Website Designers

Web designers and deveopment companies have much to gain by adding hosting to their portfolio. As a designer you have a unique and trusted link with clients and their websites. How many times have you been asked for a recommendation of where to host, only to pass the business to the host you have used for other projects? If you can imagine such a scenario then you are wasting opportunities to add margin, and ensure you have a link to maintain a working relationship with the client byond the initial project. For example, after a years hosting has passed, you have a great chance to make contact regarding its renewal, and at the same time gauge feedback from the client about the sites performance. This can easily lead to future development opportunities for you. Another way to view hosting, would be to ‘bundle’ it with your design / development work to present added value to the client.

A common misconseption by designers lay with the amount of support required; the reality is that hosting is very low in support costs especially as ICUK will take care of all of the server and network maintenance, as well as security planning. Likewise, our customer control panel allows your clients to login and make changes to their email, for example. The panel uses a powerful HTML template allowing you to put your skills to good use to brand it mimicing your site with your own colour scheme, styles, images and feel – you certainly won’t look like your average reseller!

IT Support Companies

In a similar way to a web designer, you are in a position of trust, where your client looks to you to support their IT needs. As a reseller you can provide hosting with confidence not only for delivering space for their site on the two main platforms, Windows and Linux, but professional email services on a clustered environment with regular off-site backups captured every 3 hours. What’s more, *you* are in control of it all from setting passwords, accessing the data, making alterations to the DNS and email management. In addition to the standard hosting facilities, there are also a wave of additional services, each with high margin capabilities, some of which you may already be outsourcing or using inferior solutions to what we can help improve. Spam and virus filtering, for example, may already be in place using third party software installed on an Exchange server, or using a third party such as MessageLabs. Our External Spam and Virus filter not only helps reduce loads on an in-house server, it helps queue mail in the event of server or connectivity failure for upto 7 days. Unlike some of our competitors, it operates on a per domain basis, not on a per mailbox license, saving potentially hundreds of pounds per year. As a reseller this only costs £30+VAT per year, regardless of the number of email addresses it scans for.

Pricing & Specifications

As a reseller you are free to set your own limitations (eg the number of mailboxes, disk space and data transfer that a client can consume). This presents you with an opportunity to setup tiers (Bronze, Silver, Gold) and assign a product that meets your customers needs. By applying limits you present upgrade paths to your clients as their needs change, which increases your profitability, afterall it doesn’t cost you any more regardless of what is set. Hosts that provide unlimited resources for £x per year really limit their future profitability, and likewise they run the risk of attracting clients who will do their level best to consume as many of your resources as possible with little chance for you to generate enough revenue to continue adding resource.

As well as setting the specification, you can pick the price you charge. It’s up to you whether you wish to keep the prices low and invoice on a monthly or quarterly basis, or charge a fixed annual fee… or if you are bundling this with other services you could even opt to provide the service for free.

Too Good To Be True?

Another common query we have from resellers is how we allow resellers to setup unlimited hosting accounts for a fixed monthly fee. We can do so, because we have the resources and business model that can support this. We know full well that the majority of sites that are housed are less than 10MB in size, and we also know that hard drive sizes are ever increasingly. Likewise our available bandwidth to each server has steadily increased from 10Mbit about 5 years ago, to 100Mbit and now Gigabit connections are available to the majority of our shared hosting platform servers. Everything that ICUK offers is sustainable whether that be in the resources to support the sites, mailboxes, or in the level of phone and email support resellers benefit from. You can be rest assured that ICUK is committed to delivering high quality hosting and email services, and despite us also selling broadband and telecom facilities, hosting remains our core product and strength.

Interested?

If you would like to join ICUK as a reseller, whether it be for our basic broadband reseller, telecoms or hosting solutions, then please call or email with your queries.

All our dedicated servers are still supplied with industry leading unmetered 100Mbit connectivity and our 100% service level agreement.

For full range details visit the dedicated server pages on our website.

For confirmation of our opening hours over the Festive period please refer to our Contact Us page.

1. Bespoke Customer Control Panel Home Page

Up until now customers logging into any control panel would have been greeted with a generic welcome message. We have now designed a solution allowing you to enter your own HTML code to replace this. By granting you this control you can now consider adding promotions, notifications of known issues, or even seasonal messages. To access this new feature hover over ‘Admin’ and select ‘Client Control Panel’ from the menu. A new tab appears where you can upload the code you wish to use.

