REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 26, 2000 — Microsoft Corp. today announced its expanded collaboration with Interland Inc., a Web-hosting company that has developed technologies, which radically cut the time needed to provision Web sites based on the Microsoft® Windows NT® and Windows® 2000 operating systems. The latest collaboration is another step by Microsoft to build the Windows DNA platform as the premiere platform for the applications-hosting market, and it will allow application service providers to provision hosted accounts for customers more easily and efficiently.
Microsoft will invest approximately $5 million in Interland, which the Atlanta-based Web-hosting firm will use to further develop the technology it created on the Windows platform. Interland, which currently utilizes the Microsoft Windows NT Server platform for nearly 70 percent of its 72,000 existing hosting accounts, will license to Microsoft the technology that allows ISPs to auto-provision new Web sites in a shared hosting environment on Windows NT-based servers, ensuring that they can set up new accounts more quickly and conveniently.
As part of the agreement, the companies will engage in co-marketing activities, and Microsoft has committed to invest another $7.5 million in Interland in the event of an initial public offering.
The agreement steps up Microsoft’s existing relationship with Interland, a Microsoft Certified Solutions Provider that has been working with Microsoft to build a cost-effective and high-quality Web-hosting infrastructure that scales to meet intense demand. As part of its existing Web-hosting efforts, Interland has also previously announced participation in Microsoft’s licensing pilot program via Office Online, which enables customers to use and access the industry-leading Office 2000 applications over the Internet. The new level of collaboration is important as the application-hosting market grows and covers Interland’s Windows NT Server-based services such as Communications Manager, Provisioning Manager, QoS Manager, Web Administrator and Version Control Manager. Interland’s Windows NT Server-based services allow ISPs to easily provision a customer account and reduce the time it takes to do so from nearly 35 minutes to approximately five minutes per account.
“ISPs today demand fast and flexible solutions for today’s rapidly growing application-hosting market,”
said Thomas Koll, vice president, Network Solutions Group, Microsoft.
“By continuing to provision new services based on the Windows platform, Interland is well-positioned to deliver faster, reliable and effective services that meet the needs of their customers.”
“Interland is proud to be working with Microsoft to standardize the process for hosting complex Web sites on the Windows platform,”
said Ken Gavranovic, president and CEO of Interland.
“Interland’s exclusive proprietary technologies developed for provisioning Web sites on the Microsoft platforms enable our customers to take full advantage of the power of Windows NT and Windows 2000 at an affordable price.”
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“MSFT”
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