Micron Electronics Opens High-Capacity, State-of-the-Art Web and Application Hosting Data Center in Boise, Idaho - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, April 10, 2000

Two weeks after opening an ultra-secure network operations center in Washington state, Micron Electronics, Inc. (www.micronpc.com) (Nasdaq:MUEI), has announced the opening of a high-capacity, state-of-the-art Web and application hosting data center in Boise, Idaho.

The center will provide co-location and dedicated Web and applications hosting services for Micron's Internet and Web hosting subsidiaries.

More than 30% of the 85,000 sites hosted by Micron are e-commerce enabled and have Web traffic of 100 million page views a day and 10 million daily unique Web visitors to customer sites.

The launch of the Boise data center is part of a planned $210 million investment in expanding Micron's business-to-business Internet and Web hosting capability. The 5,000-square-foot, custom-built center, features multiple levels of physical security, redundancy, and connectivity.

"Our Boise data center is proof positive that we are charging ahead in the expansion of our Web and application hosting operations" said William R. Burns, Jr., area vice president of Data Center Infrastructure and Operations, Micron Electronics. "This facility is one hundred percent owned and operated by Micron, and will provide fast, reliable Internet connections for the thousands of Web sites, applications and e-commerce operations we host. In addition, this facility was built specifically for hosting and e-commerce customers, with close attention to the redundancy and scalability."

The Boise data center provides the following features for security, redundancy, and connectivity: -- 10/100MB & Gigabit Ethernet server access to LAN -- Multiple Internet Connectivity using BGP-4 for load balancing -- Multiple nationwide IP carriers -- Cisco 7513 routers -- Cisco 5500 & 6500 high-end gigabit ether-switches -- Multiple fiber access points on OC12 & OC48 Sonet Rings -- 850 kilowatt generator on-site with 96 hours of on-line fuel capacity -- Multiple levels of security, including man traps, video surveillance, & controlled access. -- Dedicated and redundant HVAC systems -- State of the art Network Operations Center (NOC), with 7x24 management.

The Boise facility is the second of several data centers Micron plans to open within the next three months, bringing total square footage to 30,000. Each center will house thousands of servers that host business Web sites, applications and e-commerce operations.

Micron's Internet and Web hosting subsidiaries, now unified under the HostPro brand, host more than 85,000 Web sites and have more than 45,000 paid hosting accounts, making it the fourth largest Web hosting company in the country. With data centers in Los Angeles, Seattle, Moses Lake, Boise and Boca Raton, HostPro provides industry-leading Web and application hosting solutions to small and medium-sized businesses around the world.

HostPro offers a broad range of e-commerce, application hosting and connectivity solutions and Web hosting products based on Microsoft Windows NT, Microsoft Windows 2000, Unix, and Linux platforms. Web hosting solutions range from entry-level shared and virtual servers to managed and unmanaged dedicated Web servers. Customers can also take advantage of virtual hosting capabilities and e-commerce tools through the "true" virtual server environment that allows users more control and administrative privileges than traditional hosting companies.

Micron Electronics, Inc. (Nasdaq:MUEI) is a leading direct provider of award-winning computer products, Internet offerings, Web hosting and business-to-business e-commerce applications for the small- and medium-size business, government, education and consumer markets. Micron Electronics and its subsidiaries have more than 2,700 employees and approximately $1.4 billion in fiscal 1999 revenues. The company is based in Nampa, Idaho, and can be reached at www.micronpc.com.