PSPinc Official Company Blog

Today is our 31st Anniversary! Looking back over the years, we are so thankful for all the relationships that we've built with our customers. And we hope to continue growing as we serve you. Thank you for your support!

Company Furthers Strong Growth
Momentum with 7th Acquisition in 13 Years

Web Hosting, Web Design and Marketing Services
Enhanced as PSPInc Continues to Expand Client Base Worldwide

Bellevue, Wash., July 2, 2018 – Award-winning internet company Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. (PSPInc) today announced its acquisition of California-based web hosting and design company YourHost.

As a result of the acquisition, premier provider of quality and affordable web service offerings PSPInc will grow its current client base of more than 40,000 customers worldwide further, while continuing to offer YourHost’s complementary e-commerce support, hosting solutions, Internet, virtual/shared hosting, LIVE streaming, and domain registration services.

“As our company continues to expand we’re thrilled about our latest acquisition of YourHost. With a ‘client first’ mentally, we strive to make it easy for companies of all sizes to create and maintain a digital ecosystem to help them do business—and this acquisition will further enhance our efforts to do so,” said Mayumi Nakamura, PSPinc CEO.

“As a result of our acquisition, YourHost’s customers can expect to continue receiving the same great customer-centric service they have become accustomed to, and we look forward to offering them even more services to be successful online,” continued Nakamura.

“As the CEO and one of the founders of YourHost.com, I am pleased to be able to pass the torch to PSPinc, a similar grass-roots company who focuses above all on the client needs,” said YourHost CEO Eric Kirkhuff. “It’s rare to find a company like PSPinc that can integrate with YourHost.com and retain a similar vision which is the true definition of a ‘symbiotic relationship’ in caring for the customer we worked so hard to acquire and maintain.”

With a focus on helping businesses succeed online, PSPInc and its sister company Dreamersi provide all the digital tools needed to run businesses of all sizes and in all industries, from online websites to web hosting, email accounts, custom hosting and e-commerce tools. The acquisition of YourHost represents the company’s 7th acquisition in 13 years.

About PSPinc: PSPinc was founded in 1987 by Ken Uchikura, who at that time was developing software out of a room in his apartment on Mercer Island, WA. Three decades later, PSPinc has grown into a full-service software company offering web hosting, web design, and marketing solutions. Headquartered in Bellevue, WA, PSPinc houses 50 employees with two additional offices in California. More than 40,000 companies worldwide trust them for websites, email, and online services.

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When we think about an eco-system we often imagine natural settings. We think of water, soil, plants, and animals all working together to create a sustainable system - each relying on the others. They’re able to stand-alone and can be beneficial by themselves, but together they create something much bigger and can support more than they could individually.

The same can be said about a digital eco-system. A digital eco-system is an environment where programs are interconnected and interact with each other to complete a common goal. They rely on connectivity to accomplish hard and often complex tasks. The better connected these programs are, the better the eco-system.

Sounds simple, right?

But we often forget how many of these interconnected programs we use on a daily basis. When we ask Alexa to turn on music or to play Netflix – we are using a system of software programs that are connected to each other and working together. As you may already know, sometimes these eco-systems don’t work perfectly. That’s because the programs were not built together, which can cause disruptions in connectivity – to our annoyance.

Whenever PSP sets out to build or improve our software, we have our own digital eco-system in mind. We build our programs to work together and connect seamlessly in order to make your life easier.

Our website builder, Dreamersi, has settings to easily add your blog, connect your social media, or build/add forms into your website. These programs work interdependently with each other to achieve a shared goal: effortless connectivity for our customers so they can focus on the real task at hand – running a successful business.

What IOT technologies and devices will you be seeing on the market, and possibly be adopting yourself for your home or office? What creative solutions are being tested and marketed by the leaders in the tech industry?

Every January, these questions and more are answered in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a trade show put on by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). CES is a showcase for the latest and greatest technology products and services. Many companies use the show to announce and demonstrate their upcoming products and concepts.

IOT advances are being made in many different areas of home and business technology. Here are a few examples from CES 2016. Do you think you'll adopt any of these new products? How do you think this technology could address problems your clients come to you to solve?

