FOSTER CITY, Calif. -- July 14, 2004 -- Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq:EQIX), the leading provider of network-neutral data centers and Internet exchange services, today announced that Neopets, Inc., a global media and entertainment company, will enhance the delivery of the company's popular Neopets.com(R) Web site through an agreement to locate at Equinix Internet Business Exchange(TM) (IBX(R)) data centers. The move to Equinix's network-rich Internet hubs will enable Neopets to reduce the company's overall network connectivity costs.
Neopets operates the most popular youth-oriented Web site in the world, Neopets.com, an online entertainment network whose members create "virtual pets" that inhabit a mythical land called "Neopia(R)." The Neopets experience is multi-faceted and provides hours of entertainment through a myriad of games, activities, entertainment venues, and ever-developing and challenging content. With more than 77 million registrations (created by approximately 23-25 million individuals, per company estimates) in the past four years, Neopets is also one of the fastest growing Web sites on the Internet, and is consistently ranked among the top-10 stickiest sites on the Internet by Nielsen//NetRatings, generating more than seven billion page views per month.
The aggregation of carriers, ISPs and other network service providers offered by Equinix within its centers enables content providers to cost-effectively execute strategic connectivity agreements with key business partners within a highly secure and reliable environment. Instead of offering its own propriety network to customers, Equinix offers a neutral ground where more than 100 networks aggregate to exchange data traffic and sell transit, offering content providers the greatest amount of flexibility in selecting their networking partners and implementing network redundancy for critical IT operations. Through direct interconnection within the same facility, content providers can eliminate the cost as well as the performance degradation associated with linking to multiple partners over great geographic distances. The result is a reduction in connectivity costs, an improvement in end-user performance and an increase in reliability and redundancy.
"Our business is built on 24/7 uptime and connectivity to our more than 23-25 million end-users around the world," said Bill McCaffrey, chief technical officer of Neopets, Inc. "This agreement with Equinix will enable us to continue to deliver the high quality experience our users have come to expect from Neopets."
Over the past four years, the Neopets Web site has grown from operating on a single server to more than 300 servers. The site currently peaks at approximately 1.7 gigabit of bandwidth each day -- the equivalent of approximately 1000 T1 lines -- and generates more than 50,000 new account registrations daily.
"Neopets has become an Internet sensation amongst the youth audience, with a torrid growth rate that has catapulted it into contention with the top Web properties on the Internet," said Peter Van Camp, CEO of Equinix. "For content providers, such as Neopets, that are experiencing a strong growth trajectory, Equinix's ecosystem of network service providers offers a compelling alternative to traditional hosting in facilitating a reliable, cost effective connectivity infrastructure that provides the greatest amount of flexibility for the scaling of operations."
About Neopets
The privately owned Neopets, Inc., a global media and entertainment company, owns and operates Neopets.com, the world's leading online youth community. Neopets.com, consistently ranked among the top-10 "stickiest" sites on the Web by Nielsen//NetRatings, currently has over
20 million members and generates more than 7 billion pageviews per month worldwide. The company is headquartered in Glendale, California. For additional information, visit the Neopets(R) Web site at http://www.neopets.com or go to Neopets' online press kit at http://info.neopets.com/aboutus.
About Equinix
Equinix is the leading global provider of network-neutral data centers and Internet exchange services for enterprises, content companies, systems integrators and network services providers. Through the company's 14 Internet Business Exchange(TM) (IBX(R)) centers in five countries, customers can directly interconnect with every major global network and ISP for their critical peering, transit and traffic exchange requirements. These interconnection points facilitate the highest performance and growth of the Internet by serving as neutral and open marketplaces for Internet infrastructure services, allowing customers to expand their businesses while reducing costs.
