iSERVE News

30 August 2007

iSERVE Reaches Number One Again!

iSERVE have received notification from Hitwise that the iSERVE web site has been ranked No.1 in their 'Computers and Internet - Hosting and Domain Registration category'. This time for the 2007 April - June quarter. Each quarter, Hitwise ranks the Top 10 web sites according to user visits, across each of their 150+ categories and certifies the achievement of each site that has qualified with a Hitwise Top 10 Award.

07 May 2007

iSERVE General Manager Joy Cottle has appeared on TVNZ's ASB Business program to disucss the domain registration market and the affect that the deregulation of this market has had on our business, and the market over the past 5 years.

You can view the streamed video directly on TVNZ's website, or
Click here to download the video (22.9MB, .mp4 format).

13 December 2006

31 New Zealand companies make the 2006 Asia Pacific Fast 500

The list includes such big names as Trade Me (ranked 55), SEEK Communications (ranked 202), and iSERVE (ranked 311).

Click here to read the full list of New Zealand companies which made the exclusive Fast 500.

20 October 2006

iSERVE were announced at the Deloittes/Unlimited Fast 50 Awards evening as the 45th Fastest growing company in NZ. We attributed our success to a great customer focus, and that can only be supported by the high caliber of staff that we have. Obviously we are thrilled with this result from an industry that is very competitive, as well as the highest ranked Internet Presence provider to make the list!

11 August 2006

iSERVE Reaches Number One Again!

iSERVE have received notification from Hitwise that the iSERVE web site has been ranked No.1 in their 'Computers and Internet - Hosting and Domain Registration category'. This time for the April - June quarter. Each quarter, Hitwise ranks the Top 10 web sites according to user visits, across each of their 150+ categories and certifies the achievement of each site that has qualified with a Hitwise Top 10 Award.

7 August 2006

Technicians Work Overtime to Restore Websites After Weekend Exploit

Technicians at IT infrastructure hosting and management firm iSERVE worked overtime at the weekend to restore the content of hundreds of websites defaced by a hacker exploiting a security vulnerability on one website.

Download the full press release.

7 August 2006

Another domaim scam has hit our shores, this time originating from NZ Domain Registration Ltd. The letter arrives in the mail offering a free MP3 Player with every 2 year domain registration. If your domain is registered with iSERVE and you receive a letter such as this, you can safely ignore it.

Click here to see a preview of this letter (opens in a new window).

16 June 2006

iSERVE announces novel fund-raising approach to build New Zealand's biggest ever virtual hosting development

Leading infrastructure hosting and management company, iSERVE Ltd, announced today plans for a multi-million dollar development to build New Zealand's biggest virtual hosting platform.

The company plans to embark on a major development that will include a substantial, fully redundant information backup and recovery facility and the implementation of an always-live 24x7 Linux, Microsoft and Apple certified support desk.

It will also develop several geographically diverse, carrier neutral hosting facilities within New Zealand enabling iSERVE to offer New Zealand's only 100 per cent network uptime promise.

To assist with the funding of this development iSERVE is offering new lifetime hosting plans, Life Plan for $2995 and Life Plan Plus for $3995, which additionally allows ownership of the plan to be transferred to another person before June 1, 2016. This limited offer is being made available to the public from June.

The plans - the first lifetime web hosting plans to be made available in New Zealand - are guaranteed for life and come with no strings attached.

Last month iSERVE customers were offered the plans at a discounted rate for a limited period ending June 1.

iSERVE General Manager Joy Cottle says the offer would help raise a portion of the capital required for this major project.

“If the response of our customers to this offer is anything to go by we expect to raise a significant portion of the capital required,” she says. iSERVE customers who have signed up to the plans have welcomed the offer as a way to reduce their ongoing hosting costs.

She says while it is traditional for fast-growing companies, like iSERVE, to pursue other capital raising and investment options for such a significant project, the company decided to take a simpler approach.

“By offering the lifetime hosting plans we can help raise the cash needed without using external sources while keeping our regular cashflow stabilised, which is why we have capped the offer to a limited number.

“This way we do not need to consider loan repayments, or have to deal with a severely depleted cashflow and maintain higher expenses.