In the last post, we talked about Amazon’s use of Internet of Things (IoT) technology and devices to grow their reach and serve their huge customer base. For many reasons, Amazon’s strength is in their customer data.

According to a report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners, there were approximately 54 million Amazon Prime members as of early 2016. The study concludes that Amazon Prime members make up about 47% of the people who shop on the site.

Aside from their customer data, Amazon also has extensive knowledge and information on shipping, warehousing, advertising, etc. Companies like Google can do things like track online behavior and collect data well, but Amazon has set itself apart in that they already have a platform to sell the things they advertise directly to the consumer. Their network is worth all that much more.

How can this help in the future? With Amazon’s know-how and smart IoT strategy, the company has many options in terms of future growth.

To begin with, Amazon has already made inroads into the shipping business, sometimes using their own planes to ship products between high traffic areas instead of using courier services. They also utilize robots in their warehouses and with their warehousing knowledge could integrate things like that to things like connected cars. Tying these technologies together with their customer data could allow for things to operate even more seamlessly in the future, such as being subscribed to blood glucose test strip refills with the touch of a button when ordering a glucose monitor. The possibilities are nearly endless.

For small businesses, the first step they need to take as they wade into IoT is to identify what IoT ecosystem they are in and find how and with whom to create partnerships with. An effective IoT strategy could be the key to long-term survival going forward for many companies in this day and age.

When we think about the Internet of Things (IoT), the first thing that come to mind are usually smart devices, such as smartwatches, but IoT has multiple ecosystems in which it can operate, including Smart Cities, eHealthcare, et al. In order to be successful in IoT, it’s important to think of in terms of ecosystems and partnerships.

From selling books online to the economic powerhouse it is now, Amazon’s growth is undeniable. Amazon started as on online bookstore, but they were very smart about integrating their infrastructure and customer outreach making their expansion to selling other products smoother. The company’s unique IoT strategy has supported their continued expansion.

When Amazon started developing their own devices, integration into their vast web of operations went smoothly because they were already taking a big picture look at where their technology was and where they wanted it to go.

For example, take Amazon’s hands-free speaker with the Alexa Voice Service. Amazon has made it so you can ask things like the weather and it will answer, but there is only so much you can ask Alexa to do. But through partnerships with outside companies that already provide services, you can ask Amazon’s Alexa to request an Uber driver or to adjust your Philips Hue light bulb.

Another device is the Amazon Dash. It’s a simple push button that allows you to order goods literally with “the push of a button.” Each Dash device corresponds to an item, such as Tide laundry detergent or Bounty paper towels, and companies partner with Amazon to have their logo put on the device, linked to a product, and made available online for people to order.

In these arrangements, Amazon is the middleman. They benefit when companies use their site and technology to sell and distribute their products, and partnered companies benefit from their access to Amazon’s enormous customer base.

Businesses such as Amazon can only accomplish so much by making their own devices. By focusing on providing the service that connects others’ devices to consumers, Amazon and others are becoming Network Orchestrators that can benefit from the arrangement even more than their suppliers.

Once you have identified a local issue and thought through the process of integrating an Internet of Things (IoT) strategy as a solution, it’s easier to implement a similar chain of ideas to bigger and wider-ranging issues.

Public transportation is something many people have issues with, and an easy example of a field where IoT can be put to use in solving common use issues. The Washington Metro Area Transit Authority (WMATA) in Washington, DC has opened up their tracking data for free to encourage people to use it in order to develop new applications and solutions for the web and mobile devices.

Buses and trains have schedules to follow, but in practice, these times are rarely exact, and commuters are frustrated when they don’t know what time their bus or train will be arriving. Using system data, such as the transit information from the WMATA, a developer can create an app that lets commuters track when the next ride will actually arrive and time their commute accordingly.

In fact, there are apps that are doing this in many major metropolitan areas, such as Seattle’s OneBusAway, that provide live transit updates for commuters, helping to reduce or eliminate frustration related to not knowing when to expect the next bus.

