Leading UK email hosting company SMS has announced that it has joined RIPE (Réseaux IP Européens) NCC which is the European Internet Registry that provides Internet resource allocations, registration services and co-ordination activities that support the operation of the Internet globally.
RIPE is a major part of the Internet’s “plumbing” which keeps the whole thing running. By doing so SMS will be able to control and develop its own Internet infrastructure and connectivity to meet the growing demand from individuals and small businesses for its services.
Commented Keith Pritchard, Technical Director of SMS “Even though we are a hosting company rather than an ISP we have reached the point in our growth where we need to
take control of our own network. By doing this (and joining the RIPE is an essential step) we will be able to ensure more diversity of our connections to the Internet, develop our facilities in secure hosting centres such as Telecity and smoothly increase our bandwidth.”
The network upgrade will take place over the coming month as new routers and new connections to the Internet are installed. Existing customers will not in general experience any disruption and will be notified of the changes well in advance. Looking further ahead SMS have found that larger potential customers that have been in discussions regarding outsourcing their email have indicated that they expect SMS to be running its own network and hence having greater control over its quality of service.
