Casual Gaming Pioneer Chooses Internap

Business Wire, Nov 29, 2006

Performance IP Service Optimizes Over 60 Million Hours of Online Play for PopCap Games' Subscribers on Multiple Platforms

ATLANTA -- Internap Network Services Corporation (NASDAQ: INAP), a leading provider of performance-based routing solutions over the Internet, today announced that PopCap Games Inc., the leading multi-platform provider of "casual games," has selected Internap to provide an improved end-user experience with faster page loads, click-throughs and response times for its free game downloads. Internap provides nearly 100% uptime for PopCap's U.S. home site, www.popcap.com, which serves over 60 million hours of online free-based game play per month. The casual gaming category includes puzzle (strategy), classic (arcade), trivia and word games.

By colocating its game servers in an Internap data center in Seattle, and connecting to the Internap Private Network Access Point (P-NAP[TM]) for its primary Internet connectivity, PopCap has optimized bandwidth usage to significantly increase its existing network capacity. As a result, the privately held company has optimized bandwidth utility by 40% on peak traffic since deploying the service.

PopCap allows online game play of 31 casual interactive games on its home site, as well as on partner sites such as Microsoft Gaming Zone, Yahoo, RealOne Arcade and Shockwave. Games may be played on a variety of platforms such as the PC, Mac, PDA/Smartphone and mobile phones. Bejeweled, PopCap's top selling puzzle title, has sold more than 10 million units and been installed on 50 million mobile phones in North America in the last two years.

"Gaming is a global phenomenon and our customers expect to freely download, purchase and play their favorite games," said Hans Reifenrath, director of IT for PopCap Games, Inc. "We face the challenge of keeping bandwidth costs under control as more users come online daily, especially through the use of wireless devices worldwide." He continued, "Internap's optimized bandwidth has also allowed us to run other applications that improve backend operations on our network. From the U.S. to Mumbai or Madrid and beyond, our players know they can enjoy a consistent gaming experience wherever, whenever and however they prefer. Internap has certainly delivered for us."

The Online Game Market, a 2006 report by market research firm DFC Intelligence, forecasts the worldwide online game market to grow from $3.4 billion in 2005 to more than $13 billion in 2011, with digital distribution of downloadable games driving the casual games sector, particularly in North America and Europe. The report also stated that casual games have historically been the best at attracting advertisers, and are now also finding a great deal of growth from subscription and digital distribution models.

"With the explosive growth of online gaming come serious Internet performance challenges. PopCap's success demonstrates how Internap provides an intelligent and reliable platform to deliver a high-quality user experience," said James P. DeBlasio, chief executive officer, Internap. "This growth also presents opportunities for us to help subscription-based gaming customers get the most from their existing resources to improve multiple facets of business-- from game development to customer play."

According to The Telephia Mobile Game Report for Q1 2006 by Telephia, a provider of performance measurement information to the mobile industry, 65% of mobile game revenue is driven by female wireless subscribers and four of the top five revenue-generating titles fall into the Puzzle/Strategy category, with Bejeweled as the third best-selling puzzle game after Tetris and Tetris Deluxe. The report also cited that 74% of women prefer to play trivia/word; 72% puzzle and 62% classic/arcade games respectively on their mobile phones.

Internap lists other casual gaming companies such as Big Fish Games, Three Rings and Cranium among its customers.

About PopCap Games

PopCap Games (www.popcap.com) is the leading multi-platform provider of "casual games" - easy-to-play yet utterly entertaining and engaging brain food enjoyed by players young and old, male and female. Based in Seattle, Washington, PopCap was founded in 2000, and has approximately 100 employees in its Seattle, San Francisco and Dublin offices. PopCap's games have been downloaded more than 200 million times by consumers worldwide, and its flagship title Bejeweled[R] has sold more than 10 million units across all platforms. PopCap games are available for Web, PC, Mac, mobile phones, PalmOS and Windows Mobile PDAs, Xbox Live Arcade, iPods, in-flight on leading airlines, as scratch-off lottery tickets, and more. PopCap is the only casual games developer with leading market share across all major channels, including web portals, mobile phones, Xbox, retail, and PDA.

About Internap

Internap is a market leader of intelligent route control solutions that bring reliability, performance and security to the Internet. The company's patented and patent-pending technologies address the inherent weaknesses of the Internet, enabling enterprises to take full advantage of the benefits of deploying business-critical applications such as e-commerce, VoIP, and audio/video across IP networks. Internap currently serves more than 2,200 customers throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. For more information, please visit the company website at www.internap.com.