Verio Names IBM, AT&T Veteran as Sales and Marketing Vice President for Its Small to Medium Enterprise Hosting Business [18th April 2003]

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Apr 18, 2003 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Verio, a leading provider of global IP solutions and subsidiary of NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com), today announced it has named John E. Bell to the post of vice president and general manager for sales and marketing in its Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) Hosting business unit.

In this role, Bell will oversee both the direct and indirect sales organizations, as well as leading the development of sales strategy and execution on a worldwide basis.

Bell comes to Verio as a 24-year high-tech veteran with experience at startup companies as well as Fortune 50 firms. His key objective is to expand Verio's leadership in the SME hosting space and position the Verio SME business unit for significant growth.

After beginning his career in New York at a leading telecommunications equipment provider, Bell held sales and marketing positions at IBM, GTE and AT&T, as well as NAS Corporation, a broadband start-up company.

Over the course of his career, Bell has earned a reputation for creating high-growth, high- margin and scaleable business units staffed with the best industry talent. At IBM, Bell's region shot to first in sales in 18 months. At GTE, managing sales, operations and service, his team dominated the small/medium business sector, growing revenue seven fold in three years while developing the indirect channel capability to account for more than 60 percent of total revenue.

"I'm excited about this opportunity with Verio. I've learned that the best way to ensure sales success is to ensure our partners' success...financially, structurally and in the eyes of their customers. Here at Verio, we're creating a model of success by focusing on the needs of partners and helping them exceed their customer's expectations. In this highly fragmented market, our value proposition to our partners and our customers will be simple and straightforward: We work for you," said Bell.

He added that, "With Verio's strong leadership position, the right offerings for SMB customers, and strong resource tools and support for resellers, Verio will ensure its customers and partners know they're with the top provider who's here for the long-term and best positioned to help them build and grow their business."

"In today's competitive environment, John's proven track record of quick starts and consistent, sustained growth, his direct and indirect channel experience, and his leadership skills are all well suited to drive our efforts to profitably grow our business and serve the market," said Doug Schneider, president of SME Hosting for Verio. "John will be invaluable as we continue to focus on expanding our channel efforts and serving our resellers, as well as delivering services to customers on a global basis."

Verio's SME channel program includes both reseller and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) initiatives. The reseller program, known as the viaVerio program provides resellers with access to a variety of higher value hosting services unavailable from many other providers, and offers resellers a range of Internet services targeting the SME market, including Web hosting on a shared, virtual private server or managed private server platform, domain name registration and e-commerce solutions. In addition, viaVerio resellers receive volume discounts, private label opportunities, and technical, sales and marketing support.

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 scaleable 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.

Verio Inc.
Mona Peloquin, 303/645-1961
mpeloquin@verio.net
or
Text 100 for Verio
Christine Brown, 212/871-3952
christineb@text100.com