Three decades of FileMaker expertise. Two Apple alumni. One shared belief that hosting should be personal, reliable, and genuinely expert.
FM Hosting UK didn't start as a hosting company. It started with a passion for technology that goes back to the earliest days of home computing — writing games code on machines that most people had never heard of, at a time when software was something you built yourself or simply went without.
That journey led to Apple, where the FileMaker connection was born. From there came teaching, consultancy, and eventually Coates IT — the Newcastle-based firm from which FM Hosting UK grew. Every server we manage, every client we support, sits on that foundation of lived experience rather than just acquired knowledge.
We're a small, specialist team. That's a deliberate choice. It means every client gets people who actually know what they're doing — not a helpdesk script.
Phil and Christine both developed their FileMaker expertise working directly at Apple — not reading about it, not attending a course, but building real solutions in the environment where the software was made. That insider knowledge is something you simply can't replicate, and it shapes how we approach every deployment we manage.
Three people who between them have been working with FileMaker longer than most of our competitors have been in business.
Phil's journey into technology began at the keyboard of some of the earliest home computers, writing games code at a time when programming was the only way to get software you actually wanted. That instinct for purposeful, efficient solutions never left him.
After working at Apple developing in-house FileMaker solutions and lecturing at the University of Sunderland, Phil founded Coates IT — a Newcastle-based consultancy covering enterprise IT in all its forms. FM Hosting UK is the distillation of 30+ years of that expertise into a dedicated FileMaker practice.
Profile coming soon.
Ian holds a BSc in Computer Technology from Jomo Kenyatta University and has spent five years building custom FileMaker solutions across healthcare, finance, and the travel industry — from clinic management systems and financial dashboards to integrations with QuickBooks and M-Pesa.
He holds Claris certification as both a FileMaker Pro Specialist and Server Administrator, and has recently added certification in AI Fundamentals: Semantic Search in Claris FileMaker — a clear indicator of where his focus is heading and why he's a valuable addition to any complex project.
Whether you need FileMaker hosting, a bespoke development project, or just some honest advice — we're easy to talk to.
