European Multimedia Forum introduces first European comparative study on webhosting and nominates Strato AG as the winner of the "European Webhoster of the Year

Brussels (ots/PROTEXT) - Today, the Swedish Presidency of theEU presented the "European Webhoster of the Year" Award createdby the European Multimedia Forum to German webhoster Strato AG. Bearing in mind the development of the Internet in Europe, theEuropean Multimedia Forum (EMF) commissioned the managementconsultants Cap Gemini Ernst & Young to carry out a marketanalysis. The aim of the investigation was to compare the price-performance relationship, the technology available and thequality of customer service of various Webhosting serviceproviders in key countries. Possible developments anddifficulties in each of the national markets were alsoinvestigated. Leading brand hosters from Benelux, Germany,Finland, France, Britain Spain and Sweden were chosen for thetests. The research revealed that the market in Germany has a centralsignificance within Europe. It was established that the Germanhosters Strato and 1&1 Puretec attained an outstanding positionin the total points awarded. The price-performance relationship,the technology on offer and the quality of customer service ofboth German companies proved to be at a very high level - whencompared to other European providers. A direct comparison of the two German providers resulted inStrato AG emerging as overall winner, therefore securing itsposition of leading Webhosting provider in Europe. "The Germancompany Strato AG is the first provider to be recognised for itsperformance by being honoured with the European MultimediaForum's "European Webhoster of the Year Award"," said PhilippeWacker, Secretary General of the EMF. The position of the Internet in the European Market The world-wide market for complex Webhosting is presentlyexperiencing continuous growth. Market research institutes arepredicting a "megaboom" especially for Europe, and they expectthe market volume for 2002 to be more than Euro 6 billion. Whencompared on a world-wide basis, Internet use and e-Commerce inEurope still lags way behind the USA, although the gap hasnarrowed significantly in the past years. The European Multimedia Forum has recognised that the positionof the Internet in European markets varies very significantly ona national basis. A homogenous development of European Internetwebsites is however necessary in order to be well-positioned inworld-wide competitiveness. "This is of particular importancesince the European Union plans to introduce the '.eu' domain,"underlined Philippe Wacker. It was with this in mind that the European Multimedia Forum(EMF) commissioned the comparative testing in order to have anoverview of the existing European Internet market. Based on theseresults, it is possible to make recommendations and to offer achoice of cross border providers. As an incentive for EuropeanWebhosters, the EMF has created the "European Webhoster of theYear Award", awarded this year for the first time. It was clear that, when compared to the rest of Europe, theWebhosting service and the quality of customer service of the twoGerman companies was comparably of a higher standard. The factthat the service offered by Strato and 1&1 Puretec both reachedalmost the same level is a clear indication that Germany is notonly an important and central market in Europe, but that it isalso strongly competitive. Ranking The investigation revealed the following results: Ranking Provider

Country Points 1

Strato

Germany 136 2

1 & 1 Puretec

Germany 125 3

JIPPII

Finland

95 4

CentroRed

Spain

85 5

UK2Net

Britain

78 6

Carambole

Pan European

(Sweden) 76 7

VuurWerk

Benelux

75 8

Domicile

France

67 9

Scandinet

Sweden

62 The EMF is the main European trade association promoting thecompetitiveness of the digital media industries in the globalmarket place. Its objectives are to facilitate contacts and exchanges,promote the new business models of the digital economy,contribute to the development of a business-friendly regulatoryframework, encourage international business expansion andstimulate the introduction into the market place of newmultimedia tools and services. A complete summary of the test results is available underwww.emf.be/test

For further information, please contact:

Philippe Wacker Secretary General European Multimedia ForumTel: + 32.2.219.0305 secretariat@emf.be

Claudia HuesgenConsultant Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Switzerland Tel: +41.1.286.4377 claudia.huesgen@ch.cgeyc.com

Arthur Wetzel Board Member - Marketing Strato A.G. Tel: +49.30.88.615.160 wetzel@strato.de

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