Keeping it in the family

The following announcement sees Scottish company owned Brightsolid, parent of Findmypast, extending its relationship with the General Register Office of Scotland.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 00.01 HRS, Tuesday September 8th 2009

Online publisher brightsolid wins new deal to manage
ScotlandsPeople online family history service


Online publisher brightsolid has won a three-year deal to manage the
hugely-successful family history site, www.ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk.

The site, with almost one million registered users and growing currently
by more than 10,000 per month, is run in partnership with the General
Register Office for Scotland (GROS). The contract, awarded by
competitive tender, will run for three years from September 2010.

brightsolid is among the major online publishers specialising in family
history and genealogy sites. It has operated the ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk
site since 2002 and also owns the genealogy site findmypast.com. Last
month brightsolid completed the acquisition of FriendsReunited,
including GenesReunited, from ITV plc (subject to approval by the
competition authorities).

"This new contract to manage ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk in partnership with
GROS is a significant one for brightsolid," commented brightsolid chief
executive Chris van der Kuyl.

"We have developed an unparalleled expertise in processing, managing and
presenting information for online audiences as well as providing hosting
and customer service support.

"ScotlandsPeople is a world-leading web site that has built a real
community of users worldwide, with that number rapidly approaching one
million people.

"We look forward to continuing to build on that success with GROS with
this new contract. We will continue to invest in providing enhanced
services to the site, in partnership with GROS."

The site contains more than 50 million records dating back to when
national records of births, deaths and marriages began in Scotland in
1855. It also includes parish records, dating back as far as 1533, as
well as other data including wills and testaments.

Mr Paul Parr, Deputy Registrar General of the General Register Office of
Scotland, commented: "We are very proud of ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk. It is
one of the leading sites of its kind worldwide, and has helped bolster
the interest of the Scottish diaspora in the history of their country or
the country of their ancestors, as well as providing a popular service
for the Scottish public.

"This contract has been awarded after a keenly competitive tenders
process and we look forward to continuing the site's progress and
further development in partnership with brightsolid."