BURLINGTON, MA – [Hosting Headlines] – groupSPARK, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and the leading provider of private label hosted software services including Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, today announced its private label SaaS services are now being offered as part of Ingram Micro’s Seismic Virtual Services Warehouse. The new agreement includes groupSPARK’s hosted Exchange Server 2007 and 2003, as well as Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, and Dynamics CRM 4.0.

Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM) is the world’s leading distributor of technology products and services to the IT industry. Ingram Micro’s Seismic Virtual Services Warehouse is part of the distributor’s North America Services Division which provides VARs with a full range of managed IT services, professional IT labor services, and warranty contract management services and enables VARs to offer customers a variety of hosted software services. This new agreement enables Ingram Micro Seismic to immediately offer industry leading private label hosted messaging and collaboration solutions from groupSPARK to partners in the U.S. and Canada.

groupSPARK’s unique Private Label Application Delivery (PLAD) platform was designed to enable resellers to offer the company’s hosted services completely under their own corporate brand, URL, and look and feel. This private label solution reinforces the resellers’ brand with their customers, deepens their market penetration and enables them to offer their customers’ enterprise-class hosted email and collaboration solutions at a price set solely by the VAR. In addition, groupSPARK’s hosted Exchange, hosted SharePoint and hosted CRM offering fortifies customer retention and provides Ingram Micro Seismic partners with the opportunity to earn additional monthly recurring revenue per user.

As part of Seismic’s hosted solutions portfolio, groupSPARK will maintain, monitor and upgrade all hardware and software allowing Seismic partners to offer these hosted software services to their customers without incurring any upfront expense, delay or risk in attempting to deploy the services on their own. groupSPARK will also enable Seismic partners to offer 2-way wireless synchronization with BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), Windows Mobile and Good Mobile Messaging.

“Ingram Micro is at the forefront of the services market in the IT channel and remains committed to identifying best-in-class solutions for our Seismic partners,” said Justin Crotty, vice president of Ingram Micro Services Division, North America. “We selected groupSPARK’s private label hosted Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint and Dynamics CRM services because of its focus on the VAR brand and its proven track record for providing VARs with affordable solutions that deliver the email and collaboration services small and mid-size businesses need to increase productivity and stay connected.”

“As the provider of hosted Exchange Server, SharePoint and CRM to Ingram Micro Seismic, we are dramatically increasing our reseller channel and reaching a new group of small and mid-size businesses,” said Ravi Agarwal, senior executive officer, groupSPARK division of mindSHIFT Technologies, Inc. “Ingram Micro’s confidence in our hosted services offering and our best-in-class service and support is the direct result of our commitment to and focus on true private label hosting of enterprise-class services.”

About groupSPARK: Located in Burlington, Massachusetts, groupSPARK, a mindSHIFT company, is a leading provider of SaaS services, such as Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Windows SharePoint Services v3.0, and Dynamics CRM, which can be completely private labeled and resold by partners as a part of their own product offerings saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in development and support costs.

Its partners utilize groupSPARK’s turnkey private label platform to provide hosted services to their users in minutes. Partners are able to address scalability and uptime concerns by leveraging groupSPARK’s 100% uptime SLA, private label 24×7 U.S.-based support and proactive hardware and software monitoring capabilities. For additional information, visit www.groupSPARK.com.

About Ingram Micro, Inc:  As a vital link in the technology value chain, Ingram Micro creates sales and profitability opportunities for vendors and resellers through unique marketing programs, outsourced logistics services, technical support, financial services, and product aggregation and distribution. The company serves 150 countries and is the only broad-based global IT distributor with operations in Asia. Visit http://www.ingrammicro.com.

According to Microsoft’s security advisory on the vulnerability, the bug affects Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

The problem exists in Windows’ handling of code within its Internet Information Services and SQL Server and if exploited, could enable malicious local users who have authentication to execute specially crafted code to raise their privileges to LocalSystem.

“Hosting providers may be at increased risk from this elevation of privilege vulnerability,” writes Microsoft in its advisory.

According to reports on VNUnet.com, Microsoft has yet to receive any reports of the vulnerability being targeted, but security experts have already warned of a possible attack.

“The vulnerability is limited to a local privilege escalation, but IIS’ susceptibility is concerning,” writes McAfee researcher Karthik Raman on his blog. “The Web server is widely used on the Internet, and is a top pick by Web hosting providers. We might see Web hosting providers targeted, and – this is scary – their clients’ Web sites breached.”

