Today WEDOS has its 13th. Birthday. It’s been exactly 13 years since we launched our first services in our private datacenter WEDOS DC1. It’s time to take stock and look at what we did and didn’t do well.
Our thirteenth year was all about building our WEDOS Global infrastructure and presenting it at multinational conferences. Although we have only recently launched the full (paid) version, we already have several (foreign) ministries, operators of their own autonomous systems and the first financial institutions are already testing WEDOS Global Protection.
Currently, our biggest and most expensive project is being talked about abroad rather than here. However, there, especially with state institutions, we run into the problem that they want our local branch from which they would buy the solution. The expansion of WEDOS branches will be the topic of the next year.
Company
By the end of 2023 we want to decide where the new parent company WEDOS will be located. We are looking for a place where there will be a stable legal system with predictable legislation that will allow us to grow in peace. We want to focus on the growth of the company and the development of new technologies. Luxembourg looks the most attractive at the moment, where taxes are higher, but it would be worth the peace of mind. You can read the reasons for moving the WEDOS parent company out of the Czech Republic in the article Goodbye to Better Times, Prime Minister.
Introduction of payments in USD
In September 2022, we launched a US payment and billing option. Payments in USD can only be made by card through the GoPay gateway. Non-EU customers and EU customers who are subject to VAT can pay for services in USD.
The currency can be changed in the customer administration in My Account – Account Settings. The condition is a zero balance on the deposit account. In case of complications, you can write to us via the contact form.
ISO certification
At the beginning of March we successfully defended our ISO certification. Specifically, they completed ISO 9001 and 14001 re-certification and successfully defended the surveillance audit for ISO 27001, 27017 and 27018. Maintaining these certifications is not easy, and it gets harder every year as we grow, but we know it’s worth it.
ISO certifications are a guarantee that WEDOS complies with certain rules (laws, internal standards, regulations, etc.) according to a certain standard. Regular audits and re-certifications are a guarantee that the quality of the services provided does not decline. This is guaranteed by an independent authority that has checked everything really carefully.
We currently have the following ISO certifications:
Since 2011:
- ISO 9001 (Quality Management System) – ISO 9001 is an international standard that specifies the requirements for a quality management system (QMS). Organisations use the standard to demonstrate the ability to consistently deliver products and services that meet customer and applicable legislative and regulatory requirements.
- ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System) – ISO 14001 is the international standard for environmental management systems (EMS). This standard provides a framework that organisations can use to develop their own EMS. The main objective is to promote environmentally sustainable and responsible operations. I.e. proactive approach to environmental management, commitment to continuous improvement, compliance with legal and other requirements, pollution prevention, employee involvement, etc.
Since 2013:
- ISO 27001 (Information Security Management System) – ISO 27001 is the international standard for Information Security Management Systems (ISMS). This standard provides a framework for establishing, operating, monitoring, reviewing, maintaining and improving an ISMS. It aims to protect information from a wide range of threats to ensure the confidentiality, availability and integrity of information. For us, this means both software and physical security. After all, we have two private datacenters.
From 2021:
- ISO 27017 (Security controls for cloud services)
- ISO 27018 (Protection of personal information in public clouds)
ISO 27017 and ISO 27018 are both complementary standards to ISO 27001 and focus specifically on cloud services.
ISO 27017 focuses on information security management in cloud environments. This standard provides practical guidance for implementing security controls in relation to the provision and use of cloud services. It covers issues such as customer segregation in the cloud environment and provides specific guidance for both parties: cloud service providers and their customers.
ISO 27018, on the other hand, focuses on the protection of personal data in cloud services. This standard sets out a number of procedures and principles for the processing of personal data that cloud service providers must follow. This includes questions about how data is stored, how it is transmitted and how it is protected.
While ISO 27017 is more concerned with the general security aspects of cloud services, ISO 27018 is specifically focused on the protection of personal data in cloud environments.
They wrote about us
March 2023 – Ekonom.cz published an interview with our boss and founder of WEDOS Josef Grillo – Hluboka entrepreneur went out into the world to fight hackers, loading servers into oil.
May 2023 – CzechCrunch published an interview with Josef Grill, founder of WEDOS and our boss – The Hosting King of Hluboká. Servers cooled in oil, shares sold in e-shop, rejects billion-dollar offers. In it, you will learn how he built WEDOS, a few stories from behind the scenes and where WEDOS is headed. Of course, we also talked about oil cooling and WEDOS Global.
In an interview from CyberSec Forum/Expo 2023 in Poland, my colleague Vendula Králová introduced WEDOS and shared our vision for cybersecurity and web protection. In the video, he explains how our company deals with cyber attacks and how we try to protect our customers. Our infrastructure at WEDOS Global is focused not only on protection, but also on providing quality services to help your website get online.
At the ICT Spring 2023 conference in Luxembourg, we had the privilege to present our WEDOS Global infrastructure and discuss important topics such as cybersecurity, BGP Anycast and reverse proxy. Our Sales and Marketing Director Vendula Králová shared our experience and explained how we use these technologies to protect our clients.
The CZ.NIC association published an analysis of mail services on the .cz domain and WEDOS was ranked highest. According to the report, there are more than 197 thousand .cz domains with MX records (the domain has a record that allows e-mail delivery over the Internet). This is 13.29% of all .cz domains with an MX record. The others in the ranking have less than 9%.
According to this report, WEDOS is the leader in the number of domains with active email boxes.
Datacentres
Our own private datacentres are something that sets us apart from the competition and gives us a big advantage. We designed and built them ourselves, so we know literally every cable. We don’t make them pretty, we make them as efficient, safe and economical as possible.
WEDOS DC1 is traditionally an air-cooled datacentre where the emphasis is on redundancy and cost-effective solutions. We use free cooling for most of the year, which we designed ourselves back when there was no one who could do it. The datacenter has undergone several upgrades to improve efficiency and redundancy.
The WEDOS DC2 is a world unique. Everything is built from the start so that the servers can be cooled in an oil bath and the waste heat can be reused. From the very beginning, we have been counting on the official TIER IV Operational Sustainability certification, which is designed for datacentres where the first priority is total fault tolerance, which is guaranteed by the redundancy of all parts of the infrastructure. Everything must not only be fail-safe, but also serviceable during full operation. However, the certification is dragging on as we keep redesigning and improving things.
WEDOS DC3 was planned as a campus of buildings where we will have 2 traditional air cooled datacenters, 2 office buildings and 1 large warehouse. After a long time, we have received all the necessary building permits for the entire construction, but the Regional Directorate of Transport decided to “cut” a piece of land for the highway, which we understand and respect. However, by reducing the size of the site, the permitted buildable area has also been reduced, which means that we have to reduce the size of the buildings. So that means more rounds that we don’t want to get into…
WEDOS DC1 “Bunker”
Our first data centre, WEDOS DC1, is modern and efficient. No major adjustments have been made in the last year. What we are tuning are the air conditioners, where we are constantly trying to reduce the noise level so as not to disturb the neighbours. After all, Hluboká nad Vltavou is a very quiet town.
In recent months we have also been working on what to do with the older servers and how to use the remaining space in DC1. We shall see what the coming months bring.
