Blacknight is a company which has been years on the Internet world as hosting provider and registrar. Today is the Ireland´s largest hosting provider, and Michele Neylon, their CEO, answers our questions.

Question: What is Blacknight?

Anaswer: We are Ireland’s largest hosting provider and domain name registrar. We offer website hosting, email services as well as dedicated servers and broadband to individuals and companies in Ireland and around the world.  

Q: Where are you located?

A: We are based in Carlow, Ireland, which is a small regional town about an hour south of Dublin.

Q: How many people work there?

A: We have around 50 staff in a variety of roles both technical and non-technical.  

Q: What exactly does a registrar like Blacknight do?

A: We provide people and businesses with all the tools they need to setup and manage their online presence. From registering a domain, to setting up email through to building a website and starting to sell online, we offer all the services that a business needs.  

Q: Why are geoTLDs important?

A: In many respects the geoTLDs like .gal fill a gap in the market. While .com might be global and .es is for Spain, there wasn’t until now an online space for Galicia  

GeoTLDs, like .gal, are a great way to help build online communities around particular regions, languages and culture. Being able to express your cultural identity online is one of the many benefits of the digital age. The .gal namespace was setup to provide a unique digital home for Galicians and their language and culture.  

Q: What advice can you give to companies on how to get online?

A: Don’t wait. Do it now. The tools available to get online are easy to use and not expensive. You don’t need to be technical to setup a website. You don’t need to spend thousands of Euro to get a functional online presence. No matter what line of business you’re in you need to have an online presence that you control. People expect a company to have their own website, so if you don’t your competitors will be taking business from you. Companies like ourselves offer cost effective and user friendly tools that can help you get started quickly and easily.