Blog posts tagged Internet

Are you ready for mobile commerce?

Accessing the internet on mobile phones has been one of the fastest growing technology trends over the last few years. UK consumers have rushed to buy smart phones, with ownership almost doubling in the past couple of years.

As a result, businesses really need to wise up to the evolving mobile website landscape.

Mobile commerce leaves companies behind

Worryingly, smaller UK businesses are falling behind in this mobile world, missing out on vital sales and new customers.

‘Digital Dinosaurs’ research conducted by BaseKit (the company I work for) shows just 9% of businesses say their websites can be used with mobile phones and tablets.

The same research found 45% of internet users use a mobile device to access the web and that 6% have shopped online from their mobile phone. This means people are spending up to £1.3 billion via ‘on the move’ purchases.

This confirms the shift to mobile is being led by consumers, which means it’s vital businesses reconsider their mobile internet presence. 

Mobile commerce grows fast

The risk businesses are facing is that they’ll miss out on mobile custom. Many believe creating a mobile-friendly site is too costly or complicated.

However, with reports predicting purchases made using smart phones could make up 12% of all ecommerce, smaller companies can’t afford to ignore the mobile trend. There are a number of options available to create mobile websites – not all of them complicated - and they can ensure mobile visitors have a good website experience.

Half a million aren’t online

Our report also found that, while vast numbers of the UK’s 1.1 million small businesses (1 – 49 employees, 2011 Government figure) are online, there are still 660,000 that have yet to get themselves online at all.

Even those companies that have got to grips with the web are risking falling behind by not creating sites that can be used on mobile phones.

Perhaps most notably, we found that businesses really do worry about falling behind the pace of technology change. Half say they are ‘concerned’ or ‘very concerned’ that they are being overtaken by changes including the advance of mobile internet usage.

Quite simply, it’s time smaller companies invested in becoming fully accessible to customers using mobile internet. If they don’t, the risk of losing out on future custom is very real.

• A mobile website can net you more customers
• Mobile apps vs. mobile websites
• How to optimise your website for smart phones

Ramandeep Sambi is an online marketing executive at BaseKit.

How undersea journeys hold the internet together

If you have a few moments to spare this morning and a burning desire to learn more about how data travels to your computer from servers around the world, take a look at this map. It shows the vital underwater cables that connect continents and carry the vast majority of the world's internet traffic.

Whenever you visit a website that's located on a server in another part of the world, it's almost certain that the data from that server will reach your computer by travelling through some of these undersea cables.

It's incredible to think that these tiny cables - each usually less than 10cm in diameter - form such a vital part of the internet infrastructure we've come to rely on every day. With each carrying an enormous volume of data, it's no wonder that a single cable snapping can cause big disruption and hit the headlines.

See the full map here >>

So, next time you watch that video of a panda sneezing on YouTube, just think how far it might have travelled to reach you. The internet: isn't it amazing?

• An amazing map of the internet
• What happens in an internet minute
• Internet speed checker - test your connection

Could you survive a denial of service attack?

Distributed denial of service attack. DDoS for short. Four letters that are can strike terror into the heart of anyone who's been on the receiving end of one.

Overwhelming a website

DDoS attacks aim to take websites offline by overwhelming them with requests for information. Typically, they involve hundreds or thousands of computers, all coordinated to bombard the site simultaneously.

Often, the owners of these computers don't even know what's going on, because the source of the attack is malware that's infected their machines.

DDoS attacks have hit the news regularly in 2012. Last month, Teresa May and the Home Office were targeted. Back in May, Webfusion - one of the UK's largest web hosts - was on the receiving end of a sustained attack (the firm produced an interesting white paper explaining what happened).

Other victims have included Virgin Media, WikiLeaks, HSBC and Amazon.

DDoS - not just big brands

The motives for DDoS attacks vary. Sometimes they're random. Sometimes they're political. But there's often a financial aspect. They can come from your competitors, or they can be blackmail, pure and simple. Pay up, or your website stays offline.

And although it's only big name brands that hit the news, online criminals are increasingly turning their attention to smaller companies. Without the resources to deflect attacks, they're softer targets.

