Blacknight, the leading Irish web hosting company, has announced its entry into the home broadband market, and the expansion of its business broadband services nationwide.
It’s the latest in a series of expansions by the Carlow company, which introduced new website and online retail services last year in response to the pandemic. And as offices closed and workers logged in from home, they’ve also seen a rise in demand for server co-location in their data centres, as well as teamworking technology Microsoft 365.
Broadband was the logical next step, explains CEO Michele Neylon.
Historically, we’ve focused on the business market and we’ve provided business fibre in Carlow and Kilkenny for several years. We also provide wireless internet in rural Carlow. But the events of the past year have softened the distinction between home and business. As we welcomed new customers and introduced new products for websites and online retail, it was clear to us that companies need to connect their staff as well as reach their customers.Michele Neylon, CEO, Blacknight
So, when the time came to expand their fibre services nationwide, he explains, it made logical sense to include domestic users as well as businesses.
Working with infrastructure providers including SIRO and Eir, Blacknight offers fibre broadband at speeds up to 1Gbps for both home and business users. Larger enterprises can avail of dedicated internet access (DIA) at speeds up to 10Gbps, with point-to-point connections between multiple sites, or directly into Blacknight’s data centre locations in Carlow and Dublin. There they can access co-located services, and avail of IP Transit connectivity with major internet hubs.
It’s backed by highly responsive customer support from our team in Carlow. As a web host, we’ve built our reputation on customer service and the fact that we’ve got real people at the end of the phone line. Our experience shows that SMEs, in particular, value this kind of serviceMichele Neylon, CEO, Blacknight
He anticipates strong interest from their current clientele, with a 15% discount on business broadband plans for existing customers.
“Our strategy over the last few years has been to expand into offering a full suite of internet services to SMEs”, he explains. “Small businesses don’t have the resources to employ an IT department. It makes sense to outsource these functions, preferably to a single supplier who understands their needs.”
Itself a home-grown Irish SME, that’s a position Blacknight is comfortable occupying. In fact, they are offering other IT companies an opportunity to grow their business through a broadband reseller programme. They've developed a dedicated broadband reseller portal, backed by their technical support, aimed at getting regional IT companies up and running as an internet service provider.
Full details on Blacknight’s retail broadband services, and its reseller programme, are at blacknight.com/broadband.
About Blacknight
Blacknight (http://www.blacknight.com/) are an Irish based, ICANN accredited domain registrar and hosting company. Recipients of several awards for their revolutionary use of social media, Blacknight are one of Europe’s most cutting edge Internet companies. Blacknight constantly seek to lead the way by introducing innovative solutions for its client base and provide dedicated servers and co-location as well as a comprehensive range of Microsoft Windows and Linux based hosting services and domain name registration services to business globally. IP transit services and other solutions for more demanding business and academic customers are offered a la carte. Fibre broadband services for both business and domestic users are also available throughout most of Ireland.