SwiftVM Shutting Down

[D. Strout]

I just got an e-mail from SwiftVM, a company offering VPSes out of San Diego (AIS) run by Christopher Easton and Jordy. Unfortunately, it seems they are shutting down. They opened just in March, which is unfortunate as I really liked their services. They had SSD and (towards the end) SSD-cached VPSes starting at $2.50/month or $15/year. They ran well, had good connectivity, excellent speed due to the SSDs, I was consistently impressed by their support, and they had a well-designed website. Unfortunately, I guess not enough people jumped on board, and now they are closing due to financial reasons. The only thing I am unimpressed about is the fact that they are leaving only 6 days for people to get their data out. I hope not too many long billing periods were cut short.

 

[XFS_Duke]

I would wonder if it's due to their low price and possibly higher costs.

 

[MannDude]

Never heard of them, but that's quite unfortunate. Looks like they made the mistake of trying to compete on price and targeting the wrong market.

They should have tried to sell to another company so their clients could remain online.

 

[NodeBytes]

They should have tried to sell to another company so their clients could remain online.

Agreed. Although if the profit margins were too low that could have proven difficult. 

 

[SkylarM]

Always unfortunate to see web providers close due to financial reasons. Just gotta play smart with your price point and what you offer. It can be tricky with higher grade equipment, especially if you don't own it.

 

[MannDude]

It sounds like they were offering a solid service, wish they would have planned better and targeted a better market.

 

[Francisco]

Anyone have a copy of the email?

Francisco

 

[TheLinuxBug]

Dear valued client,
Unfortunately after some internal discussion and long thinking we have decided it is
better for you, as a client, for us, as a company, to seize operations and close
down. Unfortunately due to some financial issues and budget issues we have been
making a loss lately, meaning we have been unable to provide you as a client with
the great support promised, and the great services as promised. We therefor think it
is better for our clients to find a new provider as SwiftVM will be closing by the
end of this month.

We will give a partial refund for the outstanding period to all clients with an
active service. Please open a maximum of one support ticket to help speed up the
process and not put additional load on our support staff.
We will begin terminating virtual servers on the 19th of July, 2013. Please BACK UP
and data before this date as we cannot guaratee that data recovery is possible after
this date! SwiftVM will finally seize it's operations on the 2th of August, 2013,
and it's websites and contact possibilities.

We apologize for the inconvenience and short notice.

Thanks,
SwiftVM Team

I think they mean CEASE but instead they decided to use SEIZE which makes it sound weird.

Seize

a : to take possession of : confiscate

Cease

a : to come to an end <the fighting gradually ceased>

Anyhow, that is the e-mail I received...

Cheers!

 

[concerto49]

This is why we never offer  such low prices etc so we don't crash. A solid business plan backed by long term running finance is important. We've been making a loss for quite a while sadly (in the past). You don't expect to return to profit instantly. Feel for them, but things happen.

 

[shovenose]

Hehe my completion went bye bye.

 

[NodeBytes]

@shovenose - That's a mature answer

 

[TheLinuxBug]

Hehe my completion went bye bye.

Ya, I hate having completion to deal with. :huh:

I prefer for everything to be incomplete my self.

 

[shovenose]

Ya, I hate having completion to deal with. :huh:

I prefer for everything to be incomplete my self.

Damn tablet I meant competition.

 

[jarland]

Well, can't be mad at them for being honest. They gave it an honest try, obviously learned a lot in the process, and never left their clients without notice.


Best of luck to them in their futures.

 

[D. Strout]

I had two IPs in the same /24, one from SwiftVM and one from Shovehost at one point. Now I just have the one, and by the 29th, I won't have either Really I thought they'd be able to sustain those prices. I see a lot of companies operating at the $5/mo for 512MB memory price point. I suppose with SSDs it's a different story, and I'm certainly not familiar with colo prices at AIS. To be honest I feel a little guilty; the VPS I had with them was sponsored, so I wasn't paying for it. I'm sure I'm not the sole cause of their demise, but still...

BTW, @TheLinuxBug, I take it you had service with them? What did you think?

 

[Nick_A]

They could not have been making much money loading up rented servers with 4x512GB SSDs. I told Chris (or Jordy, I forget) that it was overkill upfront but they were committed to the idea. As I said on LET, people trying to undercut their way into this particular niche should pay attention when such happens.

 

[Francisco]

As I said on LET

people trying to undercut their way into this particular niche should pay attention when such happens.

Francisco

 

[drmike]

I see a lot of companies operating at the $5/mo for 512MB memory price point. I suppose with SSDs it's a different story, and I'm certainly not familiar with colo prices at AIS.

 

Yeah saw these folks on LEB.

 Intel Xeon E3 1270v2 CPU, 32GB ECC DDR3 RAM and 4 X 512GB SSD RAID10 (Samsung 840Pro drives). 

512SSD LEB, 25GB SSD $5/mo

1024SSD LEB, 20GB SSD $7/mo

Neither of those packages are competitors for the lowest price awards at Lowend.

The problem is the pure SSD offer.   4 x 512GB in RAID10 = 1TB usable?

Compare that to RamNode who is the SSD market leader in these parts:

512MB = $7.50/mo

1024MB = $15/mo

Big price difference.

Pure SSD play with just FOUR drives = overselling and impending doom.  Not saying that is what happened here.  Clearly their costs were too high and sales too low.

Big question is IF they are ceasing all operations or just the San Diego location.  San Diego was pure SSD-only, while Buffalo is a SSD cached setup.  Yeah more Colocrossing....

 

[mikho]

I guess it's all operations by the email sent out.

 

[blergh]

Not suprised at all, seeing how they managed business.