2. Customer Control Panel Impersonation

This tool allows a reseller to login to their customer’s Control Panel and navigate it as the customer would without having to know the customers login credentials. This should be helpful with support issues where it is helpful to replicate what the customer is seeing / using.

To access this tool go to the ‘Customers’ section of the reseller panel. A new icon for impersonation is listed alongside each customer.

IMPORTANT: When impersonating a bar will appear at the top of the screen highlighting that this is how you are accessing the page. To end the impersonation and return to using the reseller you must click on the small red button in the top right of the screen.

3. Download to CSV

By popular request a number of pages including the customer list, hosting accounts, domains and line rental pages can now be downloaded as a CSV file allowing you to create a snap shot of the solutions you have with us.

4. Upload Customers via CSV

Up until now the only way to create a customer would have been to add them using the control panel one by one. We now allow you to upload customers in bulk via CSV. A button labelled as ‘bulk upload’ can be found on the page containing a list of your customers.

5. Secondary Navigation / Breadcrumbs

The Control Panel now features a secondary navigation solution allowing you to track the associated pages you have used. You can click on these to return to a former page.

6. Broadband Wholesale Pricing

We have made several changes to this page to improve the layout, and to confirm the differences in speed each package offers.

There have been further minor improvements which are fully documented within the ‘Development Logs’ page found under the ‘Help’ button of the Reseller Control Panel.

As always we welcome your feedback and suggestions, and hope to include these in later releases of the Control Panel.

The core feature of this latest release is our new broadband network. It has been in development over the past year and has involved a massive capital investment and development time. The network sits alongside our hosting setup and will be expanded over the next year to feature additional Points of Presence and an enlarged portfolio of wholesale providers and solutions to meet the needs of all our resellers and their customers. By housing the broadband facilities alongside our hosting network we have been able to make a significant reduction in our operating costs and these have been reflected in new wholesale pricing and data caps. As well as cost savings, housing the hosting and broadband networks alongside each other means we open up lots of future options for a more converged solution encompassing, but not limited to, VoIP and Mobile solutions.

In summary here are some of the core features in this latest release:

NEW BROADBAND NETWORK

The following features are applicable to connections on our latest platform. All existing connections will switch over soon and also benefit.

• Fibre to Cabinet broadband connections are finally live on our network. They are capable of delivering download speeds of upto 40Mbps and upload speeds of upto 10Mbps. Further details explaining the technology can be found on our website at http://www.icukhosting.co.uk/broadband/fibre_to_the_cabinet.asp
• 21CN Annex M ADSL 2+ connections are now available providing higher upload speeds of upto 2.5Mbps by sacrificing some of the potential download speeds.
• New lower pricing applied to all new orders. For confirmation hover over ‘Admin’, hover over ‘Wholesale Pricing’, and select the broadband option from the menu.
• Higher caps for existing ‘legacy’ connections migrating across. This ensures your wholesale price remains the same, but you get more for your money.
• New integration with BT Wholesale – we still have lots more to automate and include over the coming months to give you greater visibility and control over your connections.
• New resilient radius cluster with support for multiple realms.
• New resilient DNS cluster.
• New broadband checker for BT ADSL, FTTC and C&W connections.
• New advanced broadband checker which shows the full BT Wholesale output.
• New bulk broadband checker allowing you to run multiple checks across multiple lines and carriers.
• Monitor sync speed profile changes.
• Support for IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.
• Reverse DNS / PTR control for static and routed IP addresses.
• Improved graphical statistics showing download and upload usage.
• Improved broadband orders page is now tabbed allowing you to easily see orders based on their current status.
• Place simultaneous broadband orders.

Larger resellers can now benefit from:

• The ability to apply for their own realm (must have 300+ connections) which can be used on BT Wholesale 20CN and 21CN platforms.
• An option to apply for their own RIPE IP ranges and announce them on our network. Again, you must have significant connections to make this worthwhile and for RIPE to accept your application.
• We will soon launch a virtual pipe solution allowing large resellers to purchase bandwidth and tails from us in much the same way we do with BT Wholesale. If you have lots of light users then you might find this to be a more cost effective solution than purchasing the capped services.

Notable changes / points of order:

• We have phased out Tiscali Wholesale as an alternative LLU provider. The low demand for this product combined with the poor response times for support issues meant that they were no longer a viable solution. An email detailing our planned migration away will be sent to affected customers.
• The format which applies to the passwords on new broadband orders has changed. When placing the order you will be supplied with a dictionary password to use instead of the default format which makes use of the username. You can change this during the order process or make alterations once placed.
• IPv6 addresses are available free of charge and are supplied as a minimum /48.
• These changes will only apply to BT based products. Cable and Wireless remains on our old network setup for the time being, but orders are still being accepted and processed accordingly.

