Memset

- IT Hosts Now Hold Three ISO Accreditations -

Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom - 8 October 2009, Memset, the UK's Best Web Host according to PC Pro readers, today announced it has obtained ISO27001 accreditation from the British Accreditation Bureau (BAB). ISO27001 is the internationally recognised standard for Information Security Management (ISMS). Memset is one of the first providers of hosting solutions to achieve this certification.

ISO27001 is an internationally recognised standard that identifies, manages and minimises the range of threats to which information is regularly subjected. Despite the fact that data security scare stories now regularly fill the headlines, less than 6,000 organisations worldwide have achieved the accreditation. As part of the process, BAB performed comprehensive on-site assessments, examining Memset's documented procedures, and audited its staff and overall operations.

Memset has also taken the precaution of implementing a policy of criminal record background checks on all personel, further enhancing their customer’s data security.

Kate Craig-Wood, MD of Memset commented "Our work with BAB and the resultant ISO27001 accreditation shows the seriousness of our commitment to customers’ data security. Less than one per cent of all UK firms have so far received this certification, so we're pretty proud to have met the tough criteria."

Nick Morice-Jones from the BAB said, “It has been great to work with a young, dynamic company like Memset who also take operational standards seriously. I was particularly struck by their clever use of business process automation to eliminate the bureaucratic overhead sometimes associated with ISO management systems.”

Building further still on their ISO9001 Quality Management System (QMS) certification, gained in 2006, Memset has was also last month awarded with the ISO14001 certification for its environmental management system (EMS).

Craig-Wood said: "We all know our responsibility to our environment, and receiving ISO14001 accreditation demonstrates how we, the UK’s first Carbon Neutral ISP, are once again leading the IT hosting industry in terms of quantifiable, audited commitment to energy efficiency"

Memset's green credentials have also been recognised with a string of industry awards;

• Winner, UK CEED Sustain IT environmental innovator award 2009
• Medallist, BCS awards, BP Environmental Project 2008
• Winner, PCPro Environmental Innovator award 2008
• Finalist, European green IT award for market leadership 2008.
• Guildford Green award, 2007

Craig-Wood concluded "To my knowledge, there are no other providers in our sector with all three ISO accreditations. To have certified, audited operational management systems for quality, environmental responsibility and information security absolutely demonstrates our commitment to implementing best practices across the business."

- Web Hosts Take The Prestigious Title Four Years in a Row -

Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom - 2 October 2009, Memset, the UK's Best Web Host, scooped the prestigious title for another year at last week's annual PC Pro Awards. For four years running, Memset's customers have continued to vote the web hosts into the winning spot for their exceptional customer support and reliability.

For an industry where reliability is paramount, Memset's recent award win came days after it was the only British company to be featured in the top 15 most reliable hosting companies worldwide through an independent survey carried out by Internet analysts, Netcraft.

Kate Craig-Wood, MD of Memset who's business ethics and customer-centric approach drive the company, said: "We're absolutely thrilled to have won this title again. Out of all the business awards that bring kudos to our company, this is the one to have as it's voted for by our customers. There is no better endorsement for our products and services."

Tim Danton, editor of PC Pro said: "This is now four wins in a row for British web host Memset, which has a clear focus on businesses rather than consumers (though it does sell to consumers as well). Memset's prices aren't the lowest, but it blasts all the opposition away when it comes to customer support and reliability, which is why 95% of its customers would recommend the company to friends - compared to the industry average of 83%."

Memset's award-winning Web hosting service is a pick-and-mix selection of fully customisable virtual and dedicated servers presented as an outsourced IT infrastructure solution. All elements are provided on monthly contracts, which can be scaled up or down as required.

Guildford, United Kingdom - 28 September 2009 - Memset, the award-winning dedicated IT hosting company, is delighted to announce that it has been shortlisted as a finalist for two categories in the BCS & Computing UK IT Industry Awards 2009.

The awards merges the longstanding Computing Awards for Excellence and the BCS IT Industry Awards to create a platform for the entire UK IT profession to showcase and celebrate best practice, innovation and excellence.

Kate Craig-Wood, Co-Founder and MD of the IT hosting company has been shortlisted for "IT Leader of the Year", and Memset is one of 10 companies shortlisted in the "Best Small IT Supplier of the Year category, recognising the delivery of IT excellence and customer satisfaction across the organisation during the past 12 months.

"I am thrilled to learn that we have been shortlisted for two categories at these prestigious awards. I'm particularly pleased for our team who continue to punch well above their weight in terms of technology innovation and superior customer service" said Kate Craig-Wood, MD of Memset.

Kate's nomination for the prestigious title of "IT Leader of the Year", sponsored by Qedis comes hot on the heels of her being included in Management Today's Top 35 Women Under 35. Not only has she grown a business from inception, without external funding, into one of the UK's leading IT companies, but Memset's products offer excellent quality and value. Their virtual machines are currently the cheapest in Britain and have been voted Best Web Host for three years running by PC Pro magazine.

David Clarke, BCS chief executive, says: "I'm particularly pleased to see so many entries in these difficult economic conditions; it reinforces the importance of IT in delivering business and social benefit. Our Awards are central to our drive to create the IT profession and the finalists can be proud of their achievements."

The BCS and Computing will announce the winners of this year's UK IT Industry Awards at the Battersea Park Events Arena on 12 November 2009.

List of all finalists.

- Technology Entrepreneur Makes Final For Women Of The Future Awards -

Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom - 30 September 2009, Kate-Craig-Wood, technology entrepreneur and MD of IT Hosting company Memset has been named as a finalist in the Women of the Future Awards.

The organisers said: "Britain may still be suffering in recession, but its future is in exciting hands," when they named Kate Craig-Wood as a finalist of the 2009 Women of the Future Awards, in association with Shell.

The Awards are the most powerful platform in Britain, to celebrate outstanding young women who are transforming Britain for the better and will be held on November 12 the Marriott Grosvenor Square, hosted by BBC London's Riz Lateef.

Kate has been nominated for the Entrepreneurial Woman of the Future Award.

The Awards feature high fliers from organisations such as IBM, HSBC and JP Morgan. The 2009 shortlist is the most impressive and diverse to date and includes the singers from Wicked - Alexia Khadime & Dianne Pilkington, founder of Pineapple Studios Debbie Moore and tailor Kathryn Sargent.

Kate, said: "It is a tremendous honour to be shortlisted. Few women have made a name for themselves in the very male-dominated IT Industry, and I'm delighted to be recognised in these awards. In post-recession Britain, the ICT industry is going to be a vital engine of economic growth and I am proud that my company, and my team, will be able to play their part."

To view a list of all finalists, visit Women of the Future.

- IT Host Hopes To Retain "Best Web Host" Title for Fourth Consecutive Year -

Guildford, United Kingdom - 3 September 2009 - Memset, the award-winning dedicated IT hosting company, is delighted to announce that it has been shortlisted for two awards in the 2009 PC Pro Awards. The IT host is hoping to retain its title as 'Best Web Host' for the fourth consecutive year, as well as pick up 'Best Business Service of the Year'.

