Swiss Web Host Webland Faces Existential Crisis After Two-Week Outage
Teh Swiss web hosting provider Webland has been grappling with a near-total outage for the past two weeks, leaving hundreds of businesses and organizations without access to critical websites and email services. The prolonged disruption has sparked concerns about the company’s future, especially as its parent company reportedly prepares for a sale.
The initial problems surfaced on november 19th.The company attributed the initial problems to a failure within its storage system, announcing plans to replace a “faulty component” that same night. Though, efforts to restore stability proved unsuccessful, and the issues persisted and even escalated through the following days.
The situation at Webland stands in contrast to recent, widely publicized outages at larger providers like Amazon Web Services.While those incidents garnered headlines, the problems with Webland have dragged on for a significantly longer period, compounding the impact on its customers.
Webland relies on the external data center of Industrielle werke basel (IWB) for its infrastructure, rather than operating its own facility. IWB provides a range of services, including electricity, water, and telecommunications, alongside colocation and server housing. The company also utilizes a backup data center operated by Swiss energy supplier primeo Energie in Münchenstein,connected to its primary data center via redundant 10 gigabit fiber optic connections.
For days, webland’s status page offered a stream of updates, detailing ongoing efforts to address the crisis. Reports indicated issues with new NAS systems, slow data migration, and overheating hardware controllers. While some websites and databases have been brought back online, restoring database servers and mail services remains a priority. “The reports on the status website are similar day after day,” according to sources familiar with the situation. webland has consistently maintained that the issue stems from a hardware defect, and not a security incident.
The impact of the outage has been substantial. According to reports in Swiss media, hundreds of companies and organizations have been affected, with small business owners particularly vulnerable. Many are facing important disruptions to their operations, especially during a critical sales period at the end of the year. Numerous customers are now actively seeking alternative hosting and mail providers.Experts are advising businesses to prioritize robust web service infrastructure and develop contingency plans – a “Plan B” – to mitigate future disruptions.
Webland, which claims to employ “15 highly qualified employees,” describes itself as “one of the leading Internet service providers in Switzerland” and manages approximately 75,000 domains. However, the company does not disclose its total customer base. Many observers believe the current crisis poses an existential threat to Webland, as a prolonged outage of this nature severely damages customer trust.
Founded in 1998, Webland was acquired in December 2021 by Miss Group, an international provider of digital solutions and web hosting services based in Stockholm, Sweden. Miss Group, founded by Swedish entrepreneur Mattias Kaneteg, later acquired another Swiss web host, Hoststar, which boasts around 80,000 customers. Following these acquisitions, Miss Group announced a combined total of 100,000 Swiss customers.
Complicating matters, the majority of Miss Group itself has been taken over by Perwyn, a British private equity investor. Kaneteg currently holds a shareholder position at Webland but claims to have no involvement in day-to-day operations, as he stated in an interview with heise online.Though, he remains listed as Chairman of the Board of Directors. kaneteg directs inquiries to Jimmie Eriksson, Miss Group’s COO, who reiterates facts already available on Webland’s status page. Attempts to reach Webland directly via telephone and email have reportedly gone unanswered.
Miss Group has a reputation for aggressive expansion through acquisitions, becoming one of the largest hosting players in Europe with over 30 brands and more than 700,000 customers worldwide. Reports indicate that Miss Group is currently preparing for a potential sale, a move that woudl represent a significant event in the hosting industry. When questioned by heise online, Kaneteg offered an ambiguous response, stating that the company remains owned by Perwyn as the majority stakeholder.
The ongoing crisis at Webland underscores the critical importance of reliable hosting infrastructure and robust disaster recovery planning for businesses of all sizes. the situation serves as a stark reminder that even established providers can face unforeseen challenges, and that proactive preparation is essential to minimize disruption and protect vital online services.
