Business will be able to further enhance their brands with the introduction of new internet domain suffixes.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced this week that they are open for applications for new top-level domains (TLD) – the .com part of a web address. This means that traditional endings, such as .com and .org, could soon be joined by suffixes such as .pepsi, .virgin or .itv.
Although registering a new custom TLD will cost an expensive £120,000 ($185,000), ICANN has said the change will increase competition and choice in the domains market.
In December, the US Federal Trade Commission wrote to ICANN warning that the expansion of generic top-level domains ”has the potential to magnify both the abuse of the domain name system and the corresponding challenges we encounter in tracking down Internet fraudsters.”
However, Peter Dengate Thrush, former chairman of ICANN’s board of directors, countered those claims and said the change is necessary for the future of the internet:
“No-one would design a domain name system now for several billion users, just using a couple of names that we started the system with in 1985.”
Obtaining a new domain is going to be a serious financial commitment for any business, yet in spite of this there has been significant interest in these new custom domain endnigs, according some registration advisors . Stuart Durham of Melbourne IT DBS commented:
“We’re already working on over 100 applications – we’re expecting that to increase.” said.
The new changes will certainly open up the choice of domains for businesses, with cheaper domains on the traditional .co.uk and .com TLDs being attractive to those who are looking to establish themselves, to those larger companies wishing to secure and expand their branding with their own TLD.
We will be able to host these new TLDs here at Gradwell. If you need to talk to someone about any of your web hosting or domain needs get in touch by calling 01225 800 808 or via email at sales@gradwell.com.
(Image by ivanpw)
Everyone and anyone is a user of the internet; yet there are still a large number of baffling acronyms being spouted by service providers, making the world of internet connectivity hard to get to grips with.
That is where Gradwell’s ADSL ABC comes in. We’ve gathered up the connectivity acronyms and have put them into plain English:
ADSL (ADSL2+): Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. This is the most common way that broadband is delivered in the UK. It uses your telephone line to send and receive data, splitting out the voice data from your telephone conversations and delivering the internet! ADSL2+ is the same thing, but faster.
Offered at Gradwell as SMPF.
MPF: Metallic Path Facility. Usually internet delivered via a telephone line, as with ADSL above, two providers use the connection to provide the service, and means you pay line rental to BT even if you use someone else for telephone and internet services. MPF removes the shared part as your provider takes ownership of the whole thing and provides telephone and internet services, which (with Gradwell anyway) means no line rental!
EFM: Ethernet in the First Mile, uses the existing telephone line, like ADSL, but bonds pairs of copper wires together to create more stable connections. If a problem occurred on an ADSL line, the service would stop. If a problem occurred on an EFM line, one pair might go down; slowing the service, but there would still be a connection.
FTTC/FTTP: Fibre To The Cabinet/Premises. This is the new super-fast broadband that everyone is talking about. Instead of using a line made up of just traditional copper wire, FTTC and FTTP use fibre optic cable, so you can achieve speeds of up to 1Gbps (60 times faster than ADSL).
The difference between the two acronyms is that FTTC is delivered to a box in the street, then the data is sent over copper wire to you; meaning the further you are away from the box, the more speed you’ll lose. FTTP, on the other hand, is delivered right into (you guessed it) your premises. This means there isn’t a chance to lose any speed and you get rid of the “up to” phrase.
NTE: Network Termination Equipment. When you have services like EFM, FTTC or FTTP, you need to have equipment that can take the data and turn it into something your router can handle. Think of oil and cars. Oil is pulled out of the ground, passed through a refinery and is then used as fuel for cars. The NTE refines the data for your router.
LLU: Local Loop Unbundling. First off, BT Business and BT Openreach are different people. BT Business will provide a service, like Gradwell or TalkTalk can. BT Openreach owns the UK’s telecommunications infrastructure. Through LLU, other internet service providers can install their own equipment in telephone exchanges across the country to provide services to their own customers, while using some BT Openreach infrastructure to make it all work.
Of course, a small fee says thank you to BT Openreach (that even BT Business has to pay) – your monthly line rental charge.
