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Interview with Christopher Faulkner CEO, C I Host By Staff Writer C I Host has been springing up on the radar-map lately with several interesting announcements. We recently sat-down with Christopher Faulkner, CEO of C I Host, to get an update. HostIndex.com -- C I Host just achieved the 100,000-client milestone making your company one of the largest shared hosting providers around. To what do you attribute achieving this success and how did C I Host celebrate it? Christopher Faulkner -- Word of mouth is one of the main ways we build our client base. And signing our 100,000th client was an incredibly exciting moment. Our target market is 18 to 35 year old men who own or make the IT decisions for small to medium sized companies. So we've done a few things to reach that market. We put our name on Evander Holyfield's boxing trunks for his heavyweight fight against Lennox Lewis and sponsored the return of Howard Stern to a Dallas radio station. But beyond that, we simply provide an exceptionally good product at a reasonable price that any small or medium-sized business can afford. In fact, outsourcing web hosting with us saves companies money - an average of $118,000 a year. Hiring us frees up their resources - human and financial - to grow their company. We have a strong network that places data on different servers to protect from hacker and DoS attacks. We have 24-7, integrated customer service backed up by an aggressive quality assurance program. And we have developed strategic alliances to offer our clients the absolute best in Internet tools and solutions. It would be hard for a small or medium sized company to compete with that. HostIndex.com -- In May, C I Host made some significant announcements surrounding your wireless initiatives at the Communications Solutions Spring Expo in Washington, D.C. Could you detail how you are enabling "anywhere access" for C I Host clients? Are there any planned expansions of this wireless capability in the near future? <%getBannerByGroup("bottom_main")%> Christopher Faulkner -- By connecting to the site from their cell phones or handheld computers or other wireless devices, clients can handle all of their website maintenance, receive technical support, check their email, chat with an accounting representative about billing or order new services - from where ever they may be. We built our wireless website using WML, or Wireless Markup Language. It's an offshoot of XML, the Extensible MarkUp Language that has flexibility that HTML lacks. All forms of XML have a human-understandable, machine readable syntax that allows people in different disciplines to tailor their tags to fit what they are doing - whether that is translating ancient Irish manuscripts, writing specs for the stealth bomber, or creating a website that can be access by wireless devices such as cell phones, pagers or Blackberries. In the case of WML, the language is scaled down and the tags are developed to take into account the small display size, small memory resources, optional keyboards and unique network characteristics - such as low-bandwidth and high latency - that make it impossible for wireless devices to properly display pages created with HTML. Since we took our website wireless, we have also given our clients the wireless ability to send and receive email messages, delete messages and look up contact information in their address books and add new information - all included for each domain in our regular price. It's called WAP:Mail and it runs on the new software that Oracle released in May. Analysts are saying that this may be what it takes to jumpstart the wireless Internet in the U.S., and I agree with them. This means that a businessman or businesswoman out in the field can continue to work without having to find a place to connect their laptop to the Internet. Our clients need instant access, 24 hours a day, from where ever they may be, and this will make that possible. It will keep our clients ahead of the wave of the growing wireless industry. HostIndex.com -- At 24, your business career has already met with much success. How do you handle the pressures of growing your company while building your own experiences in the business world? How do you face the time challenges of juggling business versus personal commitments? Christopher Faulkner -- Well, you know, I've been in the business world for about ten years now. So even though my birthdays say I'm 24, all of this is not new to me. Which is not to say that it isn't exciting and demanding - it definitely is. I'm always working hard, at least 15 to 18 hours a day. And always learning, checking out the competition and looking for ways to help C I Host provide even better services to its clients and grow bigger and better. HostIndex.com -- Delta Airlines recently ran a feature on your company during its in-flight entertainment. Could you describe the publicity you have achieved through this medium? (Do you fly Delta? If so, have you had any interesting situations where people have recognized you onboard due to the TV segment?) Christopher Faulkner -- We've had a great deal of good results from being on the Delta in-flight entertainment and also from features on SkyRadio. Both hit much of our target market because they reach business people on flights. And yes, I do fly Delta. I was on a Delta flight recently when the spot ran. A couple of people sitting next to me recognized me and started asking me questions. I ended up selling their business a "Business in a Box" package. HostIndex.com -- While many hosting companies have brought about reseller programs, fewer have fully functioning agent programs. Could you describe your recently launched efforts in this area and how both customers and resellers have responded to it? Christopher Faulkner -- Sure. We have had a reseller program since 1996 and we are constantly upgrading it. Most recently we expanded our program to include agents who will be paid for referring web sites to C I Host and will be able to sell C I Host's entire portfolio of Internet and web hosting products and services. Our resellers had been asking for a program like this for some time. The best part about it is that these agents do not have to be C I Host clients. They can just be independent contractors, out selling our services and getting paid for it. It's perfect for ISPs, cable, telecommunication, software, web hosting, and e-commerce companies who want to expand their portfolio of services and increase their monthly revenues immediately. Each agent receives a one-time commission depending on the type of service they sell. The commissions range from $15 for selling a shared hosting package to $300 for selling a dedicated connectivity package. Each agent is assigned a unique agent identifier that they give to their customers. Once a sale is completed with that agent's ID, the agent receives immediate credit. Our agents receive aggressive, industry-leading commissions, complete training on all services and product offerings, and complete back-end user support. It streamlines their costs and maximizes their profits. We provide all the technical support in a completely transparent manner. Our customer care representatives answer the phone using their company's name. It's a perfect revenue stream for anyone. HostIndex.com -- Thank you for your time, best wishes for continued success. Christopher Faulkner -- Thank you for this wonderful opportunity. Second Interview with Christopher Faulkner First Interview with Christopher Faulkner