Web Host Services – LAS VEGAS, NV - Photoshop World — Media Lab, Inc., today announced a partnership with UK2 Group, a world leader in web hosting, providing SiteGrinder customers with an optimized hosting solution for SiteGrinder generated and managed websites. The partnership will greatly enhance the SiteGrinder 3 user experience providing a complete solution from the initial web design in Photoshop all the way to deployment of the website to the Internet.

“We have years of experience, best of breed technology, world-class support and state of the art data centers to bring SiteGrinder 3 users the very best that hosting has to offer,” said Jeff Hunsaker, President/COO of UK2 Group, US Operations. “Our MidPhase brand hosting integration with SiteGrinder 3 is just one of many opportunities we envision with our Media Lab partnership.”


SiteGrinder 3 hosting will be managed by MidPhase, one of UK2 Group’s thirteen brands. The MidPhase technical support staff can be reached by phone, live chat, or email 24×7. Their top tier data centers feature redundant power sources, multiple network carriers, and data backup services. With their on-site professional staff and a 99.9% up time guarantee, this type of service will provide hosting peace of mind for SiteGrinder 3 users.

“UK2 Group’s international reach, superior support and uptime record was Media Lab’s best choice for providing SiteGrinder 3 designers/developers an optimized hosting solution,” said Michael D. Nelson, COO of Media Lab. “Although SiteGrinder 3 can be used with any hosting service, we felt it was important to develop a close relationship with a flexible hosting partner that would enhance the website deployment and management experience specifically for SiteGrinder 3 users.”

SiteGrinder 3 users will receive an additional 6 months free hosting with a 2 year commitment at $6.95 per month. With a one year commitment at $8.95 per month they will receive an additional 2 months free.

SiteGrinder 3 allows graphic designers, photographers, artists or anyone to easily transform their Photoshop designs into CSS and XHTML standards-compliant websites without writing a single line of code. For developers who want to improve their work flow, all code generated by SiteGrinder 3 is fully editable in Dreamweaver or any other CSS or HTML editor.

SiteGinder 3 Compatibility
On the PC, SiteGrinder 3 is compatible with Windows XP and later, including Windows 7. It requires Photoshop 7 or later including the latest Photoshop CS5, or Photoshop Elements 6, 7 and 8. On the Mac, SiteGrinder 3 is compatible with Mac OS X 10.1 or greater, Photoshop CS3 CS4 or CS5 (Mac OS X 10.4 or later for the Intel-based Mac), or Photoshop Elements 6, 7 and 8. Websites created using SiteGrinder 3 are compatible with all popular web browsers including the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Visit www.medialab.com for complete details and to download your copy of SiteGrinder 3.

About Media Lab, Inc.
For over a decade, Logan, Utah-based Media Lab, Inc. has specialized in creating interactive Photoshop tools that make it easy to bring amazing web designs to life. Media Lab’s SiteGrinder has also enjoyed an array of favorable reviews and accolades since it debuted in April 2000 under the name of PhotoWebber. Prior to the release of PhotoWebber, Media Lab’s innovative multimedia design tools, PhotoCaster, PSD2FLA, and AlphaMania, were used to create pioneering special effects seen at Disney World’s EPCOT Center in Florida, as well as in numerous popular music videos and motion pictures, such as “X-Men 2,” “Spiderman 2,” “Air Force One,” and “Armageddon.” For complete information on Media Lab, Inc. and its current products, visit www.medialab.com.

About UK2 Group
UK2 Group has been a significant player in the U.K., European and U.S. hosting markets since 1998. UK2 Group provides domain name registration, website hosting and server hosting to many global customers through its large family of hosting brands — UK2.net, MidPhase, 100TB.com, Resell.biz, WingSix, ANHosting, Autica, Supreme Support, Dotable, VPS.Net, WestHost and Virtual Internet. The group is accredited by ICANN and operates its services out of several state of the art, multi-million dollar data centers in the UK and US, and is committed to providing reliable, secure and great value products and services underpinned with excellent support. For more information please visit www.uk2group.com. To learn more about the MidPhase brand, please visit www.midphase.com.

Receive alerts when your website goes offline. Sign-up for free website monitoring at UptimeSpy.com.

Web Host Services – CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Peak 10 Inc., a managed services company with world-class data centers, and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (“Welsh Carson”), a leading private equity firm, have entered into a transaction in which Welsh Carson and Peak 10’s executive management will acquire a majority shareholder interest in Peak 10. Selling shareholders include majority owner Seaport Capital, a New York-based private equity firm and McCarthy Capital, an Omaha, Neb.-based private equity fund.

