by Rachel Schreiber
Sometimes moms, unknowingly, will give their children a hint of their children’s careers. When Bryan Muthig’s mom gave him his first computer, a 386 Zenith in the sixth grade, it would turn out to be Bryan’s career.
Bryan graduated from Pioneer High School in 1997 and then attended Michigan Tech in Houghton. While there, he realized the courses did not cover what Bryan enjoyed doing most and he moved back to Ann Arbor. Working as a contracted Unix systems administrator for Ford Motor Company in Dearborn and commuting for a year in 2000, was all right, but Bryan yearned to do more. Even working at UUNet, part of MCI World/Com, for five years did not fully utilize his skills and talents.
Bryan says, “I started A2 Hosting on the side with an ex-business partner. It really began as a hobby. We would host websites for friends and family and from there it just grew. Then, we put up a real web page and we had customers on the internet. We said, ‘this is ok, it’s working and we should start working harder at this.’” Bryan is proud of his company and his 18 full-time employees. All of his employees telecommute, but they come into the office once a week for a team meeting. He adds, “A2 Hosting started as developing our website and our services and from there it grew organically.” His Unix systems administration background was fueled from the experience he had while attending Camp Caen, a computer science and computer engineering summer camp offered by the University of Michigan College of Engineering.
Today, as owner of A2 Hosting, Bryan is no longer an administrator; he has had to transition into learning the business of the business. “That’s good,” he states, “I like the technical aspect of what I do. I like to dig in there and look at the technical issues we’re having, but now I feel I’ve been challenged by learning the different aspects of learning how to run a business. I’ve been reading marketing books. The marketing aspect of a business is often overlooked. My focus and energy are on that.”
In addition to the web hosting A2 Hosting provides, they also offer Guru Crew Support. Bryan explains, “We have a handpicked technical support group. I’ve chosen team members who are highly qualified and who can answer questions accurately and correctly the first time.”
Web hosting involves hosting the files, the site content and making them accessible on the internet. Bryan states, “We concentrate on the hosting side. We have hundreds of servers located in the data center with very fast internet connections, redundant power and cooling, network monitoring all the things to make it run smoothly and ensure as much up time as possible. On the servers, each customer is allocated a certain amount of space where they put their files, website, graphics and their applications. We manage those servers, make sure the applications are up and running when they’re supposed to be and are serving the content for the customer on the internet so their website is accessible.”
A2 Hosting has plans for expanding their services. Bryan states, “We will also have an A2 Site Builder. This is a great way for those people who want to have a web site, but don’t have the desire to design one. They can use a drag and drop template to make their own site. In addition, we’re launching a web design branch of the company this winter.”
If you have found this story, interesting, informative or inspiring, please let Bryan know. The A2Hosting can be reached at a2hosting.com, 734-2A2-Host x8002, bmuthig@a2hosting.com.