Verio Teams With Mercantec to Make Professional Quality Web Sites Accessible to First-Time Shared Hosting Customers

Business Wire, Dec 3, 2002

Business Editors

NAPERVILLE, Ill. & ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 2002

PowerWebBuilder(TM) Tools Help Novice Customers Create

Fully Customized Web Sites Free-of-Charge in Minutes

Verio, a subsidiary of NTT Communications Corp. and a leading provider of global IP solutions, today announced it will offer the new PowerWebBuilder(TM) suite of e-commerce solutions from Mercantec free-of-charge to first-time customers of its shared Web hosting services.

PowerWebBuilder(TM) enables customers to more quickly and easily build their own custom Web sites, from simple, one-or two-page brochure sites to larger sites with more pages. PowerWebBuilder(TM) also provides a one-click upgrade path to enable customers to add powerful features and revenue generating functionality as their business needs evolve.

"While just about everyone knows how to use a Web site these days, its tough to actually build your own if you've never done it before and that's a serious issue for some of our smaller business customers," said Doug Schneider, president of Verio's Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) Hosting business unit. "PowerWebBuilder(TM) can assist those customers who want to establish a basic Web site and don't have the time to become HTML experts to do it."

Many small businesses may not develop a Web presence for their registered domain due to a lack of resources and experience in creating a site. The addition of Mercantec's PowerWebBuilder(TM) tools to its shared Web hosting service helps Verio simplify the process of building Web sites for novice customers, especially those looking to add shopping cart, basic CRM tools such as calendaring and scheduling, and marketing functionality in the future.

Mercantec PowerWebBuilder(TM) is a new addition to the PowerCommerce suite of products, a fully functional, integrated suite of Web tools that offers online merchants and other business hosting customers easy-to-build Web functionality and other tools. Unlike most other Web site building packages, PowerWebBuilder(TM) is not frames-based and therefore provides customers with complete control over site design and layout. Customers are free to place text and images anywhere on the Web page to ensure they build a site that exactly fits the image they want to portray.

PowerWebBuilder(TM) makes Web site construction easy by taking customers through a simple six-step set-up wizard which offers a wide variety of template sets, design themes, meta tag generation options and drag and drop functionality.

Verio's SME Hosting division will offer two versions of PowerWebBuilder(TM): PowerWebBuilder(TM) Basic, which offers customers the ability to design a Web site with up to seven pages, will be provided free to all customers subscribing to Verio's Unix Bronze, Silver and Gold Web hosting plans. PowerWebBuilder(TM) Pro, which offers unlimited pages and 36 design themes, will be provided at an additional cost of $4 per month.

While PowerWebBuilder(TM) is aimed at novice customers, the product has been built with an easy, one-click upgrade capability that allows customers to add more powerful features and revenue generating functionality provided by Mercantec's more advanced PowerCommerce tools.

About Verio

Verio Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of NTT Communications (NTT Com), which provides long distance and international telecommunications reaching over 200 countries worldwide. Verio is the world's largest operator of Web sites for businesses and a leading provider of global IP solutions. NTT Com and Verio market their global IP solutions under the NTT/VERIO brand. The company offers businesses a broad range of Internet services, including Web hosting, dedicated access, virtual private networks, and managed service offerings, among other enhanced services. Verio supports its operations with highly reliable and scalable global infrastructure and systems including the NTT/VERIO Global IP Network, and provides Web hosting services to customers in more than 170 countries. The combination of Verio and NTT Com offers services to meet the growing and diverse needs of all businesses, including small to medium businesses, large global enterprises and multi-national corporations. More information can be found at www.verio.com and www.ntt.com/index-e.html.

About Mercantec, Inc.

Established in 1995, Mercantec, Inc. is a leading global provider of software products and services that enable Internet commerce. Mercantec distributes complete e-commerce solutions through Internet Service Providers and web hosting providers to small- to medium-sized businesses. For additional company or product information, visit the Mercantec website, www.mercantec.com, or call 630-305-3200.