Blacknight, Ireland’s largest webhost and domain registrar, has acquired MyHost Internet Services Ltd, in its mission to expand its footprint in the Irish hosting market. While the terms of the deal are private, the acquisition will see the current owner, Martin Saunders join the Avalon Holdings/Blacknight team and continue to run MyHost as an independent subsidiary.
The announcement, being made during the annual CloudFest hosting conference, is part of Avalon’s overall growth strategy to expand its business and create more innovative IT solutions for Ireland. MyHost is a fellow Irish-owned and independent hosting company, which means it will be a good fit within Avalon’s existing holdings.
“This year marks our twentieth anniversary,” said Avalon Partner and Blacknight CEO Michele Neylon. “The last few years were about helping small businesses move online during the pandemic, we saw a huge shift to the online market. Now our focus needs to be on how we can strategically grow the business. We’ve known Martin for years and our companies are a natural fit to work together. We’re delighted that he’s going to join our team and that MyHost customers will have a new home on Blacknight’s world class infrastructure.”
MyHost will continue to be operated and run by Martin Saunders under the Avalon Holdings umbrella. Nothing will change for customers immediately but in the long-term, MyHost customers will benefit from gaining Blacknight’s decades of IT experience and Blacknight will gain from MyHost's success in the Irish hosting space. MyHost customers will stay MyHost customers.
“I’m very excited to be joining the Blacknight team,” said MyHost founder Martin Saunders. “We can continue to grow under our own brand but take full advantage of the incredible Blacknight network, improving access and technical capabilities for MyHost customers. Personally, I’m most excited about getting super-fast Blacknight Fibre broadband here in the West of Ireland.”
Blacknight is no longer just a web hosting company, it’s expanded to operating data centres and has built a world-class network that has facilitated the launch of its own broadband services throughout Ireland. Its enterprise hosting, co-location and data centre real estate make it a serious player in the international hosting infrastructure market.
“We’re excited for MyHost to join us,” said Avalon partner and Blacknight CTO Paul Kelly. “This marks a big shift in our growth strategy and we’re looking forward to making more growth centred acquisitions in the future. Martin will become a key part of the Blacknight team.”
Blacknight customers and MyHost customers will continue to stay separate but will benefit from infrastructure upgrades by joining Blacknight’s backbone internet infrastructure in Ireland. It will also allow MyHost to expand its product offerings and tap the benefits of Blacknight’s ICANN accreditation for its domains business as well as its ISO Certifications. It will also gain efficiencies in reducing its carbon footprint as Blacknight is dedicated to green initiatives that included recently installing solar panels on its headquarters that power most of its back-office operations.
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.