TELECOM ENHANCEMENTS

• Improved graphical statistics

HOSTING ENHANCEMENTS

• Increased mail limits allowing you to send and receive messages upto 25MB in size. The previous limit was set at 15MB.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Added to the ‘customers’ section of the control panel are export facilities allowing you to download individually or en-mass the details you store on file.
• We have replaced all the old Flash charts in the control panel with a Javascript solution. This now works in all browsers, including mobile browsers, and is significantly quicker to load.

We hope that you benefit from the effort and capital expenditure that has gone into this latest release. We welcome any feedback you have surrounding these new developments and look forward to releasing a further update to you shortly as we march on with our development lists.

On the stand we will be announcing details of our new broadband network, reseller control panel enhancements, and introducing our latest acquisition – CIX. You can meet some of the team and field any questions you may have about our platforms and service.

As from today users can connect to their mailboxes using the full email address (eg user@domain.com) in addition the traditional username format (user@postoffice). We hope that this development will remove any potential or existing confusion, and that this method will prove easier for clients to remember especially when using webmail or setting up external mail devices.

Please note that no changes are required to any existing users. This is simply an additional mechanism that you are not obliged to use or adopt for new or existing mailboxes.

Thanks, that’s a really useful change – much appreciated!

Rob

Great News – thanks! – as I’m moving clients in to this service this means they don’t need to change their email logins during cutover.

Mike

That’s so weird!! I was just thinking this morning that this would be really useful as I was setting up a customer’s account and knew they would get confused by it! Great addition, cheers guys!

Tom

This is the kind of reason that I made the decision to move our hosting to ICUK, even though it is going to cause a lot of disruption to complete the migration. I would much rather work with a smaller company that listens to its users, a company that doesn’t hide behind terms and conditions and that answers requests (even if they can’t always be implemented).

James

This is a great update and one that I am sure many customers will really appreciate. I can’t count the number of support calls and emails I have handled because the client has not read our PDF document which so clearly states that the username is NOT the email address!

Robert

CIX includes the world famous CIX Conferencing system, which was founded in 1987 and remains at the forefront of discussion and is indeed one of the original forms of social networking. With a broad customer base of 7000 users, CIX provides a range of web hosting, conferencing and virtual office facilities.

As part of this acquisition, we plan to integrate these products within the ICUK Control Panel for existing customers in order to expand the product portfolio available to them. The CIX platform and interfaces are set to undergo a large number of changes to improve the customer experience and fit into our core network and aesthetic design philosophies.

We are extremely pleased to be able to bring you this positive information about the continued strengthening of our business and we are excited about the opportunities our acquisition will provide. We are committed to maintaining our philosophy to try harder, deliver more and we look forward to providing your hosting, telecom, broadband and discussion requirements now and in the future.

You can read additional information about CIX on our site or visiting them at www.cix.co.uk. Expect to receive further announcements about CIX, using it, and how it can be of use to you or your business once we have completed our initial integration and infrastructure upgrades.

If you have any questions relating to CIX and the products offered by the platform, please do no hesitate to contact us.

o Phone Line Diagnostics
o Tariff Calculator (for phone calls)
o Phone Line Cease Option
o Revamped Wholesale Pricing Pages
o New Graphical Statistics for Phone Calls
o New Domain Name Availability Checker
o New Help Files
o Off-Site Backup for Dedicated Servers
o New Openreach Procedure