“Other investment or capital raising options can also present other issues that could impact on our company's direction and beliefs,” she says. “At this stage of our business, where our goals and way forward are very clearly defined, we do not want to introduce any such distraction.”

Both the Life Plan and Life Plan Plus plans entitle clients to host as many websites, domain names, email addresses and POP mailboxes as they want without paying another cent for hosting.

The plans also come with the special features already offered to iSERVE customers, including up to 2GB disk space, unlimited traffic and a hosting management console.

11 May 2006

Server Hosting Media Release

Leading infrastructure hosting and management company, iSERVE Ltd, announces the launch of New Zealand's first one-hour server replacement guarantee to the IT channel.

The guarantee is part of the company's new range of Honest IT Server Solutions that have been in development for the past two years and launched today.

The solutions deliver innovations that will significantly benefit the IT channel - value-added resellers (VARs), application service providers (ASPs), web designers and developers – and businesses of all sizes. For the IT channel, the benefits include a competitive advantage and increased customer satisfaction because the solutions free up the channel's service providers' time to focus on customer support, not IT management.

Download the article.
For more on iSERVE Server Hosting, click here.

3 May 2006

ASP.NET now available.

iSERVE now offer Microsoft ASP.NET hosting at no extra charge.
Just select the ASP.NET hosting platform when you add a Domain Name to your Web Hosting account. Simple.

15 March 2006

TradeMe Founder's Trade Coup “beyond comprehension”

Congratulations to TradeMe Founder Sam Morgan for pulling off the trade of any successful Internet entrepreneur's lifetime.

This month's sale of the popular Internet auction site for a whopping $700 million to Australian publisher Fairfax “is beyond comprehension, its such a fantastic amount”, says iSERVE Co-Founder and General Manager Joy Cottle.

“The deal is a huge testament to Sam's commitment to what was quite simply a great idea”, she says. “How many great ideas do we all have, which we just give up on?”

Everyone should be inspired by Sam's pioneering success in building TradeMe from scratch into New Zealand's most visited website.

Sam was once quoted as saying: “There is no such thing as an original idea - it's all in the execution". “What a great thought for website businesses to ponder on”, she says.

In many ways iSERVE has a similar story to TradeMe - a great idea, a group of people working together to make it happen, fantastic growth and huge future potential.

This month's Yourbiz ezine features an article about how iSERVE carved a niche to become a web hosting industry pioneer. Click here to download the ezine.

13 March 2006

What You Said About iSERVE

We would like to thank all iSERVE newsletter subscribers who entered the iPOD Nano draw in February. We asked customers to describe what they would tell a friend about iSERVE. 

Your response was overwhelming and here's a sample of what you told us:

• “...their staff don't care that you ask dumb questions and are very polite in pointing out when the information is right under your nose.”

• “iSERVE easily beats all other providers I have dealt with, including big international ISPs.”

• “iSERVE has the best customer service of any host I have dealt with.”

• “Helpdesk is brilliant, you get to talk to a human being with little or no delay.”

• “iSERVE make the difficult simple for all.”

• “CUSTOMER FOCUSED!!!!!!”

• “The little company that grew and grew, but never lost its little company commitment to service, the commitment that made it grow in the first place.”

Draw winner Rob King said:

• “iSERVE are exceptionally reliable. Their staff are very responsive and always resolve any queries I have. They also listen to suggestions, which I think is crucial. The console is the best one out there and very easy to use.”

Your feedback will help iSERVE develop new marketing initiatives and new plans and services. Stay tuned!

13 February 2006

iSERVE has been recognised as the number one website in 2005 for domain registration and web hosting in New Zealand by international Internet ranking agency, Hitwise.

• www.scoop.co.nz: Story
• www.webhosting.info: Story
• www.hostsearch.com: Story

Download the articles.

17 January 2006

iSERVE appears in the New Zealand Herald.

Server hosting is cure for bird flu fears

Bird flu jitters have prompted a flurry of corporate crisis planning activity, generating welcome business for a variety of service providers, including IT hosting companies such as iSERVE.

General manager Joy Cottle says iSERVE realised early last year, before the bird flu hit, that there was a market for housing and managing businesses' servers at its Lower Hutt base.

Having servers located off-site means a business's internet link to customers is secure and can be maintained even when staff are not in the office.