Peak 10’s existing management team, led by Co-Founder, President and CEO David Jones will continue to operate the business.   David Jones indicated, “Our partnership with Welsh Carson enables Peak 10 to continue increasing the scale of our business to meet the high demand for data center infrastructure and related managed services. Our strategic focus remains intact but our resources now position us to more rapidly extend our geographic footprint, strengthen our team and further accelerate our managed services and cloud offerings.”


Since the company’s inception in 2000, Peak 10 has managed a path of steady and consistent growth achieved through expansion in the greenfield markets of Jacksonville, Fla.; Charlotte, N.C.; Tampa, Fla. and Raleigh, N.C., and through acquisitions of established data center companies in Louisville, Ky.; Nashville, Tenn.; Richmond, Va. and, most recently, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. In 2007 and early 2008, Peak 10 opened greenfield data centers in Atlanta, Ga. and Cincinnati, Ohio respectively. Over the last two years Peak 10 has completed construction of additional facilities in five of its markets to meet customer growth and demand.

“Through its organic growth as well as strategic acquisitions and greenfield activities in entering new markets, Peak 10’s management team has continually outpaced its competition. The company’s growth has been impressive and we are excited to add Peak 10 to our portfolio of business services companies,” said John Clark, general partner at Welsh Carson.

“We are extremely proud that Welsh Carson, one of the largest and most successful private equity firms in the United States, is investing in Peak 10 and our leadership team,” said David Jones.  “Since founding the company, we have remained focused on becoming an industry leader and have consistently invested significant success-based capital into our existing facilities as well as strategic acquisitions. We continuously enhance and upgrade our technology solutions for our customers. More than ever, our management team remains committed to expanding into new metropolitan markets with attractive growth prospects and deepening services that provide scalable solutions to our customers.”

“Seaport Capital has enjoyed its 10-year partnership with Peak 10,” said Scott McCormack, partner at Seaport Capital. “Working with and supporting the Peak 10 management team’s vision to grow the business from two sites into a leading data center facilities and managed services provider as a super-regional force in ten markets has been a great experience and we wish the management team and company continued success in the future.”

The transaction is expected to close in early October. Signal Hill Capital Group LLC acted as exclusive financial adviser to Peak 10 in connection with the transaction. Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC is serving as legal counsel to Peak 10, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP is serving as legal counsel to Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe in relation to this transaction.

About Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe
Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe is one of the largest and most successful private equity investment firms in the United States. Since its founding in 1979, the Firm has organized 15 limited partnerships with total capital of $20 billion. Welsh Carson focuses its investment activity in two target industries: information/business services and healthcare. Welsh Carson is currently investing an equity fund, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe XI, L.P., and a dedicated subordinated debt fund, WCAS Capital Partners IV, L.P. Additional information is available online at www.welshcarson.com.

About Seaport Capital
Seaport Capital is a private equity firm focused on making investments in communications, business and information services, and media companies. With over $500 million of private equity under management and more than fifty years of cumulative investment experience, Seaport Capital investment professionals have an outstanding record of making growth and buyout investments in private companies using comprehensive industry knowledge, experience and creativity. The key to Seaport Capital’s successful record has been and will continue to be a commitment to partnering with superior management and ensuring that their interests are aligned through ownership stakes and shared strategic vision. For more information visit www.seaportcapital.com.

About McCarthy Capital Corporation
Based in Omaha, NE with offices in Denver and Boston, McCarthy Capital is a private equity firm focused exclusively on middle market companies. McCarthy Capital manages $500 million in private equity assets and capital commitments. For more information about McCarthy Capital, please visit www.mccarthycapital.com.

About Peak 10 Inc.
Peak 10 is a managed services company with world-class data centers. It delivers scalable, economical and reliable solutions for hosting and managing complex information technology infrastructure. The company’s expert team embraces the industry’s evolving technologies by adopting and tailoring solutions such as virtualization and cloud-based services as part of its robust managed services offering. Its strong customer focus, financial stability, geographic diversity and technical strength attracts market-leading companies such as LendingTree, Global Knowledge, Pergo, Healthways and Churchill Downs.  Peak 10 is SAS70 Type II compliant and helps companies meet the requirements of various regulatory compliance acts such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), HIPAA, PCI and Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLBA). For more information on data center solutions from Peak 10, visit www.peak10.com.

Receive alerts when your website goes offline. Sign-up for free website monitoring at UptimeSpy.com.

Web Host Services – London, UK - GMO GlobalSign Ltd. one of the longest established Certification Authorities (CA) and specialists in SSL Partner Programs, today announced that Ultraspeed UK Limited (www.ultraspeed.com), one of the UK’s top webhosts and specialists in managed hosting solutions has joined GlobalSign’s Partner Program. Ultraspeed’s hosting customers will now be able to purchase GlobalSign’s full range of SSL Certificates as an additional value add product to their hosting package to fully secure their websites, online transactions, web mail and other next generation online services using GlobalSign highly trusted 2048bit SSL technology.