As part of our longer-term plans, we considered “adding” another floor for offices. Our numbers are growing and in the last year we have been successful in attracting both developers and new colleagues for sales positions. The offices in DC2 are slowly filling up, so we have to find more space.
WEDOS DC2 “Underground”
In WEDOS DC2 we have a large storage area, so we prepare servers for sending abroad. With HPE Moonshot 1500 technology, we can easily set up 45 servers and 2 switches to plug it in very easily in the target datacenter. As a result, it costs a fraction of what it would cost to set up a new site and install 45 servers and link them properly.
During 2023, the number of oil vans and servers that are loaded in oil has grown. We currently have 4 tubs ready, 4 with oil. A total of 360 servers in oil. Of these, 90 servers are running live services, specifically one of the WEDOS Global sites.
On April 24, 2023, we installed two large evaporators for our second WEDOS DC2 datacenter. This is a back-up solution in case we are unable to cool the water that removes heat from the oil baths in the municipal swimming pool, or if we cannot use this cooling option (for example due to a service outage).
The evaporators were delivered by truck and we placed one in front of the building and the others on the roof. Like everything in DC2, the evaporators must be redundant. If one does not go, the other must fully replace him. But for now we don’t need them yet, because there aren’t that many servers in DC2.
WEDOS DC3 “Kravín”
Project currently on hold.
Technology
Oil cooling
We currently have a total of 4 tubs of oil in DC2. There are 90 physical servers in each, for a total of 360 physical servers. Development and testing projects are underway on most of them. One row is reserved for WEDOS Global Protection, or one point/location. Everything has been running smoothly since launch.
In the meantime, we are testing the drowning of the UPS in oil see. HUPS project – Introduction and some history of WEDOS oil cooling.
Servers and other hardware
HPE Moonshot 1500
The HPE Moonshot 1500 is a server chassis designed to optimize space and power in data centers, especially for demanding cloud applications. This chassis includes capacity for up to 45 physical servers, 2 network switches, 2 network cards, 4 power supplies and 5 dual-rotor cooling fans.
Imagine the time and physical demands of installing 45 individual servers and two switches. With the Moonshot 1500, you can easily deploy the entire system in a standard rack, eliminating the need for extensive cabling and hours of manual configuration.
The Moonshot 1500 was designed with high availability and durability in mind. An example is a redundant cooling system, where each fan has two rotors and the system remains functional even if one of them fails. In terms of power, although the chassis contains four power supplies, the system can run on just two. In extreme situations, e.g. during a power crisis, Moonshot can run on a single power supply in standby mode, when the processors are underclocked to reduce power consumption.
In our installation, we mainly use HPE ProLiant m710x servers equipped with Intel E3-1585Lv5 processors clocked at 3 GHz (up to 3.7 GHz in turbo mode) and 64 GB of DDR4 RAM. Each of these cartridges is also equipped with 4 NVMe SSDs for fast storage.
However, we are also testing newer servers that will allow us to use up to 2x more RAM, which could shift some of the limitations for VPS ON and WEDOS Cloud.
As part of our WEDOS Global project, we have invested in dozens of HPE Moonshots. Thanks to this, we have been able to build our infrastructure very quickly. Using standard servers, it wouldn’t be nearly as fast. Moreover, it would be much more expensive (we would have to send colleagues all over the world to install it) and also operationally.
With modified firmware from Hewlett Packard Enterprise developers, HPE Moonshot 1500s are customized to cool in our oil baths, increasing their efficiency and reducing cooling costs. In our DC2 data centre, all oil baths are designed specifically for this purpose.
As a result, the HPE Moonshot 1500 is a revolutionary solution for data centers looking for highly efficient, resilient and flexible servers for modern cloud applications.
We currently have about 70 HPE Moonshots and another 30 on order. According to Hewlett Packard Enterprise, we operate one of the largest installations in the world.
HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage 8450
The majority of our customer services now store data on the state-of-the-art HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage 8450.
The HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage 8450 is a sophisticated storage solution that implements artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithmic techniques to optimize performance and predictively analyze potential problems. In a theoretical environment, this platform is capable of achieving up to 3 million input/output operations per second (IOPS) with a response time of less than 1 ms. Hewlett Packard Enterprise provides a 99.9999% data availability guarantee on this model, demonstrating an extreme level of reliability.
Capacity-wise, this system can expand its storage capacity up to 80 petabytes (PB) within a single configurable system.
We currently have 16 of these repositories in operation plus 1 in testing. It is certainly one of the largest (or the largest) installations in the Czech Republic.
We operate all 3PAR repositories in copy, i.e. in online remote copy mode (fully synchronous replication). Each entry is made on 2 fields simultaneously. So, in theory, we have an online copy of the data on the second field. The copy is currently in the same datacenter, but a move to a second datacenter is planned. We now perform regular snapshots and plan to backup to a remote location (we are working with HPE on this).
In a practical deployment in our operational environment, we achieved performance just under 1 million IOPs. What sets HPE 3PAR apart from previous solutions, however, is its ability to handle shock loads efficiently. To illustrate, in the past, if multiple customers ran disk-intensive scripts on the same server simultaneously (for example, automatic updates to popular content management systems), it caused the server to slow down and generated alerts on our monitoring. Similar performance fluctuations could also be observed in large-scale cyber-attacks.
According to internal measurements and monitoring of customer satisfaction and service cancellations, we found that after deploying HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage, “Web Hosting Speed” dropped noticeably as a reason for leaving.
We are currently working with developers from Hewlett Packard Enterprise on the possibility of using HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage for large-scale backup with ransomware protection.
HPE ProLiant RL300 Gen11 with ARM processors
At the beginning of March 2023, the HPE ProLiant RL300 Gen11 server with the M128-30 processor arrived from HPE to our second datacenter WEDOS DC 2 for testing and we were one of the first in the Czech Republic who got the opportunity to test it.
It’s the processor that’s interesting. The full name is Ampere Altra Max M128-30, designed by Ampere Computing LLC. It is specifically designed for demanding cloud solutions. In the name of M128-30 there are also parameters. 128 is the number of cores and 30 is the frequency of 3.0 GHz. There is one thread per core. The architecture is ARM.
At first glance, it seems ideal for VPS or web hosting, where customers share computing power. A lot of computing power on one server looks good both economically and environmentally.
However, in our experience, the problem is not when things work, but when unexpected situations arise. Restarts, failures, and unplanned downtime on a server with a lot of customers are challenging. That’s why we prefer “smaller” servers, where there is less concentration of customers and it is easier to work with them.
We are testing the new HPE ProLiant RL300 Gen11 with ARM processors where the outage does not bother us, and that is WEDOS Global. If the whole site drops out, the next closest site will take over. Furthermore, individual servers in the site have different tasks that can be taken over immediately by another server without the customer feeling any significant impact. For example, detection and cleaning of cyber attacks or CDNs. It doesn’t matter which server is currently doing it, and which one needs to take the time to reboot.
A part of WEDOS Global services in one location in the Czech Republic has been running on ARM processors as a test run since about mid-July and so far we are very satisfied.