Read the article here on nzherald, or
Download the article.

23 December 2005

WEBSITES YES, BUT NOT PORN SITES - SAYS iSERVE

Recent media coverage about the sentencing of a Rotorua man for downloading objectionable images of children has caused customers of New Zealand based web hosting company iSERVE concern and alarm, says iSERVE General Manager Joy Cottle.

iSERVE General Manager Joy Cottle says that it is unfortunate that the story involves an international company which uses the same name as New Zealand's iSERVE (a market leader in the New Zealand web hosting industry) and it is the international company's fraudulent activities that have connections to Rotorua accountant Kenneth Stokes.

Wellington-based iSERVE is one of New Zealand's largest web hosting companies and was ranked New Zealand's tenth - and Wellington's second fastest growing company in the 2005 Deloitte/Unlimited Fast 50 Awards.

“It is a little ironic that just two years ago Telecom launched a product using the iSERVE name,” she said. This matter was quickly resolved following legal correspondence between iSERVE and Telecom.

“Now the name's use in this child porn ring is causing concern amongst our customers, and although it isn't a trademark infringement this time, and I'm glad that the participants in this ring have been caught - it would have been nice to not have a name like ours involved in the case.”

The report published on www.stuff.co.nz on December 22 said that charges were laid against Stokes after US authorities set up an undercover operation involving child pornography on about 50 websites. The authorities provided details of all New Zealand customers caught during the operation to customs officials.

It said the offenders would send their credit card details and they would receive a password and account name allowing them to access the website. The name Iserve would appear on bank statements for any transactions made.

14 December 2005

iSERVE Competition for Existing Customers - Win 2 Years Free Web Hosting
All Web Hosting accounts with a zero or credit balance as at 13 January 2006 will be entered into a draw to win 24 months of free Web hosting.

Simply pay your account for Xmas and be in to win!

13 December 2005

NZ firms make technology list (from NZ Herald Article)

Six New Zealand companies made the 2005 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list for Asia Pacific. Trade Me was at No 32, joined by message management firm Datasquirt at 49, software developer XSol at 61, web hosting company iSERVE at 87, networking firm Enatel at 91, and website services firm SLI Systems coming in at 100.

12 December 2005

iSERVE are listed at 87th in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific Ranking for 2005. Please note: This listing has been corrected as the original release incorrectly listed iSERVE limited as 'iservice ltd'
Read the complete article here.

21 November 2005

iSERVE Appears in the I.E. Magazine.

Read the complete article here.

07 November 2005

Sourced from article on stuff.co.nz.

Rapidly growing web-hosting company iSERVE is spending several hundred thousand dollars building a data centre at TVNZ's Lower Hutt studios to prepare for a move into the mainstream outsourcing market.

The company, founded in 2001, was ranked 10th in the latest Deloitte/Unlimited survey of fast-growing companies after increasing its revenues 536 percent last year.

It expects to increase staff numbers from 17 to 44 by the end of next year as a result of the investment.

Read the complete article here.

21 October 2005

iSERVE were announced at the Deloittes/Unlimited Fast 50 Awards evening as the 10th Fastest growing company in NZ.

We attributed our success to a great customer focus, and that can only be supported by the high caliber of staff that we have. Obviously we are thrilled with this result from an industry that is very competitive, as well as being ranked the 2nd Fastest growing Company in Wellington, 4th Fastest ICT company in NZ, and the only Internet Presence provider to actually make the list!

16 May 2005

Following on from the growth of W3 Mag, M2 Magazine has been launched, and the iSERVE team think its just what the market has been screaming out for!

M2 magazine is the complete lifestyle magazine for the New Zealand man. In each monthly issue of M2 delivers articles about: toys, people, grooming, travel, fitness, music, movies and more.

11 March 2005

Once again iSERVE have been nominated for a Wellington Regional Council Gold Award. Thanks to all our supporters and customers for the honor of being nominated for such a prestigious award.

17 January 2005

With successful beta testing completed, iSERVE are now putting the final stages on a Dedicated Web server package, powered by the in-house developed and award winning Hosting Management Console, due for release later this year. Clients on this platform will be able to use the hosting management console software on their own Dedicated Server, and allow their clients to login and manage their own web hosting requirements.