After deciding to switch from their current SSL provider, Ultraspeed sought a leading international Certificate Authority who could offer the most highly trusted and reliable SSL Certificates available in today’s market, to complement their existing premium hosting solutions. The location of their chosen SSL vendor was also a key business factor for Ultraspeed, with the availability of UK-based support seen as a crucial element to assist their high profile clients.

By choosing GlobalSign’s SSL Partner Program, Ultraspeed can now take advantage of a simplified but feature-packed SSL Certificate portfolio, (including fast issuance Domain Validation, traditional Organisation Validation and the newly standardised Extended Validation (EV) SSL, which activates the green address bar interface in IE, Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari browsers), with all Certificates being issued from GlobalSign’s widely distributed 2048 bit Root CA, as well as competitive pricing and excellent UK-based customer service.

“We chose to partner with GlobalSign due to their experience in the SSL market and quality of products, which fit nicely with Ultraspeed’s business model and current hosting services,” says Jordan Gross, Managing Director at Ultraspeed, “Enabling customers to purchase GlobalSign’s highly trusted SSL Certificates as a one stop shop service alongside our current hosting packages not only adds value, but ensures our customers’ websites are fully protected using the highest level of security available.”

“GlobalSign are very proud to welcome on board yet another leading UK hosting provider to its SSL Partner Program.” says Steve Waite, Director of Channel Sales, GlobalSign. “By offering high service levels, quality and cost effective solutions and full sales and marketing resources, GlobalSign has become the preferred SSL Partner for a rapidly increasing number of hosting companies on a worldwide scale.”

GlobalSign’s Partner Program is designed for ISP’s, Web Hosts, Integrators, Domain Registrars and VARs and enables SSL Certificates to easily be integrated into product ranges as value add options. Brands can become more competitive, new revenue streams are opened and the amount of revenue received per customer is maximised – all with minimal costs and a fast go-to-market. GlobalSign’s Pay As You Go, no commit purchasing scheme, web based certificate management interface or API and comprehensive marketing support furthermore enhance the SSL reselling opportunity.

About Ultraspeed
With over ten years’ experience in the hosting industry, Ultraspeed are a leading UK managed hosting provider hosting over 50,000 websites. Through a combination of true innovation and excellent customer service, Ultraspeed focus on providing managed hosting for mid-sized businesses, as well as shared hosting services and domain registration for smaller business. They have a reputation for excellent uptime and service quality. For more information, please visit: www.ultraspeed.com

About GlobalSign
Established in 1996 and as a WebTrust accredited public certificate authority, GlobalSign offers publicly trusted SSL, including EV SSL Certificates, S/MIME and Code Signing Certificates for use on all platforms including mobile devices. Its Trusted Root solution uses the widely distributed GlobalSign Root CA certificates to provide immediate PKI trust for Microsoft CA and enterprise CAs, eliminating the costs associated with using untrusted Root Certificates. Its partnership with Adobe to provide Certified Document Services (CDS) enables secure digitally signed PDF e-documents. These core Digital Certificate solutions allow its thousands of customers to conduct secure online transactions and data transfer, distribute tamper-proof code, and bind identities to client certificates for email security and remote two factor authentication. The company has a history of innovation within the online security market and has offices in the US, UK, Belgium, Japan, and China.

Receive alerts when your website goes offline. Sign-up for free website monitoring at UptimeSpy.com.

Web Host Services – Wayne, PA - More and more people are browsing the web on the go with devices such as the iPhone, BlackBerry or Android phone. In order to help website owners benefit from this boom, 1&1 Internet Inc., the world’s largest web host, today announced that its hosting packages are now offered with free professional web design software. Depending on the chosen hosting package, new customers will receive full versions of either NetObjects Fusion 1&1 Edition or Adobe Dreamweaver CS4. Both solutions allow easy creation of a website optimized for mobile viewing.

NetObjects Fusion 1&1 Edition is exclusive to 1&1 customers and especially suitable for beginners. This powerful website design application, included free with 1&1 Beginner Package, (priced from $3.99/month) and 1&1 Home Package, (from $6.99/month), provides a variety of templates already optimized for handheld viewing and navigation. All templates can be implemented into a homepage with ease. Even users without prior Internet experience can create a new, modern website in just a few minutes or adapt an existing web presence to be mobile compatible.


Customers selecting the 1&1 Business Package, (priced from $9.99) and 1&1 Developer Package (currently $19.99/month) can alternatively choose to receive Adobe Dreamweaver CS4. With this premium solution, advanced users can apply their own HTML code. This software includes the Adobe Device Central module that enables testing for the latest mobile devices. In doing so, users can ensure their website is fully optimized for mobile site visitors.