ARM processors offer a lot of performance at a good price. Specifically, servers such as the HPE ProLiant RL300 Gen11 with large disks could be imagined as the basis for a full-fledged CDN for WEDOS Global. So far, we only offer a web CDN (web pages, images, css, javascript, etc.), where the cache is mainly used as a form of protection.
Arista switches
We have a good experience with Arista switches and use them in key points of our network. Next, everything must go 100 Gbps. They are also a key element of some of our DDoS protections.
As WEDOS Global builds out, we need to start connecting to IXP networks in individual locations and be able to scale these connections to 100 Gbps. That’s why we chose the Arista 7280TR-48C6. This device is one of the top switches on the market and is designed to meet the demands of high traffic networks.
One of the key aspects of this switch is its port configuration: 48 ports at 10 Gbps and 6 ports at 100 Gbps. To illustrate: if we were to transfer a 10 GB movie file over a 10 Gbps port, it would take about 8 seconds. On a 100 Gbps port, the same file would be transferred in less than a second.
The Arista switches are also the basis for the internal network and the WEDOS Cloud. We use Arista DCS-7050QX-32S. Each has 32 ports at 40 Gbps. The switch has a capacity of 2.56 Tb/s and 1.44 billion packets per second, all with a response time of 550 ns. In case of problems, it also allows hot-swap of resources. This series of switches is designed for performance-first datacenters, with future smart infrastructure scaling in mind.
WEDOS Global
WEDOS Global is the name of our infrastructure spanning across the globe and including thousands of our own physical servers located in dozens of locations. Each of these sites is geographically selected to effectively serve its immediate surroundings and thus provide fast and efficient service to the region.
In addition, to increase efficiency, we are gradually setting up “interconnections” or peering in the localities. These are the direct connections that WEDOS Global establishes with key networks and Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). These links ensure that response time is minimized and data transfer speeds are maximized, allowing data to travel in the most efficient manner.
We then build other services on top of the infrastructure, such as WEDOS Global Protection, which serves as a kind of intermediary between your website and its visitors, providing cyber protection, increasing speed and allowing you to use the latest technology without having to change your hosting provider. Basically, all you have to do is point your domain to our DNS.
Building WEDOS Global
We have been building the WEDOS Global infrastructure since the beginning of 2022. In that time we have 24 active sites. There are at least 45 physical servers and 2 switches in each. In total, there are more than 1500 physical servers with a capacity of over 2.5 Tbps.
We’ve gotten to the point where we’re not going to build more sites as aggressively and we need to focus more on connecting to local IXPs. This will make WEDOS Global even faster.
In the following timeline you will see the key moments of WEDOS Global and WEDOS Global Protection, the first service built on WEDOS Global.
Spustili jsme lokality:
🇯🇵 Tokio
🇭🇰 Hong Kong
Spustili jsme lokalitu 🇸🇬 Singapur a 🇪🇸 Barcelona.
Přesunuli jsme lokalitu z Prahy k nám do Hluboké nad Vltavou do WEDOS DC2. Tato lokalita se tak stala první ostrou službou, která jede z olejové vany v našem „olejovém datacentru“.
Počet testerů WGP se přehoupl přes 100.
Počet chráněných webů se přehoupl přes 1000.
450 fyzických serverů posláno do 5 významných datacenter v USA.
Po více jak dvou měsících se nám podařilo dotáhnout do úspěšného konce 🇦🇺 Austrálii. V Sydney tak máme náš první australský bod.
V pátek 13. ledna přesně v 14:36 jsme spustili náš první bod v Severní Americe, konkrétně v Dallasu v 🇺🇸 USA.
Nasazení specializovaného WEDOS Global Protection WAF pro WordPress na wedos.cz. Za 7 dní zastavil 382.494 pokusů o útok a hledání zranitelností.
Ve středu 8. února 2023 jsme spustili náš první bod v Africe, konkrétně v Johannesburgu v 🇿🇦 Jihoafrické republice.
23. února jsme spustili další dva body v 🇺🇸 USA. Přes New York protekla první uživatelská data v 13:11 a přes Chicago v 16:18.
26. února počet chráněných domén WEDOS Global Protection přesáhl 2000.
27. února v 9:02 jsme spustili čtvrtý bod v 🇺🇸 USA – Atlanta.
V pondělí 6. března 2023 v 14:31 jsme spustili další bod WEDOS Global v Evropě a to v 🇧🇬 Bulharsku v Sofii.
V pondělí 13. března 2023 jsme v 20:52 spustili bod WEDOS Global v Torontu v 🇨🇦 Kanadě.
V úterý 18. dubna 2023 jsme připojili náš bod WEDOS Global v 🇧🇬 Bulharsku k Bulgarian Internet eXchange (BIX.bg), což je první a největší bulharský Internet eXchange Point (IXP), který propojuje nejvýznamnější poskytovatele konektivity v Bulharsku.
V dubnu byla aktivovány WAF s chytrými filtry pro všechny uživatele WEDOS Global Protection.
V úterý 2. května 2023 ve 14:04 jsme spustili novou lokalitu WEDOS Global v Turecku v Instanbulu se 45 fyzickými servery a konektivitou 100 Gbps.
V rámci posílení WEDOS Global v oblasti Balkánu jsme se připojili i k Balkan-IX. Zatímco BIX.bg (připojeno v dubnu 2023) nám zajistil skvělou dostupnost a odezvu především v Bulharsku, Balkan-IX lepší odezvu a dostupnost v celém regionu.
V pátek 16. června 2023 v 15:17 jsme spustili další bod WEDOS Global. Tentokrát v Mexiku, konkrétně v datacentru v hlavním městě Ciudad de México.
Dokončili jsme plugin WEDOS Global Protection pro WordPress.
31. srpna jsme spustili další důležitý propoj pro naši celosvětovou infrastrukturu WEDOS Global. V lokalitě Londýn (Anglie) jsme se propojili do LINX (London Internet Exchange).
New and planned locations
We have reached the stage where we have the “easy” sites covered. The others we would like are more difficult to obtain. Firstly, for 45 physical servers and 2 switches, which is the minimum in each location, we need at least guaranteed 100 Gbps connectivity, the possibility of further scaling, and also in a given datacenter must be able to connect to other large networks. There are legal issues, local laws and of course reasonable prices to be addressed.
Ireland (Dublin)
We want to strengthen our services in the EU. Ireland, specifically Dublin, seems like an interesting choice. We already have the servers, switches and other hardware in place and are waiting for them to hook everything up. The original plan was to have everything up and running by the end of the holiday season, but apparently we’re going to be stretched out until the end of September.
France (Paris) site reinforcement
Thanks to international conferences, interest in our solutions has increased worldwide. We have gained new major customers, including countries (not the Czech Republic, no one even talked to us about our solution, although we offered free help).
For some of these major customers, the location in France (Paris), through which much of their traffic passes, is important. We had 45 physical servers and 2 switches. In August, we decided to send additional hardware and double the capacity. We are waiting for the new servers to be connected.
For better traffic handling and faster response, we also place a high-performance switch Arista 7280TR-48C6. It contains 48 x 10G and 6 x 100G ports, allowing us to connect to other local networks. The first thing we arrange is France-IX, which is the key Internet Exchange Point (IXP) in France.
