It offers the same services as Google or Microsoft, but with one major subtlety: it is European. She ? It’s Infomaniak, an independent company that develops sovereign cloud computing and productivity solutions. In just a few years, it has carved out a prominent place for itself in the European tech landscape. A look back at the history of the company with its founder, Boris Siegenthaler.
Who could have predicted that the small computer club created in 1990 in the darkness of a garden shed by Boris Siegenthaler would become, in barely 30 years, a thriving company offering web hosting solutions, serving large groups like DHL or Volvic? We returned with its founder, now director of group strategy, to the history of the company and the challenges of technological independence when you are a European company.
Infomaniak, the small computer club that thought big
More than 200 employees, millions of users and prestigious clients like Sanofi, RTBF or Breiteling: these are the dizzying figures that the Swiss cloud provider Infomaniak can boast of. Like many large groups, it all started with a human-sized project: the creation in 1990 of a computer club in Bellevue in Switzerland. A small project which quickly expanded to become, a few years later, a computer store.
In the 90s, interest in everything related to computer hardware was growing and Infomaniak seized its chance: “ Very quickly, our enthusiasts realized that assembling their own computers was less expensive than buying them finished », explains Boris Siegenthaler.
Enjoying great success with computer enthusiasts, the small business (which still houses a club of enthusiasts) grew to become, between 1994 and 1998, an internet access provider.
Here again, it is a question of positioning itself on an incipient, but promising technology, which is intended for the general public. “ At the time, the network was not yet open. It was powered mainly by students from universities around the world », remembers Boris. But this fascinating new tool piques his curiosity and that of his partner at the time, Fabian Lucchi. The two men then make a unique decision.
“ We found this tool so fantastic that in January 1995, we decided to give away Internet access to each customer who purchased a computer from the store, and this without time limit. », specifies Boris. Such an offer is nothing short of a UFO in an era where every minute was billed. Unsurprisingly, it met with immediate success.
Quickly, the number of customers exploded and the model imagined by the two collaborators showed its limits. In 1996, TWS Infomaniak SA was created, financially supported by the contribution of a third-party investor. “ All available resources were then devoted to acquiring the necessary equipment to be able to offer excellent quality internet access at a very attractive price. », Explains Boris.
Aware that the Internet became an essential tool in the early 2000s, Infomaniak gradually added the hosting of websites and email addresses to its ISP activity. Although the service is still active, others have been added to this offering: a suite of collaborative tools, website creation, backup and cloud computing services, online ticketing and radio and video streaming.
Developing your cloud solutions locally: a real challenge in the GAFAM era
Faced with this growing success, Infomaniak was able to resist the urge to move the company’s activities outside of Europe. “ My goal and my pride is to contribute to the development of technological mastery in Europe, without outsourcing and without compromising on ecology and privacy. », Defends Boris Siegenthaler.
So, the offices are not the only ones to be located in Switzerland. The servers also remain on Swiss territory. And storing your data with an independent service provider based in Europe has significant advantages:
- The legal framework, first of all, is extremely strict on access to data. “ If an authority wishes to access a customer’s data, it must follow regular OECD legal channels and comply with the DPA and GDPR », Explains Boris.
- The code of open source technologies, which manages cloud infrastructures, can be consulted by everyone. “ Infomaniak works with ethical hackers and bug bounty platforms like YesWeHack or even recognized auditing companies,” specifies the CSO. This makes it possible, with access to the code, to detect possible security flaws and correct them internally as quickly as possible.
No question, therefore, of subcontracting and being a simple service provider to save money. The goal of Infomaniak is to offer quality services (up to after-sales service), secure and meeting strict confidentiality standards. And on this point, Switzerland has the palm.
Beyond the data, the material is also produced as locally as possible. The Swiss supplier Swissbit, whose production is based in Germany, is, for example, equipping Infomaniak with high-performance SSDs. The photovoltaic modules for Infomaniak’s solar power plants are manufactured in Europe by Meyer Burger, another Swiss company whose production is also based in Germany.
For the rest, the Swiss company wants to be very transparent about the management of its resources. “To build our data centers, we manage to work exclusively with European manufacturers who have very high quality equipment. », explains Boris Siegenthaler.
A bold bet, at a time when almost two billion people use Google as their email solution and main office suite. But Infomaniak is growing rapidly, with already more than a million users on its productivity solutions alone. “ Technological dependence is an untenable posture. It conditions our security and the future of our economy, the competitiveness of businesses and our jobs as well as the autonomy of choice in our societies. », defends Boris who considers that it is safer to invest locally in the current economic and geopolitical context, even if currently, not all components can yet be produced in the EU.
“ We still lack European suppliers for CPUs, RAM or even GPUs “, he laments.
A company on a human scale
If Boris Siegenthaler is very particular about the origin of his company’s equipment, he applies the same rigor to his recruitment methods and the company’s HR policy. In the same way, the co-founder of Infomaniak is keen to recruit his talents as locally as possible, in particular by creating numerous engineering positions for students at the universities of Grenoble, Champery and Annecy.
A strategy that is paying off, since the company has 213 employees to date and is constantly recruiting. To achieve this, Infomaniak knows how to seduce its future employees. “ At Infomaniak, we really do our best to ensure that each person feels that they are making a difference and that they can make their passion their job. », enthuses Boris.
To maintain team motivation and cohesion, the company also does not skimp on the working environment and organizes monthly company outings. A comfortable working environment for the approximately 200 employees which has a direct impact on customers. “ In reality, our size is a huge advantage compared to multinationals: the roles are well defined and when a client contacts us, they quickly speak to the right person », Specifies the CSO of Infomaniak.
Infomaniak will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2024, and with its free and ad-free alternatives to Gmail and Google Drive, the company can now boast of reaching several million users. The Swiss company currently generates 30% of its turnover in Europe and in 2022 showed more than 70% growth on its B2B cloud computing solutions compared to 2021.
Impressive figures which are partly due to the entrepreneurial spirit instilled by its co-founder: “ Everything we do serves to make life easier for our customers. By choosing Infomaniak, they must be able to say that they have efficient, intuitive services and that they contribute to developing sustainable digital technology that is good for the local economy. », concludes Boris Siegenthaler.