The smaller screen and touch functionality of mobile devices can often make it necessary to adapt the design of websites. Furthermore, a significantly higher number of operating systems and browsers have to be supported as compared to local hardware like PCs. Oliver Mauss, CEO 1&1 Internet Inc., said “Many websites have not yet reached the Smartphone age. As a result, small firms in particular can miss a massive opportunity. Businesses must ensure that when their website is viewed on a mobile, it loads quickly, functions correctly, and comprises an attractive and fitting representation of them.”

1&1 currently offers its Home, Business and Developer web hosting packages at a 50 per cent reduction in price for the first 6 months. All new customers who order hosting packages (in either Linux or Microsoft formats) during September and October will receive NetObjects Fusion 1&1 Edition or Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 for free. Existing 1&1 customers are able to download both professional web design solutions for a special price, directly from their 1&1 Control Panel.

About 1&1 Internet Inc
1&1 Internet Inc. is a subsidiary of United Internet, a profitable public company with a market cap of $3 billion. 1&1 was founded in 1988 and hosts more than 11 million domain names, while more than 70,000 servers run on the company’s five state-of-the-art green data centers. 1&1’s global community is approximately 9.5 million customer contracts strong. The company’s U.S. headquarters is located in Chesterbrook, PA. For more information, please contact the company at www.1and1.com or 1-877-GO-1AND1.

Receive alerts when your website goes offline. Sign-up for free website monitoring at UptimeSpy.com.

Web Host Services – HOUSTON - INX Inc. announced today that it has successfully completed a data center virtualization upgrade for Associa.

Associa, the Dallas-based leader in community association management, has over 100 office locations nationwide that serve its four million members, spread across North America. With a nearly 20% annual growth rate, Associa’s data management needs have increased. Associa recently contracted INX to design and deploy a data center virtualization upgrade designed to improve efficiency, decrease its data center footprint and increase cloud computing capacity. The project began in the summer of 2010 and it was recently completed successfully. INX has been a solution integration partner to Associa on core business critical projects since December 2007 for including unified communications, digital media, storage, virtualization and video communications technologies.


Walter Dobson, Associa’s CIO said, ”INX’s expertise allowed us to open up the door to virtualization and reap the significant benefits of the technology. They are a consultative firm that understands how to couple technology with our tangible business objectives to create a competitive advantage for us. Because of this, they are a trusted advisor to our business.”

This data center project was an extension of the virtualization capabilities INX implemented in the past and takes advantage of the latest VMware and Cisco Systems data center virtualization technologies. With Associa’s growth, it needed more cloud compute capacity in its data center. Leveraging VMware vSphere, INX deployed three additional VM hosts to Associa’s environment, increasing capacity by nearly 45%. The extra capacity had the added benefit of decreasing the data center footprint. By implementing the new Cisco Unified Computing Solution, INX was able to decrease the amount of cabling used in the data center from 80 cables down to only 10. This reduction in cables reduced the need for extra cooling by improving airflow and drastically reducing cable management issues. By implementing a virtual switching solution and 10 gigabit connectivity, Associa effectively doubled its network capacity while simultaneously decreasing cabinet real estate requirements by 50%. The efforts amount to an impressive 50% reduction in space requirements, a 45% increase in cloud compute capacity and a 100% increase in network capacity. Associa has found a reduction in the deployment time of a new VMware vSphere host, shrinking the time it takes for deployment from six hours down to 45 minutes.

Jon Krueger, Director of IT Operations at Associa said, ”INX has been a solutions partner on core business projects of ours since December 2007. We believe in the INX engagement model, expertise and high level of customer service.”

Mark Hilz, President of INX said, “Associa and INX have a long standing track record of success in data center virtualization. It’s exciting to see these technologies continue to advance and make significant positive impact in the businesses with which we are engaged.”

This project represents $375,000 in combined product and professional services revenue to INX.

ABOUT INX INC.
INX Inc. (NASDAQ:INXI) is a leading U.S. provider of IP communications and data center solutions for enterprise organizations. INX offers a suite of advanced technology solutions focused around the entire life-cycle of enterprise IP network communications and data center infrastructure. Services are centered on the design, implementation and support of network infrastructure, including routing and switching, wireless, security, unified communications, and data center solutions such as storage and server virtualization. Customers include enterprise organizations such as corporations, as well as federal, state and local governmental agencies. Because of its focus, expertise and experience implementing and supporting advanced technology solutions for enterprises, INX believes it is well positioned to deliver superior solutions and services to its customers. Additional information about INX can be found on the Web at www.inxi.com.

Receive alerts when your website goes offline. Sign-up for free website monitoring at UptimeSpy.com.