Strengthening of the Hluboká nad Vltavou site (oil)
One of the important locations that handles most of the traffic in the Czech Republic is in our WEDOS DC2 datacenter. It consists of 90 physical servers and 4 switches that are cooled in an oil bath. This is a very economical and at the same time environmentally friendly solution.
At this point we have increased the RAM on all servers. This is in preparation for testing the new functionalities that WEDOS Global provides and better and more thorough traffic analysis to find and eliminate cyber threats in real time.
Germany (Frankfurt am Main)
Although geographical proximity to Germany may not seem critical, in terms of internet connectivity and responsiveness this location plays a key role. German internet nodes are known for their high throughput and low latency, which is essential for efficient data transmission across Europe. Having servers in Germany, specifically Frankfurt am Main, means better responsiveness, more stable connections and higher service availability for our customers. Especially when we start connecting directly to other networks here.
If we want to be among the top 5 DNS operators in Europe, we can’t do it without Germany.
We have the location arranged, contracts signed, hardware ready. Just send it.
New and planned connections
Currently, WEDOS Global’s DNS is in the top 25 in the world, but if we want to be even better, constant expansion and optimization of our links is essential. With the growth of internet traffic, greater demand for our services and the introduction of new connectivity-intensive services such as CDN, it becomes crucial to ensure that our infrastructure is able to efficiently and reliably handle the increasing volume of data from around the world.
The links currently play a crucial role in achieving this goal. Direct physical connections to key nodes and providers minimizes transit hops in the network, allowing us to reduce response time and increase throughput. This is particularly important in the context of our use of BGP Anycast, a protocol that controls data routing in large networks. Anycast allows us to have multiple servers with the same IP address, but physically located in different places around the world (in individual sites). This means that when a user requests content, BGP intelligently routes that request to the nearest location, increasing the speed and reliability of the service.
However, for this system to work optimally, it is essential to have a robust and well-distributed network of links. Without these connections, our ability to route traffic efficiently using BGP Anycast would be limited. Locations are simply not enough.
Each new connection we acquire enhances our ability to quickly and efficiently deliver content to users of services built on WEDOS Global. It also gives us greater redundancy and resilience to outages. Moreover, the internet ecosystem is constantly changing and growing. New providers are coming on board and we need to find new ways to connect with them.
Currently, WEDOS Global Anycast DNS:
- TOP 25 in the world;
- TOP 10 in Europe;
- Top 30 in North America (this is an extremely competitive environment);
- We made it into the top 20 in the Australia and Oceania region;
- We made the top 20 in Asia (this region is extremely difficult because many countries have specific laws, ISPs often don’t “talk” to each other, etc.);
- We are in the top 20 in Africa.
More locations won’t move us much further. It is the connections that we need.
WEDOS Global Protection
WEDOS Global Protection is a service built on our WEDOS Global infrastructure, combining technologies and methods to optimize and secure websites and applications. The key pillars of the service are cybersecurity, website optimization, integration of the latest technologies and privacy protection.
Cybersecurity is provided through mechanisms such as protection against DDoS attacks at both L3/L4 and L7 levels, web application firewall (WAF) and reverse proxy, which ensures that the real IP address of the server is hidden. All of this helps to minimize the risks associated with cyber attacks and ensure server privacy.
Website optimization is key to achieving the best user experience. Using technologies such as CDNs, fast-response DNS servers and direct connections to important network nodes (IXPs) ensures that web content is delivered efficiently and with minimal delay.
When it comes to technology, WEDOS Global Protection is at the forefront of innovation. With native support for IPv6, secure HTTPS connections thanks to Let’s Encrypt certificates, and the implementation of HTTP/2 and planned deployment of HTTP/3 by the end of 2023, the service is ready for current and future technological challenges.
In the context of the growing need for fast and secure access to web content, WEDOS Global Protection is a key tool for those who want to stay one step ahead in the digital environment.
WordPress Protection
WordPress is by far the most popular content management system in the world, and by a wide margin. We host tens of thousands of installations on our shared web hosting.
WEDOS Global Protection offers extensive cyber protection specifically for WordPress based on WAF (Web Application Firewall) technology. Our solution effectively defends against attempts to exploit security vulnerabilities, DDoS attacks (L3/L4/L7), brute force attacks, a certain segment of comment spam, and attempts to identify potential vulnerabilities.
It’s important to point out that these unwanted activities often involve demanding queries to the WordPress core and selected plugins that don’t use caching, which can significantly drain server resources without any visible increase in traffic – as automated attacker scripts typically don’t run the JavaScript used for measurement.
When you use WEDOS Global Protection, you can rest assured that your WordPress is safe. More technical details can be found in our knowledge base: https://kb.wedos.com/cs/wedos-global/global-protection-ochrana-webu-s-wordpress/
Testing and deploying HTTP/3
In June 2023, we started testing the possibility of deploying HTTP/3 for WEDOS Global Protection users. In July 2023, we have moved on and our website is running completely on HTTP/3 purely through WEDOS Global Protection (the webserver itself cannot run HTTP/3). With WEDOS Global Protection, you will be able to use the latest technologies like HTTP/3 without your web hosting provider knowing it.
And why should you care about HTTP/3?
HTTP/3 is the latest version of the HTTP protocol, which is the basis for data transfer on the Internet and allows you to access websites.
Earlier versions of HTTP (HTTP/1 and HTTP/2) use the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to transfer packets. TCP is reliable because it ensures that all packets arrive at the right place and in the right order. But it also has drawbacks – if one packet is lost or delayed, all subsequent packets must wait until the lost packet reappears. This is called Head-of-line blocking.
HTTP/3 instead uses a newer protocol called QUIC, which was designed to overcome the head-of-line blocking problem. QUIC uses User Datagram Protocol (UDP), which does not require packets to arrive in any particular order. This means that if one packet is lost or delayed, other packets can continue without waiting.
The benefits of HTTP/3 include:
– Better performance on unstable networks: HTTP/3 can transfer data more efficiently on networks that are unstable or have high response times, such as the mobile Internet. For customers with mobile phones in poorly covered areas, on trains, etc. you will gain a competitive advantage.
– Faster connections QUIC allows faster setup of new connections because fewer steps are required to set up a connection between the client and server.
– Security is the default: QUIC uses encryption as standard, which improves data security.
– No Head-of-line blocking: the QUIC allows packets to continue without having to wait for lost or delayed packets. This improves the speed and efficiency of data transfer.
With WEDOS Global Protection, your website will not only be protected, but also faster thanks to the WEDOS Global network (Web CDN, Anycast DNS). Like HTTP/3, IPv6 or HTTPS can be used even if your hosting provider does not support it. More technologies are in the pipeline.
Own certificates for WEDOS Global Protection
The ability to use a custom SSL/TLS certificate in WEDOS Global Protection was another task we had on our to-do list. It will soon appear in the administration of the Expert and Ultimate plans.
WEDOS Zone
WEDOS Zone will be a service built on WEDOS Global. Basically, it will be the Anycast DNS itself. If you want anyone anywhere in the world to get the fastest possible response after typing your domain into the address bar, then WEDOS Zone is for you.
