Gandi
{{Short description|Domain registrar and web hosting company}}
{{About-distinguish|Gandi SAS, a French company|Mahatma Gandhi}}
{{Infobox website
| name = Gandi
| logo = Image:GandiSAS.svg
| type = Société par actions simplifiée
| foundation = {{start date and age|2000}}
| founder = Pierre Beyssac
Laurent Chemla
Valentin Lacambre
| location_city = Paris
| location_country = France
| location =
| locations =
| area_served = Worldwide
| key_people = Stephan Ramoin (President)
| industry =
| products =
| services = Domain name registration
Web hosting
Blog hosting service
Email hosting
| revenue = €37 million (2018)
| operating_income =
| net_income =
| assets =
| equity =
| owner = Total Webhosting Solutions{{Cite web |last=online-pereputye |date=2023-02-10 |title=Gandi & TWS Join Forces to Form Your.Online |url=https://your.online/press-release/ |access-date=2023-02-27 |website=Your.Online |language=en-US |quote=Gandi SAS (“Gandi”) and Total Webhosting Solutions B.V. (“TWS”), today announced their merger and the creation of Your.Online: a leading European online services platform supporting businesses of all sizes in realizing and scaling their online ambitions.}}{{Cite web |title=McDermott Will & Emery Advised Montefiore Investment on the Sale of its Shares in Gandi to Total Webhosting Solutions |url=https://www.mwe.com/media/mcdermott-will-emery-conseille-montefiore-investment-dans-le-cadre-de-la-cession-de-sa-participation-dans-gandi-a-total-webhosting-solutions/ |access-date=2023-02-27 |website=McDermott Will & Emery |language=en |quote=McDermott Will & Emery advised Montefiore Investment, a leading fund for mid-cap companies, in the sale of its stake in Gandi, a French domain name registration, web hosting, email and SSL certificate provider, to the pan-European company Total Webhosting Solutions (TWS).}}
| num_employees =
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| divisions =
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| homepage = [https://www.gandi.net/ www.gandi.net]
| footnotes =
| intl =
}}
Gandi SAS (Gestion et Attribution des Noms de Domaine sur Internet – "Management and Allocation of Domain Names on the Internet") is a French company providing domain name registration, web hosting, and related services. The company's main office is in Paris.{{cite web
| url=https://www.gandi.net/whowe
| title=Domain names and VPS Cloud hosting – Who is Gandi?
| publisher=Gandi
| access-date=2014-02-08}}
History
Gandi was founded as a domain registrar in April 2000 by Valentin Lacambre, Laurent Chemla, Pierre Beyssac and David Nahmias.
In 2005 following internal struggles in management,{{cite web|last1=Ramoin|first1=Stephan|title=The "How" after the "Why", Part I|url=http://www.gandibar.net/post/2006/02/16/The-How-after-the-Why-Part-I|website=Gandi Bar|publisher=Gandi|access-date=26 April 2016|date=16 February 2006 |quote=It's the end of 2004 and I receive a telephone call from Laurent Chemla. He tells me that the shareholders, aware of their differences and therefore their incapacity to make Gandi evolve, have taken the decision to sell.}} ownership and management of Gandi was sold to a team led by Stephan Ramoin (formerly of MultiMania/Lycos),{{cite web
| url=https://www.gandi.net/press/biography/
| title=Portrait of Stephan Ramoin, President of Gandi SAS
| publisher=Gandi
| access-date=2014-02-08}} and investors Joe White, Eirik Pettersen (co-founders of the online website building service Moonfruit), and Warren Stephens.{{cite web|title = Who is Gandi and why should I care?|url = http://www.gandibar.net/post/2008/10/20/Who-is-Gandinet-and-why-should-I-care-about-them|website = www.gandibar.net|access-date = 2016-01-27|language = en|last = Wendy}}
In 2008, Gandi launched a Xen-based VPS cloud hosting service, based on a system of "shares" and scalable resources that can be adjusted in real time.{{cite web
| url=https://www.gandi.net/hosting/iaas/livescaling
| title=Why choose Gandi for your hosting service? – Power on demand
| publisher=Gandi
| access-date=2014-02-08}}
In 2010 the company created a subsidiary in the US, opening a data center in downtown Baltimore, Phoenix, Arizona and business offices in San Francisco, California, as well as creating a customer support center in the US, which until then had been exclusively operated out of Paris, France at Place de la Nation.