Web Host Services – LONDON - Global provider of managed solutions and business connectivity services Easynet, has announced its sale from BSkyB (Sky) to Lloyds Development Capital (LDC), the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group for £100 million.

Further exploiting its dexterity as an independent global provider, Easynet will continue with its strategy to deliver high quality, complex international managed networks and managed hosting services to businesses around the world. Chief Executive Officer, David Rowe, who founded Easynet in 1994, will remain in the role with the full backing of LDC.


The acquisition heralds a new chapter in Easynet’s history. From its founding in 1994, Easynet has been a leader in highly sophisticated managed networks and hosting, and since it joined the BSkyB family in 2006 it has grown by over 40 per cent.

David Rowe, CEO, said: “Our strategy has always been to take a pragmatic approach to the market: we follow our customers, understand their needs, and provide solutions that add value. Our tight focus on our customers will continue under our new ownership. LDC’s strategy is closely aligned to our business plan and this will allow us to take a longer-term view of the investments we make to give our customers competitive edge.”

David Molony, Principal Analyst at Ovum, said: “This is a characteristically dynamic deal (for the company) that introduced telcos to the idea that a customer service desk could be the key to retention and growth. Enterprise customers will be reassured by the move because it points to a focused growth and development strategy. Some managers in Easynet’s competitors’ global services divisions might be reflecting with envy on the independence and competitive agility that Easynet has won and which this deal celebrates.”

Easynet retains the International network and Data Centre assets and in the UK continues with an exclusive and long term relationship with Sky for the use of Sky’s access network. Easynet also retains the core IP infrastructure and network management functions responsible for routing traffic intelligently around customers’ networks.

Daniel Sasaki, Director, LDC, commented: “Easynet is a dynamic, profitable business which has enjoyed considerable success by providing highly innovative solutions that make its customers more competitive. We have made a long-term investment in the company as we believe there is considerable untapped global demand for its unique value proposition. We are looking forward to working with Easynet’s management team to help propel the business into a new phase of international growth.”

Watch Easynet CEO David Rowe discuss the implications of the acquisition at: http://www.easynet.com/gb/en/video/?PrimaryNavID=14&videoID=85

ABOUT EASYNET
Easynet Global Services is a worldwide provider of managed network, hosting and value added integration services, such as Telepresence, to international corporate customers. The company has customers in 50 countries including Michelin, Newscorp, Tchibo, Transport for London, EDF, SAGE, Q Park and Bridgestone.

LDC (Lloyds TSB Development Capital) is the mid-market private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, and together with the management team it owns 100% of Easynet.

About LDC
LDC is the leading private equity company in the UK mid-market. LDC (Lloyds TSB Development Capital) is part of the Lloyds Banking Group and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. It has completed over 400 investments and has ongoing interests in over 60 businesses in the UK. With fourteen offices LDC invests between £2million-£100million in MBOs, IBOs and Development Capital transactions in a broad range of sectors, including financial services, healthcare, industrials, IT & software, leisure & media, retail & consumer and support services. Recent transactions include 1st – The Exchange, Ansa / Independent Inspections, Cranswick Pet & Aquatics, Easynet, Modelzone, Nuclear Engineering Services Limited, Quantum Specials, and Snell Limited plus exits from ATP, Card Factory and Telecom Service Centres. For further information visit www.ldc.co.uk

Receive alerts when your website goes offline. Sign-up for free website monitoring at UptimeSpy.com.

Web Host Services – McLean, VA – ServInt today announced it has completed the largest customer disk-space upgrade in its history, more than a month ahead of schedule.  The free upgrade, which was expected to require 90 days to complete, instead was finished in only 58 days.  As a result of the upgrade, most ServInt VPS hosting customers have seen their server disk space nearly double at no charge.

ServInt Founder and Chief Executive Officer Reed Caldwell praised the engineering team responsible for implementing the upgrade process.  He noted that, in most cases, customers were unaware the upgrade was underway until their new storage resources came online.

“Disk-space upgrades that affect entire subscriber communities require an enormous amount of behind-the-scenes work that easily can impact site availability,” Caldwell said. “Our goal was to effect this massive system enhancement without negatively impacting a single one of our clients’ online businesses – even for a moment.  Many thousands of customers later, I can announce we achieved that goal.”

This summer’s disk-space upgrade was the latest service enhancement provided for ServInt customers at no charge.  ServInt frequently provides free resource upgrades to its existing customers, to ensure they have access to all the benefits and enhancements offered to new clients.

