BrickHost is Thunder Bay’s first locally owned and operated dedicated web hosting firm.
Offering world class cost effective web hosting services using first rate Peer1 data centres supported by trained technical staff 24/7.
Following months of work and preparation, Andrew Campbell and Bryan Lokstet are pleased to officially announce the new tech firms’ launch within the local market. BrickHost will offer hosting services through the company website to both the public and businesses locally and internationally. Bryan Lokstet, company COO, is pleased that the company has been able to remain in Thunder Bay, and is excited at the prospect of servicing and expanding the local burgeoning information technology industry. Andrew Campbell, company CEO, has been quoted as saying “ Northwestern Ontario has very much an unrealized potential for hosting the global IT industry, and BrickHost looks forward to working within the community to facilitate future growth and job creation.”
The company is unique within the local market as it offers solely hosting and offsite data backup services. While the company’s offices are located in Thunder Bay, in order to provide high quality hosting services the company uses the Peer1 network of data centres. Peer1 maintains server farms in major centres across Canada and the United States, and have hundreds of redundant connection to the Internet, insuring that your website and/or data is always accessible. The firms’ dynamic approach to business is one of its strengths according to Andrew Campbell. “The hosting industry has matured. Hosting clients no longer seek the absolute lowest price. After having experienced poor or a complete lack of service with bargain hosts, clients are not steadily migrating to hosts which provide multiple reliable support solutions.” Bryan Lokstet was quick to add “BrickHosts’ packages are very cost effective, especially when compared to some of our Canadian counter parts.” He went on to say “Our company’s’ strength lies in our dedication to hosting and data backup. Some of our competitors can’t match our level of tech support and pricing because they are simultaneously also an internet service provider, or even offer web design, marketing and graphic design services.”
Bryan and Andrew both grew up in Thunder Bay and have experienced first hand the youth out-migration from the city. Andrew left Thunder Bay while attending the University of Western Ontario, and admits that he is in the minority as he returned to Thunder Bay. The company is determined to remain in the city and has plans to establish a corporate secure data centre. “I believe that Thunder Bay in five to ten years could be world renowned for its secure data centres” says Andrew. Bryan explained “Most of the data centres we presently have servers in, are located in dense urban areas, such as Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, etc. These areas are not only susceptible to terror attacks, but are also prone to blackouts, as we saw this past year. Thunder Bay is situated in a remote location, is relatively sparsely populated, and has an independent power grid. Furthermore, the Canadian shield is an ideal location for a secure data centre.” While the company is enjoying success internationally, they would like to make inroads into the market locally. Andrew said that BrickHost would very much like to help local businesses gain an online presence and help them reach new markets. Bryan finished by saying that they look forward to continuing to expand locally as they work towards building Thunder Bay’s first full scale data centre.
