When SimplyCast began, we had to choose a first market to focus on. We decided to go to the United States market. Although we would eventually become a global company, we had to start somewhere. We began acquiring American customers and slowly started to expand our international customer base.
Once SimplyCast gained a significant Canadian customer base, we realized we had an issue. Many of these customers were asking us where their data was being stored. Were we keeping it in Canada? At the time, we were not.
Why were Canadian customers seeking data storage in Canada? Many customers were wary of the Patriot Act in the U.S. They believed their data was not as safe from intrusion as it would be in Canada. Some organizations, such as many educational and government institutions, even had regulations which stipulated that their data must be held within Canada. SimplyCast realized we could not truly be a Canadian company with an international reach if we did not have a Canadian Data Centre.
In late 2012, SimplyCast unveiled our new Canadian Data Centre, located in Toronto. The Data Centre helped us enable customers to meet privacy laws and government requirements for online data storage. If a customer chose to use the Canadian Data Centre, they would have all their data stored securely within Canada and they would get all their billing in Canadian currency. Within a year of the launch, SimplyCast tripled our Canadian customer base.
With the capability to launch in multiple countries and the multiple languages available within our platform, SimplyCast was truly becoming an international company. We now have customers in over 175 countries and we have resellers on 6 continents. SimplyCast has grown big and grown fast, and we continue to reach out to new customers and new partners.