The awards, which take place every year, showcase the best providers of IT equipment, and are the industry's most prestigious, as they are voted for by users and not a judging panel. PC Pro compile the shortlist for each award by running one of the biggest IT surveys in the UK where customers are asked to vote for their favourite provider in each category.

"To win 'Best Web Host' four years on the trot would be amazing," said Kate Craig-Wood, founder and MD of Memset. "The competition is stiff, but hopefully we are in with a good chance of winning both of these titles."

Memset has been shortlisted for Best Business Service of the Year for their 'IT Hosting' service, which is a pick-and-mix selection of fully customisable virtual and dedicated servers presented as an outsourced IT infrastructure solution.

"Thanks to our heavily automated business processes, and our investment in energy & hardware efficiency, we are extremely competitive. In fact, our IT hosting service is currently one of the cheapest in Britain," concluded Craig-Wood.

The PC Pro award ceremony takes place at The Hurlingham Club, Fulham on 30 September 2009.

For more details on the Awards, visit the PC Pro website.

- Memset Recognised As An Environmental Innovator -

Guildford, Surrey - 7 July 2009, Memset, the award-winning dedicated Web & IT hosting provider has been recognised for their ongoing commitment to environmental innovation at UK CEED Sustain IT National eWell-Being Awards.

The awards, conceived by the charity UK CEED and sponsored by BT and Unison, are now in their 7th year. The prestigious awards ceremony, held at the Royal Society of Arts in London, showcased the innovative application of Information Communication Technology by 33 finalists across the Award's 9 categories.

Memset has been recognised for their ongoing commitment to exploring ways that new technologies can be used to not only reduce their environmental impact, but that of their customers as well.

Memset's pioneering development of their Miniserver&trade Virtual Machines, their power saving initiatives implemented in the data centre, being Britain's first ISP to receive carbon neutral accreditation (2006) and founder, Kate Craig-Wood's unrelenting campaign to promote green IT and her hands-on involvement with Intellect UK have all contributed to Memset winning this award.

Kate Craig-Wood, said: "We are delighted to be recognised for our efforts in reducing the impact IT has on the environment, but more importantly hope to encourage other businesses to do the same. We are living proof that, in ICT, being green is synonymous with reducing costs. We are continuing to grow, despite the recession, because our commitment to efficiency has made us highly competitive"

In her keynote address at the awards, Sue Nelson, the science and environment writer and broadcaster, praised the finalists for being at the forefront of innovation in ICT for environmental and social improvement and encouraged other organisations to follow the best practice demonstrated by this year's winners.

- IT Entrepreneur in Management Today's '35 Women Under 35' 2009 List -

Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom - 29 June 2009, Kate Craig-Wood, MD and co-founder of IT host, Memset has been named in Management Today's leading list of high achieving female talent.

At just 32 years old, Kate was the only woman in the list to be recognised from the IT industry.

A self-taught computer programmer, Kate's first job was with Arthur Andersen business consulting as IT consultant. She went on to head business development for Easyspace and subsequently formed Memset with her brother, Nick, in late 2002.

Memset is Britain's first Carbon Neutral ISP and has won a number of awards for innovation, service and IT strategy including been voted best UK Web host 2006, 2007 and 2008 by PCPro magazine.

Close to two-thirds of the women included in Management Today's list studied what some still think of as "male" subjects at university: science, business, law and economics; a third went to Oxford, Cambridge or the LSE. More than 50% work in traditionally male sectors.

"As one of the few women in IT, I am very concerned about the lack of girls entering the profession and our falling numbers. According to the BERR, Intellect & BCS Women in IT scorecard, women now account for less than 11% of IT professionals working within the sector." said Craig-Wood.

"The IT sector is ever-more critical to our nation's economic prosperity, with the knowledge economy employing 41% of our workforce. Further, ICT has been identified by the WWF, Gartner & McKinsey? as being the key to reducing our society's collective carbon emissions. The lack of diversity in IT threatens to compromise our sector's potential."

"I hope that being included in this high-profile list will help demonstrate to girls that a career in IT really can pay off," concluded Craig-Wood.

- IT Hosts Reap Rewards For Thinking Inside The Box -

Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom - 18 May 2009, IT hosting company, Memset has today unveiled their Miniserver architecture, which not only challenges conventional vendor-led wisdom on how virtualisation should be done, but also makes their cloud service one of the cheapest available.

Since launching the UK's first virtual dedicated server system in 2002, Memset have constantly investigated the new virtualisation technologies, combined them with the steady advances that Intel and AMD have made available, and have crafted them into a more secure, faster and better version of their Miniserver VM product.

Their Miniserver architecture goes against the widely accepted vendor-led wisdom of using large, expensive servers and SANs for virtualisation. Memset, who have thousands of virtual machines deployed, simply use 1U quad-core servers with 16GB RAM and 2 x 1,500GB SATA disks in a RAID1 configuration. Their chassis of choice is currently the Dell R300. Each of the four CPU cores are divided into 8 virtual cores using the open source Xen hypervisor, the RAM is split into dedicated chunks, and dedicated disk partitions are provisioned using LVM.

Kate Craig-Wood, MD of Memset said: "The limiting factor today with virtualisation is disk access time / transactions per second, not CPU or RAM, so using a SAN does not work. Using larger machines with more disks does not get around that bottleneck either, since even with a RAID5 array you are bumping into the fact that you have to wait for a rotating disk to go through roughly half a revolution before you can read data! Our long-experience in the field has shown that using simple, commodity boxes is the best way to host virtual machines."

Following recent upgrades in resource allocation, Memset's award-winning Miniserver VM product is now the cheapest in the UK. Even when compared to Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service Memset offers a far more cost-effective option for most businesses. Whilst Amazon'ss EC2 service can be cheaper if you need to host a clustered application with a highly dynamic load profile, Memset is a lot cheaper for applications which just need one or more small servers that are available 24/7.

Craig-Wood continued, "Not only are we cheaper than Amazon EC2 in a like-for-like comparison, but their minimum instance size is a whopping 1.7GB RAM with half a modern Xeon core - comparable with our VM4000. We run major corporate Web sites with less resource than that! Our starting £9.95/mo VM1000 has 512MB RAM with one virtual core, which in CPU power terms is about the same as a 2001 Pentium but with enough RAM for today's applications. That is plenty for most applications being outsourced and virtualised as part of a legacy hardware consolidation / cost cutting program."

Memset's Miniserver VMs have consistently been recognised for their green credentials having scooped the 'Environmental Innovator' award at the PC Pro 2008 Awards and a runners-up medal for the 'BP Environmental Project' at the British Computer Awards last year. Zahl Limbuwala lead judge at the BCS Awards commented: "Memset deserved recognition for their sustained leadership of the industry in the field of energy-efficient hosting with their Miniserver VM product."

Despite the recession, Memset's gross revenues are up 8% since January 2009 thanks primarily to the demand for IT infrastructure outsourcing.

- As IT Host Receives Industry Acclaim For Ongoing Commitment To Green Hosting -

Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom - 20 January 2009, Memset, the award-winning dedicated IT hosting provider is hoping to prove to businesses that at a time of major economic uncertainty, keeping Green IT on the sustainability agenda is crucial.

