Elaine Collins

brightsolid Ltd. began life in 1995 as Scotland Online and is a leading UK independent provider of IT business services to large public and private sector organizations. They help its clients to design and implement high volume, high availability, high performance online products and services, and have done so successfully since they became one of the pioneering Internet companies of the mid 1990s. brightsolid has two divisions, online publishing and online technologies. brightsolid's online technology division is a leading UK independent provider of online IT business services and an ISP delivering business-critical services. The company's online technologies division specializes in managing clients' information availability and online presence through hosting, internet access, applications and business continuity products and services. Business Continuity is ensured with dual location and disaster recovery services, including a fully equipped Workplace Recovery suite managed via its partnership with SunGard. brightsolid operates its own data center underpinned by a resilient and secure network with dual location and disaster recovery options. brightsolid takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously and is ISO14001 certified, which is the standard designed to help organizations minimize how their operations negatively affect the environment. brightsolid's online publishing division has significant expertise In building innovative online businesses around people and places. It manages ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk, a partnership between the General Register Office for Scotland, the National Archives of Scotland and the Court of the Lord Lyon. In 2007, brightsolid acquired findmypast.com, an online family history site. findmypast.com was the first website to put the complete birth, marriage and death indexes for England and Wales online. The company also successfully launched ancestorsonboard.com; the online passenger lists records resource, for The National Archives in January 2007. It included details of over 24 million travelers, including the historic details of the Titanic's maiden voyage. brightsolid recently launched the group's first, and Scotland's only, online magazine 'Discover My Past Scotland'. Headquartered in Dundee, the company is owned by the publishers D.C. Thomson and has offices in Edinburgh and London.