In late 2011, Gandi.net was the 25th largest registrar in terms of the number of domains registered.{{cite web
|url=http://www.webhosting.info/registrars/top-registrars/global/
|title=Largest ICANN Registrars
|publisher=webhosting.info
|access-date=2024-09-03
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111231110920/http://www.webhosting.info/registrars/top-registrars/global/?pi=2
|archive-date=2011-12-31
}}
On 31 July 2014, Amazon Web Services partnered with Gandi and announced the ability to register domains directly through their Route 53 Service.{{Cite web|title=Amazon Route 53 Announces Domain Name Registration, Geo Routing, and Lower Pricing|url=https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2014/07/31/amazon-route-53-announces-domain-name-registration-geo-routing-and-lower-pricing/|access-date=2020-11-17|website=Amazon Web Services, Inc.|language=en-US}}{{cite web|title = Registering Domain Names Using Amazon |url=http://docs.aws.amazon.com/Route53/latest/DeveloperGuide/registrar.html|website = docs.aws.amazon.com}}
On 28 February 2019, Gandi CEO Stephan Ramoin announced that private equity firm Montefiore Investment had acquired the company.{{cite web | url=https://news.gandi.net/en/2019/02/futureofgandi-the-adventure-continues/ | title=#FutureofGandi: The adventure continues - Gandi News | date=28 February 2019 }}
In February 2023, Gandi was acquired by Total Webhosting Solutions, forming a new brand, Your.Online.{{Cite web |last=online-pereputye |date=2023-02-10 |title=Gandi & TWS Join Forces to Form Your.Online |url=https://your.online/press-release/ |access-date=2023-02-27 |website=Your.Online |language=en-US |quote=Gandi SAS (“Gandi”) and Total Webhosting Solutions B.V. (“TWS”), today announced their merger and the creation of Your.Online: a leading European online services platform supporting businesses of all sizes in realizing and scaling their online ambitions.}}{{Cite web |title=McDermott Will & Emery Advised Montefiore Investment on the Sale of its Shares in Gandi to Total Webhosting Solutions |url=https://www.mwe.com/media/mcdermott-will-emery-conseille-montefiore-investment-dans-le-cadre-de-la-cession-de-sa-participation-dans-gandi-a-total-webhosting-solutions/ |access-date=2023-02-27 |website=McDermott Will & Emery |language=en |quote=McDermott Will & Emery advised Montefiore Investment, a leading fund for mid-cap companies, in the sale of its stake in Gandi, a French domain name registration, web hosting, email and SSL certificate provider, to the pan-European company Total Webhosting Solutions (TWS).}} In June, the company announced drastic price increases, including a new monthly fee for mailboxes previously included for free.{{Cite web |title=FAQ – New Mailbox service and management of your current mailboxes |date=13 June 2023 |url=https://news.gandi.net/en/2023/06/faq-new-mailbox-service/}}
Service
=Domain registrar=
=Email services=
Gandi is also known for its "Gandi mail" offering, which includes some productivity software{{cite news|url=https://www.nextinpact.com/news/103017-gandi-revoit-son-webmail-et-lui-ajoute-calendrier.htm|title=Gandi revoit son webmail et lui ajoute un calendrier|author=Guénaël Pépin|date=2017-01-24|language=fr}} and allows to use open source software Roundcube as webmail interface.{{cite web|access-date=2020-04-18|title=Introducing the new Gandi Mail|url=https://news.gandi.net/en/2017/08/introducing-the-new-gandi-mail/|website=Gandi News|date=August 2017}}
Business model
Gandi does not advertise,{{cite web
| url=http://www.gandibar.net/post/2010/09/07/Customer-Support-at-Gandi:-Evolution-and-Future
| title=Customer Support at Gandi: Evolution and Future
| author=Ryan
| date=2010-09-07
| publisher=Gandi
| access-date=2014-02-08}} relying primarily on "word of mouth" recommendations from existing customers.
Until 2019, the company didn't distribute profits nor take debts, but reinvested all its margins in the business.
The company has a program to provide funds and/or promotion to projects and organizations that meet its criteria of "concrete", "open", and "alternative".{{cite web
| url=https://www.gandi.net/supports/
| title=Gandi supports alternative projects
| publisher=Gandi
| access-date=2014-02-08}} It uses and advocates for open-source software,{{cite web
| url=http://open.gandi.net/
| title=Gandi GitHub repository
| access-date=2014-02-08}} and since September 2010 has supported Creative Commons, providing them with free domain registrations and renewals, as well as VPS services.{{cite web
|url = http://labs.creativecommons.org/2010/09/13/gandi-net-supports-cc/
|title = Gandi.net supports CC
|first = Nathan
|last = Kinkade
|date = 2010-09-13
|url-status = dead
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100917145805/http://labs.creativecommons.org/2010/09/13/gandi-net-supports-cc/
|archive-date = 2010-09-17
}}
Other projects that Gandi supports include (but not limited to) the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Students for Free Culture, The Spamhaus Project, Debian, Let's Encrypt, Ubuntu, GNOME, FreeBSD, Dotclear, Mageia, Paris Web, World Wide Fund for Nature, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, VideoLAN, Adie, Canard PC, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Demotix, GoodPlanet, Jamendo, In Libro Veritas, Arrêt sur Images le retour, Software Freedom Conservancy, Geeklist, FlISoL, Wikiotics, and FluxBB.{{cite web
| url=http://faif.us/cast/2013/apr/03/0x3A/
| title=Episode 0x3A: FOSDEM 2013: FOSS Code Goes In And Never Comes Out
| at= Time index ~1:00:00
| publisher=Software Freedom Conservancy
| date=2013-04-03
| access-date=2014-02-08}}