Company:123-reg

From HandWiki
Short description: British domain registrar and web hosting company
123-reg
123 Reg Logo (White).png
Founded2000
HeadquartersHayes, England , United Kingdom
Managing directorRichard Winslow
Industry
  • Domain Registrar
  • Web hosting
  • SSL certificates
  • small businesses
Employees51–200 (February 2020)[1]
ParentHost Europe Group
Websitewww.123-reg.co.uk

123-reg is a British domain registrar and web hosting company founded in 2000. The company claims to be the UK's largest accredited[2] domain registrar[3] and provides Internet services to small- and medium-sized business. From 2003 to 2017, 123-reg was part of Host Europe Group (HEG). In April 2017, American hosting company GoDaddy acquired HEG for 1.69 billion euros ($1.82 billion).[4]

History

123-reg was founded in 2000[5][6] by Jonathan and Tim Beresford-Brealey,[7] who prior to this had also set up Webfusion Internet Solutions Ltd in 1997.[8] In 2003, 123-reg and Webfusion were acquired by Host Europe Group (HEG).[7] In 2004, 123-reg became the UK's largest domain registrar, according to the company's parent.[3]

In 2009, Host Europe Group organised its UK operations under the Webfusion Ltd group but kept both brands.[3][9] The same year, Webfusion became the first UK web host to offer Windows Server 2008 web hosting,[3] and the company opened a £2.5 million data centre in Leeds.[10] Also in 2009, 123-reg became the first UK domain registrar to have 2 million domain names on register.[3] In 2010, Webfusion Ltd was included on The Sunday Times's list of Britain's fastest-growing private-equity backed companies, the Deloitte Buyout Track 100, and was the only hosting company on the list.[11] In 2012, it became the first UK domain registrar to have 3 million domain names on register.[3]

On 16 April 2016, 123-reg admitted a major deletion of a large number of virtual private servers (VPSs) caused by an error during what should have been routine maintenance.[12] The event deleted hundreds of websites, with users losing sites and access to data on their VPS service. By 24 April, the situation was still ongoing. During this period, 123-reg had a further data breach, with customers being able to see the support tickets of other account holders.[13]

In April 2017, American hosting company GoDaddy acquired 123-reg's parent company, HEG, for 1.69 billion euros ($1.82 billion).[4]

References

  1. "123-reg: About | LinkedIn". https://www.linkedin.com/company/123-reg-co-uk/about/. 
  2. "Registrar List - Nominet" (in en-GB). http://www.nominet.uk/registrar-list/. 
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Welcome to HEG - Inspiring Next Generation Businesses" (in en-GB). https://www.heg.com/. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 "GoDaddy to buy Host Europe for $1.82 billion" (in en). Reuters. 2016-12-06. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-host-europe-loans-idUSKBN13V194. 
  5. "Where To Register Domain Names And Host Your Web Site" (in en-US). http://kingsolutions.org.uk/wordpress/domains-index/where-to-register-domain-names/. 
  6. "Welcome to HEG - Inspiring Next Generation Businesses" (in en-GB). http://www.heg.com. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 Media, Insider. "Host Europe swoops for Heart Internet" (in en). https://www.insidermedia.com/news/midlands/57741-host-europe-swoops-heart-internet. 
  8. "Notts Internet Company Acquired By Plc. - Information Technology and Telecoms - UK". http://www.mondaq.com/x/8750/Ecommerce/Notts+Internet+Company+Acquired+By+Plc. 
  9. "123-REG LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)" (in en). https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/05306504. 
  10. "DomainInformer : Webfusion opens new £2.5m UK data centre". https://www.domaininformer.com/news/press/090220123reg.html. 
  11. Ltd, Webfusion. "Awards | Find out more About Webfusion UK". https://www.webfusion.co.uk/company/awards/. 
  12. reporter, Chris Foxx Technology. "Web host 123-reg deletes sites in clean-up error". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-36072240. 
  13. "Exclusive: 123-reg suffered serious security lapse while deleting 67 servers". http://www.cloudpro.co.uk/leadership/risks/5953/exclusive-123-reg-suffered-serious-security-lapse-while-deleting-67-servers.