No patch is currently available, but it is believed that Microsoft has issued workaround instructions for IIS 6.0 and IIS 7.0.

The software giant says it is still investigating the report and will make a decision on whether to issue a patch immediately or wait until its next scheduled security update on May 13.

La Habra, California – [Hosting Headlines] – Lunarpages Dedicated Hosting, the leading provider of Dedicated Server Hosting products worldwide, is giving away a free copy of Microsoft Expression Web and Microsoft Expressions Studio Training absolutely free.

The first 100 customers to sign up for any Windows Dedicated Server plan for 12 or 24 months will receive a free copy of Microsoft Expression Web, the leading WYSIWYG HTML and website editor, and a free year’s subscription to Expression Studio Training from Total Training, which will teach customers how to use the editor and also how to build a site using Windows products and services.

“This is a great bonus for all new Windows Dedicated Server clients,” said Amy Armitage, head of Lunarpages Business Development & Marketing. “They already get 24/7 dedicated technical support and the leading technology in the industry. This offer allows them to also receive an amazing website editor and training package, valued at over $1,000, just as our way to say thanks for signing up. By using these remarkable products from Microsoft, webmasters will be able to easily and efficiently utilize their dedicated server and website hosting.”

Lunarpages Web Hosting also attended Microsoft Hosting Summit 2008, an event only offered to the top-level industry leaders with valuable Microsoft products. “We were really inspired by the events at Microsoft Hosting Summit,” said Armitage. “It was all about growing the internet for the next generation of web users, things we are incredibly passionate about. By combining our state-of-the-art web hosting and server administration tools with Microsoft’s Web Expression editing and Total Training’s tutorials, our new customers can create interactive, dynamic websites using web 2.0 and advanced scripting technology.”

Lunarpages Dedicated Hosting provides over 5 levels of dedicated servers, presenting every imaginable option for your dedicated server hosting needs. Lunarpages hosts the biggest websites in the world, from the Fortune 100 giants to new web 2.0 startups, and is the reliable choice for media server hosting, database and web servers, Microsoft Windows hosting, game servers, and more.

For more information please visit http://lpdedicated.com/free-microsoft-software.php

Rob LaMear, President of Frontpages noted, ”Our goal is to offer clients the power of a dedicated SharePoint server without the big IT costs. With our semi-dedicated plans, WSS and MOSS solutions are available faster and at more affordable prices.”

Frontpages now features semi-dedicated SharePoint hosting plans to provide customers with increased SharePoint power, uptime, control and security, all at affordable prices. Six semi-dedicated hosting plans are available, three for WSS 3.0 and three for MOSS 2007. Semi-dedicated solutions start as low as $175 per month and can be ready in hours, not weeks.

FWHN provides managed web hosting services for SharePoint, Exchange, CRM and dedicated server solutions to customers around the world. As one of the largest independent, U.S.-owned, managed hosting providers today, they serve companies ranging from the Fortune 500 to the SME (small and medium-enterprise) market.

To learn more about FWHN, please visit: www.fpweb.net.

The Lunarpages Windows Hosting Plan will now cost the same as their Basic plan, to really encourage webmasters to try their Windows offering which now includes SmarterMail Enterprise Edition.

Amy Armitage, Business Development and Marketing Director at Lunarpages said, ”We have always been a Linux cultured company and recently, after working closely with Microsoft and their Partners we launched Server 2008 on our dedicated server line. Soon we will offer 2008 on our Windows shared plan.”

In addition to the free time, Lunarpages continues to provide free 24/7 support to their 150,000 ecstatic customers, and plans even bigger upgrades and add-ons in the future.

Lunarpages Web Hosting, based in California and serving over 150,000 customers in over 200 countries, offers affordable award winning shared and dedicated web hosting and web design services. Lunarpages offers the webmaster community to easily and quickly build and maintain a website that is customized to individual needs. The company is consistently rated the most dependable, responsive and recommended host, while encouraging community interaction via the Lunarpages Forums and the Lunarpages Blog. Lunarpages.com provides a free domain for life to customers,with multiple domain packages for shared and dedicated accounts, hosted on UNIX and Windows Servers.

To learn more, please visit: www.lunarpages.com.

John Pozadzides, Vice President and CMO of Layered Technologies noted, ”We are pleased to offer this great program that meets the needs of developer clients and provides them with new resources and tools to increase their productivity, while also bringing to the forefront new technologies and integration functionality.”

