Cloud Hosting

ATLANTA, Sept. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- EarthLink, Inc. (ELNK) a leading IT and communications provider, today announced that fast-growing information technology services company independenceIT (iIT)has selected EarthLink's virtualized Cloud Hosting services to deliver Cloud Workspace and application platforms to iIT clients. iIT chose to partner with EarthLink for virtualization to improve the performance of its virtualized platform and to dedicate its internal resources to development, support and enhancements rather than data center management. Earlier this year, EarthLink and independenceIT signed an agreement enabling EarthLink to offer iIT's Cloud Workspace solutions to customers as a part of the EarthLink's IT Services product suite.

Previously, iIT operated three data centers and was forced to continually invest in additional hardware and engineering staff to support its rapid growth. To meet its increasing demands and maintain strategic focus, iIT searched for a solution that would provide greater scalability and cost control over its IT infrastructure and software platforms. iIT found that solution in EarthLink's Cloud Hosting service within EarthLink's data centers. Click here to read EarthLink's complete iIT case study.

"Our focus is on developing our cloud delivery and management platform and the Cloud Workspace environment for our clients, not managing network infrastructure," said Charles Buck, iIT Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder. "Utilizing EarthLink's Cloud Hosting service, network infrastructure, and data centers allows us to remain focused on core product development, freeing our developers and systems engineers to bring new and enhanced solutions to our clients."

Virtualizing its data center operations with EarthLink provides iIT the right mix of capabilities and flexibility for its client base. With this approach, iIT maintains control over its servers but reduces hardware and manpower costs. The company can also scale its computing resources more quickly as it brings new clients on board. Plus, as a VMware vCloud provider, EarthLink offers the power and ease of use associated with the VMware solution. EarthLink is also equipped to meet iIT's specific security and compliance requirements. Critical to the company, its clients and their end customers, the EarthLink architecture provides a 99.999 percent uptime guarantee and 24x7x365 monitoring.

"With EarthLink Cloud Hosting, we eliminated the need to add infrastructure or engineering resources to scale our operations, while reducing our annual costs by an estimated 16 percent," said Buck. "We're able to keep our team very focused on profit-generating technology advancements, bringing new platform enhancements to market faster and keeping ahead of the competition while staying lean."

With EarthLink, iIT can also add or remove server space without paying for more than it needs. Moving forward, as iIT adds new clients, the company's automation platforms will create custom virtual machines and on-demand cloud workspaces with all of the applications and end user needs via integration with EarthLink's myLink IT Services Center.

"EarthLink Business is committed to simplifying IT complexity," noted Michael Toplisek, EarthLink Executive Vice President of Products and Marketing. "For customers like iIT, with our Cloud Hosting solution we can streamline IT environments with flexible, agile service delivery through virtualization. We worked closely with iIT to design a customized solution to meet its specific business requirements. This unique combination of integrated solutions and personalized service helps businesses improve productivity, manage change, minimize risk, and improve their IT infrastructure, data networks and voice communications."

iIT's Buck agrees, "We feel our products and platform are unique, and iIT truly appreciates the dedication, collaboration and customized approach that EarthLink provides. Any partnership comes down to people and execution. In the end, that's what we bought with EarthLink, the out-of-the-box, flexible thinking and willingness to get it done," added Buck.

About EarthLink

EarthLink, Inc. (ELNK) is a leading IT services and communications provider to more than 150,000 businesses and one million consumers nationwide. EarthLink empowers customers with managed services including cloud computing, managed and private cloud, and virtualization services such as managed hosting and cloud workspace. EarthLink also offers a robust portfolio of IT security, application hosting, colocation and IT support services. The company operates an extensive network spanning 28,800 route fiber miles with 90 metro fiber rings and 4 secure data centers providing ubiquitous nationwide data and voice IP service coverage across more than 90 percent of the country. Founded in 1994, EarthLink's award-winning reputation for outstanding service and product innovation is supported by an experienced team of professionals focused on best-in-class customer care. For more information, visit EarthLink's website at http://www.earthlink.net.