About ServInt
ServInt is a pioneering provider of high-reliability webhosting for business customers worldwide.  Founded in Northern Virginia in 1995, ServInt was one of the first webhosting companies to offer a managed, dedicated server solution, and one of the original innovators in server virtualization – the cornerstone of today’s mainstream hosting technology.  From its world-class data centers, ServInt now provides its scalable suite of Virtual Private Server (VPS) and Enterprise-level server options to thousands of customers in more than 60 countries.  ServInt also uses multiple “green” methodologies to serve clearly defined sustainability goals, including reducing waste, boosting energy efficiency and offsetting its carbon footprint.  To learn more about ServInt hosting solutions, please call 1-800-573-7846 or visit www.servint.net.

Receive alerts when your website goes offline. Sign-up for free website monitoring at UptimeSpy.com.

Web Host Services – LONDON - British firms are losing time and money from out-dated office practices and a struggle to handle and store electronic documents, according to research released today by 1&1 Internet Ltd, the world’s largest web host.  From a study of 410 small firms, 37 per cent report money is lost from employees failing to share updated versions of documents.  53 per cent of companies are held back by poor archiving of emails and documents, and one third have document files saved on hardware that not all colleagues can access.  1 in 4 report wasting over £2000 a year from excessive printing of documents.  Some 25 per cent are losing efficiency from slow-running email accounts clogged with attachments.  Document handling skills are inconsistent across staff in 41 per cent of firms, and only 1 in 4 firms has a strategy for increasing their efficiency in handling electronic data.  Many businesses could benefit from reviewing how they draft, share and store their electronic documents.

1&1’s ‘UK Digital Office Audit’(1) finds that many UK firms are losing time and money from their poor handling and storage of electronic materials.  A key finding is the lack of facilities for collaborating on electronic documents between colleagues.  In total, two thirds of small companies believe that their efficiency is reduced by problems with document handling.  1 in 3 firms (37 per cent) believe that time and money is lost as a result of staff failing to share the latest versions of documents.  Significantly, 43 per cent do not have access to a file-sharing method that removes the need to email whole document files.  59 per cent of owners are unable to amend documents off the premises and save them where their colleagues can access them.  Staff skills around creating and sharing documents can also be a problem.  Some 29 per cent report that documents are frequently deleted in error, and 41 per cent of firms believe their success is hindered by inconsistent levels of staff skills in this area.   


The majority of UK business owners now value email to be an essential communication channel.  However, the data shows many find their efficiency in handling emails is not optimal.  Over half of small businesses surveyed (53 per cent) do not currently archive old emails in a structured, easily-searchable form.  1 in 4 companies find their email accounts are regularly clogged with large attachments and face reduced performance when sending attachments around their team.  1 in 4 have worked with a ’slow running’ email system before the capacity was expanded.  Furthermore, over half of firms (53 per cent), do not have access to shared calendars across their staff.

Oliver Mauss, CEO 1&1 Internet Ltd. said, “For many firms, out-dated or inefficient methods of handling and storing electronic materials can negatively impact performance, costs and so their bottom line.  Companies of all types can benefit from examining how their day-to-day use of office technology can be enhanced.  There are now intuitive web-based options for document creation, collaboration and storage that can increase mobility, raise efficiencies and benefit the environment as well as the balance sheet”.

The data suggests that filing and storing electronic files is an area where British companies can struggle.  1 in 4 firms believe that work is often repeated because documents from the past cannot be found quickly.  Some 29 per cent believe time is wasted as a result of staff creating and storing documents in differing ways.  For 1 in 5 firms, the server where files are stored is ‘disorganised’.  Only 1 in 4 small companies has a plan in place for growing their electronic storage capacity.

The study reveals that wasteful office printing remains a challenge for many companies.  Over half of owners (56 per cent) surveyed believe that their staff are wasting money with excessive print-outs.  1 in 4 firms estimate that they are currently wasting over £2000 per year.  One third of businesses report that paper is wasted everyday in the routine editing and re-drafting of documents.  Many British firms still rely on out-dated paper based filing and communication.  46 per cent of businesses still maintain paper copies of documents on file as back-ups.  Furthermore, 43 per cent routinely pay to post paper copies of documents to clients and partners, and 22 per cent of firms still post documents to their staff rather than emailing them.  The use of paper files leads to a shortage of physical office space for 27 per cent of companies.

Mauss adds, “Cloud applications for small businesses will be instrumental in the years ahead.  Solutions such as 1&1 Online Office can be a great way of speeding up work-flows and achieving better consistency and security for documents and files.  Furthermore, the latest web-based email platforms, such as MailXchange, can offer the scalability and performance needed by firms to improve email management and storage”.

1&1 Internet offers a wide range of solutions for small and medium sized businesses including Software-as-a-Service, instant business-website packages, business email solutions, domain names, shared and dedicated web hosting, eCommerce packages, Cloud servers and virtual and dedicated servers.  As the world’s largest web host, 1&1 is well placed to deliver a high quality service to business customers.  The company currently holds more than 9.5 million customer contracts worldwide and manages over 11 million domain names.