As security expert Don Smith told us recently:

"More and more smaller companies are being attacked by cyber criminals, yet many still hold the view that they are too small to be targeted."

Web hosting and DDoS

If you're not prepared, combating a DDoS attack can be tricky. When your website's overwhelmed by spurious traffic, you may find you're unable to even log in yourself.

In fact, the possibility of a DDoS attack is something you should consider when choosing a web host, because the way they handle them can vary remarkably.

Get the right hosting

Some hosting companies will simply take your website offline completely so that their other customers aren't affected. Worse, you might get a bill for the extra traffic the attack generated.

Other web hosts will provide far more constructive assistance. Ask if they can give you examples of how they've fended off attacks in the past, and look for security features that come as part of your package, like DDoS protection. 

Also make sure they keep their servers and apps up-to-date, because often the latest versions of ecommerce and content management tools are more resistant to DDoS attacks.

Have you ever suffered a DDoS attack? How did you cope?

Why websites load slowly, and why it matters

How long does your website take to load? Two seconds? Ten seconds? 30 seconds or more? If you've never paid attention to your site's load speed, perhaps you should. It can affect how often people return and influence your rankings on Google.

In short, web page loading times matter. But a whole variety of factors influence how long your homepage actually takes to appear on a visitor's screen.

This infographic shows you the major causes of slow loading sites. How does your site measure up?

Browse more data visualization.

• Three services to monitor for website problems
• Check internet speed with our internet speed checker
• The broadband speed lottery

Should you move to a data centre?

Your business needs to maintain a reliable backup of digital data, like your customer database, documents, images, emails, accounts and so on.

That data is mission critical, so it all has to be kept safe from theft, fire, flood or accidental deletion. If you run a smaller company, it’s likely your data is stored on a simple server in the office.

What happens as your business grows?

As demand grows for your company’s products or services, you’ll collect more data. As a result, you inevitably end up needing more than a single server. Eventually, you end up with a whole room of the things. This brings new demands and costs:

• You need air conditioning, because lots of servers create lots of heat. If you don’t keep them cool they can fail catastrophically. Providing cooling using traditional air-conditioning units can be very expensive.
• You need an IT professional to make sure your servers keep running reliably. For 24/7 cover you’ll probably need more than one person.

These requirements can become a major financial, logistical and security headache.

Moving to a data centre

A common solution to these problems is to use a purpose-built data centre. Maintained by network specialists, mechanical experts and electrical engineers, a data centre is a secure, computer-friendly environment run at the perfect temperature for the servers inside.

From a security perspective, data centres are also equipped with their own backup power supply. This is usually an uninterruptable power supply (UPS), a large bank of batteries plus a generator to ensure power is always available.

Data centres also usually have direct connections into major internet links – also called the ‘internet backbone’ – meaning connectivity is fast and reliable.

Businesses usually put their servers into a data centre that’s shared with other organisations. This is known as colocation.

What does a data centre look like?

The image above is of a typical data centre. They have lots of aisles between servers stacked in locked cabinets (called racks). You rent as many racks as you want and you pay according to the amount of processing power, storage space or bandwidth you use.

Many providers off both DIY and full service maintenance options, so you can maintain systems yourself or use the provider’s technical support.

There are a number of good arguments for using a data centre:

• Data can be backed up easily and securely
• The risk of data loss is significantly reduced
• Internet access is fast and reliable
• The data centre provides support round-the-clock
• Your overheads are reduced

Using a data centre also makes it easy to add extra capacity as your business grows (you just rent more space) and you don’t have to worry about having lots of servers on your premises. 

• Is IT the fifth utility?
• Can the cloud make you more efficient?
• Six signs your business needs a server

David Barker is technical director and founder of 4D Data Centres, the green colocation and connectivity supplier.

UK broadband: still not good enough

How fast is your broadband? (Image: krossbow on Flickr)

Come on coalition, pull your fingers out and get us the broadband we need. That could be the message to take from a recent ISPreview.co.uk poll, which found that of 1,600 broadband users questioned, only 34% actually received their desired internet connection speed.