Amongst the majority of large UK businesses there is an acceptance that climate change is a reality and co-ordinated and targeted action needs to be taken to avert significant problems in the future. But as businesses continue to deal with gloomy economic conditions and falling consumer demand, there is a tendency to put investment, especially in Green technology, on the back burner. But businesses must realise that there is a direct relationship between reducing waste and increasing profit. At Memset we realised in 2006 that power would soon become a significant cost and a big issue for the industry against the background of increased awareness of the greenhouse effect.

Our Miniserver technology was already a significant energy-saving technology, as our virtual dedicated server systems were providing customers with truly dedicated resources (RAM, disk, CPU), which are not shared with other users of the same hosted hardware, so we started promoting it on that basis. Additionally, we put in place a policy of spending a little more on hardware in order to get improved energy efficiency (a policy which is paying huge dividends now!).

Our unavoidable electricity usage was then offset by sponsoring a methane capture project, making Memset the UK's first CarbonNeutral ISP in August 2006. Choosing a highly quantifiable offsetting project had additional benefits when some of our competitors came under fire for supporting dodgy forestry projects, and being a 'green host' has become an important selling point for us.

Memset's green initiatives and ongoing commitment to providing green hosting have been recognised by the British Computer Society and PC Pro. At the PC Pro Awards, Memset won the 'Environmental Innovator' category, fighting off tough competition from industry heavyweights such as BT Global Services, Dell and Google. The judges said: "Memset fits the bill perfectly. It embraced virtualisation long before it became a buzzword, and created commercial web-hosting packages that made environmental and fiscal sense".

At the British Computer Society Awards, Memset was recognised as a medalist for BP Environmental Project Award for its green flexible dedicated server hosting solutions for businesses.

Kate Craig-Wood, MD of Memset said: "We are delighted to be recognised for our efforts in reducing the impact IT has on the environment, but hope to encourage other businesses to do the same, as its our combined sustainability efforts that will result in not only businesses being more profitable but the environmental impact being reduced at the same time".

Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom - April 2009, Memset, the UK's award-winning dedicated Web & IT hosting provider has today announced its official sponsorship of Sophie Johnson, a finalist competing to become Miss Universe GB 2009.

Sophie, 21 from Merseyside studied Computer Information Systems at the University of Liverpool, where she was one of 5 women on a course of over 1000 students (and came top of her year). Memset hopes their sponsorship of Sophie will bring exposure to a young successful woman working in IT in the hope that it will attract more women to the predominantly male industry.

Currently, only 11% of IT professionals working within the industry are women, according to the recently updated Women in IT Scorecard.

Kate Craig-Wood, MD of Memset said, "We desperately need to encourage more girls to get into IT, and I could honestly not hope to find a better role model than Sophie; she has brains, beauty & talent, and hatters the out-dated preconception that technologists are all sandal-wearing blokes with no social skills!"

"Sophie is also a perfect example of how women are vital to IT. She works as a software developer using the "agile" methodology; a high-efficiency technique that relies on a lot of collaboration and communication between all parties - skills that women tend to bring to a team."

Craig-Wood concluded, "IT is the one of the UK's most vital industries, and the lack of young women joining the profession is a significant threat to IT, and therefore Britain's future prosperity. Please help us support Sophie and see her crowned Miss Universe GB 2009!"

Sophie, who is now working as a software developer said: "I entered the Miss Universe GB competition because I want to challenge the stereotypes about IT professionals, not to become just another girl exposing her body for 15 minutes of fame. I want women to know that you don't have to lose your femininity to become 'one of the boys' just to fit into a technical team, or to gain respect from other men working in this area."

"I am delighted to have been named a finalist, and hope to win so that I can use the publicity to encourage more girls into technology careers. To this day coming top of my year in university on a male dominated course and getting a place in an extremely competitive company is my greatest achievement and is difficult to top, but winning the competition and becoming an ambassador for women in IT would come mightily close!" said Johnson.

The Miss Universe GB competition is organised by Vibe Models and takes place in London on the 3rd May 2009. Forty women from England, Scotland and Wales will compete for the coveted title. Proceeds from the competition go to The Joshua Foundation.

To vote for Sophie, phone 0901 656 1555 followed by 25. Or text: Sophie Johnson to 84205. To donate visit Just Giving page.

Votes and donations count towards the final judging - please be generous! Deadline is 1st May for voting and donations.

Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom - April 2009, Memset, the award-winning dedicated Web & IT hosting provider says the recession is continuing to drive IT outsourcing as businesses are having to tighten their belts and operate more efficiently at a time when corporate IT budgets are under close scrutiny.

By outsourcing IT functions to a managed hosting / utility computing provider like Amazon, Memset or Rackspace from whom you can rent anything from a virtual machine to a fully disaster-resilient server cluster, without up-front costs and with short-term contracts (a first step towards utility computing), businesses are able to avoid capital expenditure and save money.

Whilst outsourcing has become an established way for many organisations to manage their helpdesk or applications more efficiently, it can also help to take the server-management workload off the IT department so they can re-allocate their resources to dealing with other challenges, such as business process automation.

Outsourcing also offers opportunities to address green IT issues within the organisation. Whilst the big costs of hardware and electricity can minimised by green technology (e.g. virtualisation), outsourcing your servers / datacentre allows you to remove another variable cost from your books entirely. This will be especially important with the Carbon Reduction Commitment legislation coming into effect from 2010.

"Eventually you'll be able to shut down your datacentre operation, which was probably not core expertise anyway, but keep hold of the important bits of your IT team," says Kate Craig-Wood, MD of Memset.

Memset offers a range of outsourced IT management services that will make outsourcing more affordable for SME customers as well as large organisations. With Gartner recently publishing new research indicating that IT outsourcing prices will drop between 5-20 per cent in the next year, now is the time for all businesses to seriously consider outsourcing, which can halve IT infrastructure costs in many cases.

"Memset has experienced a 19% jump in gross revenues since the economic downturn began, and continues to grow," said Craig-Wood. "As more and more businesses are starting to see IT resources as something they buy as a utility - just like they have for years, with electricity, water and telecom, most applications and IT infrastructure can be hosted outside an organisation better and cheaper than when run internally."

Craig-Wood concluded, "You would not have a power-generation department, so why have a datacentre when those resources are available on-demand more cheaply than you can do it yourself?"

For more information on how outsourcing to Memset can save money please see our IT hosting page.

IT Entrepreneur recognised for Outstanding Business Achievement

Guildford, Surrey - 10 December 2008, Kate Craig-Wood, IT entrepreneur and founder of Memset, the award-winning IT & Web hosting provider has scooped two prestigious awards capping off a tremendous award-winning year for the entrepreneur.

On 3rd December, the winners of 2008 NatWest Everywoman National Awards were announced, and Kate was chosen as the winner in the Demeter category, for women aged 26 to 35. The awards were founded six years ago by Everywoman, the leading organisation for women in business, to showcase the successes of female business owners, many of whom have overcome significant hurdles to get to where they are.

Helen Cook, Leader, UK Women's Leadership Team, IBM commented on Kate's win, "IBM is delighted to sponsor the everywoman Demeter Award for the fifth year and would like to congratulate Kate on her outstanding achievement. Kate is a real inspiration and role model, helping to give confidence to other young women starting out on a similar journey."