(1) 410 UK small companies surveyed by OpinionMatters via electronic feedback form

About 1&1 Internet Ltd
1&1 Internet Ltd based in Slough, west of London, is Europe’s No.1 web hosting and domain name registration company. 1&1 Internet Ltd is the UK arm of 1&1 Internet AG based in Germany (a subsidiary of United Internet Group, a public company with a market cap of more than 2 Billion GBP). 1&1 was established in 1988 and holds 9.5 million British, German, French, Spanish, Austrian and US customer contracts and serves some 11 million domain names at its 70,000 server strong Data Centres. 1&1 prides itself on being the one-stop-shop for web solutions.

1&1 Internet Ltd entered the UK domain registration and web hosting market in June 2000. As a well funded profitable company, it is in a strong position to deliver a high quality service at low cost. 1&1 is an accredited Registrar with ICANN (.com), Nominet (.co.uk), Afilias (.info), NeuLevel (.biz) and PIR (.org).

Receive alerts when your website goes offline. Sign-up for free website monitoring at UptimeSpy.com.

Web Host Services – SAN FRANCISCO – At VMworld 2010 on Tuesday (Aug. 31), Verizon Business and VMware unveiled a new enterprise-class hybrid cloud solution that will enable enterprises to move their applications to the cloud more quickly without compromising security or performance. The new solution, underpinned by Verizon’s world-class global IP network and the industry-leading VMware vSphere™ virtualization platform, will help remove the major barriers to cloud computing adoption, while enabling the delivery of “IT as a Service.”

The new offering joins Verizon’s Computing as a Service (CaaS) portfolio of cloud computing services.


Earlier this month, Verizon began field trials of this new service — Computing as a Service (CaaS) enabled by VMware vCloud™ Datacenter — that will allow enterprises to decide which applications to move to the cloud so they can react more quickly to changing business conditions.  The hybrid cloud environment from Verizon and VMware will help enterprises leverage the scalability and cost effectiveness of the public cloud by paying only for IT resources consumed (server, connectivity, storage) while delivering the levels of security, performance and control available in private cloud environments.

Additionally, with Verizon’s new compute service, enterprises utilizing the VMware platform can leverage their existing infrastructure, tool and skill sets without changing their underlying IT setup.

Kerry Bailey, Verizon Business senior vice president for enterprise strategy, said, “Verizon is highly committed to helping large-business and government clients harness the transformative power of cloud computing so they can be more agile.  With this latest addition to our cloud computing portfolio, our enterprise clients can now trial the unmatched flexibility of our new hybrid cloud solution, which builds on our relationship with VMware to deliver a new, innovative service while leading the industry to an ‘everything-as-a-service’ model.”

IHG Trials Solution
IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) with more than 4,500 hotel properties and 650,000 guest rooms in more than 100 countries and territories worldwide is the first to participate in Verizon’s field trial. Being able to quickly react to changing market conditions is key to IHG’s ongoing success, and one way the company is meeting this challenge is through its technology and Web capabilities.  For example, IHG experiences higher booking activity during holiday and vacation periods, and the ability to meet peak capacity by clicking a mouse is extremely helpful to the hotel company.

“With the right technology behind us, we can better respond to the needs of our guests, owners and employees to deliver a superior hotel experience,” said Bates Turpen, senior vice president of global operations for IHG.  “By teaming with Verizon and VMware, we are able to test moving different application mixes into the cloud. We must have the elasticity in our computing infrastructure that the cloud delivers while, at the same time, use our current IT configurations and applications; that’s a big win for us.”

Verizon and VMware Deliver Enterprise-Class Hybrid Cloud Solution
Verizon’s latest enhancements to its CaaS platform are built on VMware vCloud Datacenter, leveraging VMware’s cloud infrastructure technology including VMware vSphere, the new VMware vCloud Director and VMware vShield™ security solutions.  This enhanced platform provides enterprises with consistent performance and auditable security, while integrating key Verizon security features including layer 2 isolation and LDAP integration with the addition of role-based access control.

“The relationship between VMware and Verizon will bring the full benefits of hybrid cloud computing and IT as a service to our customers,” said Paul Maritz, president and CEO, VMware. “The new Verizon service based on VMware vCloud™ Datacenter enables enterprises to improve efficiency and agility by leveraging internal and external resources in a fully compatible, compliant and flexible manner, developed and certified together by VMware and Verizon.”