Yes, that is the reality of the 'broadband Britain' we live in today. Most internet connections still rely on shonky old copper telephone wires, a technology which has been around since Alexander Graham Bell invented the dog and bone. As a result, we're stuck with connections that regularly fail to meet our expectations.

Broadband frustrations

Just to muddy the waters further, internet service providers frequently use best-case connection speeds in their advertising, even though most people don't have the slightest hope of ever achieving them.

It's no wonder we get frustrated. And that's before you bring the government into the picture. It has set a target minimum connection speed of 2Mbps (megabits per second), saying everyone in the country should be able to achieve it by 2015.

But to put things into perspective, the average connection speed in Latvia is 8.8Mbps. In South Korea it's over 15Mbps. (Source: Akamai State of the Internet.)

What's more, only 4.7% of the poll respondents said that 2Mbps was adequate for their needs. As Mark Jackson, founder of ISPreview.co.uk, explains: "Clearly 2Mbps isn't enough with only 4.7% of respondents claiming to need such a speed and everybody else wanting something far faster."

Perhaps the EU's Digital Agenda for Europe is more realistic. It wants 100% of people to have access to broadband at 30Mbps or above, but not till 2020.

Broadband bright spots

Although much of the UK still isn't getting the broadband it deserves, there are some bright spots. BT continues to roll out its Infinity service. Business packages start from £30 a month and include a prioritised service so your connection doesn't suffer at peak times. Its biggest competitor is Virgin Media, which offers its 60Mbps service for under £30 a month.

Both these services are good deals and should seriously outperform any broadband connection based on old-fashioned ADSL technology. But - of course - they're only available if your business is based in an area these providers cover. And that's the sticking point for many companies, particularly those based in more rural locations.

Is your broadband connection adequate? Do you pay through the nose for it? Leave a comment and let us know.

• The broadband lottery: why your connection is slower than you hoped
• How to cope without broadband
• How to speed up your broadband connection

Why your business needs IPv6

One of the internet’s fundamental technologies is changing. David Barker, founder and technical director of 4D Data Centres explains IPv6 and why your business should be deploying it.

IP stands for internet protocol. It’s a key part of the technology that enables most internet-connected computers to communicate.

An IP address is the unique label given to every device connected to a network (or to the internet). In the same way that your home address enables letters to reach you, an IP address enables devices on a network to send data to each other. An IP address looks something like this: 192.168.12.4.

From IPv4 to IPv6

IPv4 is (unsurprisingly) the fourth revision of the internet protocol and the most widely used today. However, it is also fairly old - it was originally ratified in 1981.

In total IPv4 has capacity for 4,200,000,000 unique IP addresses. Back in 1981 they assumed that would be enough to cover any possible eventuality. It’s lasted three decades, but there are now so many devices in the world that need to connect to the internet (each requiring its own, unique address) that we’re running out of room.

Step forward IPv6 (IPv5 was an experiment). It provides a massive increase in the number of addresses available. This means an IPv6 address looks very different to an IPv4 address – usually something like: 2001:cdba:0000:0000:0000:0000:3257:9652. Sometimes all zeros are omitted to save space, leaving a colon marking the gap: 2001:cdba::3257:9652.

IPv6 was designed from the ground-up to allow for an enormous number of IP addresses. There are enough for computers and mobile phones and household appliances and cars.

In total it provides roughly 340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 unique addresses. To put it into perspective, that’s 480,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 addresses for each of the seven billion people on the planet.

Should you worry about IPv6?

It’s vital your business starts thinking about IPv6 sooner rather than later. If you don’t introduce it to your network then over the next few years there will be parts of the internet that you simply won’t be able to access.

Once we’ve completely run out of IPv4 addresses, companies will be forced to deploy new services as IPv6-only. This is already starting to happen in Asia. For instance, operators in countries such as China are running on IPv6-only as they don’t have enough IPv4 addresses to support the number of people going online.

What’s more, if you introduce IPv6 early, you’ll have more time to learn how to make use of new features that IPv6 includes. A lot of these are technical features to improve data routing and security but there may also be ways to make money from IPv6. Perhaps you can take advantage of new services, or drive your own markets by showing your customers that you are an early adopter.

