Duke Marketing has relocated its website hosting facilities from the UK to Douglas.
Wi-Manx is now the hosting provider for all Duke websites, including the Official website of the TT and high profile international online shops for partners like Sky Sports and ESPN.
Duke’s top three websites attract more than 3 million visitors from around the world every year, making reliable online presence a key factor in the continued growth of the company.
Hosting services were previously provided by a UK supplier. Duke is best-known as the world’s leading publisher and distributor of motorsport DVDs, including the annual TT review, but in recent years the business has rapidly expanded to include a much broader range of sport, special interest and documentary programming.
In addition, the Tromode-based company markets television programming to a global audience and manages the online stores and order fulfilment for ‘blue chip’ clients including the world’s leading cricket website, cricinfo.com, and sports broadcasting giants like Sky Sports and ESPN.
Duke Managing Director Peter Duke explained it had always been his ambition to return the hosting of Duke websites to the Isle of Man, and the development of the Island’s online industry had allowed him to achieve this goal 12 months before the company’s 30th anniversary.
He said, "Our business started operating websites some ten years ago and our sites were hosted in the Island.
"However, as the business grew and it became a more important part of Duke, we found the costs of hosting and bandwidth here were several times dearer than off-Island.
"Now the security of service and the cost have both improved massively, in the main, no doubt, due to the internet gaming industry and its investment in the Island.
"Because of this, we had decided that in 2010 we would achieve my long-held ambition of moving all our servers, including iomtt.com, back to the Isle of Man.
"We were extremely impressed by Wi-Manx and had committed to a move in early May.
"However, a problem with our UK supplier, which saw several of our websites out of action for an unacceptable length of time, prompted us to move it forward.
"Unfortunately, there was some unplanned downtime, but thanks to the hard work of our own IT team and the help of Wi-Manx we were able to minimise the disruption and had all our sites back up and running the next day."
Gary Shilling, Business Sales consultant for Wi-Manx, added, "We were delighted when Duke approached us to assist with their hosting requirements.
"We have invested substantially in the web hosting arena over the last six months. With our state-of-the-art datacentre nearing completion, we feel we are in a great position to offer world-class hosting services to leading brands such as Duke.
"What we have achieved at very short notice due to Duke’s unforeseen circumstances with their UK provider further enhances our reputation for great support and flexibility within our organisation."
Minister for Economic Development, Hon Allan Bell MHK, commented, "Duke’s decision to relocate their hosting to the Isle of Man represents a further vote of confidence in the Isle of Man’s excellent, resilient infrastructure.
"Their decision, along with the significant investment by Wi-Manx in a new hosting centre, sends a positive message to businesses considering the Isle of Man as a base for e-business."