	Phone Line Diagnostics   Numbers —> Line Rental —> Support We have integrated the Openreach line diagnostic tools which allow you to run real-time tests on phone lines you manage for a multitude of fault conditions. These can tell you in a matter of minutes if a fault is detected and whereabouts on the network it is. Once the initial tests are complete, you have an option to escalate this fault to us even if a fault isn’t detected. We ask that you be as detailed as you can be in your descriptions of the fault. The fault form will also collect details from you such as on-site contact details and office opening hours should it be necessary for an engineer to visit. Any case that you raise will be sent as an email to our Support Team with a copy being sent to support email address listed within the control panel. ICUK will reply to this email with any updates. To access this new tool simply visit the line rental page of your control panel where there will be a green icon on the right hand side allowing you to access this feature. In the event that Openreach has developed a fault and the test fails you will still be given an opportunity to raise a case to us for further investigation.
	Tariff Calculator (for phone calls)   Numbers —> Number Tools —> Tariff Calculator In an average month we can complete upto 100 phone bill comparisons for customers and resellers. We have now developed a tool that allows you to complete this via the control panel. The tool relies on summary data that most providers supply in their phone bills. The summary data will show details such as: - Destination (eg local) - Time spent calling destination (eg 12 hours, 23 minutes, 30 seconds) - Cost of these calls (eg £24.45) You can enter all the summarised data into the panel for the existing supplier (excluding VAT), and then select your tariff that you would like to compare it with. The tool will then show you what the client currently pays on a pence per minute basis (including any hidden costs, rounding up, minimum call charges), and what it would be charged at with your tariff. We have designed this to be as quick and as simple as it can be. In beta tests we have often collected the details over the phone and provided a comparison quote then and there with great effect. We welcome your feedback on this, and look forward to developing this concept further.
	Phone Line Cease Option   Numbers —> Line Rental —> Edit Line —> Cease Line We have integrated the ability for a reseller to automatically cease a phone line through the control panel. This interacts with Openreach directly. You can select what date the cease completes on, with the soonest date showing by default. The panel won’t allow you to place a cease on a line if our broadband is still activated. You need to place a broadband cease first, allow this to complete, and only then will you be able to action the line cease. IMPORTANT: Once a cease has been placed it can be very hard to stop it. Be sure that you are processing the cease for the right line with the correct cease date.
	Revamped Wholesale Pricing Pages   Admin —> Wholesale Pricing The old wholesale pricing page was starting to get a little cluttered and confusing especially for new resellers. We have revamped the pages splitting the products out into their own individual sections. Where possible we have also provided an overview as to what the product is. The pricing is dynamically driven and will reflect the correct pricing for your reseller account. To access the wholesale pricing hover over ‘Admin’ and then hover over ‘Wholesale Pricing’ where a further menu will appear.
	New Domain Name Availability Checker   Domains —> Domain Availability We have developed a new domain name availability checker designed to show as quickly as possible the availability of the domain entered as well as confirmation of your wholesale costs per year. This can be found by hovering over ‘Domains’ and selecting ‘Domain Availability’. This isn’t currently available for you to include in your own website, but this something we would like to provide when we have more development time available.
	New Help Files   We are continuing to add more help files on a wide range of topics especially those whereby we are frequently asked for assistance. We are more than aware that to lots of resellers the help files can seem a little daunting and a quicker way to getting an answer is to email or call in. To help reduce the loads on our support teams please do ask that you familiarise yourselves with these files as they have been recently re-written to be as friendly and intuitive as possible. What’s more, you should be able to answer your questions a lot quicker as a result.
	Off-Site Backup for Dedicated Servers   If you have purchased our off-site backup service for dedicated servers, you can now easily access the FTP login details, to view and download the backed up data, via the control panel. Hover over ‘Accounts’ and select ‘Dedicated Servers’. Next to each server is an icon for backups. If it’s not enabled then you will see a page confirming what it can deliver. If it is enabled then you will need to accept our terms before the details are displayed to you. Anyone wanting to purchase this product simply needs to send us an email to solutions@icukhosting.co.uk confirming the server number and the directories they would like backed up. We can then proceed to enable the service the same day for you.
	New Openreach Procedure   Openreach now provide a pre-appointment calling service in order to reduce the number of abortive engineering visits. This service will take the form of an automated call to your end users telephone line with the following script: “This is Openreach working on behalf of your Telephone Provider calling about your telephony service installation. An engineer has been arranged to visit you (Date) between XXXX and YYYY. If this appointment is still convenient then please press 1 now. If this appointment is not convenient and you wish to rearrange it, please press 0 now. If you want to hear this message again, please press 9 now.” This messaging will have no impact on the state of your order and committed date, however where 0 is selected your customer will then be prompted to confirm the cancellation of the appointment and to contact their Communications Provider to rearrange the appointment to a convenient time. Please note that where the call is unanswered due to end user unavailability or Auto Attendant systems your appointment will progress as normal, and it is expected that you ensure your customer is fully informed of Openreach’s visit, where the call is answered via voicemail, a message will be left detailing the above. We expect to see an improved service and fewer missed appointments through its introduction. It is doubly important that you supply us correct on-site contact details for your orders, and that your customers are aware that they will receive an automated phone call regarding it.

We hope you enjoy these new enhancements and welcome your feedback. April and May are set to be very busy months for us with a number of significant developments being released for the benefit of all our users. We will of course announce these to you just as soon as they are ready for public consumption.