InternetKit ceasing trading

[uu2]

I received this email today. I thought I should post it in case anyone else is using InternetKit and hasn't received the news. The suggested alternative provider (InfoKube) seems to be owned by the same people so we won't be using them.

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE REGARDING YOUR WEBSITE

 

As you are aware we have had some significant issues with our website management platform since 7th October. Since then, we have been working tirelessly to try and resolve these issues with little success. Trying to get to a resolution has been like walking through a dark tunnel with no light in sight. The last meeting with the technical team made it clear that it is simply not commercially feasible to fix the issues. To date we have invested substantially in trying to rectify the issues with minimal success. As a result of the technical issues a number of schools, understandably, have not paid their renewal fees creating additional commercial pressures on the business. We now no longer have the funds to continue running the business.

 

The conclusion is that we have had to make the very painful decision today to cease trading with immediate effect. Over the next 24 hours all bronze and silver websites will go offline. This letter aims to explain what your options are moving forward and for those of you that are interested, in how we ended up in this situation.

 

Some immediate questions that you may have:

 

I now don’t have a website, what can I do?

 

As you are aware Ofsted requires you to have an operational website, therefore it is important you find an alternative provider as soon as possible, there are a number of specialist providers on the market that you may wish to consider approaching.

 

However, we are aware you may want a quick and easy solution and we have therefore come to an arrangement with InfoKube, which is a specialist school website provider offering high quality, functionally rich and secure websites that are built using the latest world renowned Adobe technology at an affordable price. You can view their website at infoKUBE - Providers of Primary School Websites | Home. InfoKube have agreed to employ some of our staff and make an exclusive offer to our customers:

- A basic, Ofsted compliant, ‘temporary’ website within 48 hours

- Data transfer from your existing InternetKit site (Not temporary website)

- Enable schools to keep using their ik.org website address to save you having to change all your marketing and communications collateral

- Offer a discount based on what you have already paid for your website

 

If you wish to discuss taking advantage of the InfoKube offer please request a call back by emailing them on [email protected], including your name, preferred email address, school name and telephone number. *Please note that InfoKube is a separate company to InternetKit and therefore cannot answer any questions or enter into any correspondence relating to InternetKit Ltd. You may email Internet Kit at [email protected]

 

Can I have access to my uploaded files?

 

Unfortunately, as InternetKit Limited has stopped trading we no longer have the resources to undertake any work including being able to provide you with copies of uploaded files. As stated in the terms and conditions you will need to utilise any backup copies that you may have available. It should be possible to use these files with your new provider to get a new website up and running more quickly. You may want to try and take a copy of any important documents before the website goes offline. The arrangement with InfoKube does provide for a data transfer option.

 

Can I retain my domain name?

 

If you have a website address that ends in .sch.uk - that domain name is actually managed by your LEA and can be pointed to your new website. If you have a website address that ends in .co.uk or .com - that domain name is likely to be managed by a 3rd party domain register such as 1and1, 123-reg, go daddy or Nominet. In all of these cases the domain name can be pointed at your new website - please contact your new website provider or domain name provider for details on how to action this.

 

If your website address ends in .ik.org this cannot be transferred. We are not able to re-direct these addresses to external website providers, except to InfoKube where we have come to a technical arrangement.

 

Can I have a refund of my subscription?

 

Unfortunately, as the business is now insolvent and has ceased trading we are not in a position to offer any refunds. In addition, we would have already incurred the annual hosting costs when renewing your contract. We have tried recovering the advance payments from the hosting service provider and without now having to incur substantial legal costs we are not able to pursue this option any further. The terms and conditions that you agreed to on renewal or taking out the service also state in clause 6.4 that “All fees are payable in advance and are non-refundable”.

 

Why has this happened?

 

On October 7th our 3rd party hosting service had a catastrophic issue where the motherboard crashed on our main server – unbeknown to us the service was being run on hardware that was now several years out of date. We were then informed that as no parts were immediately available to repair the original server they would replace our servers with brand new kit. At that point we assumed that was a good option. On restoring backups of the software and data onto the new servers we discovered that the various software layers were incompatible with the latest versions of the Operating System on the new servers.