What about national concerns, such as school busses? Similar to tracking the public transportation systems, students and parents can benefit from being able to track when their school bus is coming. Apps developed to take advantage of IoT tech can allow buses to be tracked using an on-board cell phone to transmit the bus’ GPS location and send updates to the students, families, and the school.

If you widen your view far enough, you’ll find ways IoT can change entire industries or solve universal issues, allowing your business to tap into a new market where there is money yet to be made.

IoT has the potential to improve simple things, like bunching up of teams on a golf course, as well as more wide-ranging and critical issues yet to be defined and solved.

The key is to find a real issue, something you can solve and that people would benefit from. Once that is identified, the devices used for these applications do not necessarily need to be complicated, and in many cases, can simply take advantage of existing devices or minimal modifications.

As IoT devices and sensors become more sophisticated and affordable, there will be less of a need for companies to develop their own devices, leaving time and resources to focus on the rest of the implementation.

Now that we’ve covered what the Internet of Things (IoT) is and the rapid growth of this burgeoning section of the technology market, how can your company use IoT to serve your customers and grow your business?

Anticipating the growth of the IoT market as speculated in market forecasts, it appears as though this relatively new tech will infiltrate anything and everything around us. There is undoubtedly potential for businesses to take advantage of this, but it can be hard to find a place to start. This is a challenge many companies and entrepreneurs face.

Eric Hoffman from Eastbanc Technologies was one of the speakers at the Internet of Things Expo in New York. He raised real-life examples, including those of his company, to show one way to monetize IoT.

Hoffman said the easiest place to start is to find ways IoT can make things easier locally. For him, this started with playing squash.

The problem he wanted to fix was how squash players around him seemed to want to play at odd times of the day (i.e., very early in the morning) but it’s difficult to find courts and gyms open during those hours.

So how could IoT help in this situation?

Eastbanc Technologies developed a system where members can reserve time slots, enter the gym, open the lock, turn the lights on, play and leave with the facility secured without needing to interact with a receptionist or have facility monitor on site to gain access to the court during off hours.

Locks that can identify a member and confirm that they have reserved a court, lights that can register that people are present and turn on or off accordingly, even an optional video camera so players can see their match afterwards – all are examples of IoT in action.

What are some problems either you or your customers experience that could be solved with an IoT solution?

IoT is not a new concept, although you may have just started to hear about it with the release of swanky new smart devices to the consumer market. With advancing technology and the Internet it’s only a matter of time before everything is connected. Even the conservative projections seem to indicate it as the next big thing – whatever your work or business may entail, it will be beneficial to start learning more about where IoT may take us.

The dropping costs of sensors and technological parts are driving the rise in IoT devices. The lowering costs and expanding range of products are what makes these new items more accessible to consumers. According to BI Intelligence, 34 billion devices will be connected to the Internet by 2020 (up from 10 billion in 2015).

The growing device network is continually expanding into new areas and will cover a wide range of fields, referred to as IoT “Ecosystems”. These can range from Smart Devices (like Smart Thermostats and Smart Bathroom Scales) that will integrate with your day-to-day life, to things on a much bigger scale. Smart Cities can help reduce waste or find ways for us to consume energy more efficiently. EHealthcare and Smart Manufacturing are also examples of these ecosystems.

As IoT technologies become more prevalent, companies will need to figure out how to manage and interpret all of the data that will be pouring in. Bi Intelligence estimates that businesses will spend about $6 Trillion on IoT solutions by 2020. Having an IoT solution is going to be essential in many ways including finding ways to increase productivity and cutting costs to compete.

Today marks 29 years since PSPinc's founding on July 7th, 1987 by Ken Uchikura in his apartment on Mercer Island. As we begin our 30th year in business, we reflect on how much has changed in the computer industry.

PSPinc began with localizing software for distribution in the Japanese market, and transitioned to internet services in the mid 1990s, bringing our first server online in 1996. Since then, we've grown into a team of 50 software developers, web designers, customer service representatives and support technicians to keep up with the ever-changing needs of the 40,000 companies around the world that trust us for their websites, email and online services.

We want to thank all of you that have made the last 29 years a success for PSPinc, and invite you to join us in making the 30th even better. Thank you!