What you can do next

After reading this article you should know that IPv6 exists and it’s important you adopt it sooner rather than later – that’s a good start!

Now, here are four more steps to help your business get ready:

• Start by testing your existing internet connection to see if it is IPv6-enabled. You can do this easily online, right now. This website is especially helpful because it will tell you how prepared your internet service provider (ISP) is for IPv6. You can use the test results when talking to your ISP about its plans for IPv6.
• Make sure that your office network will run on IPv6. Firewalls are the key here as IPv6 support on firewalls has been fairly limited until recently. Your PC and ISP might be IPv6-enabled but if the firewall only talks IPv4 it will need replacing. It’s worth raising this with your IT supplier now, so you can budget for changes if required.
• Make sure your website (plus any other public servers) are running on IPv6 as well as IPv4. Over time, devices will begin to only support IPv6. You don’t want your website to drop off the internet as this happens. Your web hosting company should be able to advise.

Has your IT supplier mentioned IPv6? Is this the first you’ve heard of it? Leave a comment to let us know.

• For more information about IPv6 and how to switch, download 4D Data Centre’s white paper: IPv6: A Primer.
• The internet is running out of room

Coming soon: dodgy domains and useless URLs

Good grief. The world of domain names looks like it’s about to become much more confusing.

You might remember that about a year ago, ICANN (the organisation that manages domain names around the world) decided that we needed some new domain name extensions to go along with .com, .co.uk and the like. It wanted to pave the way for domain names ending in things like .microsoft, .google, .web or .anythingatall.

Sounds confusing? That’s because it is. There’s already a bewildering array of domain names available out there, from .co and .biz to .info and .xxx. You rarely see companies using them because most businesses realise that a .com or .co.uk is their best bet.

Sure, it’s irritating that professional domain name traders have bought up lots of the best addresses. In fact, you could argue that’s played a part in creating false demand for new domain extensions.

But no matter. It’s happening. New domain extensions are coming soon. There have been over 1,900 applications for the things, mainly driven by big businesses who see a branding opportunity (.amazon, anyone?) and investors who see an opportunity to profit.

The full list of possible new extensions was released recently. Here are a few that caught my eye:

• .bbc. Our world-renowned British Broadcasting Corporation has applied for this one. After all, bbc.co.uk is such a tricky address to recall and type in a hurry.
• .porn, .sex, .sexy and .adult. Oh come on, it is the internet – you must have been expecting some adult-themed domains. But wasn’t .xxx supposed to be the definitive adult domain name?
• .cymru, .wales and .scot. If you run a business in Wales or Scotland, would one of these domains interest you? There are no domains proposed for England or Northern Ireland, as far as I can see.
• .rip and .vip. Two interesting target markets: dead people and people who think they’re more important than the rest of us. I can’t see us bothering with itdonut.rip, if I’m honest.
• .app. As mobile apps have become the thing in the last couple of years, is it any surprise that 13 different bidders are vying to run this domain extension? (Perhaps surprisingly, Apple doesn’t appear to be one of them.)
• .bentley, .boots, .guardian, .sky and .nextdirect. These are just some of the big UK brands which have decided they want to take a punt on their own domain extension. But is .nextdirect really any better than next.co.uk?

If you can be bothered then you too can review the whole list of proposed domains. Make sure you look out for my personal favourite: .transformers, which Hasbro has proposed. In fact, that’s maybe the only worthwhile one of the lot.

Shopping around for a new domain name?

Or looking for a web hosting company? You can buy domains and web hosting from: 123-reg; Daily Hosting; NamesCo; Easily; 1and1; JustHost; Heart Internet; Strato Hosting; eUK Host; UK2.net.

More content on domain names:

• The domain name game
• Domain names more expensive than a year ago
• Do we need any more domain names?

How the cookie law affects email marketing

The much-maligned new EU cookie law isn’t just about cookies. Actually, the text of the regulation doesn’t even mention cookies by name. Instead, its focus is on making people more aware of how their information is used online, and helping people control their privacy.

Essentially it means people now have to actively opt-in before their information is used or their behaviour is tracked in many ways.

