A YORK web hosting company is to invest £1 million in its own data centre.

Bytemark, which was started in an attic bedroom ten years ago, is growing 20 per cent year-on-year, said co-founder Matthew Bloch.

It hopes to secure its own future, he said, so is now investing in its own data centre rather than renting space.

Bytemark was set up by friends Mr Bloch and Peter Taphouse, who met at school in Oxford, aged 12. The pair ended up in York after marrying twin sisters and set up Bytemark, now based in the Raylor Centre, in 2002.

Mr Bloch said they have grown the business by marketing to technical specialists. While working on the other side of the industry, they wanted to speak to people who understood them rather than sales people and could not find the products they wanted for the right price, he said, so they decided to do it themselves.

Now, with a turnover of £2.5 million a year and a second office in Manchester, the business works for household brands such as Bostik, Sainsbury’s, Orange and ASDA, either directly or through other clients.

The company, which has just celebrated its tenth anniversary with an event at the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall, is now big enough to warrant its own data centre in York and expects to finalise agreements on premises shortly, where it will also move its offices.

Mr Bloch said the company, which will employ 16 staff by next month after recently recruiting two more, will need more staff next year, although the firm has always been cautious about expanding too quickly, he said.

“The new data centre will mean we’re more in control of our costs and more directly accountable to our customers,” said Mr Bloch.

He said the centre would just be for their use but would have a knock-on effect for surrounding businesses as a lot of fibre would be routed to the new building and network providers would be able to rent a small amount of the space.