Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : VPS Hosting : JVDS/VPSColo sold to Fortress ITX, emails exposed

[cockmaster]

FortressITX/DedicatedNOW acquires leading VPS company JVDS/VPSColo

Clifton, New Jersey, March 4, 2005 - FortressITX today announced that its sister company JVDS (US) has acquired the assets of JVDS/VPSColo (UK) owned by Rus Foster. The addition of JVDS to our product offerings will enable us offer more robust services to our DedicatedNOW line and expand on the services and technology offered by JVDS" said Jason Silverglate CEO of FortressITX. JVDS clients can expect a lot of changes to look forward to, including more robust hardware, additional value added services, advanced web-based management tools, and Virtuozzo based VPS's.

Previous JVDS/VPSColo owner Rus Foster is excited about this deal. "Fortress ITX/ Dedicated Now was the logical choice to help push JVDS/VPSColo to the next level. With proven track records in the industry this will provide customers with higher levels of support and service. I will be personally staying on as CTO, to make sure that customers are looked after and that we make sure they stay out primary focus."

Meanwhile, all VPSColo (and perhaps JVDS?) customers got a nasty surprise today with a mass email that listed every customer's email address. I've been a loyal and mostly happy VPSColo customer for over a year, but if this is the shape of things to come, count me out. Sounds like what's happened in the past 3 months was too much for Rus & his crew to handle and he's cashing in and jumping ship while he can.

Business is business, I guess.

[rghf]

The billing issue has been taken care of internally and the person resonsible has been spoken to and it will not happen again. For the other issues which we freely admit we've had are now being fixed as we've got a stronger base to build from. I am staying on for the forseeable future to help the business and make sure that we get back to doing what we are good at which is being customer focused and providing a decent service.

Rus

[serversphere]

I got two of these notices, neither of which listed everyone's email address. Maybe they caught on and started sending out without at some point?

Hopefully this will bode well for customers, as Rus&Co were definitely taxed with the growth. At one point they gave some of the best support around so it will be hard to push "higher levels of support and service". I guess we'll see!

[jayglate]

All of the JVDS/VPSColo staff is staying onboard, and our staff is going to be augmenting their current staff, to keep the same standard of support all the JVDS/VPScolo customers have came to expect of rus and his crew.

[rghf]

There was an issue which has been sorted on a differnet email. As for growth this gives us a great place to start from and get things really going again.

Rus

[serversphere]

Hrm, I'm a VPSColo customer who just switched to JVDS. Now I feel left out since I didn't get to see all those addresses!

Glad to see all the UK folk are sticking around! Some of the best support I ever got was from you guys!

**edited to reflect change in Rus' post**

[rosary]

Doesnt sound so comfortable to hear that the CEO of a company "sold" it, and then it is promoting a new one in his signature. Bad, bad.

[rghf]

Originally posted by rosary
Doesnt sound so comfortable to hear that the CEO of a company "sold" it, and then it is promoting a new one in his signature. Bad, bad.

Fair point. I want to make sure customers know they are the main focus for myself and the new owners so I've updated my sig as appropiate. However there have been a number of ex-CEO's on WHT who have done the same and gone to form their own companies but making sure that thier old companies are still focused.

Rus

[Ankheg]

Strangely, despite having been a customer of JVDS's since 12/2003, we didn't get a copy of this infamous email at any of our addresses. If someone would like to forward us a copy (sans everybody's email addresses, natch), we'd appreciate it. I'd just email support, but I imagine they've got better things to do at the moment...

[jayglate]

The "infamous" email was only sent out to vpscolo customers who pay via cc. Not everyone. But everyone should have gotten the sale announcment email

[That Guy]

Just wondering, now that VPS Colo and JVDS are sold to Fortress, will the service be better or worse?

[PeterOnTheNet]

I wonder why we jvds clients have to learn about this from here. We should be informed, shouldn't we? There is even not a word about this on jvds website.

[rghf]

All clients were emailed and we did put up an announement on the forums at http://jvds.com/forums/index.php?showforum=2

Rus

[cockmaster]

Originally posted by klarth
Just wondering, now that VPS Colo and JVDS are sold to Fortress, will the service be better or worse?

I've had UML issues that only Rus has been able to fix (much to his credit) so if his attention is elsewhere (new company), I can't imagine Fortress having anyone near his level of expertise on the support team. I don't buy whatever honorary title they've given him.

[cockmaster]

Also, can anybody step up to the plate and tell me whether non-Fortress servers will be migrated to Fortress? I have yet to get a straight answer on that.