Vio is targeting the US market with a new operation headed up by Jonathan Cape, one of the founders of its new owner Citizen.


"Theres a huge potential in the States," said Vio executive chairman Richard Horwood.


David Jones, another of the trio behind Citizen, becomes general manager for the firm, which will trade under the Vio brand.


Vio has also responded to criticism of its new pricing model. "All customers were paying for was per-MB file transfer, they werent paying for the value," said Horwood.


According to managing director Miranda Clegg much of the added value came from the expertise of Vios staff. "Seeing these people back was the most important thing," she said. "Many customers wouldnt sign up without them."


"It looks expensive, but if you look at the savings over the cost of doing it in-house at the most expensive level, it costs the same as two staff in-house," said Horwood.


Jones added: "No subsidised service is ever going to survive. If youre going to put in a mission critical application such as file transfer you dont want a flaky platform thats losing money."


Story by Barney Cox