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independenceIT Chooses EarthLink for Virtualized Cloud Hosting Services

DALLAS, TX--(Marketwire - Sep 25, 2012) - FireHost, a secure cloud hosting company, announces that it received a Bronze Stevie Award in the category of Most Innovative Tech Company of the Year - Up to 100 Employees in the 10th Annual American Business Awards(SM). The company was recognized for its outstanding achievements in providing its customers' websites and applications exceptional uptime, performance, and protection from hackers.

The American Business Award judging panel based the company's win on its achievements in 2011. Those accomplishments dealt with launching the Payment Card Industry's first PCI DDS 2.0 compliant public cloud hosting platform, introducing these forward-thinking solutions to the European market, making end-roads into tiered storage options and customer transparency that allows clients to readily view the types of attacks their websites and applications are protected from in real-time.

"Winning a Stevie Award is an honor, and we are especially pleased to be recognized in a category that deals with technology innovation. Since FireHost's inception, we have focused on staying ahead of the technology curve in order to protect our clients' websites and application data," said Chris Drake, CEO of FireHost. "Our achievements in 2011 laid a great foundation for what we're doing in 2012, which focuses on ensuring businesses around the globe experience the security we are known for, as well as enterprise-grade performance and business continuity solutions."

The American Business Awards -- nicknamed the Stevies -- are the nation's premier business awards program, choosing this year from a candidate pool of more than 3,000 entries. Judges evaluated organizations from both the private and public sector in a wide range of categories including Most Innovative Company of the Year, Management Team of the Year, Best New Product or Service of the Year, Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year, and Executive of the Year, among others.

"We're delighted to recognize so many innovative companies, new products, technical achievements, and technology executives in the ABA's new product and tech awards categories," said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. "It's gratifying and inspiring to have received so many remarkable entries for this year's competition."

About FireHost FireHost is a secure cloud hosting company focused on protecting companies' sensitive data and brand reputations with an architecture built for security, scalability and performance. Customers with specific compliance or performance needs subscribe to FireHost's PCI, HIPAA or high traffic solutions, including some of the largest companies in the world as well as many fast growing eCommerce, SaaS and healthcare IT providers. FireHost provides services from Dallas, Phoenix, London and Amsterdam. http://www.firehost.com.

Follow FireHost on Twitter and the FireHost blog: twitter.com/firehost http://www.fireblog.com

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FireHost Named Stevie(R) Award Winner in 2012 American Business Awards(SM)

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Parallels (www.parallels.com), a hosting and cloud services enablement leader, today announced another successful year of solid growth across Asia Pacific, as the company reported a rapidly expanding list of service providers and hosters who are partnering with Parallels to deliver cloud and hosting services to small and medium businesses (SMB). Given the importance of the APAC SMB cloud market, which Parallels estimates will grow 38 percent year-over-year to US $19.8 billion by 2015, the company continues to invest in developing innovative software, recruiting executive leadership and adding other resources to enable its APAC partners to better meet the growing SMB demand for cloud services. The companys accelerated growth in APAC includes the recent introduction of Parallels Plesk Panel 11, which has been adopted 85% faster in Asia than previous versions, thus becoming the fastest growing product in companys history. Parallels also announced its latest reports on Asias accelerating SMB cloud markets, and launched previews of its newest software for hosting automation, infrastructure and cloud storage, giving service providers more capabilities and opportunities to sell and upsell cloud and hosted services and applications.

These developments were announced today at the fourth annual Parallels Summit 2012 APAC in Singapore, through September 22. The event attracts leading service providers and industry experts, who gather to discuss the latest trends and share best practices to further the growth of cloud and hosting services. The Asia Pacific region continues to present vast opportunities for delivering cloud and hosting services, said Birger Steen, CEO of Parallels. Asian service providers and their SMB customers - are rapidly realizing the economic and operational benefits of using the cloud. Parallels stands at the forefront of this ongoing shift by making the investments in platforms and solutions for service providers. Combined with our expertise and ecosystem, Parallels is uniquely qualified to help our APAC partners meet the needs of SMBs seeking to migrate to cloud services.

