www.sprint.com

 

Contacts:

Steve Lunceford, 703-295-5700

steve.lunceford@mail.sprint.com                                               FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

 

Sprint Selected by WeatherBug for Web Hosting

 

AWS Chooses Sprint E|Solutions for Leading Online Weather Service Internet Needs

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo., – February 27, 2002 – Sprint (NYSE: FON, PCS) announced today that AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc., which owns and operates the largest weather network in the world as well as the popular online WeatherBug service (www.weatherbug.com), has selected Sprint to provide Web hosting for its growing line of online services.

 

Sprint has completed the move of AWS servers to Sprint’s state-of-the-art Reston, Va., Internet Center, providing secure collocation, monitoring and Internet connectivity services to AWS to meet its current needs as well as future anticipated growth.  Usage of AWS’ WeatherBug.com, one of the Top 50 U.S. Web sites according to Jupiter Media Metrix’s January 2002 Web report, grew an astounding 600 percent in 2001 and the company currently boasts more than 7 million registered users.

 

“We were looking for a company that could offer us the reliability, stability and scalability we need as WeatherBug and our other weather information services geared toward broadcast news outlets, schools and consumers continue to grow rapidly,” said Chris Sloop, Chief Technology Officer for AWS.  “The combination of Sprint’s knowledge, its Tier-1 IP backbone, and the company’s flexibility in finding solutions to meet our needs now, and in the future were some of the most important factors in the decision to move our hosting business to Sprint.”

 

“We’re pleased AWS has placed its trust in Sprint to deliver its Web hosting and connectivity services,” said Keith Paglusch, president, Sprint E|Solutions. “WeatherBug provides live neighborhood weather conditions via the Internet from more than 5,000 individual weather stations and is the industry’s leading streaming weather service.  The service needs reliable and secure connectivity to continue to grow, and our Internet Centers were built with these kinds of business needs in mind. 

“We have a brand that stands for long-term stability, and a history of leadership and innovations in meeting communications needs that is attracting industry-leading firms like Yahoo!, eBay and others that demand quality, security, and scalability.”

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Sprint Selected by WeatherBug for Web Hosting

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Sprint’s Reston Internet Center offers Sprint E|Solutions customers application and Web-hosting support, collocation, monitoring and reporting performance, and IT consulting services.  Sprint E|Solutions also provides managed services for customers, including Business Continuity Planning, Security, and Mobile Computing Solutions.

All of Sprint E|Solutions’ 10 geographically dispersed Internet Centers sit directly on Sprint’s high-speed, fiber-optic Tier 1 IP backbone, enabling performance with unsurpassed reliability needed for mission-critical applications. In addition, Sprint’s comprehensive support provides a variety of managed-server applications and transport services, all backed by award-winning customer service.

 

About Sprint

Sprint is a global communications company serving more than 23 million business and residential customers in more than 70 countries. With 80,000-plus employees worldwide and more than $26 billion in annual revenues, Sprint is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying state of the art network technologies, including the United States’ first nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network. Sprint's award-winning Tier 1 Internet backbone is being extended to key global markets to provide customers with a broad portfolio of scalable IP products. Sprint's high-capacity, high-speed network gives customers fast, dependable, non-stop access to the vast majority of the world's Internet content. Sprint also operates the largest 100-percent digital, nationwide PCS wireless network in the United States, already serving the majority of the nation’s metropolitan areas including more than 4,000 cities and communities.

 

About AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc.

AWS Convergence Technologies, Inc. (www.aws.com) owns and operates the largest network of weather stations in the world. This real-time network gathers comprehensive, up-to-the-second weather information from more than 5,000 communities and powers the company's various products and services, including: WeatherBug™, an online weather service that provides live neighborhood conditions to more than seven million PC users; WeatherNet for Broadcast, which delivers real-time weather information to more than 80 million US households through partnerships with 105 local television stations; WeatherNet for Education, which provides engaging weather information and educational tools to schools and colleges, including an innovative set of online lesson plans and software called WeatherNet Classroom; and AWS Data Services which uses AWS' unique weather network and software to provide high-value solutions for vertical industries such as energy, retail, and transportation.

 

 

 

 

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SL/LB

02/26/02