BGP Anycast will also make the service much more resilient than the standard solution. For now, we don’t see many DNS attacks that can realistically cripple the entire infrastructure of companies and countries. But one day they will come. In this case, the WEDOS Zone will provide a robust infrastructure that will always work.
The service is planned. We don’t even have a date for the first tests yet.
WEDOS Live
Have you ever wondered why some of your pages are successful and others are not? Why is it that even when users come to your site, only a fraction of them buy anything? WEDOS Global Live can answer all these questions.
WEDOS Global Live tracks and records the behaviour of your visitors. Every mouse movement, every click, every screen scroll is recorded and you can look at it in real time or from a recording. In addition, you can group this data to track just the sample of visitors you need.
With advanced visualizations and charts like heatmaps, you’ll know not only where the problem is, but also whether it’s worth investing in a particular ad. No more throwing money away on experiments and arguing about whether it has any effect. Thanks to WEDOS Global Live, you’ll be able to back everything up with numbers.
The service is currently undergoing its first intensive internal tests.
WEDOS OnLine
WEDOS OnLine is not just another web availability monitoring service that informs you about an outage. It’s a service we’ve built on our experience to prevent costly problems.
WEDOS OnLine is a watchdog service that completely takes over the supervision of your project. It will notify you if your site slows down, if your email fails to deliver, if it can’t connect to the storage where you’re doing remote backups. Also, when SSL/TLS certificates are in danger of expiring, or your domain or IP address is on a blacklist, which means that customers with protection using that blacklist will receive warnings that your site may be compromised or fraudulent. And that’s just a fraction of what WEDOS OnLine can do.
You can already use the service for free at your own discretion. More advanced services and more tests will be charged in the future.
And what has been added in the last year?
- For HTTP (URL availability) checking, you can now set status codes that are considered correct.
- You can add a login and password to control HTTP (URL availability) and control content that requires a login.
- The “Slow” warning can be turned off for all checks if you fill in 0.
- You can set one or more notification recipients to be the default. The default recipients will then be automatically added to all new checks.
- A new form of “Webhook” notification that sends problem/outage data in JSON format to the selected URL using the POST method.
- Added support for JSON page status output (current status with active incidents, list of services with their statuses and incident history). You can try it on our status page status.wedos.hosting (in the top right menu under “subscribe”)
- New library for SSH test with support for new protocols.
WEDOS Global CDN
Have you ever wondered how it’s possible that big companies like Microsoft, Google or gaming platforms can distribute a huge update or news to tens of millions of their customers in a short period of time? How is it possible for YouTube or Netflix to stream real-time FullHD video to tens of millions of users in such a way that the only limit is the user’s connectivity? The answer to this is the Global CDN.
We will copy your content to selected locations to our servers around the world, where we are directly connected via key Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) to your users’ local providers, and they will be able to download it directly.
The WEDOS Global CDN uses modern technologies for faster transfer such as HTTP/3 and we are developing features for automatic conversion of multimedia into modern formats.
The service is currently under development.
WEDOS Global VPN
WEDOS Global VPN is a next generation virtual private network (VPN) built on the proven and robust WEDOS Global infrastructure. In today’s age where digital privacy and security are key, we’ve created a revolutionary solution that protects you online like never before.
But what exactly is the Zero Trust Network? It is an approach to security that works on the basis of the idea that “no one can be trusted”. Instead of automatically trusting your devices (computer, mobile) within your network, everything is considered a potential threat until proven otherwise. This means that each device, application or user must prove their identity and authorisation before they can access information. This significantly reduces the risk of cyber attacks.
Using Zero Trust Network technology and WEDOS Global infrastructure, WEDOS Global VPN offers a unique combination of high speed, reliability and unprecedented security. It’s not just a traditional VPN, it’s a new way to securely connect to the internet and protect your privacy.
The service is currently in the state of project preparations.
WEDOS Global Storage
WEDOS Global Storage is a robust solution for securing and backing up large amounts of sensitive data and personal information.
You send your data to us via WEDOS Global, ensuring fast and secure uploads from anywhere in the world. We then store the data securely in our private datacenters. Dedicated repositories continuously create live copies and regular snapshots of your data, the first two levels of protection. For maximum security, we provide a third level of protection by storing your data offline on external storage in another geographic location.
If necessary, depending on the level of protection where the data is located, we will then automatically or manually upload the data for you to a disk at the selected WEDOS Global location, from where you will be able to download it quickly and conveniently.
In today’s digital age, data loss can spell huge disaster – loss of trust, financial loss and reputational damage. With WEDOS Global Storage, you can work with peace of mind that your data is safe and secure, even with respect to applicable legislation in your country. Leave nothing to chance and focus on growing your business while we take care of your data.
The service is in a state of project preparation.
Domains
Domain .cz
300 thousand registered .cz domains
On Tuesday, 5 February 2023, we surpassed the 300 thousand registered .cz domains milestone. It took us 12 years, 4 months and 23 days since we registered our first .cz domain. We are still registering and renewing .cz domains at purchase prices for large registrars, keeping our promise.
To mark this great milestone, we have prepared an article on our blog Another meta broken by 300 thousand .cz domains with some interesting numbers about .cz domains. For example, you can find out how many .cz domains we have registered in the whole time, how many .cz domains are on shared web hosting and WMS, statistics of the 28 most active robots and many other numbers.
More than 700 thousand .cz domains have passed through WEDOS
In July 2023, 700,000 .cz domains have already passed through our system. These are all .cz domains that have ever been registered, renewed or re-registered with us.
We registered our first domain through our system on August 11, 2010, which was before the launch of our services. We registered the first .cz domain for the customer on 13 Sep 2010 at 19:30:18 and he still has it with us 🙂
In July 2023, there were over 301 thousand .cz domains registered in our country and their number is gradually growing. We have been registering and renewing .cz domains at purchase prices (currently 145 CZK without VAT) since the beginning (we even subsidized them for a while).
For .cz domains you can get free DNS management and a simple website on WEDOS WebSite FREE.
Over 350 thousand domains have DNS in our country
During August 2023, we surpassed the milestone of 350,000 domains that have an active DNS with us. We provide DNS service free of charge for domains registered with us and for domains that point to our web hosting and mail hosting services. The most popular domains are .cz (about 74%), .eu (about 9.9%) and .com (about 6.3%).
DNS maintained for domains using WEDOS Global Protection are not included in these statistics. There are currently a thousand domains.
If you want to learn more about DNS, we have a detailed article in our knowledge base https://kb.wedos.com/cs/dns/dns-v-kostce/
New domain extensions
In December 2022, we expanded our offerings with additional new domain extensions: .abogado, .adult, .beer, .boston, .casa, .club, .compare, .cooking, .fashion, .fishing, .fit, .garden, .horse, .law, .luxe, .miami, .rodeo, .select, .surf, .vip, .vodka, .wedding, .work and .yoga.
ICANN accreditation
We have prestigious accreditation from ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which is the main oversight and coordinating body for Internet domains. This accreditation is required by a number of registries in order for us to register the second-level domains they manage. For example, it is a condition for being a registrar of .com, .net or new domain extensions.
