XO Communications, Inc. (OTCBB:XOCM.OB) today announced a new market penetration strategy for its Web hosting and related services with the relaunch of the Concentric brand. Concentric, a service of XO Communications, provides small and medium-sized business (SMBs) with business-grade Web hosting solutions that deliver superior levels of reliability, performance, security and value typically offered to large companies. To support the relaunch, the new Concentric services include competitively priced Web hosting plans with generous allocations of email, traffic and disk space combined with integrated tools that enable SMBs to build, market and profit from their online presence.
"There is a strong sense of pride and re-invigoration that we feel in relaunching the Concentric brand," said Barbara Branaman, vice president and general manager of XO's hosting business unit. "We have an opportunity to develop more laser-focused marketing campaigns to drive awareness to our Web hosting solutions. We are also in a fortunate position to have strong financial backing by XO Communications that allows us to continue to invest in our patented hosting architecture to deliver the performance and security our customers deserve."
With experience in the hosting business since 1997, Concentric is the only solution awarded a U.S. patent for its Web hosting architecture, underscoring its unique platform designed to deliver superior performance, reliability and security. In fact, since 1997 Concentric has never experienced a breach in data security or integrity. As a result, SMBs are assured a true business-grade solution that adapts in real-time to traffic demand for performance reliability. The service is also backed by an industry leading 99.9% SLA and is the only hosting service that includes a 3-Month Satisfaction Guarantee. The guarantee demonstrates that the Concentric hosting solutions offer the most value for the price, and are suitably designed to match the level of sophistication required for today's growing businesses.
Secure and Reliable Web Hosting Designed for SMBs
The new aggressively priced hosting packages offer generous allocations of email, traffic and disk space. With plans starting as low as $7.95 per month with a 24-month term commitment, SMBs gain a robust hosting solution that cost effectively accommodates the budget requirements of an SMB. The Concentric service provides Unix and Windows-based hosting packages that enable real-time Web site creation, along with domain name registration, branded email addresses and value-add services to fully market and sell online. From one centralized login, companies gain access to a set of easy to use management tools that are seamlessly integrated to provide the following benefits:
-- Web Builder Tool - Real-time, easy-to-use site creation tool that allows businesses to quickly create their online presence
-- Junk Mail Filtering - Sophisticated junk mail filtering tools that are customizable to reduce spam activity and ensure greater email security
-- Microsoft List Builder - E-mail marketing tool allowing businesses to automate sign-ups and data collection, send rich HTML newsletters, manage mailing lists, and track e-mail responses, including collecting demographic data on customers.
-- Microsoft Submit It! - Search engine submission tool that makes it easy to submit a number of URLs to top search engines and lesser known sites - 400 search engines currently in market.
-- Microsoft Commerce Manager - Product merchandising tool for profiting from an online presence
-- 24/7 Customer Care - trained specialists available to answer questions 24-hours a day, seven days a week by phone or email
Meeting the Needs of the Small to Medium Sized Business
According to Yankee Group there are 6.3 million SMBs in North America. Among them, local and regional real estate agencies, retailers, law firms and marketing agencies that are competing with national, multi-national and even global entities. These SMBs require the same level of reliability and security as their larger competitors yet need a solution that fits within their smaller budget parameters.
"The shared hosting business faced pricing pressures for many years because of prevalent cut-rate pricing strategies," said Helen Chan, Senior SMB Analyst at the Yankee Group. "Businesses now are learning that trade-offs such as unreliable performance, spotty security protection, and insufficient Web tools that come with low prices are often far too costly in the long-run. By contrast, the Concentric services do a good job of achieving the right price for performance ratios with these new hosting plans supported by guarantees that are normally only afforded to large businesses."
For more Concentric product information, please go to www.concentric.com or call 866-500-9696.
About Concentric
Concentric, an XO Communications service, offers business-grade web hosting solutions that cost-effectively scale to meet the needs of today's growing businesses. As the only hosting service to hold a patent for its Web hosting architecture, Concentric has designed a unique platform that delivers superior performance, reliability and security. Backed by an industry leading 99.9% SLA, a 3-Month Satisfaction Guarantee along with 24x7 customer care, Concentric offers web site hosting, email, ecommerce, sophisticated junk mail filtering and web builder tools designed to help companies effectively leverage the power of the Internet. For more information, visit www.concentric.com or call 866-500-9696.
About XO Communications
XO Communications is a leading broadband telecommunications services provider offering a complete portfolio of telecommunications services, including: local and long distance voice, Internet access, Virtual Private Networking (VPN), Ethernet, Wavelength, Web Hosting and Integrated voice and data services.
XO has assembled an unrivaled set of facilities-based broadband networks and Tier One Internet peering relationships in the United States. XO currently offers facilities-based broadband telecommunications services within and between more than 70 markets throughout the United States.
