Verio Unveils Industry's First IPv6-Enabled Managed Hosting In North America

Business Wire, Nov 29, 2007

Dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 Virtual Private Server and Managed Private Server offer testing and development environment for businesses planning to move to IPv6

CENTENNIAL, Colo. -- Verio Inc., a leading provider of business solutions online, including hosting, applications and managed services, today announced it will offer Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) connectivity for customers and solution provider partners using Verio's Virtual Private Sever (VPS) and Managed Private Server (MPS) hosting solutions. The first such managed commercial service based in North America, Verio's IPv6-enabled products will help businesses, government agencies and educational institutions utilize the cost-effective VPS and MPS for IPv6 network testing, as well as new product and application development environments for upgrading IT infrastructures to the next generation protocol for the Internet.

Verio's support of IPv6-based hosted server solutions in North America is timely. According to industry experts and reports, availability of IPv4 addresses is steadily diminishing, generating strong demand in Asia and Europe today, with North America to follow in the coming years. IPv4 uses a 32-bit addressing scheme, which can only support a total of 4.3 billion user addresses. IPv6 is designed to help overcome many of the limitations posed by the current IPv4 protocol by providing easier administration and superior reliability through a robust 128-bit addressing scheme and the availability of 340 trillion trillion trillion (340 followed by 36 zeros) unique Internet user addresses. The IPv4 Address Report, updated daily, states that according to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), on May 19, 2010, all IPv4 IP addresses worldwide will be exhausted if they continue to be provisioned at the current rate.

The United States government has mandated that all federal agencies be IPv6 compatible by June 2008, and businesses, educational institutions and other organizations can now easily make the switch as well. Using Verio's FreeBSD VPS and MPS, customers can add IPv6 to their managed hosting solution, and since both offerings support dual-stack IPv4 and IPv6, customers can continue using IPv4 for as long as needed, upgrading to IPv6 only when the business is ready for the switch, and changes have been fully tested.

"Together with NTT Communications, Verio has shown a strong commitment to IPv6 since 1996 when NTT Labs started one of the world's largest IPv6 research networks," said Kiyoshi Maeda, president and chief executive officer for Verio. "Verio believes the time is imminent for businesses in North America to begin planning for a transition to IPv6. Our virtual and managed server solutions offer a fully-managed platform for these businesses to test IPv6 with no risk for a smooth, gradual transition from IPv4."

With an IPv6-enabled service offered from the NTT Communications data center in Tokyo in 2005, Verio has a long history and considerable experience with IPv6. Today, NTT Communications Corp., Verio's parent company, already supports the Verio IPv6 initiative on the NTT Communications Global IPv6 backbone network, which is delivering commercial service in many countries in Asia-Pacific, including Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia, as well as Europe, including Great Britain, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Spain. NTT Com is the only commercial provider in the world to offer such expanded global coverage of IPv6 service. NTT Com pioneered IPv6 development, and since 1996, has led the way in researching and standardizing the protocol.

IPv6 network connectivity for customers and solution partners will be provided by Verio's sister company, NTT America. Verio will provide the service on its Virtual Private Sever (VPS) and Managed Private Server (MPS) hosting platforms, which are part of the Verio 360* Managed Server family of services.

Availability

IPv6 is available immediately for all new FreeBSD-based VPS v3 and MPS v3 hosting solutions at no additional charge. Service for all FreeBSD-based VPS v3 and MPS v3 hosting solutions will be available in the first quarter of 2008. More information can be found at www.verio.com/ipv6-vps-mps/

About 360(*) Managed Servers

The 360* Managed Server suite of solutions from Verio is comprised of the company's higher-end virtual and managed server solutions that enable companies to readily develop, install and deploy customized online solutions and applications to meet their needs. The suite of fully managed services helps companies to mitigate the need for IT services, including hardware purchase, and software maintenance and upgrades.

About Verio

Verio Inc. enables companies to conduct business online, through hosting, applications and managed services serving the business needs of SMB companies and partners worldwide, and is a subsidiary of NTT Communications, which provides complementary global network access reaching over 200 countries worldwide. The company focuses on how to help companies and partners achieve their business goals with functional hosting solutions, applications and services that enable them to drive success online. Verio supports its operations with highly reliable and scalable global infrastructure and systems including the NTT Communications Global IP Network, and provides business solutions to customers and partners in more than 146 countries. More information can be found at www.verio.com.