For example, if a customer is interested in registering a domain with the .com extension, we contact directly the Verisign domain registry that manages this extension. By having direct access to these registries, we can offer a fast and efficient service, eliminating the need for third parties, which also allows us to resolve any technical or administrative complications.
Thanks to this, our sales department is in regular and close contact with domain registries, which allows us to negotiate optimal prices and special offers for our clients.
In the Czech Republic, obtaining ICANN accreditation is exceptional because the process of obtaining this accreditation is complex and requires meeting several strict criteria. It comes with a number of commitments that ensure that the accredited company will provide the highest possible level of service. Currently, there are only two companies in the Czech Republic, including us, that can boast this prestigious accreditation.
Domain insurance
We launched the Domain Insurance service in August 2022 in cooperation with Pojištění.cz and Slavia pojišt’ovna. It is one of the first digital asset insurance products that everyone can use.
Domain insurance consists of three parts:
- Domain insurance in case of theft
- IT assistance services
- Legal aid assistance services
If you want to learn how domain insurance works and how you can take advantage of assistance and legal services, visit the website of our partner pojisteni.cz (https://www.pojisteni.cz/domeny).
Certificates
For Christmas 2022, we have decided to fulfil one more wish of our customers. You can get a luxury certificate confirming that the domain is yours. Each certificate is unique, printed on limited edition hologram paper and hand-signed by WEDOS founder and CEO Josef Grill.
You can create your certificate in the customer administration in the Domains section. Just select the domain you want to create a certificate for and click on WEDOS Certificates in the left menu.
To learn more about domain ownership certificates, visit our Luxury Domain Certificate for Your Office page.
WEDOS Early Warning and Monitoring
You can get an innovative EWM solution for every domain you have with us. The EWM system not only checks the availability of a website, but also integrates a number of tools capable of detecting potential manipulation of websites or domains.
It monitors, for example:
- Changes to the website indicating possible security compromises.
- Activities related to cyber-attacks or malware.
In the context of online business, there are a wide range of aspects to consider:
- Domain, DNS, DNSSEC, hosting and content management system affect the functionality of the website.
- SSL/TLS certificates provide a secure connection, but their expiration or misconfiguration can deter visitors.
- Email communication is essential, but its integrity may be compromised, e.g. blacklisting.
- The performance of DNS servers and the consistency of DNS records is crucial for fast web loading.
- Website optimization is essential for smooth operation and visitor retention.
EWM can monitor all this and integration is very simple. After purchasing the additional service for the EWM domain, all you have to do is enter your email in the administration. WEDOS OnLine then automatically retrieves the necessary data and runs the first series of tests. EWM is designed primarily to detect anomalies, not to analyse their causes, which allows it to cover a wide range of potential risks.
Hosting services
Mailhosting
In May we launched a new hosting service Mailhosting. Providing professional email communication solutions built on our experience in running email services for shared web hosts.
This is a long-planned extension of the offer, which aims to meet the needs of customers who want to have their e-mail on their own domain without having to have a website or domain.
A key aspect of the service is the ease of email migration. With automated tools, clients can quickly and easily move their existing emails to WEDOS. Not just emails, even entire email inboxes in bulk. Watch the video to see how easy it is.
Over the following months, we further fine-tuned the service. We have added the ability to host emails on subdomains (third-order domains) and are gradually testing larger overall mailbox capacities. We would like to be able to offer customers at least TB units of space in the future. With HPE 3PAR StoreServ Storage, this shouldn’t be a problem.
NoLimit, NoLimit Extra and LowCost
Our shared web hosts are still the most popular in the Czech Republic. Despite the more challenging period of 2022 and 2023, where the price of services gradually increased, we managed to grow a little. The number of active web hosts increased from 111842 to 112225.
What about the news?
In September 2022, we deployed PHP 8.1 on all web hosts after a long debugging period.
At the beginning of January 2023, we added the new PHP 8.2 version to all NoLimit, Extra and Lowcost web hosts.
Added bulk adding of email boxes
In April 2023, we added a form to create bulk email inboxes. In the details of each service that supports email services (web hosting, webhosting, mailhosting on WMS and WebSite) you will find in the left menu “Bulk mailbox creation”, where you can create any number of new mailboxes in bulk.
For example, you can find the form for web hosting at: https://client.wedos.com/webhosting/create-mail-bulk.html?id=/
Password strength requirements are based on the customer account security settings for the relevant My Account service -> Account Security https://client.wedos.com/client/account-security.html
DKIM support added
One of the most popular enhancements to our shared web hosts is outgoing email security using DKIM. DKIM allows mail servers to verify that a message was indeed sent from a given domain. This technology is used to protect against unwanted mail (spam) and phishing.
In December we started a test run, so anyone who was interested could write to us. Everything went smoothly and today DKIM is supported by all shared web hosts.
What you get with DKIM:
- The recipient’s mail server can verify that the message was actually sent from the domain – Prevents spoofing of your email address.
- DKIM increases the credibility of email messages by providing proof that the message has not been altered after it was sent.
- Mail servers can use the information obtained from DKIM to better filter unwanted mail – If no one can impersonate you, they can whitelist you.
- DKIM is widespread, it is also supported by well-known freemails such as Gmail or Czech Seznam
- Using DKIM can significantly reduce the chance of your email being marked as spam.
We sign email headers directly with our WEDOS domain, not the sender’s domain. Nobody minded and it made it easier for us to deploy en masse.
WEDOS WebSite
WEDOS WebSite is our hosted content management system that generates static HTML pages. Unfortunately, the chosen system does not allow us to further expand it as we would like.
There are currently 3982 active WebSites of which 1319 (33%) are paid.
WebSite 2.0
That’s why we started a discussion about WebSite 2.0, which would be more modern, offer more options to customers and allow full integration into WEDOS Global. Imagine making a website, publishing it and having a static copy of it created all over the world, at everyone’s fingertips.
We have already started some project preparations and approached third-party suppliers in this respect.
VPS HDD and VPS SSD
VPS HDD and VPS SSD are old services that have been replaced by VPS ON, which is faster and more scalable. Even so, they are very popular, especially because of their price. We still operate 705 VPS HDDs and 2260 VPS SSDs.
VPS ON
VPS ON is a replacement for the old VPS HDD and VPS SSD. They are built on a cloud solution in OpenNebula and are essentially individual standalone VMs. There are currently 1737 active VPS ON.
The service would certainly deserve more attention from our side, but unlike other services, we cannot grow “unlimitedly” with it because we have a limited number of IPv4 addresses. However, there has already been an expert debate whether we could run VPS ON without IPv4 addresses via WEDOS Global and what would be the interest in this.
We are also planning to switch to newer physical servers with more RAM. This would allow customers to create larger VPS ONs. There are also plans to increase the disk size. But we don’t want to make the service too attractive, we don’t have the IPv4 ones 🙂
There was also a debate whether we could build VPS ON on new servers and ARM processors. It looks very tempting and thanks to OpenNebula it would make sense. The problem is that this centralizes a lot of power in one place. For example, a server reboot would affect far more customers.
WMS
WMS (Webhosting Managed Server) is a popular service for large projects or many smaller ones, where the customer needs to separate individual websites into separate web hosts. It’s as simple to manage as shared web hosting while providing true dedicated physical server hardware performance.
