Bytemark

Bytemark is a server hosting and datacentre provider^[1] headquartered in York, United Kingdom.^[2] It was founded in 2002,^[3] and was the first provider^{[citation needed]} of virtual machines and cloud hosting through User-mode Linux in 2003.^[4]

Bytemark Ltd.

Industry	Internet, cloud computing
Founded	12 July 2002; 23 years ago (2002-07-12)
Founders	Matthew Bloch Peter Taphouse
Headquarters	York, North Yorkshire , U.K.
Area served	Worldwide
Services	Internet hosting service
Website	www.bytemark.co.uk

In 2012, the company launched BigV, a public cloud platform designed in-house using open source software.^[5] In 2013, it moved into a £1.2 million datacentre and headquarters in York.^[6] In 2017, their BigV platform was renamed Bytemark Cloud. In September 2018, the company was acquired by iomart Group plc.^[7]

On 2 February 2023 Bytemark announced^[8] that it would cease to support BigV on 30 April 2023.

Environmental and ethical policies

Bytemark's datacentre uses fresh-air cooling, not common in the UK,^[9] and was shortlisted for Innovation in Medium Data Center at the DatacenterDynamics Awards EMEA 2013.^[10] Each of its servers is built using efficient power supplies as certified by the 80 Plus scheme, which requires power supplies to be at least 80% efficient at up to 100% rated load.^[11] To reduce the bias found in traditional recruitment processes, the company developed their own anonymous recruitment process in 2015.^[12]

Awards

In 2014, Bytemark was named one of the Top 50 Fastest Grown Tech Companies in the North^[13] at the Northern Tech Awards^[14] with revenue growth of 44%. Financially, the company turned over £2.5 million in 2013.^[15] In 2014, this grew to £3 million.^[16] In 2015, the company was awarded the Fair Tax Mark.^[17]

Support of open-source projects

Bytemark has a history of contributing to and supporting free software.

They support LibreOffice through provision of a build server.^[18][19] In 2009, the company became a supporter of XBMC with the same.^[20] In 2012, they started supporting Cyanogenmod with build servers.^[21]

In 2013, the company contributed hosting services worth £150,000 to the Debian project, having used Debian since the company was founded.^[22] The company also supported OpenStreetMap with DNS services and servers to support version control, mailing lists and help pages.^[23] The company also support projects for social good, including sponsoring servers for mySociety, who operate FixMyStreet, TheyWorkForYou and WhatDoTheyKnow.^[24]