(PR NEWSWIRE) Concentric to Offer Microsoft Office 2000 Over the Internet
Concentric to Offer Microsoft Office 2000 Over the Internet to Customers
'Microsoft Office Online' Leverages Concentric's Expertise in Applications
Hosting, Allowing Today's Small- and Medium-Sized Companies to Outsource Their
Business Productivity Tools
SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Concentric Network Corp.
(Nasdaq: CNCX), a leading provider of e-business solutions for small- and
medium-sized companies, today announced it will participate in a pilot program
with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) to offer Office 2000 software as an application
service. When Concentric's pilot program commences in early 2000, customers
will utilize the functionality of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft
PowerPoint, and other Office applications via the Internet, instead of having
the Microsoft software installed on their PCs. The Office applications will
reside on Concentric servers, allowing businesses to access Office software
over the Internet, through client-thin software, allowing companies to
outsource many of their business productivity tools.
Concentric and Microsoft are leading the industry trend of making software
applications available on a subscription basis from central data centers.
Users will be able to access the latest version of Office without having to
make an upfront investment and without having to install or maintain the
software. In addition, outsourcing Office allows users to access the
application from any computer, and save their documents to a secure server in
the Concentric Network. Ultimately these network-stored documents will
facilitate collaboration upon simultaneously by numerous users, including
allowing threaded discussions within the document text, for easy team
collaboration and knowledge sharing.
"We're excited to be working with Concentric to offer the
industry-leading Office applications over the Internet," said Steven Sinofsky,
vice president of Microsoft Office. "Microsoft Office Online will be a good
addition to the application services and e-business solutions Concentric
currently offers and we look forward to leveraging Concentric's application
hosting experience to provide another choice for Office users."
Office Online is an example of an application with broad appeal that
Concentric will make available directly to its large small- and medium-sized
business customer base. Concentric's first pioneering move in the application
service provider (ASP) market was the launch of the industry's first
applications infrastructure provider (AIP) services, called ConcentricAIP.
ConcentricAIP is a comprehensive, outsourced infrastructure solution designed
specifically to meet the needs of application service providers, including a
suite of capabilities for securely delivering applications and Web-based
services over the Internet or a VPN. Concentric is combining its unique data
center capabilities, operations expertise and network strength to provide a
secure and reliable outsourced infrastructure for such leading ASP's as Corio.
"We are pleased to participate in Microsoft's pilot program for Office
Online," said Connie DeWitt, vice president of small/medium business (SMB)
marketing for Concentric Network. "The fact that Microsoft is embracing
hosted applications marks a true turning point in the ASP market. In
particular, this is a key initiative for small- and medium-sized businesses
who are interested, first and foremost, in growing and developing their
businesses -- not in building in-house IT departments. We believe that
outsourcing applications will particularly appeal to this market segment."
About Concentric Network Corporation
Concentric Network Corporation provides complete, easy-to-use Internet
business solutions for small- to medium-sized companies and customized Virtual
Private Network and data center services for larger organizations.
Concentric's portfolio of services for small- to medium-sized companies
includes high-speed DSL access, Web hosting and e-commerce. For larger
organizations, the company offers dedicated Web hosting services and VPN
solutions that enable an organization to securely and reliably communicate
with its offices, mobile sales force, business partners, vendors and
customers. Concentric's services rely on a high-performance, ATM-based
network that covers North America, and through various partnerships, reaches
internationally. Concentric also operates state-of-the-art hosting centers at
strategic locations across the U.S. All Concentric services are backed by
24 hour/7 days a week customer support, and many are backed by strong service
level agreements.
The company recently received two Well-Connected Awards from Network
Computing for Most Innovative Service Provider of the Year and for Best
Enterprise Internet Service Provider for ConcentricHost(TM). The company
consistently receives top ratings by Inverse Network Technology, an
independent research firm that grades the performance of network service
providers each month. Traded on Nasdaq under the symbol "CNCX," Concentric
Network is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with operations offices in
Southern California, Chicago, Ill., St. Louis, Mo., and Saginaw, Mich., along
with sales and channel support across the U.S. For more information, access
the company's Web site at concentric.net or contact Public
Relations at publicrelations@concentric.com.
As an Executive Member of the ASP Industry Consortium, Concentric has
further established itself as a key infrastructure provider to the emerging
Application Service Provider market.
Concentric has reached an agreement to acquire Internet Technology Group
plc (AIM: ITH.L), a leading provider of Internet access and hosting for
businesses in the UK. The acquisition is subject to Internet Technology Group
shareholder, court and regulatory approvals and is currently expected to close
in the fourth quarter of 1999.
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding
Concentric's proposed acquisition of Internet Technology Group plc (ITG), and
the potential benefits to be realized by the combined groups, including but
not limited to expansion of Internet services into Europe, that are subject to
risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those
described in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of
factors, including the requirement for Internet Technology Group stockholder,
court and regulatory approval, and the ability of the combined groups to
successfully integrate and expand their service offerings.
NOTE: Concentric Network Corporation and the Concentric logo are
trademarks of Concentric Network Corporation. Other product names mentioned
herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective
companies.
SOURCE Concentric Network Corp.
-0- 11/09/1999
/CONTACT: Jenna Dee of Concentric Network Corp., 408-817-2297, or
jdee@concentric.com; or Leslie Vukad of Wilson McHenry Co., 510-723-6200, or
lvukad@wmc.com, for Concentric Network Corp./
/Company News On-Call: prnewswire.com or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 152925/
/Web site: concentric.net
(CNCX MSFT)
CO: Concentric Network Corp.; Microsoft Corp.; Internet Technology Group plc
ST: California, Washington
IN: CPR MLM
SU: CON
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