By using the same VMware technology as they do their own data centers, enterprises can take advantage of a compatible virtualized data center management and security model that enables application portability across internal data centers and all VMware vCloud Datacenter services, making the transition to the cloud virtually seamless. Enterprise clients also have the option to architect their hybrid cloud using Verizon’s private MPLS-based network or its global IP network.

Computing as a Service (CaaS) is Verizon’s flagship cloud computing solution with built-in security and high performance.  CaaS is the first cloud solution to achieve PCI compliance, Verizon Security Management Program (SMP) compliance, SAP certification and VMware vCloud Datacenter certification to deliver a truly secure computing experience for enterprises around the globe. The CaaS platform is also SAS 70 Type II compliant.

Converged IT Services via a Cloud Model
Verizon Business is evolving to an everything-as-a-service (EaaS) model in which cloud-based, converged solutions are delivered with built-in security via managed and professional services over the company’s global IP network.  Verizon is assembling the key components of this powerful approach to serving enterprises, and this field trial of Computing as a Service (CaaS) enabled by VMware vCloud Datacenter is another step in that evolution. The EaaS platform – with Verizon’s global IP network and data centers as its foundation – will enable enterprises to do business better by getting what they need, when they need it, where they need it. Visit the Verizon IT Solutions & Hosting website for more information.

About VMware
VMware delivers virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions that enable IT organizations to energize businesses of all sizes.  With the industry leading virtualization platform – VMware vSphere™ – customers rely on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses, improve agility, ensure business continuity, strengthen security and go green. With 2009 revenues of $2 billion, more than 190,000 customers and 25,000 partners, VMware is the leader in virtualization which consistently ranks as a top priority among CIOs. VMware is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the world and can be found online at www.vmware.com

About Verizon Business
Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ), is a global leader in communications and IT solutions. We combine professional expertise with one of the world’s most connected IP networks to deliver award-winning communications, IT, information security and network solutions.  We securely connect today’s extended enterprises of widespread and mobile customers, partners, suppliers and employees – enabling them to increase productivity and efficiency and help preserve the environment.  Many of the world’s largest businesses and governments – including 96 percent of the Fortune 1000 and thousands of government agencies and educational institutions – rely on our professional and managed services and network technologies to accelerate their business. Find out more at www.verizonbusiness.com.

Receive alerts when your website goes offline. Sign-up for free website monitoring at UptimeSpy.com.

Web Host Services – UNITED KINGDOM – euNetworks Group Limited (SGX: H23.SI), announced it has launched the first phase of an overlay network, dedicated exclusively to the needs of the financial community. The network platform is supported by dedicated fibre and dedicated optronics, ensuring euNetworks’ euTrade services provide the lowest possible latency. As a company who specialises in designing, engineering and building ultra low latency connectivity networks, deploying a network exclusively for the finance market is a natural step in continuing to support the bandwidth needs of the financial services community. Optimising fibre routes, avoiding unnecessary Carrier Points of Presence (PoPs) and deploying latest generation optical transmission equipment has enabled industry leading latencies for direct exchange-to-exchange connectivity, a key requirement for the trading market today.

As part of a network development programme underway, euNetworks has launched a new ultra low latency route running from Slough in West London to key financial exchanges and data centres in the City of London. euNetworks has reduced the latency on this critical route by over 20% and is now providing sub 500 microsecond round trip connections between Slough and sites in the City of London.


This new route enables further availability of the euTrade service portfolio which delivers tailored solutions with on-demand connectivity between all major Stock Exchanges and clearing houses across Europe. Ranging from dedicated fibre, to wavelengths, and Ethernet based services, euTrade delivers pre-installed capacity for quick turn-up to bespoke solutions on optimised routes for the lowest possible latency.

“As a bandwidth infrastructure company, we continue to develop and optimise our network to support the financial services community, working closely with our clients,” said Brady Rafuse, Chief Executive Officer of euNetworks. “Our customers need latencies that are measured as a round trip between two points they wish to directly connect. Our network programme focuses on this and our ability to optimise our metro paths is a valuable differentiator. The demand we have seen for this Slough route indicates that we continue to deliver a market leading service and engineering capability with our densely meshed network.”

About euNetworks
euNetworks Group Limited (SGX: H23:SI) is a bandwidth infrastructure provider, owning and operating 13 fibre based metropolitan networks across Europe connected with a high capacity intercity backbone. The company offers a portfolio of metro and longhaul Ethernet and Internet Protocol services including dark fibre, dedicated fibre, wavelength, Ethernet, and Internet. Enterprise and carrier customers benefit from euNetworks’ unique inventory of fibre and duct based assets that are tailored to fulfil their high bandwidth needs.

euNetworks Group Limited is headquartered in London and publicly listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. For further information please visit www.eunetworks.com.

Receive alerts when your website goes offline. Sign-up for free website monitoring at UptimeSpy.com.