7th November 2004

iSERVE would like to welcome clients of The Kiwi Web Hosting Company, whom we bought in June 2004. Slowly over the last 6 months we have been integrating the 2 companies under the one support banner, providing The Kiwi Web Hosting company a larger support team than they have previously enjoyed.

6 August 2004

You can now register .com, .net and .org Domain Names directly with iSERVE Limited. These Domain Names can also be managed through your iDM (iSERVE Domain Manager) account so you just have one place to go for management of all your Domain Names.

Click here to Register your .com, .net or .org Domain Names.

1 April 2004

Its no April Fool joke! - Additional disk space on all plans at no additional cost!

Recently we surveyed our customers, and as a result of that survey we identified that more disk space would make a big difference to both our resellers and our direct hosting customers.

So from the 1st April 2004 all Basic Hosting and Enhanced Hosting plans will have more space, at the same cost!. When it comes to our customers needs, we really do listen!

Learn more about the Basic Web Hosting Plan »
Learn more about the Enhanced Web Hosting Plan »

23 March 2004

iSERVE announce launch of Version 2 of its widely acclaimed Hosting Management Console.

Packed full with features, iSERVE remains one of the leaders in the Web hosting industry providing leading edge tools FREE to all iSERVE customers.

Learn more »

9 February 2004

iSERVE are proud to announce the launch of W3Mag. A new Magazine with profiles on innovative Kiwis, movie and game reviews, cool tech toys and much more. You will find it onsale at Whitcoulls and Books & More, and other good book shops

Learn more »

11 December 2003

Coldfusion MX DSN creation has been extended to include creation of DSN's for MS-SQL , My-SQL and MS Access.

Learn more »

8 December 2003

Microsoft SQL Server 2000® databases hosting is now available.

Learn more »

24 September 2003

The NetGuide Web Awards are back!

Unfortunately there is no web hosting category for us to have a go at but you can vote us in any other category that you like :) .. Maybe 'Best Small Business Web Site' or 'Best New Website / Relaunch'.

There are some nice prizes out there so click here and get voting!

26 August 2003

.geek.nz registrations are available from 11am through iSERVE.

29 July 2003

iSERVE HIT NUMBER ONE -- YET AGAIN!!!

iSERVE have received notification from Hitwise that the iSERVE web site has been ranked No.1 in their 'Computers and Internet - Hosting and Domain Registration category'. This time for the April - June quarter.

Each quarter, Hitwise ranks the Top 10 web sites according to user visits, across each of their 150+ categories and certifies the achievement of each site that has qualified with a Hitwise Top 10 Award.

16 April 2003

iSERVE HIT NUMBER ONE -- AGAIN!!!

iSERVE have received notification from Hitwise that the iSERVE web site has been ranked No.1 in their 'Computers and Internet - Hosting and Domain Registration category'. This time for the January - March 2003 quarter. Each quarter, Hitwise ranks the Top 10 web sites according to user visits, across each of their 150+ categories and certifies the achievement of each site that has qualified with a Hitwise Top 10 Award.

14 April 2003

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES:

iSERVE have employment opportunities for people experienced in sales, customer care, and telemarketing - for more information visit our employment section.

7 March 2003

NEW PRODUCT

The iSERVE ”White Label“ web hosting product has now been launched.

It provides transparent DNS, SMTP, and POP servers. The product is the base version of a more feature rich product which will be available in the near future.

3 March 2003

NEW FEATURE

The Management console now includes a zone editor for those who want to to change the zone details for your Domain Name.

23 January 2003

iSERVE HIT NUMBER ONE!!

iSERVE have received notification from Hitwise that the iSERVE web site has been ranked No.1 in their 'Computers and Internet - Hosting and Domain Registration category'. This time for the October - December 2002 quarter. Each quarter, Hitwise ranks the Top 10 web sites according to user visits, across each of their 150+ categories and certifies the achievement of each site that has qualified with a Hitwise Top 10 Award.

After an entire year of being ranked at number 2, we are very happy to announce that we have now made it to number 1. We feel this reflects our ongoing dedication to our customers and we really value your continued support. We have some great things in the pipeline for this year and look forward to our ongoing relationships with each and every one of you.

10 December 2002

NEW LOOK WEBSITE

Today iSERVE launched its new web site - enjoy!

