Host with the most – Missoula Web-hosting company Modwest Inc. has climbed to the top of the Internet heap

In only four years, Modwest, Inc. of Missoula has managed to climb its way to the top of its industry. The company is among the Top 25 best hosts in the world, according to a leading index that ranks the thousands of Web-hosting companies in the world.

By JILL FITZSIMMONS for the Missoulian

Earlier this summer, HostIndex.com, the second-busiest hosting index on the Internet, recognized Modwest as a leading provider of shared and managed hosting solutions. The company was acknowledged for being a “young, aggressive and rapidly growing Web host.”

The index puts Modwest, which shared the spotlight with such industry giants as DellHost and Yahoo, in the top 1 percent of hosting companies in the world.

Russ Fletcher, founder of the Montana Associated Technology Roundtable, calls the local company and its accomplishments “incredible.”

“To consider that a company could be built in Missoula that could rank in the top 25 (hosts) in the nation is amazing,” Fletcher said.

This year, Modwest ( http://www.modwest.com ), will generate more than 90 percent of its revenue from customers outside of Montana, said John Masterson, a co-founder and vice president of business development at Modwest.

The company is growing at a rate of 2 percent a month, said Steven Sundheim, a co-founder and vice president of marketing. Modwest, which has six employees, supports thousands of hosting clients.

While Modwest does extensive business with companies in Missoula, most of its clients come from some of the nation’s largest cities – New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. In fact, Modwest’s clients are in 54 countries around the world, Masterson said.

During the past two years, the fast-growing company has focused primarily on international and national markets, Sundheim said. However, now company founders want the people of Montana to know more about what they do and that they do it well.

But just what is it that Modwest does?

The company has carved out its niche in a high-tech industry that’s actually very confusing to most of the rest of us, said Dick King, executive director of the Missoula Area Economic Development Council. And the reason the company is successful is because its founders are so highly technical and highly skilled, King said.

Let’s start with what Modwest isn’t. It isn’t currently an ISP (Internet service provider) that sells you the connection that allows you to get onto the Internet from your home or office computer. A web hosting company provides the hardware, software, and network connection required for their customers’ websites to be viewed on the internet. So, Modwest, which also offers some Web design services, provides the infrastructure necessary for the Internet to operate.

The company was founded in January 2000 by Sundheim, Masterson and Allen Lee, vice president of finance – who today are all under 35 years old. The only Montana native is Sundheim, who is from Billings. All attended the University of Montana. The founders worked at ISPs and a large managed hosting company prior to setting out on their own.

When they were ready to quit their day jobs and dedicate themselves full time to their new company, they already had the infrastructure in place – not to mention a couple hundred customers – as well as the motivation and drive to make this a viable job for all of them, Masterson said. It all became a reality in April 2001.

Modwest most recently moved its offices into the First Security Bank office building at Broadway and Higgins Avenue, which is also home to the city’s first fiber hotel built by the Helena-based iConnect Montana. Modwest’s servers have been in the fiber hotel, more often called a data center, since earlier this year.

One of the key features of the fiber hotel is that it provides protection for Modwest’s servers. With customers around the globe, some of whom do high-volume e-commerce or handle sensitive information, the company can’t afford any down time. The data center provides fire suppression, a security system, a backup gas generator, air conditioning and swipe-card access. In addition to protecting the gear, the data center also puts Modwest in the same room as many of the main Internet access switches. The Modwest office is only an elevator ride away from the data center.

Economic development experts like Fletcher and King are excited to see what the future brings for Modwest. Web hosting is a competitive business, and such a business only survives when you have the right people doing the job, King said. For Modwest, King predicts a bright future.

Fletcher agrees. He envisions a time when the company will add more expertise and grow into one of the real sustainable companies in Missoula.

The company is the classic example of bootstrapping, King adds. These guys started with only an idea and little debt and today have customers all over the world and are supporting local six employees with salaries and full benefits, he says. Modwest is an indication of where opportunity lies in Missoula, and the city needs to nourish companies like it, King says.

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