If you’re still confused, or you would just like to know more about the above services, give us a call on 01225 800 808 or email sales@gradwell.com.
(Image by Nauvasca)
Looking back at 2011, we have deployed additional technology and capacity, improved levels of service – with better change control, testing and our 24×7 operations team – and we have re-engineered key elements of our VoIP services and network to support big growth in small business communications.
We have also been able to grow on all fronts; customers, turnover, profits, infrastructure. We’re looking forward to starting 2012 with a solid foundation – with money in the bank, highly developed technology and a great team of nearly 60 people, all with clear ambition.
And we’d like to say a big thank you to our customers and partners for helping us achieve this success.
Our ambition is to be four times larger in four years; to be the natural choice when a micro and small business needs to buy broadband, telephony and email.
To support that, 2012 will see us increasing the rate of platform build, as well as rolling out new ordering systems and control panels. We will continue to expand and train our Engineering and Customer Support teams. We will be bringing Fibre broadband to market, polishing the Gradwell mobile proposition and helping customers take advantage of Cloud based IT services, with our new Cloud Experts service (www.cloud-experts.co.uk).
I would like to wish you all the very best for 2012,
Peter Gradwell, Managing Director
With Christmas just around the corner we would like to make you aware that we’re still here to support your business over Christmas and New Year. Our telephone support hours will be as follows:
- Friday 23rd Dec: 8am – 8pm
- Saturday 24th Dec (Christmas Eve): 8am – 5pm
- Sunday 25th Dec (Christmas Day): CLOSED
- Monday 26th Dec (Boxing Day): CLOSED (email support)
- Tuesday 27th Dec (Bank holiday): CLOSED (email support)
- Wednesday 28th Dec: 9am – 5pm
- Thursday 29th Dec: 9am – 5pm
- Friday 30th Dec: 9am – 5pm
- Saturday 31st Dec (New Years Eve): 9am – 5pm
- Sunday 1st Jan (New Years Day): CLOSED (email support)
- Monday 2nd Jan (Bank holiday): CLOSED (email support)
Outside of these times our contact centre, as per usual, will be available 24×7 to provide first line customer support and escalation. We will also continue to strictly monitor our systems and our engineers will remain on call to attend throughout to any urgent issues.
Regular support hours resume from Tuesday 3rd January 2012.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas.
Telecoms regulator Ofcom has released its sixth annual report, analysing the use of broadband, landlines, mobiles, TV and radio across 17 different countries.
The study, 2011 International Communications Market Research (ICMR), discovered that while the availability of superfast broadband in the UK “compares favourably” to other European countries, the uptake is significantly lower than our mainland counterparts. The study claims that, in June of this year, 59% of UK households have access to superfast broadband services from either Virgin Media or BT based ISPs, but only just over 4% of UK households are actually using them using the service.
Ofcom suggest that the typically higher price of superfast broadband compared to ADSL and the fact that it’s available in areas of existing high-quality connections may be what is limiting uptake.
Another reason suggested is the lack of familiar options for end users, as major ISPs such as 02, Sky Broadband and Orange have not launched their own superfast services to compete with BT and Virgin; this is probably due to the lack of unbundled style alternatives to BT’s own Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) offering, unlike ADSL broadband.
Within the ICMR report there were some other interesting findings:
- just 19% of UK broadband subscribers use Skype and similar services to make internet phone calls, compared with 28% in Italy and 26% in France
- UK consumers spend an average of £434 on telecoms services (based on 2010 figures)
However, 2012 looks to be a bigger year for superfast broadband. There has been lots of interest from small businesses in services such as our own Fibreline, and our FTTC services (available early 2012) to run internet-based services such as Business VoIP or cloud-based storage on fast and reliable connections.
If you would like to find out more about superfast broadband, talk to Gradwell. We offer both Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) and Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) superfast services and they won’t cost you the earth. Get in touch on 01225 800 808 or at sales@gradwell.com.
Posted in Gradwell News, Web hosting | No Comments »