Parallels Software: Latest Success and New Previews Partners in Asia and around the world continue to embrace Parallels Plesk Panel 11 in record numbers, citing the combination of powerful new features, ease of use, improved server performance and enhanced security. Many enhancements originated from APAC partner feedback and are designed to meet the needs of regions service providers, including:

Asian partners continue to embrace Parallels Plesk Panel at a record pace. "Kryptos believes in building business and customer relationships through strong alliances and partnerships, said Prasanna Ram, CEO of Kryptos in India. By leveraging its innovations, such as Parallels Plesk Panel, we have been able to improve our services dramatically and the partnership has enabled us more rapidly offer new hosting and cloud services to our customers.

Parallels has also announced the preview release ofParallels Cloud Server 6 Beta. This new technology combines Parallels Virtuozzo Containers together with world-class hypervisor technology, and dramatically improves server reliability and performance by turning existing unused server disk space into scalable, resilient cloud storage. Also now available is the preview of Parallels Business Automation Standard 4.3, the newest version of the most proven billing and automation solution for managing and scaling small and medium web hosting businesses. Parallels Business Automation Standard 4.3 provides even more value to hosters and other service providers, with a variety of advanced features based on customer feedback including centralized e-mail, antivirus, antispam and database management, and support for MySQL 5.x. In addition, the new version reduces supports costs by enabling the simple re-creation of virtual private servers (VPS), enabling end users to switch to any server operating system a provider offers. The public preview of Parallels Cloud Server Beta 2 is available for download at http://www.parallels.com/products/pcs/. The Parallels Business Automation Standard 4.3 preview is available for download atwww.parallels.com/products/pba-standard/whats-new/.

Parallels Automation Growth Continues in APAC Parallels Automation, the leading hosting and cloud services delivery system for large service providers, is designed to deliver a vast portfolio of Microsoft services (such as Office 365) and other hosted applications that can generate instant value and drive revenue for service providers. Many of APACs leading service providers have now deployed Parallels Automation, including Datec, Domain Central, GMO Cloud, KT, iiNet, Ozhosting.com, PacHosting, Shinjiru, Tsukaeru.net, ReadySpace, Ride, Telekom Malaysia and UberGlobal.

Parallels Automation has tremendously benefited iiNet with its ability to address mission critical business needs, and takes it a step further by enabling us to quickly offer on-demand software that SMBs need to be successful in todays competitive environment, said Kevin Clark, Hosting Manager at iiNet, Australias second largest DSL Internet Service provider. The new monetization opportunities that have risen for us as a result of our partnership will play a huge role in our expansion program.

APAC Partner List Continues to Expand Over the last twelve months, Parallels has also built relationships with many new service provider partners across APAC, including Vodien, CtrlS, WebVisions, Krypt, ThaiBizHost and Kryptos, who join the list of established Parallels partners including Softbank Korea, Telekom Malaysia, ZNet, Directi, and Net4 India. Further driving Parallels business in Asia Pacific is the addition of system integration and reseller partners that enable ISVs, VARs, ISPs and small hosting providers resell cloud services with minimal upfront costs and faster time-to-market. Companies entering the hosting space can now collaborate with Parallels new partners including CtrlS in India, and Sunny Vision in Hong Kong, as well as work with existing partners with a significant APAC footprint including LuxCloud, UberGlobal, and ReadySpace.

New Parallels SMB Cloud Insights for APAC, China and India: $19.8 Billion SMB Market by 2015 Parallels continues to invest on expanding its market expertise and intelligence to help service providers create and succeed with go-to-market strategies. These resources include the Parallels Partner Program and Parallels PartnerNet, open to hosters and service providers at any level, as well as Parallels SMB Cloud Insights, the companys series of 15 proprietary research reports with actionable insights for selling cloud services to SMBs. This week, Parallels is releasing its latest findings on the SMB cloud markets in China, India, and for the entire APAC region. The research anticipates a 38 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for SMB cloud services across APAC, with the total market growing to an estimated US $19.8 billion by 2015. To download the reports, go to http://www.parallels.com/smbreport/.

