Fasthosts
Encyclopedia
Fasthosts Internet Ltd is a provider of Internet access
and hosting services based in Gloucester
, England
. The company also operates the domain name registration
service UKreg and cloud infrastructure service Rise, and has operations in the United States
.
Fasthosts was originally started by Andrew Michael, then aged 17, as part of an A-level school project. It became a limited company in 1999, and launched UKreg in 2000. The company specialised in providing services for small business
es, and in 2002 was listed as the second fastest growing technology company in the United Kingdom by The Sunday Times
. In 2005 the company had a turnover of £20 million and made £5 million profit. The company also became known for hosting lavish staff Christmas parties; an event in 2005 costing £600,000 featured appearances from Jonathan Ross
, The Darkness and Boney M.
In 2006 Fasthosts was sold to German internet service provider United Internet
for £61.5 million, netting Michael £46 million for his 75% stake. Michael remained as CEO until 2009, when he left to found Livedrive
.
A hacking
incident in 2007 prompted Fasthosts to temporarily shut down customers' websites. The company noticed that its servers
had been accessed in October and wrote to customers recommending that they change their password
s; in December after noticing "unusual activity" on some sites it closed down those that had yet to change their passwords until new passwords could be issued by post.
In 2008 Fasthosts acquired reseller Streamline.net, and also launched a reseller hosting service in the United States. Cloud infrastructure service Rise was launched in 2010. Fasthosts is the founding sponsor of The Great Exhibition 2012.
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
and hosting services based in Gloucester
Gloucester
Gloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The company also operates the domain name registration
Domain name registrar
A domain name registrar is an organization or commercial entity, accredited by both ICANN and generic top-level domain registry to sell gTLDs and/or by a country code top-level domain registry to sell ccTLDs; to manage the reservation of Internet domain names in accordance with the guidelines of...
service UKreg and cloud infrastructure service Rise, and has operations in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Fasthosts was originally started by Andrew Michael, then aged 17, as part of an A-level school project. It became a limited company in 1999, and launched UKreg in 2000. The company specialised in providing services for small business
Small business
A small business is a business that is privately owned and operated, with a small number of employees and relatively low volume of sales. Small businesses are normally privately owned corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships...
es, and in 2002 was listed as the second fastest growing technology company in the United Kingdom by The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
. In 2005 the company had a turnover of £20 million and made £5 million profit. The company also became known for hosting lavish staff Christmas parties; an event in 2005 costing £600,000 featured appearances from Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross may refer to:* Jonathan Ross , English television and radio personality* Jonathan Ross , United States Senator, Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court* Jonathon Ross , former Australian rules footballer...
, The Darkness and Boney M.
In 2006 Fasthosts was sold to German internet service provider United Internet
United Internet
United Internet AG is a German Internet services company. With 2.91 million DSL customer contracts, it is a leading ISP in Germany. It is headquartered in Montabaur, Rhineland-Palatinate...
for £61.5 million, netting Michael £46 million for his 75% stake. Michael remained as CEO until 2009, when he left to found Livedrive
Livedrive
Livedrive is an online backup service provider based in London in the UK. Livedrive offers unlimited backup and online file storage. Their main products are backup and briefcase.- Functionality :...
.
A hacking
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
incident in 2007 prompted Fasthosts to temporarily shut down customers' websites. The company noticed that its servers
Server (computing)
In the context of client-server architecture, a server is a computer program running to serve the requests of other programs, the "clients". Thus, the "server" performs some computational task on behalf of "clients"...
had been accessed in October and wrote to customers recommending that they change their password
Password
A password is a secret word or string of characters that is used for authentication, to prove identity or gain access to a resource . The password should be kept secret from those not allowed access....
s; in December after noticing "unusual activity" on some sites it closed down those that had yet to change their passwords until new passwords could be issued by post.
In 2008 Fasthosts acquired reseller Streamline.net, and also launched a reseller hosting service in the United States. Cloud infrastructure service Rise was launched in 2010. Fasthosts is the founding sponsor of The Great Exhibition 2012.