In hosting, bigger is not always better. For many businesses, agencies, and server owners, the real value comes from working with a team that knows their infrastructure, understands their pain points, and can step in with practical expertise when something goes wrong. That is where Green Olive Tree has built its reputation.

Founded in 2002, Green Olive Tree began in shared hosting before finding its true strength in server administration and managed cloud services. Today, the company serves customers across North America and beyond, helping businesses manage servers, protect workloads, and keep web applications running with the kind of personal service that can be difficult to find at larger providers.

For this JetBackup Partner Spotlight, we spoke with Jon Berry, President of Green Olive Tree, about how the company got started, why personal relationships still matter in hosting, the role backups play in server management, and where he sees the industry heading over the next few years.

How did Green Olive Tree get started in hosting?

“Green Olive Tree started in shared hosting in 2002. Like many companies from that era, we began by offering hosting services directly to customers, but we fairly quickly found that our real strength was not selling cheap shared hosting plans. We were much better at administering servers.

That led to a major pivot in 2005. Instead of trying to compete in the low-cost shared hosting market, we shifted our focus to server management for people who had servers at providers like Rack Shack, The Planet, SoftLayer, and others. That was where we could provide the most value.”

Many of the strongest hosting companies have found success by specializing instead of competing on price. Green Olive Tree’s transition into managed server administration demonstrates how expertise and long-term customer relationships can create lasting value.

What market, niche, or geographic region do you primarily serve?

“We primarily serve North America, but we also have clients in many other parts of the world. We have a scattering of customers in places like Israel, various European countries, Brazil, Australia, and beyond.

We only speak English, but we are happy to serve anyone anywhere as long as we can communicate clearly. The needs of server owners and web application operators are not limited by geography, and we have always been open to helping customers wherever they are located.”

Hosting has become a truly global industry. Whether customers are across the street or across the world, dependable infrastructure and responsive support remain universal expectations.

What makes Green Olive Tree different from larger, more generic providers?

“I think what differentiates us is that, unlike many large “managed” providers, we are a small, lean team of technicians who get to know our clients personally. We know their servers intimately. We know their pain points. We know the history of their environment.

When there is a problem, our clients do not have to start over with a new technician every time. They are usually dealing with someone they have worked with many times before, someone who already understands the server, the customer, and the context around the issue.

That continuity matters. It creates trust, and it makes support more effective because we are not starting from scratch with every ticket.”

Technology is important, but relationships are often what customers remember most. Providers who understand their customers’ environments can deliver faster support, better guidance, and a higher level of trust.

What was the first customer, project, or moment that made you think, “We are really building something here”?

“The exact moment is hard to identify, but the one I usually point to happened in the cPanel forums back when they were very active and vibrant.

Someone had posted about a problem, and after a lot of back and forth, I was trying to help him work through it. Eventually, he simply asked if we would be able to just manage his server for him.

That was the “aha” moment. It showed us there was a real need for knowledgeable server management, not just hosting plans. People had servers, but they needed someone they could trust to help operate and maintain them.”

Many successful hosting businesses begin by solving real problems for real people. Listening to customers often reveals opportunities that no business plan could predict.

What do your customers value most about working with your team?

“I think our clients value the same things that differentiate us from larger providers. We are not the cheapest server management company, but I like to think we are among the best and most capable.

Our customers value that we know them, we know their servers, and we understand what they are trying to accomplish. They are not being passed through a generic support queue where every interaction feels like the first interaction.

That personal knowledge allows us to provide better support, faster context, and more practical guidance. In server management, experience matters, but familiarity with the customer’s environment matters just as much.”

Experience is invaluable, but understanding a customer’s unique environment makes that experience even more effective. Long-term partnerships are built through consistency, communication, and trust.

How do backups fit into your overall hosting strategy?

“As a managed provider, making sure our clients have reliable backups is a critical tent pole of what we do. Backups are always a touch point in our conversations with customers because we like to make sure they have some form of protection in place.

We do have a very small number of clients who do not run backups, or who claim they are maintaining backups themselves, but we still raise the issue. It is too important to ignore.

In our cloud structure, even when a client is not specifically paying for backups, we are at least backing up their VM images daily just in case. Reliable backups are an essential part of responsible server management, and they can make the difference between a temporary issue and a major disaster.”

We share this philosophy completely. Backups are not simply another hosting feature; they are one of the most important safeguards a provider can offer. A strong backup strategy gives both providers and customers confidence when the unexpected happens.

Why did you choose JetBackup as part of your backup offering?

“JetBackup makes for a clean and attractive off-server backup strategy. cPanel backups are still our go-to option for local disk backups, such as a backup drive, but when a client wants the added security of off-site backups, we use JetBackup.

That off-server protection is important. Local backups can be useful, but they are not always enough. When customers want a more secure backup approach that keeps data away from the primary server, JetBackup fits that need well.

For managed providers like us, having a reliable off-site backup option helps us deliver better protection and gives customers more confidence in their recovery strategy.”

Off-site backups continue to be one of the best defenses against hardware failures, ransomware, accidental deletions, and other unexpected events. We’re proud to help partners like Green Olive Tree deliver dependable backup and disaster recovery solutions to their customers.

Where do you see the hosting industry going over the next three years?

“The hosting industry is one of those things that, at its fundamentals, does not change that much. Yes, technology changes. The software gets updated. New features appear. Companies like AWS work hard to complicate things and create environments where, once customers are ensnared, they feel like they have no choice but to stay.

But at the end of the day, hosting is still about serving web applications.

I do love how technology advances, and AI is going to play an interesting role, especially in the realms of automation and support. There will be new tools, new workflows, and new ways to improve efficiency. But ultimately, three years from now, we are still going to be serving web applications.

The core mission remains the same.”

AI will undoubtedly transform how hosting providers operate, automate, and support their customers. But regardless of how technology evolves, reliability, security, and recoverability will continue to be the foundation of every successful hosting platform.

Green Olive Tree and JetBackup

Green Olive Tree’s story is a reminder that hosting is still a relationship-driven business. Technology continues to evolve, but customers still need capable people who understand their infrastructure, know their history, and can help them make smart decisions when it matters most.

For Jon Berry and the Green Olive Tree team, server management is not about being the cheapest option. It is about being trusted, capable, and familiar with the environments they support. Backups are a natural part of that responsibility, especially for customers who depend on their servers and applications every day.

JetBackup is proud to support partners like Green Olive Tree as they help customers build stronger, safer, and more reliable hosting environments.