On 25th November, Kate was announced as the IoD South East Young Director of the Year. The IoD Director of the Year awards are sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers and, for the second year, highlighted the outstanding success and social responsibility of business leaders across the South East.

The IoD award won by Kate was for young business people running companies with a turnover of less than £5m a year. Having achieved a Masters degree in Biomedical Sciences, Kate commenced her career in an area she had little experience in, IT consultancy and business development within the internet hosting sector. In 2002 she launched Memset, offering high quality, flexible dedicated server packages, and the company is now one of the UK's leading web and IT hosting providers, with growth in the region of 60% year-on-year.

These two prestigious award wins complete a tremendous year for Memset and Kate Craig-Wood, racking up a total of 10 award wins throughout 2008, including:

- Voted the UK's Best Web Host 2008 by PC Pro Readers (a title held by Memset for three years running)
- Winner of the PC Pro Environmental Innovator category at the 2008 awards
- Joined the ranks of the 2008 Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50
- Finalist in the European Green IT Awards 2008 for Market Leadership
- Medallist in the British Computer Society 2008 awards for BP Environmental
- IoD South East Young Director of the Year, 2008
- NatWest Everywoman Demeter Award 2008
- Finalist in the Blackberry Women & IT Awards
- Young Guns 2008 - one of the best 30 young entrepreneurs the UK has to offer
- Future 100 - recognised as a talented entrepreneur aged between 18-35

IT Host Recognised As One Of The Fastest Growing Technology Companies In The UK

Guildford, United Kingdom - 24 October 2008 - Memset, the award-winning dedicated IT hosting company, has made the list of Deloitte's prestigious Technology Fast 50.

Memset ranked 32nd on the list with a five-year growth rate of 823%. Ranking are based on the percentage revenue growth from 2003-2007.

"We are excited about our ranking in the Deloitte Fast 50 list. Our continuous growth over the last five years clearly demonstrates that a social conscience in business pays off as well as keeping moving quickly to exploit changing market conditions," said Kate Craig-Wood, MD of Memset.

David Halstead, Partner TMT practice and Fast 50 Chairman, Deloitte said: "The 2008 Deloitte Fast 50 provides a fascinating view of the evolving structure of the UK's tech sector, with software and internet businesses making up the bulk of the fastest growing companies. While their products and services are at the extreme cutting edge of global technology, it is important to note that it is not just technology that makes these companies leaders in their sectors - it is about the quality of the people and their Intellectual Property that makes these businesses the success stories they are."

The Deloitte Technology Fast 50, one of the UK's foremost technology award programmes, is a ranking of the country's fastest-growing technology companies based on percentage growth over five years. Now in its eleventh year, the programme honours business growth, technological innovation and UK entrepreneurial spirit.

To qualify for the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 award, companies must have met stringent criteria: to have been in business for over five years, be UK-owned, to have operating revenues of at least £34,000, to own proprietary technology or proprietary intellectual property that contributes to a significant portion of the company's operating revenues; or to devote a significant proportion of revenues to the research and development of technology.

Up For BP Environment and Information Security & Data Management Project Awards

Guildford, United Kingdom - 10 October 2008 - Memset, the award-winning dedicated IT hosting company, has been announced as a finalist in two categories in the 2008 British Computer Society (BCS) awards.

The BCS IT Industry Awards, supported by Intellect and NCC, are the leading hallmark of success amongst practitioners today. The cross industry awards form a central element to the BCS's professionalism in IT initiative and recognise, promote and acclaim excellence, professionalism, innovation and the outstanding achievements to which individuals and groups contribute.

Kate Craig-Wood, MD of Memset, said "We're delighted to be finalists in two categories: the BP Environment and Information Security & Data Management for our online data backup solution, SquirrelSave."

Memset's development of their Miniserver™ Virtual Machines and ambition to become the leading provider of utility computing facilities in the UK saw them shortlisted for the BP Environmental award, especially as this technology could play an instrumental role in driving change in green IT.

David Clarke, BCS chief executive says: "In the current economic situation it is rewarding to see that IT is continuing to lead through innovation and deliver real business benefits. These projects reflect the fact that technology is an integral and expected part of everyday life and is at the heart of literally every business."

Sir John Higgins, director general at Intellect says: "Intellect is delighted to be involved with the BCS IT Industry awards again. Information communication technology improves organisations' competitiveness and productivity, and helps them meet the needs of their customers more effectively. These awards recognise those technology suppliers, individuals and organisations which do this best. The quality of entries is once again very high and I do not envy the judges their task of identifying the winners - it's going to be a difficult job."

The BCS IT Industry Awards presentation ceremony will take place at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on Thursday 4th December 2008.

Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom - 30 September 2008. Memset, the award-winning dedicated IT hosting provider has retained its prestigious title as UK's Best Web Host for the third year running in the annual PC Pro Service and Reliability Awards 2008 held on Wednesday 17th September 2008.

PC Pro magazine said: "Memset follows up two web host awards in a row with yet another accolade, and it's no wonder when you look at the figures. 93% of its customers would recommend Memset to colleagues, compared to an average of 80%, and it also topped the charts for reliability. You even get six-star customer support thrown in."

The PC Pro Awards comprised 12 categories of PC-related hardware, software and services. The awards were based on a user survey, which generated a response from more than 20,000 individuals.

Memset scooped a second award on the night in the 'Environmental Innovator' category. Fighting off tough competition from industry heavyweights such as BT Global Services, Dell and Google, Memset secured this award for its ongoing commitment to environmental innovation. The judges said: "Memset fits the bill perfectly. It embraced virtualisation long before it became a buzzword, and created commercial web-hosting packages that made environmental and fiscal sense."

Kate Craig-Wood, MD of IT hosting company, Memset said: "We are truly delighted to have retained our title as the UK's Best Web Host for the third year running. It's a fantastic testament that our customers think so highly of our service and we are grateful for their continued business."

She continued, "We are thrilled to have been recognised for our efforts in reducing the impact IT has on the environment. Our initiatives, are not only good for the environment but for business too, and we hope other businesses will be encouraged to look at their environmental impact as well."

Excerpt from magazine:

Guildford, United Kingdom 26 August 2008 Memset, the award-winning dedicated IT hosting company, has today been shortlisted for the third consecutive year as Best Web Host in the PC Pro Awards. The awards, which take place every year, showcase the best providers of IT equipment as well as the Best Web Host award.

The awards are the industry's most prestigious, as they are voted for by users and not a judging panel. PC Pro compile the shortlist for each award by running one of the biggest IT surveys in the UK where customers are asked to vote for their favourite provider in each category.

"To be shortlisted as Best Web Host for the third year running is fantastic news, especially as our nomination is down to our customers", said Kate Craig-Wood, MD of Memset.

"Our focus has always been on providing service and support that is so good that our customers would want to recommend us to others, and being nominated means we must be achieving our goal", continued Craig-Wood.

The PC Pro award ceremony takes place at Syon House, Middlesex on 17 September 2008.

Memset has also been shortlisted in the Environmental Innovator category, the IT host is hoping to be recognised for their efforts in introducing utility computing and dynamic dedicated clusters, enabling them to reduce power and hardware requirements in the data centre and bring about change within the industry as a whole.

