Digital Services
Domain names, SSL certificates and hosting.
Managing your digital assets can be daunting and time-consuming if it’s not something you’re used to.
Amongst our core competencies are domain name registrations and renewals (UK and International), the provision and installation of highly secure, SLA-backed SSL certificates, DNS zone file management, domain and website hosting on low-cost, fully maintained web servers as well as dedicated and high-availability, clustered web servers, both physical and virtual.
So, why not let Contedia supply and manage all of your digital assets and associated services, giving you the control and visibility you need without the headache?
Why use Contedia’s Managed Service, versus DIY Domain Name and SSL Registration?
Some aspects of domain name registration are straight forward and available through low-cost online ISPs, whilst other aspects of making use of and maintaining the asset, or applying for and installing a security certificate require experience and time. Contedia’s managed service is there to remove these obstacles whilst remaining affordable.
Our fully-managed service offerings are ideal for professional businesses that have one or more digital assets and for which self-management is not something that is a practical or desirable option. Since Contedia is not a bulk online domain name registration or certificate signing business, there are some instances where our services may not be suitable.
Our domain name service is not suitable for:
- Businesses seeking to manage domain name registrations themselves
- Businesses seeking to manage name server records themselves
- Businesses seeking the lowest possible cost for individual domain name registrations, who are willing and capable of administering the domain name/certificate and its technical records
Our security certificate service is not suitable for:
- Businesses that may not entrust a third-party (i.e., Contedia) with their Certificate Signing Request (CSR) and other data required to generate or re-key a security certificate
- Businesses seeking the lowest possible cost for individual security certificates, who are willing and capable of generating and administering certificates
Domain Names
As a Nominet Channel Partner and tag holder (our Nominet tag is “CONTEDIA”), we are ideally placed to manage your company’s .UK domain names and hosting services. Contedia also works with multiple international domain name registries and ISPs to provide access to almost all types of domain name.
Our fully-managed UK and international domain name services include:
- Access to register almost any domain name extension, including .uk, .com, country-specific and generic top-level domains (such as .construction etc.)
- Fully-managed registration and automatic renewal services for peace of mind
- Expert advice and guidance on domain name use whenever you need it
- Inclusive management of, and unlimited changes to, your DNS zone files
- Managed use of our preferred partners for providing access to fully redundant name servers and Content Delivery Network services to ensure your DNS remains live, no matter what
As a matter of course, our clients who register UK-based domain names are bound not only by Contedia’s Terms and Conditions of Business, but also Nominet’s ‘Terms and Conditions of Domain Name Registration for UK-based Domain Names’. They apply to all businesses and individuals wishing to register a UK-base domain name.
SSL Certificates
In today’s Internet dependant business landscape, protecting the transmission of data between your servers, systems and websites with an SSL certificate has become increasingly important.
If your website doesn’t have the lock symbol in the address bar, signifying a trusted SSL certificate is in place, Google will tag your site as ‘Not Secure’.
Together with our domain management services, Contedia can provide, install and manage the use of SSL certificates across your organisation’s systems, and we offer certificates to match every use case. For example:
- Protect one website (e.g. www.contedia.com) with a ‘Standard’ SSL certificate
- Protect up to five websites with a ‘UUC/SAN’ SSL certificate
- Protect unlimited subdomains (e.g. *.contedia.com) with a ‘Wildcard’ SSL certificate
Understanding the SSL certificate types and their features:
Whilst all certificates also ensure the secure padlock symbol is displayed in the user’s web browser address bar, and compatibility with all major browsers and mobile devices is guaranteed, here are some of the additional features of these SSL certificate types:
Our Standard SSL certificate is the lowest cost entry in providing secure transmission of data and has the following features:
- Secures one website (e.g. www.contedia.com)
- Uses strong SHA2 & 2048-bit encryption
- Is available in three types, as a DV, OV or EV SSL certificate (see below)
- An EV (Extended Validation) certificate turns the browser bar green, providing a ‘green light’ to users that the website is safe to use
- Boosts your website’s Google ranking
Our Unified Communications Certificate (UCC) is an SSL that secures multiple domain names as well as multiple host names within a domain name.
A UCC SSL lets you secure your primary domain name and up to 99 additional Subject Alternative Names (SANs) with a single SSL. For example, you can use a UCC to protect www.contedia.com, www.contedia.net and www.contedia.co.uk.
A UCC/SAN SSL certificate has the following features:
- Secures up to five websites
- Uses strong SHA2 & 2048-bit encryption
- Is available in three types, as a DV, OV or EV SSL certificate (see below)
- An EV (Extended Validation) certificate turns the browser bar green, providing a ‘green light’ to users that the website is safe to use
- Boosts your website’s Google ranking
Our Wildcard SSL certificate protects your primary domain and an unlimited number of its subdomains. For example, a single Wildcard certificate can secure both www.contedia.com, support.contedia.com and any number of subdomain variants.
A Wildcard SSL certificate has the following features:
- Secures one website and unlimited subdomains
- Uses strong SHA2 & 2048-bit encryption
- Is available in two types, as a DV, OV SSL certificate (see below)
- Boosts your website’s Google ranking
Comparing and choosing between SSL certificate validation types:
DV SSL certificates provide the following assurances:
- Proves the user has domain ownership
- Uses strong SHA2 & 2048-bit encryption
- Boosts your website’s Google ranking
OV SSL certificates provide the following assurances:
- Proves the user has domain ownership
- Validates the organisation
- Uses strong SHA2 & 2048-bit encryption
- Boosts your website’s Google ranking
EV SSL certificates are significantly more demanding to obtain, but provide the following increased assurances:
- Proves the user has domain ownership
- Validates the organisation
- Indicates the business is legitimate
- Displays the business name in green in the web browser’s address bar
- Uses strong SHA2 & 2048-bit encryption
- Boosts your website’s Google ranking
Domain and Website Hosting
To support many of our customers across the business, we offer a range of website and web application hosting services, whether on in-house infrastructure we specify install and manage on the customers’ behalf or located in one of a number of trusted data centres around the UK.
We only work with very dependable and supportive data centres, primarily within the iomart group of companies.
Working closely with our customers, Contedia matches a hosting solution to the needs and budget of the customers’ projects, whether a simple marketing website, through to a business-critical e-commerce website or internal web application.
Our hosting options include:
- Fully managed and maintained, single website hosting on shared infrastructure
- Fully managed and maintained dedicated physical or virtual web servers
- Bespoke, fully managed and maintained configurations supporting failover and network storage options, where required
Since most of our customers’ needs are somewhat different, only our shared hosting platform is standardised. We work closely with our customers to understand the needs of any dedicated server or bespoke configuration, matching performance and maintenance options to the project and budget.
If you have a requirement to host either a business website or a more complex web system, why not call Contedia on 01977 602869 to find out how we can help?