Team & Ethos

Our growth is thanks to strong roots, and great clients

“Focus on providing the best service, trade with integrity and be honest and profit will naturally follow, it shouldn't be your primary goal.” - Simon Blackler, Founding Partner

Simon Blackler - Founding Partner

Simon

Simon co-founded the company in 2002, aged 17. He is the company's architect and spends most of his time planning how to realise his vision for Krystal.

Out of the office, when not in the gym or cycling, he spends his time learning new skills. His most recent endeavours are skydiving and playing the piano, though not at the same time. He loves lamp.

Years in hosting = 10

Tom Mason - Technical Director

Tom

Tom has been with Krystal for over 9 years, and joined as a partner in 2003.

As Technical director, Tom is in charge of our fleet of servers and providing technical support to clients. When not tinkering with the latest hardware and software he can be found in a ski resort practising his snow plough turns.

Years in hosting = 10

Steve Sant - Technical Support

Steve

As Krystal grew in size so did the support load. To cope Simon brought in Steve, a longstanding client, in 2010. (Steve's the one on the right)

Steve's got years of experience (and we mean YEARS!) in the IT field which he uses to great effect to help solve clients' issues. In his spare time Steve uses his private pilots license to fly as much as possible.

Years in hosting = 10

Neil Everton - Technical Support

Neil

Neil joined Krystal in 2012, just before Team GB did an amazing job at the London 2012 Olympics. Coincidence? We don't think so!

While he hasn't won any gold medals (yet!) he brings over 25 years of IT experience, providing ticket and telephone support. He's less than impressed by this hot rod.

Years in hosting = 10

Emma Bailey - Client Liaison

Emma

Though Emma also grew up in Torbay she didn't meet Simon until 2011 and joined Krystal full time mid-2012, during the monsoon season. Yes, she's a female!

Emma's role is as a dedicated client liaison, she spends her days talking to our most valuable assets and finding out how we can better serve them. Emma is still lost at sea!

Years in hosting = 10

David Swift

- Team GB Athlete!
David

An honourary member of the Krystal team, David is a Team GB Skeleton athlete, sponsored by Krystal since October 2011.

Krystal's sponsorship helps David train full time and increases his chances of selection. With any luck he'll be competing at Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics representing the UK. Good luck David!

History

It starts on a trampoline

It was the summer of 2002. Two school friends were creating a website that would eventually become one of the worlds most successful gaming communities, the Nexus Forums. Those friends were Simon Blackler & Robin Scott. While taking a break on the trampoline they got to talking about the nature of website design, and how people were charging an awful lot, for not very much. Given their new found skills they postulated that perhaps they could do a better job, and for less. So, as the young are want to do, we just got on and did it!

University Years

In early 2003 we incorporated Krystal Solutions LLP and by the end of the year we'd stopped designing websites, deciding instead to focus exclusively on hosting them. I went to study Computer Science at Exeter and met Tom. We started with a US based reseller plan which we outgrew as word spread of a hosting company that actually cared about their client base. A US based rented dedicated server followed, which exposed us to a new tranche of learning opportunities. We learnt about servers - which hard drives, RAM and CPU combinations provided the best performance and how to harden them against attack. It wasn't long before we needed another server, and then another. As university finished I started to think about the long term. We had 4 servers in the US and it was time to evolve again. Plans were made towards the end of 2006 to move our operations from the US to the UK.

Odyssey

In January 2007 we undertook our trans-atlantic migration, the single biggest, and most important, business decision we've ever taken. The plan was to migrate all of our hosting plans from rented US servers to our owned UK servers. We took out a cabinet at The Bunker and purchased our own router, firewall, switch and servers and started. It was a rougher ride than we'd have hoped for but our loyal clients stood by us and when the dust had settled they were well rewarded. Performance was markedly improved, having no trans-atlantic round trip delay, and with us in direct control of every aspect of our operation, from our internet connectivity all the way up to the software that ran on top of the servers, and everything in between, we were able to provide them with an exceptional level of service, all the while backed by UK support.

Expansion

In April 2011 we went back to our long time partners, The Bunker, and commissioned them to build out our own suite, capable of housing 5 cabinets. From this strong position we're very excited about the next phase of our future, and we're glad that you're here to share it with us.

Present Day

With our roots underground, safely protected in an ultra secure ex-MOD bunker datacentre. Since then we've doubled in size each year, without advertising.

"Consistently excellent service provided across the board, couldn't ask for much better."  

Adam Lack – April 2013 – www.adamlack.com

"Excellent service and at a great price, cannot fault Krystal at all."  

Lagout – March 2013 – www.sapphireprojects.com

"You always have the time for clients!"  

Davidson Instruments – March 2013 – www.davidsoninstruments.com

"Always friendly, always helpful with (Krystal!) clear instructions and advice!!"  

Fishinguide – March 2013 – www.fishinguide.co.uk

"Quick, simple and reasonably priced!"  

Mike – March 2013 – http://www.bajaltd.co.uk

"Flexible hosting with top notch support! Krystal put the K in Kool!"  

Alex Flahive – March 2013 – www.barlowspark.org

"Very good value domain hosting. Plus a lovely service!"  

Gill – March 2013 – www.visionpoint.co.uk

"Super host company that always keeps one up to date with a curteous reminder of whats what! I hope the next ten years are as"  

Bikewise – March 2013 – www.cyclewize.com

"Solid excellent hosting service with good customer support. Would recommend!"  

Doug Charnley – March 2013 – www.pegdigital.co.uk

"Krystal has the best customer support of any company I have ever needed help from."  

Coltraco – March 2013 – www.coltraco.co.uk

"Simple, easy and good customer service! What more could you want?"  

thecollective11 – February 2013 – www.thecollectivedesigns.net

"The company and service really is as good as the web site implies!"  

John S – February 2013 – www.some4us.com

"A great service and very very helpful. Fast server & loads of tools to use. We're very pleased we chose Krystal!"  

Crash Catcher – February 2013 – www.crashcatcher.co.uk

"I've been with Krystal from near enough day one. Krystal are the best in the business!"  

Ron Cobb – February 2013 – www.roncobb.com

"The service has been great! Thank you! I will be recommending Krystal to all my colleagues and friends!"  

Ben Keeley – January 2013 – www.yeleek.co.uk

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