Guildford, Surrey - 20 August 2008, Kate Craig-Wood, MD of Memset, has today announced that she will be undertaking the world's first skydive over Mount Everest in October to raise money for Computer Clubs for Girls (CC4G).

Kate will be joining an elite group of international skydivers who will make history this October when they perform a high altitude skydive alongside Mount Everest landing on the world's highest dropzone.

The group of 28 people from all walks of life, and from all over the world will jump from 29,500ft, slightly higher than the summit of Everest, and land at 12,350ft, the height many skydives actually start from. With parachutes three times the normal size, skydiving oxygen systems and purpose-made thermal jumpsuits and headgear, the skydivers will freefall in sub-zero temperatures at 140mph and at -40 degrees Celsius.

The jump has been precision scheduled to avoid the 200mph jet stream that roars across Everest's summit, which would otherwise make such an attempt impossible.

Kate Craig-Wood, one of the participants is using her involvement with this historic jump to not only raise the profile of women in IT but raise money for Computer Clubs for Girls (CC4G) as well.

CC4G is an award-winning initiative run by e-skills UK supported by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), which aims to raise the standard of girls' technology skills while transforming their attitudes to careers in IT.

There are a number of issues facing women in IT; only 16% of tech workers are female, falling from a high of about 21% five years ago. On top of that, at 23% the gender pay gap in the IT sector is much worse the UK's 17% average.

CC4G targets girls because only a fifth of the current IT workforce is female. By getting them interested early, and educating them about the growing diversity of applications for technology, CC4G hopes to encourage more girls to consider careers in IT.

Kate commented; "I would like to hope that my involvement in this high profile activity will make more people aware of the issues facing women in IT. I'm committed to finding innovative ways of helping to attract girls into IT, and supporting CC4G is just one way we can help address the imbalance in the industry."

For more information, or even better to sponsor Kate, please visit JumpEverest.com

Guildford, Surrey 9 April 2008, Kate Craig-Wood, Memset's Managing Director, has been named as a finalist in the BlackBerry Women & Technology Awards for Best Use of Technology by a Woman in Small to Medium Business.

Kate has been shortlisted, in large part, for her pioneering development of Memset's Miniserver Virtual Machines™, the UK's first virtual server solution that gives customers truly dedicated resources and all the benefits of a normal server without needing an entire modern, powerful machine. Kate intends to continue to push the boundaries of data centre and virtualisation technologies in the hope of making Memset the UK's leading utility computing provider.

Together with this, her clever use of open source solutions which she has adapted to suit her needs has made the company operate more efficiently and her power saving initiatives implemented in the data centre is another example where she has continued to innovatively use technology in her business.

Now in its third year, the BlackBerry Women & Technology Awards was established to celebrate the achievements of women using technology, both within and beyond the IT sector, to bring their outstanding contributions to business and beyond via the use of technology into the public eye.

Kate Craig-Wood, said, "I am delighted to be a finalist in the BlackBerry Women & Technology Awards. The IT industry is suffering badly from a shortage of women, and these awards really help to change this, by highlighting the important contributions that women are making. I think that my focus on green IT is perhaps what made my entry stand out, and again I'm thrilled that my commitment to championing the cause of energy efficient technology is being recognised."

The winners of the BlackBerry Women & Technology Awards will be announced at the prestigious awards ceremony being held at The Marriott Grosvenor Square, London on Tuesday 6th May 2008.

Recognised for Market Leadership in Driving Change in Green IT

Guildford, Surrey 12 March 2008, Memset, the UK's leading provider of Web & IT hosting solutions, has been named as a finalist in the European Green IT Awards, in the Market Leadership - Driving Change in Green IT category.

Memset has been shortlisted for their ongoing commitment to exploring ways that new technologies can be used to not only reduce their environmental impact, but that of their customers as well.

Memset's pioneering development of their Miniserver™ Virtual Machines and ambition to become the leading provider of utility computing facilities in the UK could play an instrumental role in driving change in green IT.

If server virtualisation and a utility computing approach were adopted en-masse in the UK the huge power consumption of data centres (currently around 1.9% of total grid power) could easily be more than halved. Memset have led the way by producing a cost-effective virtual machine solution that is truly like a normal dedicated server, but offer the customer significant cost-savings due to less wasted resource as they are provided with truly dedicated resources (RAM, disk, CPU), which are not shared with other users of the same hosted hardware.

Memset's power saving initiatives implemented in the data centre, being the first ISP to go carbon neutral in 2006, and founder, Kate Craig-Wood's unrelenting campaign to promote green IT and her hands-on involvement with Intellect UK have all contributed to the IT host being shortlisted for this European award.

But, they are up against tough competition who all deserved to be recognised for the work they are doing in changing attitudes towards green IT. Finalists include:

- Tier 1 Asset Management
- Compellent
- Advanced Micro Devices
- Tideway
- Logicalis UK
- BT Global Services
- Ricoh

Kate Craig-Wood, Memset's co-founder said, "We are thrilled to be a finalist in the European Green IT Awards, and to be recognised for our efforts in reducing the impact IT has on the environment. Our initiatives, are not only good for the environment but for business too, and we hope other businesses will be encouraged to look at their environmental impact as well."

The winners will be announced at the Awards Gala Dinner on Thursday 13th March at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, Piccadilly, London.

Memset is recognised for its initiatives to minimise their impact on the environment, winning the Guildford Green Award at the annual 2007/2008 Guildford Life with Style Awards.

The company states that judged by a panel of senior executives from organisations around the borough, the judges were impressed with their initiatives to not only minimise their impact on the environment, but to benefit the wider community as well.

The company avers that it was their investment in energy-saving technologies for its business with their Miniserver Virtual Machines, being the first ISP to go carbon neutral in 2006 and their scheme for staff to travel to and from work on electric bikes that saw them placed among 40 finalists selected from over 300 entries.

Kate Craig-Wood, MD of Memset was in attendance to receive the award and commented: "We're delighted to have won this category in the Guildford awards. Since I founded the company in 2002, I have always ensured that we remain committed to the environment and make sure we minimise the impact of every business activity we perform. The initiatives that we have been recognised for, are not only good for the environment but for business too, and we hope other businesses will be encouraged to look at their impact on the environment as well."

David Hill, Chief Executive of Guildford Borough Council: "This year, we had a record number of some 300 nominations, presenting judges with a very challenging job. The number and quality of nominations clearly demonstrates why we should be proud of our borough and its achievements. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the winners and thank the judges and sponsors along with all those who put forward nominations."

Memset was last night voted as the UK's Best Web Host in the annual PC Pro Service and Reliability Awards 2007.

Not only is this the second year in a row that Memset has been bestowed this prestigious award, but they also scored sixes all around for customer support, reliability and value for money. The results also showed that almost all (98%) of Memset's customers would recommend them to others.

The PC Pro Awards comprised 12 categories of PC-related hardware, software and services. The awards were based on a user survey which generated a response from more than 20,000 individuals.

By delving into their readers' experiences to reveal the winners, PC Pro shortlisted the companies in each category based the feedback obtained across a wide range of different questions.

