UK2 Group

UK2 Group is a global provider of Internet services based in the United Kingdom, with data centers in the UK and US. Its range of services includes web hosting, virtual private servers, domain name registration and management, dedicated servers, web design and a content delivery network. The group provides services to individuals, small businesses, blue-chip enterprises and resellers through a family of brands it has variously created and acquired, among them UK2.net, Resell.biz, Midphase, WestHost, VI.Net, VPS.net and 100Tb.

History

1998-2010

The group’s first brand, UK2.Net, was launched in the UK by Danish entrepreneur Bo Bendtsen in October 1998 as a low-cost, no-frills provider of Internet domain names.^[1] By 2000 it had become the UK’s largest web hosting company, with an estimated 435,000 customers.^[2]

Bendtsen retired from the company in 2002 but maintained a controlling stake. Following his departure, the company struggled to maintain its market position under chief executive Erik Anderson. Over the next three years, its customer base shrunk by around 50%. Aware it needed to pursue an aggressive turnaround strategy in order to avoid collapse, in 2006 Anderson stepped down and the group appointed Ditlev Bredahl (another Dane) as chief executive.^[3]

Bredahl spent the next three years growing the business and its range of services through a series of strategic acquisitions both within and outside the UK (see Brands and acquisitions). By 2009 the group had successfully rebuilt its market reputation and returned to financial health. Staff numbers had grown from 30 to more than 200. In February of that year, it was ranked the second-most reliable hosting company in the world by hosting market analyst Netcraft.^[4]

UK2 Group continued to tighten operations in the wake of the Great Recession and in May 2009 the company closed its overseas call centres, eliminating around 40 jobs in India and 35 in the Ukraine in favour of a smaller support team. At the same time the group streamlined its executive management team.^[5]

2011–Present

In April 2011, Lloyds Development Capital (LDC), a subsidiary of Lloyds Banking Group acquired a majority stake in UK2 Group for £47 million (about US$77 million) as part of a management buyout.^[6][7] At this time Bredahl departed to become CEO of another LDC-backed business, OnApp.^[8] Phil Male, previously chief strategy officer at Cable and Wireless, joined as the new CEO.^[9]

Male has continued to grow the group, expanding into new markets such as Latin America and introducing a series of new brands and services in a bid to further capitalise on the growing demand for hosting and cloud computing services among business and individuals. By 2011, the group was ranked 45 on the list of 100 fastest-growing private technology companies in Britain,^[10] and in 2012, number 53.^[11]

As of 2015, the group is planning to further expand its global data center capacity and consolidate its brands.

In May 2017 LDC sold UK2 Group to online retailer, The Hut Group.

Brands and Acquisitions

In August 2006, UK2 Group acquired UK domain name business Another.com.

In May 2007 it purchased the reseller business of US web hosting company Stargate, which it integrated and rebranded as Resell.biz. In August of the same year it acquired Stargate’s shared hosting business, which again was integrated and rebranded as US2.net.^[12]

In December 2007 it purchased US shared hosting and VPS provider midPhase Services, including the company’s ANHosting.com and Autica.com brands.^[13]

In June 2008 it acquired ICANN-accredited domain registrar Naming Web.

In July 2008 it continued its round of US acquisitions by buying web-hosting brand WingSix from US-based ServerCentral.^[14]

In September 2008 the group acquired Australian community-focused web-hosting provider Dotable.^[15]

In October 2008 it acquired US-based shared and dedicated hosting provider WestHost, including its data center in Salt Lake City, Utah.^[16]

In December 2008 it acquired UK-based dedicated and managed hosting company Virtual Internet.^[17]

In August 2009 it purchased a data center in Canary Wharf, London.^[18]

In 2008, it created the 10TB.com brand, partnering with cloud provider SoftLayer Technologies to offer a global, high-bandwidth dedicated web-hosting service.^[19] As SoftLayer’s network capacity expanded, UK2 upgraded the service and in March 2010 relaunched it as 100TB.com to reflect the increased bandwidth.^[20]

In August 2010 the group also launched another new brand, VPS.Net, to cater for the anticipated growth in demand for virtual private servers.^[21]

In November 2011, the group announced the launch of HostPuru a hosting brand specifically targeting the Latin American market.^[22]

In January 2012, it announced it was launching a virtual private network service, VPNHQ.^[23]

Sponsorship and community initiatives

UK2 sponsored the Marussia F1 racing team in 2012.^[24]

In November 2014 UK2 partnered with children’s charity Barnardo’s and the Raspberry Pi Foundation to launch an initiative to teach troubled children to build and use Raspberry Pi computers.^[25]

References

External links

• Official website