7 December 2002

ALL SYSTEMS GO!

After completing the final stages required by the .nz Registry Service, iSERVE have successfully connected to NZ registry.

This means lower domain prices and better management of your domain names!

30 November 2002

PRESS RELEASE - New domain name software launched.

Today's lead story on infotech.co.nz refers to iSERVE launching the IDM product for domain name registration and management, as cost effective alternative to the current system from Domainz.

29th November 2002

PRESS RELEASE - iSERVE announce domain registration price drop.

15 November 2002

PRESS RELEASE - iSERVE launches IDM iSERVE domain management software.

08 November 2002

iSERVE have been announced as one of the first Registrars approved to access the new shared registry system for the .nz domain space by the Domain Name Commissioner

16 October 2002

Once again iSERVE have received notification from Hitwise that the iSERVE web site has been ranked No.2 in their 'Computers and Internet - Hosting and Domain Registration category'. This time for the July - September 2002 quarter. Each quarter, Hitwise ranks the Top 10 web sites according to user visits, across each of their 150+ categories and certifies the achievement of each site that has qualified with a Hitwise Top 10 Award.

We would again like to extend a huge Thank You to all our customers for their continued support.

31 August 2002

Due to the rise in unsolicited e-mails (SPAM) we have implemented mail filtering services from www.spamcop.net that will significantly reduce the amount of SPAM that is received by customers using the iSERVE mail servers.

25 July 2002

Once again iSERVE have received notification from Hitwise that the iSERVE web site has been ranked No.2 in their 'Computers and Internet - Hosting and Domain Registration category'. This time for the April - June 2002 quarter. Each quarter, Hitwise ranks the Top 10 web sites according to user visits, across each of their 150+ categories and certifies the achievement of each site that has qualified with a Hitwise Top 10 Award.

We would again like to extend a huge Thank You to all our customers for their continued support.

25 July 2002

Online MySQL Database Administration system, this allows you to provision MySQL Databases and MySQL users in real time.

18 July 2002

We can now offer you .nz domains at a cheaper rate than is currently offered by Domainz and there are no fees for setting up or for creating a new Domainz name holder account. These can be registered through the iSERVE Management Console.

15 June 2002

iSERVE have officially launched Web mail to all iSERVE customers at no additional cost. This can be accessed via our main web site as well as through the iSERVE Management Console.

9 April 2002

Once again iSERVE have received notification from Hitwise that the iSERVE web site has been ranked No.2 in their 'Computers and Internet - Hosting and Domain Registration category'. This time for the January - March 2002 quarter. Each quarter, Hitwise ranks the Top 10 web sites according to user visits, across each of their 150+ categories and certifies the achievement of each site that has qualified with a Hitwise Top 10 Award.

2 April 2002

We are one year old today! Over the past year iSERVE has grown in leaps and bounds and we would like to take this opportunity to thank our many loyal customers. Your support has a value far greater than the dollar.

We wish you all an excellent year ahead and look forward to supplying you with more of the best web hosting in New Zealand.

24 February 2002

In response to feedback from some customers, we have re-engineered the way our Management Console works in order to speed up load times. In testing, we have managed to optimise load times up to 400%.

11 February 2002

iSERVE have received notification from Hitwise that the iSERVE web site has been ranked No.2 in their 'Computers and Internet - Hosting and Domain Registration category'. Each quarter, Hitwise ranks the Top 10 web sites according to user visits, across each of their 150+ categories and certifies the achievement of each site that has qualified with a Hitwise Top 10 Award.

We are very excited to have been awarded this outstanding business achievement, and thank the customers who continue to support us.

7 February 2002

The ability to assign multiple users to view web site statistics has been integrated into our Management Console. Our customers can now assign as many users as they need to view stats for multiple, or individual web sites, with the click of a button.

2 February 2002

We have added some more functionality to our Windows 2000® Web servers with the addition of the PHP scripting language.

31 January 2002

We keep a close eye on our network utilisation and have increased the amount of bandwidth available to ensure that your web sites continue to be served through our network at optimum speeds.

20 January 2002

You can now migrate your .nz Domain Names to iSERVE through our iSERVE Management Console. Saving you time and simplifying the migration process for everyone.