"We are truly delighted to have won this award two years in a row,"< says Kate Craig-Wood, managing director of Memset. "It's a fantastic testament that our customers think so highly of our service and we are grateful for their continued business".

The awards ceremony was held on the 4th December at the Science Museum and included a short set by comedian Frankie Boyle (star of Mock the Week).

Excerpt from magazine:

Memset, the award-winning dedicated web hosting company, looks to retain their title as the Best Web Host in the annual PC Pro Service and Reliability Awards.

The awards are the most comprehensive guide to customer support and product reliability in Europe, let alone the UK, compiled from the UK's largest independent survey of IT customer satisfaction.

Already taking the prestigious title of Best Web Host in the 2006 PC Pro Awards, Memset is looking to continue their reign of this highly influential title. The managed web hosting provider has also been recognised for their innovative environmental initiatives implemented throughout the year by being short-listed for PC Pro's new awards category of 'Environmental Innovator'. Memset will find out if they have been successful in both categories at the awards ceremony being held at the Science Museum on the 4th December 2007.

Memset were also delighted to be recognised in the annual Computing Awards for Excellence 2007, being shortlisted in the 'Best Small Business IT Strategy' category. The Web host has made the shortlist thanks to their their innovative approach to systems development, good use of Open Source Technology to improve business efficiency and for their launch of their Xen-based Miniserver product, the UK's first hosted virtual dedicated server solution to be operationally indistinguishable from a normal server.

The award nominations come hot on the heels of Memset recently winning the 'Impact of Technology on your Business' category at the British Chambers of Commerce South East Awards, and subsequent entry as a finalist for the national award in that category.

Memset, the award-winning dedicated web hosting provider and member of the Surrey Chamber of Commerce was last night announced as the regional winner of the Microsoft Award for "The Impact of Technology on Your Business" in the South East for the British Chambers of Commerce, Chamber Awards 2007.

The Chamber Awards 2007, now in its fourth year is organised by The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and Microsoft and was developed to recognise outstanding business achievement within the UK business community.

The judges were impressed with Memset's innovative approach of taking existing open source technologies and adapting them to make their business operate more efficiently.

Memset will now go through to national judging and the chance to win the top prize of £25,000. The National Winners of the Chamber Awards 2007 will be announced at a Gala Dinner and award ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on November 29th, 2007.

Peter Mileham, President of the BCC, said; "Memset really demonstrated how they are using technology to create a competitive advantage in the market place. Their investment in technology has really paid off, especially with good bottom line performance. They are a fine example of a business who has looked closely at how technology could make them operate more efficiently."

Kate Craig-Wood, Managing Director of Memset, comments: "We are thrilled that Memset has been awarded this prestigious accolade. It's a great honour to be recognised and it is a great compliment for our employees who are all equally committed to exploring the role of new technology within the business."

Dedicated Web Hosting Company, Memset has seen business increase by over 65% since they went Carbon Neutral last year.

Becoming carbon neutral can be hugely beneficial for winning new business, revealed dedicated web hosting company, Memset. The web host qualified as the UK.s first carbon-neutral ISP with the Carbon Neutral Company in August 2006. Since gaining the certification, they have seen business increase by 68% year on year.

A recent survey of 140 new customers revealed that one in three selected Memset as their web hosting company due to the carbon-neutral certification, and almost half said that Memset's commitment to energy efficiency was an important factor in their buying decision.

Kate Craig-Wood, managing director of Memset commented; "We decided to join the Carbon Neutral scheme last year, in part because we have always been conscience of our impact on the environment and wanted to do something to positively offset our carbon footprint, and also in order to gain a stamp of approval on our pre-existing commitment to developing energy-efficient hosting technologies. The fact that we have gained new business as a result really reflects the changing attitudes of businesses wanting to work with environmentally-friendly suppliers".

In becoming Carbon Neutral, Memset worked with The CarbonNeutral Company to identify their 'carbon footprint', or the approximate volume of CO2 generated by the organisation. It is calculated by assessing energy usage, business travel, and all components of the company's operations that consume power or generate waste and by-products. Memset uses a very large amount of electricity for powering servers, and that formed the vast bulk of their carbon footprint.

The next stage in the process is to explore ways to reduce this footprint and energy use wherever possible. This has included a review of current suppliers to explore the viability of using .green. suppliers or energy from renewable resources, and also examined efficiency technologies already in use such as Memset's Miniserver virtual machines. Finally in order to 'neutralise' unavoidable CO2 emissions, an organisation is encouraged to support a range of 'offset projects' to absorb or save the same amount of CO2 emissions as are being created.

Memset was initially supporting a sustainable forestry project, i.e. planting a tree each time it buys a new server, however, in response to concerns over the validity of forestry as a carbon offsetting measure, Memset are moving their investment to support a new methane capture project which has very measurable benefits (methane is 21 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas).

Memset, the award-winning managed services provider has today announced plans to address the spiralling cost of powering and cooling a datacentre by adapting an on-demand model charging businesses for power consumption separately.

Memset is currently testing a system that will automatically power down some servers in a customer's managed cluster when underused, and will bring them online as load increases. This allows customers to have burst capacity available at short notice without wasting power when at normal loads. Customers with managed clusters will then only be charged for the power used, enabling Memset to pass on cost savings.

Whilst most providers already charge for bandwidth separately, the market has yet to look at charging for power. This is surprising, as power is fast becoming the single largest cost (ahead of bandwidth, hardware and maintenance) for hosting providers, including Memset.

"Integrating a scaling up and down model, and thereby reducing power consumption when its not needed, is one way of addressing the increasing energy costs facing companies and overcoming London's electricity restrictions," comments Kate Craig-Wood, MD of Memset.

A study published last year found that the average energy bill to run a corporate datacentre in the UK is about £5.3m per year and prices are currently doubling every three years. By charging for energy costs on demand, Memset believes companies could considerably reduce their current hosting costs without compromising available capacity. Servers still use a more than half of their full power requirements when idling, and the even the latest generation of low-power features has not significantly addressed idle-power requirements. Therefore, its paramount to make sure servers are fully utilised to not only make them more efficient but to reduce the supporting infrastructure required, such as cooling, thus lessening the amount of power needed to run a datacentre.

Kate Craig-Wood continued, "Currently, up to 1.5% of UK power goes towards powering servers, and most servers are underused - the average resource utilisation is 10-15% (mainly due to over-provisioning of hardware to cope with spikes in demand). Whilst virtualisation and other innovations can address server utilisation, we knew something had to be done about our power consumption, especially in London where there is practically no power left, and its already being reserved for the 2012 Olympics."

"Power is expensive, and getting more so, whilst at the same time we are under increasing pressure to reduce carbon footprints. Data centres are, for now, unnoticed but I have little doubt that we will have green protesters outside them in coming years," continued Craig-Wood.

"In conjunction with our commitment to virtualisation, this core innovation not only moves Memset one step closer to offering true utility computing but will also increase the energy efficiency of our data centres," concludes Craig-Wood.

Memset, the award-winning dedicated web hosting company, has purchased Urban Mover electric bikes for staff to travel to and from the company's offices in Guildford, Surrey.