The new regulation also applies to other technologies that involve you placing and accessing information on someone’s computer. For instance, the new rules apply to the tiny ‘web beacons’ (actually small image files) used to track when a marketing email is opened.

Some criticism has been levelled at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for not issuing clear guidance. But actually, to understand what’s expected of companies, we need to step back from the nuts and bolts and look at what the law is trying to achieve.

One that front, the ICO’s message has been consistent: businesses need to be open and transparent, because the law is intended to protect privacy and promote openness.

The new law and email marketing

Plenty has already been said about how the new law affects website cookies. (Read the IT Donut guide, if you need help). So I’m going to look at what happens if your business sends marketing messages by email.

If your company falls into that category, you probably track how people interact with your messages. Crucially, you probably have a tool that lets you see how many people open the emails you send.

Just as with cookies, you need to ask a key question about this ‘open tracking’:  what’s its purpose? Just as all cookies aren’t equal, neither is all open tracking.

If you’re using open tracking to report an overall open rate for your entire email campaign, I don’t see how this can come under the new law. It’s just a broad way of tracking how people are interacting with your emails.

Would your email subscribers be surprised to know that you work to get emails delivered and monitor success by checking if the emails are read? I think not. And that’s why I think tracking mechanisms used in this way would fall outside the law.

The law applies when the data gets personal

But here’s a different theoretical case. Say a travel company spots that someone opens emails related to family holidays, then sells that information to a company which then targets them with adverts for child investment products.

This sort of open tracking would certainly fall within the regulations as it clearly involves the privacy of the individual. (I’m just using this example to make the point clear - I don’t actually think anyone does anything even close to this with open tracking!)

Getting new subscribers to opt-in

Having said that, the new law is about openness and transparency. So to be safe, it’s a good idea to keep your email subscribers informed about the tracking you use.

It should be relatively easy to ask new subscribers to opt-in to tracking and cookies. You have to get permission to send them emails anyway, so when you do so just add information about the tracking too.

Remember: openness and transparency are key. So don’t bury the information deep in a policy privacy policy or write it using confusing language. Make it clear and obvious, and reinforce it in your welcome email. For example:

We work hard to avoid cluttering up your inbox by using technology to understand what we should send you. Read how here.

Then, no matter whether you think open tracking is or isn’t covered by the regulations, you’ll know you’re covered. And your customers will be better informed too.

Making sure current subscribers know the score

With new subscribers taken care of, think about what to do your current subscriber base. You need to ask two questions: how do you use open tracking and what would your subscribers reasonably expect you to be doing?

Again, it’s about openness and transparency. You can make current subscribers aware of your use of tracking. Add information about it to your email header. Use the same language you use for new subscribers and keep the information there until it’s reasonable to assume everyone’s seen it. Then you can move it to your email footer.

Don’t panic about your open tracking

In any case, if you have worked to promote openness and transparency you will be in a much better position with the ICO than if you have simply ignored this issue. In short:

• Tell new email subscribers what tracking technology you used. Explain it in simple, clear language that can be easily understood.
• Make sure you include this information if you have a soft opt-in – like when you sign people up as part of a purchasing process on your website.
• Change your privacy policy so people who opt in to emails are also opting in to your open tracking and cookie-based tracking.
• Provide a clear link to your full privacy policy as part of the sign up process, and add a summary to any welcome emails you send out.
• Tell your current subscribers about tracking through an email header. You can move this to the footer once it’s reasonable to think most people will have seen it.

Finally, don’t panic. While the ICO can impose fines of up to £500k, they’re only likely to do so in exceptional circumstances. It needs to be a serious, deliberate contravention of the law that causes substantial damage or distress. Quite simply, I find it hard to envisage a situation where email open tracking could do that.

• Download our guide to the EU cookie law (PDF link)
• Changing how the cookie crumbles – are you compliant?
• Read Rory MccGwire's blog in the Law Society Gazette

Tim Watson is an independent email marketing consultant who writes for Smart Insights.

Here's what happens in an internet minute

It’s a mistake to stop and think about the internet for too long. You’ll struggle to grasp the sheer size of the thing, its mind-boggling complexity and the rate at which it changes.