In order to give customers an overview of how much total power their WMS sites use, we have prepared statistics in Grafana for January 2023. Learn more in our knowledge base – WMS – Performance Diagnostics.
In September 2022, we deployed a new version of PHP 8.1 on WMS-based web hosts. It took us a while to test. In January 2023 we deployed PHP 8.2 on the WMS.
WEDOS Cloud
If there is one service that deserves more attention it is WEDOS Cloud. It offers customers to create their own virtual datacenters full of VMs connected by their own networks.
Unfortunately, the service is very complex and difficult to develop. Currently we do not have enough capacity to devote ourselves to it.
There is also the problem of foreign cheaper competitors profiting from cheaper electricity. We can’t compete with that here even if we put in pure oil cooling.
Dedicated servers
We have not expanded our dedicated server offer in the last year, nor do we plan to do so in the foreseeable future. We currently have 229 dedicated servers sold.
WEDOS Disk
WEDOS Disk is a “dumb” storage device that has become very popular for easy backup and data storage. It is one of our most convenient services. In total, 10679 WEDOS Disks are active. Of these, 758 are paid.
WEDOS CD
WEDOS CD, on the other hand, is a smart storage that allows you to upload and manage files via a client or web interface. It also allows you to work with and share them to a limited extent.
This year we found some nasty bugs in our test run and had to basically delete and recreate all the WEDOS CDs.
The service has undergone a complete clean-up and should now work without any problems. There are a total of 1276 active WEDOS CDs.
WEDOS VIP
Within WEDOS VIP, we offer individual services for customers who spend more than CZK 20,000 per month, excluding VAT. There is usually a demand for dedicated servers with larger/different disks or dedicated connectivity.
However, there are also requests for thousands of tests in WEDOS OnLine or individual protection against DDoS attacks. This will all be.
Community
We write blog articles for our fan community and try to publish interesting things on social media. We are very happy for your support and so we have decided to produce even more in the coming year. There is even a recording studio being built in DC1. You can look forward to presentations of services, hardware, interviews and live discussions. We hope that you will also see more episodes of “Call the Director”, which we used to do via social media. So you are following our YouTube channel at youtube.com/@WEDOS.
We added the podcasts in July 2022, but not much new content was created. However, this will also change. A lot of the content that is planned will go there as well. You can find them on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts.
A large part of the community is also on our community forum help.wedos.cz.
Aitecombat 2.0
On Saturday 17. 09.09.2022 was held in our datacenter recruitment event Ait’ákoBraní 2.0. The interest in the event was really great, unfortunately the capacity was limited. The number of registrants exceeded the capacity of the event many times over (we set the limit to 25, because we want enough space to give everyone individual attention). All participants could watch the lectures live and ask questions. Both of our private datacentres were guided by our boss Josef Grill. We had lunch together and finally went to the after party.
Those who were interested could watch the online stream. If you missed the event, don’t despair. You can find the edited footage of the whole event on our YouTube channel.
When will Aitecombing 3.0 be?
The AITACoBranch 3.0 conference was approved over the holidays and I’m starting to get everything ready. It will again focus on recruiting new colleagues and will take place in October (exact date to be determined). If everything goes according to plan, it will be a two-day event, with one day focused on technical positions and the other on non-technical ones.
The Iťákobranní consists of a series of lectures where we will introduce WEDOS as a company and how it works, the technologies we use and the vision of the company. At the same time, we always leave enough space for questions and discussions. Part of the Ait’s Party are excursions to our datacenters and after parties where we can get to know each other better.
We will again stream and record the lectures and selected discussions.
Conference
If you want to expand into the world, it’s much easier if you show yourself to everyone so they know you’re real. In order to be properly visible, we had a large two-storey metal stand made, which we can fold and unfold at speed. The design is ours and was made by the clever entrepreneurs from Hluboká 🙂
Sometimes we get free tickets to conferences from the organizers. If this happens, you will find a form directly on akce.wedos.cz where you will be able to request them and we will send them to you.
🇨🇿 WordCamp Brno 2022 (October 2022)
As the main sponsor, we supported the largest WordPress conference in the Czech Republic , WordCamp Brno 2022. We also had a stand where you could talk to us about anything or get one of our promotional items. Of course, we also brought an oil-cooled laptop.
🇨🇿 E-commerce day (October 2022)
In terms of e-commerce, it was the first conference for us and we all enjoyed it all the more. At the event, we presented our new WEDOS Global Protection service to small and medium-sized e-shops, which can effectively help them. It is all about speeding up the web worldwide and saving hardware costs by filtering malicious traffic to the web server.
🇨🇿 Corporate Information Systems 2022 (November 2022)
On 10 November, we participated as a general partner in the Corporate Information Systems 2022 conference. We had a booth on site where colleagues answered questions about WEDOS, technology and our services. Our laptop cooling in an oil bath was not missing. Josef Grill, founder and CEO of WEDOS, gave a lecture at the WEDOS Global conference – How to build an infrastructure that no website can do without.
🇨🇿 Winter meeting of ISPíků or they met near Kolín (January 2023)
Wednesday 25. On January 1, we attended a lecture event Winter meeting of ISPíků or met at Cologne focused on Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Our boss and founder of WEDOS Josef Grill gave a lecture WEDOS Global – a global network for domains and also for your activities.
At our booth, the most interesting thing was the connectivity solution between WEDOS DC1 and WEDOS DC2 through the castle gardens and the oil cooling technology. On the stand we had a small tub of oil in which a laptop was immersed. In the WEDOS DC2 datacenter we have large oil baths in which we currently cool hundreds of physical servers.
🇨🇿 Global Investment Summit 2023 (February 2023)
The Global Investment Summit 2023 conference was held on 1. February 2023 in the Martinice Palace at Prague Castle. We had our stand with a laptop cooled in an oil bath, a real server from HPE Moonshot 1500 and there were also promotional items. Although this conference was not focused on IT, we were definitely not bored at the booth and I collected a lot of interesting contacts.
We also had a lecture at the conference, which was given by our sef and founder of WEDOS Josef Grill. It was called WEDOS or startup inside out.
You can also watch it online:
🇩🇪 CloudFest Europe, Germany (March 2023)
If you are serious about expanding abroad, you need to show up and CloudFest Europe was the perfect opportunity. We signed the contract as a platinum partner and started the preparation. But time was short. We had about 3 weeks to prepare the stand, of which 11 days were spent making the stand, which had to be designed beforehand. As is our custom, we designed and invented everything ourselves. Everything we needed was then made by skilled local entrepreneurs in Hluboká 🙂
The result was really worth it. We were the only ones who had a two-storey stand at CloudFest, and it was made of metal (aluminium). We had our favorite WEDOS Energy hastily made to help us spread our brand and hung a giant balloon from the ceiling. There was more, but we will leave that for a separate article.
The event was a great success for us, perhaps every one of the 11,000 visitors already knows WEDOS or at least our logo 🙂 We made a lot of contacts, met business partners we knew only online and of course gained a lot of experience.
We described our preparation and journey in detail in the article WEDOS at CloudFest 2023 in Germany.