The move to introduce electric bikes as the preferred mode of transportation for the company.s employees comes not long after Memset qualified as the UK.s first carbon-neutral ISP with the Carbon Neutral Company in September 2006. A government initiative enabling employers to offer their employees an electric bike to use for commuting to and from work, without VAT, income tax or NI payable on the bike, also prompted the decision. Memset are able to give their staff a benefit, similar to a company car, but without the salary-sacrifice.

With road transportation responsible for 30% of greenhouse gases, according to the Energy Saving Trust, and UK road traffic predicted to rocket by up to 160% over the next 20-30 years, Memset.s use of electric bikes will significantly reduce petrol dependency, air pollution, and subsequent greenhouse effects.

The bikes, which are up to 99% less polluting than the cleanest fossil-fuel powered vehicles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, offers a real alternative to the huge costs of driving.

Tom Edie, from Natural Discovery a leading supplier of electric bikes, commented; "The bikes are virtually maintenance-free as they have few moving parts and fuel costs are minimal. The electricity for charging is the only fuel required and costs about 6p per 20-30km. Switching to a zero-emission electric bike for short journeys will not only save you money but help to spare our increasingly fragile planet at the same time."

Electrically-assisted bicycles are road legal in the UK and require no MOT, no log book, no Tax disc, no congestion charges, no parking charges, no insurance and no rising carbon fuel costs.

Kate Craig-Wood, managing director of Memset and who is currently using one of the bikes, commented; "With three out of every five car journeys being less than five miles, we knew we could reduce the dependency on our cars by using electric bikes for the daily commute to work."

She continued; "It's really just like riding a normal bike, except that the small motor on board helps when you peddle. It takes the sting out of a steep hill or a journey that's a bit too far, and keeps me fit as well. My commute to work is much more enjoyable, and I tend to get to work faster now I.m not stuck in the daily traffic jam."

Kate Craig-Wood, managing director and co-founder of Memset, the award-winning dedicated web hosting company, will from today sit on the Intellect board.

Founded in May 2002, Intellect is the UK trade association for the IT, telecoms and electronics industries.

The board almost entirely comprised of senior executives from the world's most successful and most innovative hi-tech companies who are drawn from Intellect.s membership.

Kate Craig-Wood, 30, is the youngest person to join the board of Intellect, and brings with her considerable experience from the UK IT industry, having co-founded Memset Dedicated Server Hosting in 2002 and prior to that worked in various senior IT roles with Alphameric, Alphawave, Arthur Andersen and Easyspace.

On putting herself up for election onto the board, Kate felt that she could "better represent the interests of small, high-growth IT businesses and the Internet Services sector on the main board." With a mandate to represent the interests of small IT businesses as well as large, Kate feels her experience as an entrepreneur managing a "small business" with a highly innovative approach, makes her a suitable candidate for the Intellect UK Board. The appointment takes effect from 24 May 2007.

Kate hopes to use her position on the board of Intellect to, "not only represent the Internet/hosting sector and interests of small IT businesses but to also use her experience in green computing to make this an issue Intellect UK champions within the industry."

John Higgins, director general of Intellect, comments, "I would like to congratulate Kate on her election to the board. It.s fantastic to see more women and young entrepreneurs joining the board. Kate will add a valuable perspective that will help the board shape the direction of Intellect's work."

Memset, the award-winning dedicated web hosting company, has developed and launched Performance Patrol™, a sophisticated load-balancing solution, enabling clients to balance traffic across their server cluster with the use of multiple load-balancing servers.

Dual load balancers are typically only employed for large scale web applications and busy websites demanding millions of connections per hour. However, by using the latest open source technology in an innovative way, Memset have devised a system to allow all their clients to benefit from enterprise-quality load-balancing functionality at a fraction of the normal cost.

Performance Patrol™ enables the servers to handle higher work loads, maximises availability and virtually eliminates single points of failure, which are present when a server cluster has a single hardware load balancer.

Since Performance Patrol™ is based upon open source technologies and standard server hardware, it is also far more cost-effective than traditional load balancing solutions.

The system actively monitors all servers in the cluster, ensuring they are up and responding to requests. If any of them "drop out" then the solution will immediately detect this and failover any requests to the other servers in the cluster.

"Performance Patrol™ enables Memset to offer a more reliable, more flexible and more cost effective solution than giving each customer their own single hardware load balancer.", commented Kate Craig-Wood, Managing Director of Memset. She continued, "By using twinned kit with no single point of failure, Memset can save time, money and worry with reduced downtime, complete scalability and minimal download delays.".

This solution can also scale and grow as requirements dictate and front end or database servers can be plugged into the cluster very easily.

As with all Memset hosting packages, clients have the choice whether they would like to manage Performance Patrol™ themselves or have Memset set it up to their requirements and manage it on their behalf.

Memset has been voted the UK's #1 Dedicated Web Hosting provider by the UK Web Host Directory.

The awards are given to the best Web hosts in each of categories by tabulating the votes they receive from Web Host Directory's visitors and review board.

Each Host is given a rating of 1 to 10 (10 being best) in 6 areas of performance, including cost, features, support, reliability and speed.

The votes are tabulated and double checked for accuracy and duplicates from the same person. Web Host Directory does not permit "Stuffing the Ballot Box" for a Web host.

Memset has won the Innovation in Business award in the Surrey Business Awards 2006/07. The award recognises the significant development of virtual dedicated servers by Memset. Launched in the latter part of 2006, a new version of Memset's virtual machine created a new generation of virtual dedicated servers. The new machine is able to provide users with all the benefits of a dedicated server but at a fraction of the cost. It was the culmination of three years of progressive development of its Miniserver™ machine, which has made Memset a leading provider of hosting solutions for business users.

Over 300 people attended the glittering awards ceremony at Mercedes Benz World in Weybridge on 8 February 2007. Eagle radio presenter, Peter Gordon, handed the award trophy to Memset's managing director, Kate Craig-Wood, "I am absolutely delighted to receive this award. We strive to take an innovative approach in everything we do at Memset and recognition of that will mean an enormous amount to the team."

As well as pioneering products, Memset also has innovative business systems, including automated billing and administration systems. All are developed in-house. It was also the first UK Web hosting company to become carbon neutral in August 2006.

The Surrey Business award for Business Innovation follows Memset recently being voted Best Web Host of the Year in the highly acclaimed PC Pro Service and Reliability awards. "Coming hot on the heels of being voted the UK's best Web host, this award will really put us on a high for the year", said Craig-Wood.

Memset has been awarded Best Web Host of the Year in this year's PC Pro Service and Reliability awards. Not only did Memset gain the highest marks for value, it also topped the satisfaction chart for customer service and came second for reliability. The results showed that 95% of Memset's customers would recommend their Web host to others.

PC Pro Awards comprised 12 categories of PC-related hardware, software and services. The awards were based on a user survey which generated a response from more than 16,000 individuals. If enough of its customers took part in the survey, companies were short-listed - in the case of Web hosting eleven companies made the short-list. In the final analysis, the comments were analysed and the Web hosting companies were star rated. Memset achieved a six star rating (out of six) in all three categories: customer support, reliability and satisfaction.

