7/15/03
Z-Tel Technologies Selects XO Communications For Co-Branded Hosting Solution
Z-Tel Taps Into the Expertise and Hosting Platform Developed By XO In Support of Z-Tel’s Expanded Business Services Initiative
Reston, VA - XO Communications, Inc., a national broadband communications services provider, announced today it has been selected by Z-Tel Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq/SC: ZTEL), to provide a co-branded web hosting service developed on the XO Metra platform. This unique hosting platform supports numerous hosting customers on a cluster of servers designed to deliver superior network availability. By leveraging XO’s expertise, Z-Tel is able to provide a proven and cost-effective hosting service to its business customers.
Z-Tel is a provider of local, long distance and enhanced telecommunications services. The company embarked on an initiative to expand its penetration of the business segment with its Business Services unit. This unit targets small and mid-market businesses, national accounts and wholesale customers with comprehensive, managed voice and broadband services. Adding hosting to its suite of business telecommunication solutions is yet another step toward Z-Tel’s goal to become a one-stop shop for customized, end-to-end voice and broadband communication solutions for businesses nationwide.
“We are pleased that Z-Tel has chosen XO as its co-branding solution,” said John Jacquay, President of Business Market Sales for XO Communications. “Our expertise in the hosting business enables us to offer the best infrastructure possible. As a result, Z-Tel will be able to quickly and cost-effectively provide hosting services to its customers. In addition, we have well-trained customer care specialists that will provide Z-Tel’s customers with a level of customer care that addresses their specific needs 24-hours a day, seven days a week.”
Tapping into the XO hosting capability and advanced platform to support co-branding enables Z-Tel to provide hosting services with a dependable service delivered on a proven infrastructure. Comprised of fault-tolerant, load-sharing server clusters, the XO hosting platform provides enhanced and reliable service by sharing user request loads across multiple servers. This sharing capability allows for top performance, even amid large network traffic spikes or individual hardware failures. XO is also providing Z-Tel with end user customer care support, which allows Z-Tel to avoid the cost of training and employing dedicated customer care representatives. Additionally, XO will provide Z-Tel with a billing feed that allows Z-Tel to maintain the direct billing relationship with its customer base, offering Z-Tel the opportunity to provide its customers with a single bill for their voice and data communications services.
“XO offered the single best approach for Z-Tel to add a hosting solution to our product portfolio,” said Frank Grillo, senior vice president, business services for Z-Tel. “After careful consideration of the build versus buy scenarios, it became clear that XO offered us the best means for rapidly provide hosting services with a proven platform that will meet our high standard of providing telecommunication services.”
“Having been in the hosting business for seven years, we have garnered extensive expertise regarding the needs of business customers and how to leverage today’s technology to deliver the best end user experience,” said Barbara Branaman, Director of Web Hosting services for XO Communications. “In anticipation of the increasing demand for co-branding, we built our platform to support co-branded interfaces and billing options that allow us to offer a solution that can easily be added to any existing company portfolio.”
About XO Communications
XO Communications is a leading broadband communications service provider offering a complete set of communications 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 communications services in more than 60 markets throughout the United States.
For more information contact:
Jenna Dee / XO Communications
Media and Industry Analysts
408-422-4287
Michelle Heath/ XO Communications
Financial Analysts
703-547-2476