20 January 2002

We have integrated a Domain Tools Section into our Management Console so that you can track the progress of your Domain migrations and registrations.

20 December 2001

iSERVE are in the news again with this press release for IDG highlighting our ability to operate both Windows 2000® and UNIX Web servers from the one integrated iSERVE Management Console.

17 December 2001

iSERVE now support Windows NT® hosting! With the successful implementation of our Windows 2000® servers, we can now offer our customers the ability to mix and match between UNIX and WINDOWS 2000® based hosting from the ONE Account, using the ONE console and at the same price! This is a First for ANY Web hosting Company!

10 December 2001

iSERVE is highlighted in IDG's “press F1” forum as a recommended web site host for Voyagers customers - thanks to the customers who have publicly said "iSERVE are great" - we appreciate it!

5 December 2001

With the announcement today that Voyager are shipping out of NZ, iSERVE are offering a deal second to none to the customers of Voyager and other ISP's who have either sold up, or gone out of business. Simply use the ISP's name that you have been with as a referrer code on our sign up form and we will give you the first 2 invoices for your web hosting at no charge, PLUS Sign up with Quick Silver for your Internet connection requirements, and you will get your choice of iMag or Netguide for 6 months.

29 - 30 November 2001

iSERVE participated in the NZ Web show held in the Te Papa Museum - the main highlight - being able to meet some of our customers face to face!

Thanks to those customers who came up and introduced themselves.

3 November 2001

We have added more equipment to the internal structure of our network, effectively doubling the rate at which your web pages can be served!

18 October 2001

Refer a Friend Program. For every person you refer (through the option in our Management Console) that signs up with iSERVE, you will get a free month credited to your own iSERVE account. If you sign up 10 people, get 10 months free!

11 October 2001

We have dropped the price for buying bulk disk space. You can now buy 50MB of extra disk space for just $30.00 per 28 days! That's a Saving of $10. Enjoy :)

6 October 2001

We have created a section that lets customers add notes in relation to a domain name. This is a feature requested by some of our clients and is quite useful for storing basic details like Name holder Details or Contact Info.

30 September 2001

We have upgraded FrontPage® Server Extensions to version 2002. Existing customers shouldn't notice any difference, but if you find something that isn't working quite like it should be, please let us know.

24 September 2001

No News, as they say, is good news :)

We have been working steadily on developing an integrated Database Management tool and that is nearing completion. Support for FrontPage® Extensions 2002 is almost complete too. But .. most importantly ... we now have some Very Funky iSERVE T-Shirts! So if you see any of us out and about in Auckland or Wellington .. don't forget to say "Hi .. you host my site!"

9 September 2001

In response to some customer suggestion, we have added some more features into the iSERVE Management console to be able to view statistics for web sites at the click of a single button (thanks Scott) ... We have also provisioned space for displaying Customer Databases and are continuing development of an integrated Web Based Database administration tool.

4 September 2001

Advanced Domain Management features have been added so that Customers with multiple Domains on their account now have the ability to Enable/Disable their Domains as required. This is an especially useful feature for Resellers who may require extra leverage with their clients.

1 September 2001

iSERVE have been alerted to a possible Domain Name Scam.

We have informed all our clients about this.

27 August 2001

We have extended FTP support to allow for more than one additional FTP user per domain name. Also we have added support to parse .phtml pages.

13 August 2001

iSERVE now offer the ability for our customers to utilise Mailing Lists. A powerful new feature that is, once again, available to all users on either of our paid plans :)

31 July 2001

The ability to preview a Web site before the Domain goes live has now been added. We have also added a simple “who-is” lookup feature.

26 July 2001

We have added support for our clients to host WML pages. (W.A.P support)

25 July 2001

We have added another section to the iSERVE Management Console to allow for encrypting passwords to be used in .htpasswd files. This allows password protection for directories. There is also an example of both the .htaccess and .htpasswd files that you can copy and paste to create your own.

17 July 2001

The New Zealand Internet Awards are here, and we would love to win one. So, if you feel that you have had a good experience with iSERVE and would like to take a few moments to vote for us!:)

Category: Best Internet Software

13 July 2001

FrontPage Server 2000 Extensions have been enabled and are now available.

7 July 2001

iSERVE introduce a news page :-)