🇦🇹 WordCamp Vienna 2023 (April 2023)
In the days 15. – On April 16, we participated in the prestigious WordCamp Vienna 2023 conference as a diamond sponsor. It was quite busy at our booth. The participants were interested that we are from the Czech Republic. We presented our 2 datacentres in Hluboká nad Vltavou, WEDOS Global and WEDOS Global Protection service. The oil cooling system has also attracted interest. We made a lot of interesting contacts.
🇨🇿 How to Cyber Security in 2023 (April 2023)
In Ostrava 19. April, the How to Cybersecurity in 2023 conference took place, where we had a booth and presented our WEDOS Global infrastructure and WEDOS Global Protection service.
🇨🇿 Barcamp 2.0 (April 2023)
On the first of April we went to Pilsen, where Barcamp 2.0 was held in Tech Tower Pilsen. WEDOS was there as a silver partner and we had a lecture “WEDOS or startup inside out”. We had a stand with oil cooling on site, which visitors liked the most. We discussed a lot about the technical solution and the ecology.
🇨🇿 Zlín Barcamp (April 2023)
On Saturday 22. April we went to the Zlín Barcamp, which took place at the Tomas Bata University in Zlín. There were many participants and we met mainly students and teachers
🇵🇱 WordCamp Gliwice (May 2023)
We use WordPress ourselves for our websites. It is also by far the most popular content management system used by our customers on our shared web hosting NoLimit. We adjusted a number of parameters in NoLimit just for WordPress. Thanks to this, we have tens of thousands of WordPress installations.
Every WordCamp is a great event for WordPress and we love to go to these events. WordCamp Gliwice in Poland took place in May. Of course we couldn’t miss it. We really enjoyed the event, introduced WEDOS and made new contacts.
🇸🇰 Kubernetes Community Days Czech & Slovak 2023 (May 2023)
We went to Slovakia for the Kubernetes Community Days Czech & Slovak 2023 in Bratislava not only to present WEDOS, but also with the workshop “WEDOS Global – global Kubernetes infrastructure, its development and maintenance”. We also had a fully staffed HPE Moonshot 1500 with 45 physical servers on site, which we use in our datacenters.
🇨🇿 ReShoper (May 2023)
We went to the ReShoper trade fair and conference with our large two-storey stand. We brought along our fully functional oil cooling model with 45 physical servers, which always manages to attract attention.
🇨🇿 CSNOG 2023 (May 2023)
The CSNOG (Czech and Slovak Network Operators Group) conference was aimed at the professional community around Internet access providers, telecommunications network operators, domain registrars and computer network operators. WEDOS founder Josef Grill gave a lecture “How to build an anycast network on all continents in 12 months”.
🇨🇿 Ostrava Barcamp (May 2023)
WEDOS was not to be missed at the Ostrava Barcamp either. We had a small stand with two colleagues who presented our brand and services. We also brought our “notebook oil tank” to the site.
🇨🇿 Startup Festival Prague (May 2023)
The Startup Festival was one of the biggest events in May. WEDOS is not a startup, but it was busy at our booth.
🇺🇸 CloudFest USA (June 2023)
At the turn of May and June we went to the USA to present WEDOS at CloudFest USA in Texas. WEDOS was the diamond partner of the conference. This was our first event outside Europe. We are serious about promotion and expansion abroad, so it won’t be the last 😉
🇬🇷 WordCamp Europe 2023 (June 2023)
WordCamp Europe 2023, held in Athens, Greece, was one of the most important events of the year for the WordPress community. So we couldn’t miss it. We presented our WEDOS brand, the WEDOS Global Protection service and a demonstration of our new plug-in for this service.
🇵🇱 CyberSec Forum/Expo 2023 (June 2023)
One of the most important cyber security conferences CyberSec Forum/Expo 2023 was held in Poland. Of course, we couldn’t be absent with our WEDOS Global Protection service.
🇱🇺 ICT Spring 2023 (June 2023)
At the turn of June/July we were in Luxembourg for one of the most important IT events in Europe. We presented WEDOS and our WEDOS Global Protection service to the professional public, representatives of companies and countries. Many of them were surprised that such a large project as WEDOS Global was being created in the Czech Republic.
🇨🇿 MikroExpo Uherské Hradiště (June 2023)
It was a professional conference with a large participation of people from ISP, which took place in KKUH (Culture Club Uherské Hradiště). We brought a working model of our oil cooling system and we had a presentation in the lounge, including a touch screen TV, where everyone could see how many attacks on the application layer over the last week our WEDOS Global Protection had captured from their AS.
Partner programme
Our affiliate program, which you can find at wedos.as, is an important part of our marketing strategy and promotion. In the last half of the year, we have exceeded CZK 22 million (currently CZK 22,064,389) in remuneration.
We also believe in the power of personal recommendation and its authenticity in the world of advertising. Our analysis shows that recommendations from trusted sources, such as satisfied customers, have a much greater impact on customer decision-making than traditional advertising campaigns. As an example, a customer who has been alerted to a service by friends or family members is more likely to use the service than one who has been alerted through standard advertising. We intend to strengthen this aspect more in the coming year.
And what else can you look forward to next year? WEDOS Global Protection will be added to our affiliate program and the commission will certainly surprise you 😉
Sponsorship
For the 2022/23 season we have decided to support the South Bohemian hockey players again and WEDOS has become a partner of HC Motor České Budějovice. You could see our logo on the backs of the hockey players and in unusual places in the Budvar Arena in South Bohemia.
Promotional items
You can get promotional items for new services, at conferences and as prizes in competitions (more at soutez.wedos.cz). Although we are always looking for new ways of promotion, for example T-shirts still lead the way. So you will probably see some new themes in the coming year.
And what new gifts have we added to the range this year?
MagSafe powerbank
Wednesday 15. On February 2023, a shipment of new MagSafe powerbank (5,000 mAh) promotional items arrived. Colleagues who use apple products are thrilled with them. But this gift isn’t just for Apple fans. It also works with standard wireless charging (supporting the Qi standard). Alternatively, it can be charged via a USB C cable.
The MagSafe Powebank can be obtained not only for new services, but also at conferences where we have a stand.
And what awaits us in 14. season WEDOS Internet, a.s.?
We will continue to build the WEDOS Global infrastructure and develop services on top of it. We also need to focus even more on foreign countries. Next season will be all about expansion. We will start building local branches, hire more sales people to help us sell the services. We will be going to the big conferences again and hopefully there will be more time to write reports about it.
Our boss says we’ve forgotten how predatory we were in the beginning. We faced the web hosting market at the beginning, where the cards were already dealt and we managed to not only make it there, but leave all the competition far behind.
If we remember that and are aggressive and bold, we will succeed abroad with WEDOS Global.
The best way to predict the future is to create it. With WEDOS Global we will create a new era of cyber protection.
WEDOS – WE DO Security
Conclusion
There is a lot going on in our country and unfortunately there was no time to go into depth in this article. If you want to keep track, we recommend following this blog and our social networks. We will continuously post more information, statistics and photos there. We also recommend subscribing to our newsletter, where you will find a summary of the most important things that happened in the last month and some discount coupons 😉