 

We then had to upgrade the systems software versions as well as the development toolkit versions. This was a significant task to undertake but did result in the websites coming back online. We were then faced with a situation where the core editing platform code was incompatible with the new software infrastructure layers / versions that were now in place so we had to commission specialist software developers to support us in identifying lines of code that were causing the editing platform to keep failing. There are some 6 million lines of code and related files that make up the core system. After several weeks of working on trying the fix the platform the expert view was that it was no longer commercially viable to continue.

 

We at InternetKit offer our sincere apologies for the hassle and inconvenience that this has and is continuing to cause you, despite our best efforts we can no longer afford to continue trading.

 

Directors

 

InternetKit Limited

 

To communicate with InternetKit please email [email protected]

[twin--turbo]

Sounds like a cock and bull story to me..

 

TT

[Steve21]

Sounds like a cock and bull story to me..

 

TT

 

Haha snap thought

 

My version - our cheap server broke and we screwed up our backups. It's cheaper to quit than fix stuff new company time

 

Steve

[Canaan]

Haha snap thought

 

My version - our cheap server broke and we screwed up our backups. It's cheaper to quit than fix stuff new company time

 

Steve

 

Here here and with the hardware / DR failure comment from Twin--turbo. This has knocked out hundreds of schools with no notice. I too wonder if this infokube they've "come to an arrangement with" happens to be IK after an insolvency & tax blag. If any of them had an Ofsted they'd be really hit by that its terrible form.

 

I guess the conversation maybe went like this:

IKit guy: "Well, mullered the server and we can't afford to buy a new one sooooo we're declaring insolvency to bail out"

InfoKube guy: "Oh look a server, we'll buy this from you for a quid"

IKit guy: "Sounds good, got any jobs going?"

"Info~: "Sure, just cross out Internet Kit and write InfoKube on your name badge. Thats I-N-F-O-K , because its "modern and edgy", yeah we're cool like that, K-U..."

[SuSuSudio]

A depressing tale for hundreds of Schools who are now without a site or will have to spend another £500 on another crap provider with the same infrastructure which could and may fail in the same way. I am minded to say that you get what you pay for.

[dry]

I really hope it isn't true that 1500 schools have just had their websites disappear into thin air like that. The directors should be arrested.

[Sanm2009]

InternetKit and the recommended company have the same director. Seems like an amateur attempt of abuse of insolvency laws.

[SuSuSudio]

InternetKit and the recommended company have the same director. Seems like an amateur attempt of abuse of insolvency laws.

 

If you do a WhoIs on both domains you can see that the servers listed are named Internet Kit !!

[Danielbarron]

I am missing a point here - why would a school pay for a website? They all get Google Apps for free and that includes Google Sites. OK sites is not the best but it's easy enough, can be data driven by spreadsheets, permissioned, backed up, resilient. And Free. I think they don't even need to pay for their domain as .sch.uk are free to the schools?

 

I assume Office 365 has a similar feature but I've not looked into it.

[jezwright]

InternetKit and the recommended company have the same director. Seems like an amateur attempt of abuse of insolvency laws.

 

I've just looked this up on Companies House and the directors aren't the same? Anyone have any proof of this? I'd be careful of making stuff up in case it comes back to you

[SuSuSudio]

The first point is that it is Statutory requirement for a School to have a website. Secondly, the school website has to include 15 statutory elements and more importantly, in almost all cases the website is used to communicate with the School Community, Advertise vacancies, promote success and achievements, publicise events, include blogs, video and photographs as well as trying to attract prospective students and allow them to apply for a place online - oh and most parents, carers and students will want to engage with a responsive website via their phones or tablets.

Very few schools have the expertise to create and manage their own site in the manner you suggest and I'd like to see a successful example of one where this approach has been taken.

[localzuk]

It looks very dodgy, as InfoKube has only been registered this month!

@SuSuSudio - our website was developed my one of our teachers, and is managed by them also. It is entirely possible to do this within a school!

[Danielbarron]

Very few schools have the expertise to create and manage their own site in the manner you suggest and I'd like to see a successful example of one where this approach has been taken.

 

https://sites.google.com/site/appsforeducationresources/teacher-school-google-sites

[Sanm2009]

I've just looked this up on Companies House and the directors aren't the same? Anyone have any proof of this? I'd be careful of making stuff up in case it comes back to you

This is the Who is info for Domain name: infokube.co.uk

Registrant: Polly-C Limited

 

Now check who the director/s of Polly-C Limited are.

 

Also check the director information for Internet Kit Limited.

 

Just wasted 10 minutes of my life.