Sydney – 26 September, 2003 – Hostway Corporation, a global leader of web hosting services and online business tools for small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SME), has acquired the assets of Sydney-based GlobalHost and Dedicated Hosting, adding to Hostway’s existing customer base and signaling a major expansion drive in its Asia Pacific operations.

The two acquisitions, effective immediately, follow the launch of Chicago-headquartered Hostway in Australia last April, and is in line with company’s global expansion strategy to provide local data centre facilities as well as scale and support for its existing Australian customer base.

Under the terms of the agreements, Hostway will acquire GlobalHost’s web hosting co-location customers and infrastructure in Australia. These facilities will complement Hostway’s established US, North Asian and European data centre facilities.

GlobalHost’s previous co-location customers will now benefit from an expanded range of products and services on offer from Hostway that support both Microsoft and Linux platforms, including domain name registration, shared hosting, e-commerce hosting, dedicated servers and fully-managed complex hosting solutions.

In addition, Hostway has acquired Dedicated Hosting’s web hosting, co-location and managed services business. Dedicated Hosting handles more than 1,000 customers directly but is also a reseller of hosting services. It manages just under 2,000 domain name registrations.

“We have a commitment to growing our market in the Asia Pacific region and to strengthening our services and partners in order to provide customers with better hosting solutions. Our customer acquisition strategy is based on helping organisations implement hosting solutions that can be put in place rapidly, reduce costs and drive up customer satisfaction and loyalty,” said Michael Farrell, General Manager, Hostway Corporation.

Under the terms of the two agreements, Hostway will be contractually obliged to support and honour current customer agreements.

Aneel Gupta, founder and managing director of Dedicated Hosting, said, “Our merger with Hostway yet again signals more consolidation in the market. The clear benefit for our customers is the access to Hostway’s technology. Being a global player, they have the latest products and feature set which can only be of great benefit to our customers.”

Established in 1996 and headquartered in Chicago, Hostway supports web hosting provision for more than 300,000 customers globally and has been profitable every quarter since its inception.

The company is one of the five largest pure-play web hosting companies in the world and has compiled a successful record of integrating acquired companies smoothly and delivering superior service to customers of these companies. Within the last two months, Hostway has acquired NetNation Communications and Neutelligent in the North American market. In recent months, it has become one of the fastest growing global domain name registrars.

About Hostway
Hostway Corporation is a provider of award-winning web hosting services and tools, supported by superior customer service. Working primarily with small- and medium-sized businesses, Hostway provides the best of hosting technology with innovative online tools to assist customers to broaden their reach and grow their business. Hostway offers a wide range of shared and dedicated server plans to partner with their customers – from the launch of a Web site through every stage of online growth.

Founded in 1996, the Chicago-based company supports more than 300,000 websites worldwide. Hostway has expanded its global reach by opening an office in Korea in 2000, a UK office in 2001 and a Dutch and Australian office in 2003. Hostway is a private company, has posted a profit every quarter since its inception and does not rely on outside capital.

For more information on Hostway Corporation please contact:
Terri Stewart-Williams
Hostway Corporation
Terri@hostway.com.au
Tel: 02 9922 6300

David Bass/Jo Balfour
LEWIS PR
davidb@lewispr.com / joanneb@lewispr.com
Tel: 02 9901 4235