UKFast.Net Limited (trading as UKFast) is a

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company based in Manchester, UK. It is principally known for managed hosting, cloud services, and co-location. The business owns and operates its data centre complex in Trafford Park, Manchester. As of 2019 the company employs more than 365 people and in 2018 it achieved revenues of £53.9m. It provides services to more than 5,000 clients including the NHS, the Ministry of Defence and the Cabinet Office.

Company history

UKFast was founded in September 1999 by Welsh businessman Lawrence Jones and his wife Gail Jones. In 2007, the company moved its head office to the 28th floor of City Tower, Manchester. It acquired further space on the 16th floor, before moving in 2013 to a campus at 1 Archway in the Birley Fields area of Hulme, Manchester. In 2013 the firm launched eCloud, a range of cloud hosting services whose hardware infrastructure reportedly cost £12 million to build. In that year, the business turned over £23.4m. For the year ending 31 December 2014, UKFast reported a 24 per cent turnover increase from £23.4m to £28.9m. Between 2011 and 2015, UKFast invested more than £25m into capital expenditure projects including the development of four data centres and the flagship UKFast Campus. In 2013 UKFast opened an office in

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and in 2015 opened a further office in

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. In 2014, Founder Lawrence Jones rejected a reported £200m takeover bid amidst a trend of web hosting consolidation, citing that the business was still growing. In 2016, UKFast doubled the size of its HQ by securing a further 40,000 sq. ft. space at 3 Archway, Birley Fields, adjacent to its existing building. In 2018 a 30% stake of UKFast was sold to private equity firm Inflexion for around £120 million On 31 October 2019, CRN reported "Lawrence Jones quits UKFast following sexual misconduct allegations - Financial Times article accused Jones of sexual assault and harassment last week". Jones' wife and current UKFast MD Gail Jones took over his responsibilities, according to the article. On 6 May 2020 the Jones exited the business along with Secarma through a sale to existing private equity investor Inflexion.

Awards and accreditations

Between 2005 and 2009, UKFast won six Internet Service Providers Association awards and was named "Best Hosting Provider" for four years running. UKFast received the Data Centre Solutions Awards’ "Private Cloud Product of the Year" in 2012 and the DatacenterDynamics Award for "Innovation in Outsourcing" in 2013. In the same year, UKFast received the National Business Awards "Employer of the Year" award and the

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"Employee Engagement Strategy of the Year" awards. UKFast has also featured in ''

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'' "100 Best Small Companies to Work For" and the Great Place to Work Institute's "Best Workplaces" lists, placing 7th and 8th respectively in 2019, 9th and 25th respectively in 2018, and 5th in both lists 2017. and placing 28th and 12th respectively in 2014, 25th and 5th respectively in 2013, and 45th and 7th respectively in 2012.

References

External links

UKFast

Lawrence Jones CEO
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ukfast Blog hosting services Cloud computing providers Companies based in Manchester Internet properties established in 1999 Internet hosting Web hosting 1999 establishments in England