without a few nice surprises!

In any case we remain, as always, attentive to your feedback and comments, which continue to make up significant portions of our development plan. Even if we simply do not have the time to validate and sort your numerous suggestions on the Domain Name and Hosting wishlists, we do of course read them attentively and gain inspiration from them!!

Once again, the entire Gandi team wishes you a happy and prosperous new year for 2011, and may it be as exciting and fulfilling for you as it seems to be for us!