"We are truly delighted to receive this award," says Kate Craig-Wood, managing director of Memset, "it is a great accolade and makes all our dedication and hard work truly worthwhile. We are very grateful to our customers for voting for us in this way."

The winners received their PC Pro awards from television presenter, Suzie Perry, at a ceremony which took place in The Brewery in the City of London.

Excerpt from magazine:

Memset, UK leader in the development of virtual dedicated servers, has launched a new version of its Miniserver™ virtual machines, creating a new generation of virtual dedicated servers. Miniserver™ virtual machines will provide users with all the benefits of a dedicated server but at a fraction of the cost. They run on Intel's new Virtualisation Technology and open source software Xen. Compared to other virtual dedicated servers, they offer unparalleled security, truly dedicated resources and the flexibility of using any operating system, including Windows.

To the user, a Miniserver™ virtual machine is indistinguishable from a physical dedicated server. This is because Memset's Miniserver™ technology enables a server to be effectively divided into multiple machines, each with its own truly dedicated resources. The server is compartmentalised in such a way that each user has their own RAM, disk space, CPU allocation and kernel as well as applications. This provides much greater levels of security than with other virtual dedicated servers on the market where the RAM, disk, CPU and kernel are shared across the users.

A Miniserver™ virtual machine also provides the user with unmatched flexibility. Because each user has their own resources (RAM, disk space, CPU allocation and kernel), they can use any operating system, including Windows and Linux. This enables different users to use different operating systems on the same server, bringing the benefits of virtual machines to a much larger audience, including those who wish to use Microsoft technologies.

They are also easily scalable. A user can take just as much resource as required for their application. However, should circumstances change and they require more, upgrading is easy and requires just a few minutes of downtime. Not only does this approach save the user money, but it also means that there is no wasted resource and no wasted power, which is good for the environment. A typical dedicated server, for example, uses 120Watts even when idling, whereas a Miniserver™ virtual machine uses as little as 10Watts.

Miniserver™ virtual machines provides an ideal testing and development platform: any operating system can be used, the server can be cloned and the developer can choose the amount of resource needed. Furthermore, at any point that the developer may wish, the server can be returned to its initial state.

Memset uses only high-quality, mirrored hardware for hosting its Miniserver™ virtual machines, and has no single-point-of-failure in its network. This gives truly enterprise-level disaster-resilience to all Memset's customers, large and small alike.

Memset is the first provider of Web hosting servers and solutions in the UK to become carbon neutral. This accreditation by The CarbonNeutral Company acknowledges that Memset has committed to minimising its energy usage and to offsetting its unavoidable carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by supporting a Plan Vivo reforestation project in Uganda. The accreditation was awarded in August 2006.

During the accreditation process, The CarbonNeutral Company worked with Memset to measure the CO2 emissions created by its business operations and advised where any reductions could be made. It found, however, that Memset already had all significant energy saving systems in place. Unavoidable emissions are offset through a reforestation project in Uganda that will absorb 1 tonne of CO2 for every tonne Memset creates as the forest grows to maturity.

The biggest source of CO2 from Memset.s operations is due to the electrical power required to drive its servers, which are core to its business. In fact electricity is its single largest cost and, with recent increases in the commercial energy prices, it is becoming more so.

However, Memset has always invested in the most energy efficient hosting systems. For example, its in-house developed Miniserver™ technology enables customers to have their own dedicated resources without needing an entire physical dedicated server to themselves. This not only has significant cost savings for the customers, it is also very energy efficient. A Memset Miniserver™ virtual machine uses as little as 10Watts; this compares with 120Watts that a typical dedicated server would use, even when idling.

In addition, Memset has been an early adopter of the most advanced low-power server and CPU architectures such as Sun Fire servers and Intel's Core II processors.

"We pride ourselves on our corporate social responsibility and not harming the environment is particularly important to us," says Kate Craig-Wood, managing director of Memset. "By tackling our climate change impacts and offsetting our unavoidable CO2 emissions with the regeneration of forestry in Uganda, we can ensure that we are minimising our contribution to global warming. Moreover, by being as 'green' as we possibly can, also has some significant commercial benefits to us and to our customers."

Other areas of energy and resource saving looked at by The CarbonNeutral Company included recycling and use of public transport by staff. Again it found that Memset already had all these measures in place.

We are extremely proud to have been selected as a finalist for the PCPro Best Web Host award. Excerpt from their site below:

The following is PC Pro's exclusive list of the top web hosts, as voted for by over 16,000 readers. These companies will all be competing for the prestigious Best Web Host Award at the official awards ceremony on Monday 4 December.

To make this list, the companies must have beaten the industry average for customer support, reliability and customer satisfaction. With opinions given on over 5,000 different web-hosting packages (click here for more information), this is the UK's most comprehensive survey of its kind.

MobileLocate, leading UK provider of mobile phone tracking services, has moved the hosting of its web-based business to Memset. The company was attracted to the exceptionally high levels of security offered by Memset. "The tailored solution that Memset is providing us, far exceeds anything else on the market,", says Jon Magnusson, managing director of MobileLocate.

First launched three years ago, MobileLocate enables firms such as couriers, service engineers and taxis to trace the location of their field workforce by tracking their mobile phone via the internet. They can then optimise the use of their mobile work force; others use it to promote the safety of loan workers.

MobileLocate was unsatisfied with the level of service provided by its previous web-hosting supplier and undertook a yearlong review of the market before selecting Memset. The new hosting package is based on a mid-range Sun server, xFire 2100. "Memset has an excellent range of server options so we were able to choose the right package to meet our needs," says Magnusson. "Maximum uptime and high security are of paramount importance to us. Memset has engineers on standby at all times and so is able to respond within an hour should any problems develop. The company's concern for the environment was also important to us."

The MobileLocate's sister company, ChildLocate has also switched to Memset. ChildLocate provides a similar service, but for parents wanting to keep track of their offspring. It enables parent to establish the location of a child.s mobile phone via the internet.

As part of our commitment to responsible business practice we are now offering free hosting for registered UK charities' Web sites, in exchange for linking to us from their Web site. More information.

In response to an ever-increasing demand for high-capacity on-line storage solutions we have started offering purpose-built storage server all using RAID(5) and with a capacity of up to 6 TerraBytes. More information.

We are proud to announce a new referrals scheme that rewards both our loyal customers who recommend us to their friends and colleagues, as well as the referees themselves. More information.

Now that Dell are able to provide us with servers utilising the new Intel processors with embedded virtualization technology (Vanderpool/VT) technology we are able to move forwards with our aim to be the first UK dedicated server host to provide truly virtualised Windows servers on our world-leading Miniservers™ platform.

This move will also further allow us to lead the server consolidation movement in the UK which is an important part of our energy saving strategy.

In the wake of huge rises in the costs of commercial power and electricity over the last year, combined with an ever increasing awareness of the environmental consequences of a power-hungry society, we are now committed to investing in and researching energy efficient hosting systems. We are taking the following steps:

1) To continue to develop and promote Miniservers™ as the ideal basis for mass server consolidation.

2) To invest in the latest power-efficient server technologies, and to keep pressure on our primary suppliers (Dell & Sun) to drive forwards improvements in computing-per-Watt.