Still, it the internet is fascinating. And that’s why this infographic from Intel caught our eye. It gives you some idea of what happens online in a single minute.

While you’ve been reading this, a score of people have had their identities stolen, hundreds have signed up to social network LinkedIn and there have been 100,000 new Tweets. Bonkers.

Alt text: Infographic – what happens in an internet minute

Just to put some of that into context:

• The 639,800GB of data transferred is equivalent to sending about 135,000 full-length DVD films across the internet.
• Those 6 million Facebook views sound like an awful lot – but then you have to remember that worldwide, one in every nine people has a Facebook account.
• The number of internet-connected devices is set to soar over the next few years as cars, TVs and even kitchen appliances all get their own connections.

While there perhaps aren’t any hard and fast conclusions for your business to draw from this, it certainly highlights some of the opportunities out there. With 1,300 new mobile internet users every minute, having a mobile website makes sense. And with 1.3 million videos watched, perhaps your business should have a YouTube channel.

You know, I reckon this internet thing might just be here to stay...

• Social media – not as new as you think?
• Internet speed checker – test your connection
• Tech trends to watch in 2012

Do you want your website to travel second class?

Shouldn’t we all have fast fibre optic connections? (Image: James Laurence Stewart on Flickr.)

If you pay attention to the business or technology press, you may have noticed the term ‘net neutrality’ popping up in articles. But what does it actually mean? And why should it matter to you and your business?

Net neutrality (or network neutrality) is the idea that all internet traffic should be treated equally. It’s how the internet works at the moment: no matter whether internet traffic is from the BBC iPlayer, your business blog, a video-conferencing service or any other source, it isn’t discriminated against.

Network providers can’t charge more to transfer it, or prioritise certain types of internet traffic over others.

Net neutrality also prevents internet service providers (ISPs) and governments from restricting what you choose to access. It gives you the freedom to view whichever sites or content you want, using any equipment you choose.

See a great visual representation of net neutrality >

The threat to net neutrality

To some extent, ISPs already restrict internet connectivity to their customers. Some perform ‘traffic shaping’ to limit the use of file sharing services. Others give voice and video traffic priority to make sure calls don’t break up.

So what’s the problem? Well, thankfully not much at the moment, but internet traffic is growing and broadband providers are doing everything they can to keep costs low and stay competitive.

Currently businesses pay their ISP for the internet connection they require (depending on what’s available in that location).  Whether it’s broadband over a standard phone line or a fast fibre optic connection, the speed is only restricted by the type of connection and the package they choose.

But the end of net neutrality could see broadband providers signing lucrative contracts and exclusive agreements with favoured customers such as search engines. This would mean that your choice of ISP could determine the quality of your connection to certain websites, forcing you to choose them over other options.

What about your business?

One of the best things about the internet is how it has put small businesses on an equal footing with bigger competitors. The website for a local greengrocer will load just as fast as a supermarket’s website.

But without net neutrality, that could change. With its deep pockets, the supermarket could pay broadband providers to deliver its website faster, forcing its competitors backwards. The greatest rewards would only be available to those with the most to spend.

Today, many small businesses exist only online. So changes to the way the network is regulated will directly affect their success and even their livelihood.

Net neutrality in law

Last month the Netherlands became the first country in Europe to write the concept of network neutrality into national law. Mobile phone operators in particular are now banned from blocking or charging consumers extra for using internet-based communications services like Skype.

In the UK, things aren’t quite so advanced. Ofcom published a paper last year designed to promote debate on network traffic management. And the telecoms regulator is expect to clarify its stance on net neutrality sometime in this year. We’ll keep our eyes peeled, but I wouldn’t hold your breath!

We have also conducted our own Powernet research that shows UK businesses overwhelmingly support net neutrality. Only 19% believe that ISPs should be allowed to treat different types of traffic in different ways, and just 17% would be willing to pay for a top tier service.

So who chooses what your business does online? Well at the moment, you do, but in the future, things might not be so easy. That’s why we need government backing for net neutrality.

• How to choose an internet service provider
• Check internet speed with our online speed test