We want to give a big shout out to Bytemark, the York-based hosting company who are generously sponsoring a large portion of our server space requirements. Thanks guys: as a result, mySociety sites will be more robust and more responsive than ever before.

Why is this gesture such a huge help to us? Well, to start with, our sites keep getting bigger! Yes, our websites are transactional, but most are also archives – so for example you can summon up FixMyStreet reports dating back to the site’s launch in 2007.

Of course, FixMyStreet grows each day, as more reports are submitted. So does WhatDoTheyKnow, and FixMyTransport. As for TheyWorkForYou, well, MPs keep on talking, and we keep on archiving their words.

Second, it’s incredibly important for us to have hosting from a provider who will quickly and competently respond to our requests. Bytemark have been brilliant on this front during the migration phase.

Our sites should be fast – whether you’re looking at archived content or submitting a new report. You, as a user, should never have to think about the capacity of our servers, or their load tolerance. The pages you want to view should simply be there.

The move over to higher capacity servers should help with all of these aims. Bytemark has two separate data centres, and our sites are now split across them.

If you’ve been enjoying a smooth ride on our sites just recently, you might want to thank Bytemark – although of course, the strongest sign of good hosting is that you’ll never notice a thing.

Thank you to everyone at Bytemark – your generosity is really important to us.

 Image (CC): Karl-Ludwig G. Poggeman