iomart, the datacentre operating and web hosting business is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a contract to handle all aspects of the customer web platform service offered by business broadband provider UK Online.

Under the three-year contract, iomart will provide hosting, infrastructure and ongoing management of a web services platform to UK Online, to allow the BSkyB-owned business to offer a comprehensive range of domain name, web hosting and related services to its small business and professional user customer base.

iomart’s own data centre network – with state-of-the-art facilities in Glasgow, Nottingham, Leicester and the City of London – will guarantee UK Online a fully secure and resilient hosting services platform. This managed web service platform will allow UK Online to offer its customers a complete end-to-end e-commerce solution.

Using a secure web-based control centre, UK Online’s customers will be able to purchase everything that they need to build, host, maintain and market professional websites. The services that iomart will provide UK Online include domain name registration, web hosting packages, easy to build web sites and search engine marketing tools.

“It’s becoming essential for a business of any size to have a web presence as the majority of people now look for services online,” explained Chris Stening, managing director of UK Online. “We have chosen to partner with the experts in this area, iomart, as we want to give our customers, particularly those who are sole traders or running their own business, a head start by providing them with a professional looking web presence at an affordable price.”

Angus MacSween, CEO of iomart, said: “We are delighted to have won this prestigious contract from one of the UK’s leading internet companies and we look forward to repaying the confidence that UK Online has placed in us by helping them to enhance their internet services over the next three years.

“Today’s requirements for web hosting services are becoming increasingly complex with service uptime deemed a vital component, web sites and email services must be available 100% of the time. iomart recognised that business continuity coupled with the online customer experience were the critical factors for securing the UK Online contract and we were confident that our proposed solution would deliver on both fronts.

“Winning this contract further validates the Group’s recent strategic move into the datacentre and managed services market.”