Concentric Network Teams With inc.com to Deliver E-Business Solutions To Small- and Medium-Sized Companies
Tuesday, November 9, 1999 08:02 AM Mail this article to a friend
Concentric's Industry-Leading Web Hosting and E-Commerce Solutions, Delivered To inc.com Visitors Looking to Establish a Customized, Full-Scale Web Store In Hours
SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Concentric Network Corp. (Nasdaq: CNCX, news, msgs), a leading provider of e-business solutions for small- to medium-sized companies, today announced that Concentric's Web hosting and e-commerce solutions will be featured on the inc.com Web site. Inc.com is a new Internet venture bringing the industry's most comprehensive, high-quality management resources for helping America's millions of small businesses succeed. Inc.com leverages Inc.'s brand equity earned through 20 years of experience.
Inc.com empowers its users by aggregating best-of-breed content, in part through relationships with a hand-picked number of companies that contribute a selection of the industry's most pragmatic solutions for business management. Inc.com is able to deliver a range of broad, deep solutions through a rigorous process of due diligence and recommendation. Only through participation in this process can inc.com's Solutions Providers earn the prestigious Click of Approval(TM) trademark.
ConcentricHost(TM), a robust solution that allows businesses to build a customized, full scale Web site in hours, was selected as an inc.com Solutions Provider after its hosting platform was tested for reliability, ease-of-use and scalability. This extensive channel will provide Concentric with increased exposure to inc.com's Web site visitors. The ConcentricHost service is the only Web hosting and e-commerce solution listed on the Inc.com site, allowing Concentric and its partners to reach a large audience of small and mid-sized companies primed to leverage the power of the Internet.
"Inc.com provides a first stop for helping businesses meet their biggest resource challenges: time, money, and management expertise," said Paige Arnof-Fenn, vice president of marketing, inc.com. "Inc.com serves customers by providing fast, intuitive access to products and services such as Concentric's hosting solutions, which allow small and mid-sized businesses to cost-effectively establish a full-scale, customized Web store in a matter of hours. We put the ConcentricHost platform through a battery of test criteria before we were willing to stand behind their service. We are confident that their solution ideally matches the needs of today's growing businesses."
The inc.com Web site operates as a full-service electronic consultant to people starting and running businesses. The site presents resources and interactive networking opportunities available via the Web as the primary delivery mechanism.
"This is an ideal opportunity to extend the Concentric brand to a targeted base of growing businesses," said Connie DeWitt, vice president of small/medium business (SMB) marketing for Concentric Network. "The decision to prominently feature ConcentricHost on the Inc.com site is an extraordinary compliment to our reliable Web hosting and e-commerce services. As an independent, objective observer of industry solutions, Inc is uniquely positioned to evaluate the best options available for small and mid-sized businesses."
Site Building Technology
The ConcentricHost platform includes -- ConcentricHost Site Builder -- an intuitive, browser-based site builder tool that comes complete with a roster of professionally designed vertical market content packages, designed to simplify the task of creating a Web site. The Site Builder tool also includes e-commerce capability for creating a simple catalog site or a more advanced online storefront with real-time credit card transactions. CyberCash technology has been integrated into the service to absolve the need to work with multiple sources to establish real-time credit card processing capability. Moreover, users can effortlessly scale their Web site to align with the growth of their business, adding more advanced e-commerce enabled features without having to alter their existing Web site design.
Once the site is built, companies can easily publish their site to Concentric's shared hosting platform. Every Web site is load-balanced across a multi-server cluster using a proprietary networking architecture to increase performance and reliability. Should a server, router, or other piece of hardware fail, other equipment in the cluster will pick up the load, thereby eliminating any effect to individual Web sites. All Web site data is backed up nightly to provide additional protection against data loss. Additionally, Concentric's suite of hosting solutions provides unmatched customer support, including a toll free technical phone number and e-mail address to provide assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
About inc.com
A privately-held company headquartered in Charlestown, Mass., inc.com fills a marketplace need as the first stop for small businesses seeking the most comprehensive, high-quality management information and resources on the Web. Dedicated to providing the finest information, advice, solutions and community, inc.com leverages the equity of Inc., the widely recognized brand of integrity among small and mid-sized businesses around the world.
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 enterprises, the company offers dedicated Web hosting and data center services. Concentric is the first application infrastructure provider, offering a suite of infrastructure services that enable application service providers to deliver applications and Web-based services over the Internet or a VPN. Concentric's VPN solutions 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 has received "Most Innovative ISP" Award two years in a row from Inter@ctive Week, and 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). Deloitte & Touche recently ranked Concentric the 6th fastest growing technology company in Silicon Valley, as part of their Fast 50 Program. 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.
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.
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