Continent 8 Technologies, which over the last 15 years has established itself as the leading provider of managed hosting and network solutions to many of the world’s largest online businesses, has been named ‘Company of the Year’ in the 2014 Isle of Man Newspapers Awards for Excellence.
The panel of judges remarked that the privately owned Isle of Man-headquartered company demonstrated a clear strategy along with innovative ways of sourcing and delivering their service on and off island. They recognised that the company has a firmly established local and international profile and has evidenced high levels of ambassadorial activity on behalf of the Island.
The Award, which is sponsored by AXA Wealth International, also recognises the company’s “unquestionable commitment” to the Freedom to Flourish Values.
The company operates data centres and connectivity network points of presence around the globe including the Isle of Man, London, Paris, Milan, Dublin, Malta, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Singapore, Montreal, Toronto, New York and New Jersey. As one of a number of Island-based data centres, the company is proud of its unrivalled proposition of having a global footprint of world-class data centre facilities and dedicated private network spanning multiple continents. Co-founder and CEO Michael Tobin described the award as an “outstanding accolade for the company” and said the company’s strategy is to continue to expand its facilities and services to meet the requirements of its current and future customer base; with current focus on expansions across the USA and Asia.
“ Continent 8’s substantial growth and success can be attributed to our team and the ability to develop and nurture long term customer partnerships, by consistently offering the most sophisticated, innovative and reliable services to our valued customers, enabling us to be their single global provider,” added Mr Tobin.
“We have also identified and begun working with a number of technology focussed companies which have key synergies with Continent 8. Over the last 12 months we have developed a reseller programme offering white labelled solutions which have enabled IT resellers to expand their product range without the burden of additional capex and ongoing support costs.”
Continent 8 continues to work closely with the Isle of Man Government’s Department of Economic Development, promoting and encouraging inward investment to the Island around the globe. Incorporated on the Isle of Man in 2006, the company further underlined its commitment to the Island two years later by opening its Isle of Man data centre and corporate headquarters in Douglas, an initial capital investment of £5m. Further investment and expansion took place in 2013 with an additional £1.5m expansion programme at the company’s Douglas data centre, with all work undertaken by local suppliers. The company has also increased headcount within Europe by 45% over the last 2 years.
“The inclusion of the Isle of Man data centre in the company’s global footprint has enabled Continent 8 to drive substantial business to the Island from other jurisdictions, particularly in the form of disaster recovery services, as the Isle of Man is recognised as a well regulated and stable business environment,” said Mr Tobin.
‘In 2006, when we embarked upon the creation of Continent 8 Technologies within Europe, we began transforming ourselves into a multi-jurisdictional and multi-cultural company while trying to maintain the principles upon which we started. The Isle of Man has been and continues to be our global headquarters as we continue to expand into new markets. We have worked closely with key personnel here and we are confident that we can build upon our successes to date and continue to promote the Island as we continue to grow.”