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Parallels Continues Its Asia Pacific Growth and Leadership in Cloud Enablement

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Sep 19, 2012) - Intermedia, a global leader in cloud services for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and the largest Microsoft Exchange hosting provider, today announced the launch of Cloud Server, available direct from Intermedia, through its premium channel program, as well as its Cloud Server launch distribution partner, Ingram Micro.

With Cloud Server, an integrated suite of cloud services using technology from Intermedia and its partners, users receive an enterprise-grade cloud solution with a worry-free experience. This gives the channel full control over the cloud environment, and allows SMBs to stay focused on their core business. As part of Cloud Server, Intermedia will offer the same level of expertise, complementary white-glove migration and premium 24/7/365 support that it currently provides to its Hosted Exchange partners and direct customers -- which includes an industry-leading 500,000 Exchange mailboxes.It's also meeting key SMB needs by including VPN, firewall, and 99.999 percent SLA standard with every Cloud Server. With its value-driven pricing and ease-of-use, Cloud Server rises above other solutions, making it the premier cloud application infrastructure available today.

"Intermedia is addressing the needs of small and medium-sized businesses by delivering enterprise-grade cloud services at affordable price points," says Renee Bergeron, VP of Managed Services and Cloud Computing, Ingram Micro North America. "As one of the leading cloud service providers within the IT channel and our growing Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace, Intermedia offers channel partners a high-performance, high-availability white label solution."

Intermedia's Cloud Server offers important benefits that most SMBs don't have today with their on-premise servers, including:

Intermedia's partners are core to its business, and Cloud Server reinforces the commitment to the partner program. With Cloud Server, Intermedia gives its partners full control over its branding, cloud environments, and business activities using its proprietary HostPilot Control Panel. The company also offers fixed pricing to help partners better manage customer expectations and budgets. Four initial Cloud Server configurations are offered, each customizable, and available as part of Intermedia's Office in the Cloud suite of plans.

ServNet Technologies, an Intermedia channel partner since 2010, deployed Cloud Servers to support Cipriani & Werner, PC, a full-service law firm with seven locations in the PA/NJ area, and after the success, Cloud Server is an essential part of ServNet's portfolio.

"Cloud Server allows us to affordably deliver a fully configurable, scalable enterprise level solution to our small and medium-sized business clients," says Jim Gatto, CEO, ServNet Technologies. "Intermedia's support, migration services and willingness to work with our staff to ensure the best design and facilitate a seamless integration guarantees we can deliver the best solution to our clients. At the end of the day, delivering Intermedia's Cloud Server as a solution is a genuine value proposition for our customers, who are now beginning to run their business applications on our cloud rather than on premises."

"In today's business environment, just about every SMB uses business applications -- from accounting to human resources to payroll," says Michael Gold, president, Intermedia. "Without a secure, cost-effective, integrated platform, these applications are not able to reach their full potential, because the company becomes distracted by the technology instead of focused on driving business growth. Cloud Server alleviates the IT worry for SMBs by providing superior performance, availability and data protection, predictable costs, familiar technologies and full control over the cloud environment."

Guaranteeing availability and preferred routing, Cloud Server is hosted on Intermedia's high availability infrastructure in top tier datacenters (SSAE16 SOC 1 Type II compliant, Tier III datacenter with redundant electrical and cooling infrastructure, verified levels of physical security, and redundant power supplies).

As most SMBs have limited IT resources, Intermedia works to help them take a strategic approach to maximize the cloud's value for their businesses, providing a highly efficient and cost effective way to access the same level of technologies and services used by Fortune-50-level enterprises.

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Intermedia's Cloud Server Ideal for Partners Seeking Channel-Friendly Business Cloud Service Solution