ASOS.com switches services to Viatel – 8th April 2004

LONDON, 8th April 2004 - ASOS.com switches services to Viatel

Secure hosting keeps Victoria Beckham's jeans up

Handling half a million hits a day, the web site for ASOS, the UK's fifth largest online clothing retailer needed a secure and flexible hosting partner to ensure its customers would never be kept waiting for the latest fashions from Hollywood. Viatel now provides secure, managed hosting facilities to house the 12 servers that connect ASOS to its many customers across the UK, Europe and US.

ASOS.com is a highly successful online retail operation. Since its creation in 1999 it has defied the dotcom bust and become a profitable listed enterprise beating the online operations of familiar high-street brands such as Topshop and River Island. Serving fashion conscious shoppers with the clothing and jewellery choices of top stars such as Victoria Beckham and Jennifer Lopez, the company has built a loyal following who depend upon them to keep in touch with the latest Hollywood styles.

ASOS chose to switch to Viatel's secure hosting facilities in Egham after growing fears over the security of Telehouse in London in today's charged political environment, and the increasing inconvenience of travelling into London.

"Viatel was a breath of fresh air, a company prepared to accommodate our needs, whilst providing flexible services." Paul Cottingham, IT Director of ASOS.com remarks

"We're an online operation, with bespoke systems and years of collective IT experience, yet despite this, the majority of service providers insisted on offering us packages of un-wanted "value-adds" with their hosting services."

"Viatel listen and respond to our needs, and it is great to work with a supplier we can trust since we measure our downtime in minutes rather than hours."

Lucy Woods, CEO of Viatel said, "We're delighted to be working with such a strong brand as ASOS.com. As companies increasingly look to generate revenue online, secure, robust web hosting will become more important than ever."

Viatel currently provides ASOS with secure managed rack space for 12 servers from its dual-routed data centre in Egham.

ASOS' servers are monitored 24/7 by Viatel's highly skilled technicians who work closely with ASOS' IT team to ensure the servers stay up and running. Viatel offers highly redundant network connections extending into Europe from its Egham headquarters ensuring total resilience of service to better serve international needs.

Viatel relaunched its services this January with a marketing campaign designed to demonstrate Viatel's resolve to serve the untapped potential of the European mid-sized business market. The campaign is deliberately fresh and bold, with a sense of humour that articulates Viatel's difference in the overcrowded and under served European business marketplace.

Viatel operates across six European markets, including the UK, France and Germany. It has more than 10,000 business customers, serving them with a full suite of communications services including broadband, Virtual Private Networks, Managed Firewall, Managed Hosting and Hosting.

 

About Viatel

Viatel is a pan-European data and internet services company delivering great services in communications to European businesses, regardless of size.

Operating across the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and Switzerland and headquartered in the UK, Viatel is virtually debt free and operates a pan-European network. Headed by Lucy Woods, formerly of WorldCom EMEA and BT, the company employs 180 people throughout Western Europe to provide services including IP-VPNs, managed hosting and managed connectivity.

For further information on Viatel, please visit www.viatel.com

For further information please call:

James Ralph on +44 (0)207 730 5575

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