For a multi-million dollar startup, being shutdown for a few hours because of issues from the data center and the server provider is not just a media buzz, it will cost the e-commerce platform big bucks.
Just over a week ago, Some of Iran’s biggest e-commerce companies such as Digikala, Cafe Bazaar, Netbarg, Sheypoor, Tik8 and many more went suddenly offline because of server issues. First time the servers went down was a big hit and many of the websites and apps went offline for a few hours. Then came a second time with another few hours of shutdown. It doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to realize all of these companies are in contract with the same data center and Internet Connection Provider (ICP). That company is the famous ICP giant Afranet.
During the shutdown massive complains started rising on social networks like Twitter. Second time the servers went offline it created an even worse reputation break down for Afranet. For the couple of hours of shutdown Afranet brought to Iran’s major internet giants, these companies lost some million dollars of cash altogether. A big question pops up that why all these big companies that have a total valuation of $700 million faced such a catastrophe and couldn’t do much about it? As stated by one of the CEOs of the companies that was a victim of this event “Afranet has too much power in the market, leaves a little choice for its clients to do much.”
Though Afranet has fierce competitors such as ParsOnline, Sepanta, Shatel and few others, it seems that the competition is still not enough for Afranet to provide better quality service and sweat to keep its existing clients. When competition grows then it’s the clients that rule the day. Afranet’s competitors will surely take advantage of this event, and if they have what takes to provide the bandwidth Afranet provides, a serious game will begin to acquire Afranet’s clients.
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