With the purchase of any new Microsoft operating system, Layered Technologies will provide Microsoft Expressions Web free of charge, as well as 12-months of access to training for the complete Expressions suite of applications and ASP.NET.

Expression Web provides web professionals with everything they need to build attractive, high-quality web sites using HTML, DHTML, CSS, and XHTML. With Expression Web, professional designers can easily take advantage of the best of dynamic website design, enabling users to quickly and efficiently design, develop, and maintain standards-based Web applications with seamless integration with ASP.NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005.

Expression Web provides seamless integration with Visual Studio 2005 and ASP.NET 2.0, enabling designers and developers to interact using products that they are most comfortable with. Designers can easily lay out XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, and basic dynamic functionality using Expression Web and take advantage of many ASP.NET 2.0-specific features like Master Pages for templating, and drag and drop controls. The project can then be handed over to developers using Visual Studio 2005, enabling them to extend the functionality through advanced server-side code and business logic.

For a limited time, Layered Technologies and Microsoft have partnered with Total Training to provide an annual subscription to over 49 hours of high quality online training for ASP.NET and Expression Studio, absolutely FREE. The training is broken down into two different modules:

• Twenty-two hours include learning the hottest tools for building powerful, dynamic web applications from pros Asli Bilgin and Andy Olsen. These training videos explore all of the key features of AJAX and Building Web Applications, and will then guide you to mastery level with advanced topics and techniques.
• Twenty-seven hours include instruction on taking your creative possibilities to a new level using the professional design tools and innovative technologies in the Expression Studio. The team of presenters includes the most talented industry gurus to help get the most out of these powerful visual learning experiences.

Layered Technologies, Inc. is a global provider of on-demand hosting, utility computing solutions and Web services. By providing high quality technology, infrastructure and support we enable customers to forego capital expenses and save on operating costs while focusing on core business issues. Layered Technologies’ scalable infrastructure powers millions of sites and Internet enabled applications including e-Commerce, Software as a Service (”SaaS”), content distribution and more. Its clients range from leading-edge Web 2.0 startups, successful mid-sized enterprises and some the world’s largest consultancy and integration firms.

For more information about Layered Technologies, please visit: www.layeredtech.com.

John Keagy, CEO and Co-Founder of ServePath noted, ”ServePath is excited to be able to offer Windows Server 2008. We expect Windows Server 2008 to be the accepted standard for Windows web hosting into the next decade. ServePath’s training and hard work with Microsoft preparing for this exciting event, positions us to be the managed hosting experts.”

ServePath received the ”GoLive License” from Microsoft and is among the first Hosting Providers licensed to sell this revolutionary new server platform. ServePath, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, now adds Windows Server 2008 Web and Standard Editions to its list of existing Microsoft Server Editions including Windows Server 2003 Web, Standard and Enterprise as well as Window Server 2000 Standard Edition. Users of legacy Windows Server platforms (for example, Windows NT and Windows 2000) ought to consider hosted versions of Windows Server 2008 in their migration plans.

ServePath’s Microsoft-Certified support technicians and sysadmins have thousands of hours of hands-on experience and technical training on legacy versions of Windows Server. Most recently, ServePath System Administrators have amassed hundreds of additional “Microsoft Certified” training on Windows Server 2008. As part of the Windows Server 2008 Launch Event, ServePath is waiving the setup costs (a $250 to $1000 savings) for customers who use the promo code ServePathWS08 when requesting a new dedicated server using the Windows Server 2008 platform.

The following server configurations are available:

• Windows 2008 Web Edition – configured with IIS 7.0 and SMTP.
• Windows 2008 Standard Edition – comes with Terminal Services Gateway, RDC, Application Server, Active Directory Domain Services, DHCP Server, DNS Server Windows Clustering and SMTP.

For more information about ServePath’s Windows Server 2008 offering, please visit: www.servepath.com/land/windows/index051.shtm.

Highlights of Hosted Windows Server 2008 with ServePath include:

• Full root and administrator access
• Full 100Mbps Internet connection
• Private VLAN network
• Customizable hardware and software
• Remote reboot
• 100% uptime, 10,000% Guaranteed SLA
• 24/7/365 toll-free phone, chat and ticket support
• Over 6 years of dedicated hosting experience with thousands of servers
• ServePath’s own hardened data center with multiple Tier 1 backbone junctions

Windows Server 2008 with key updates, improvements and new features is designed to modernize the server market. Some of the product highlights include:

o Internet Information Service 7.0 (IIS 7.0)
o Hosting of Applications and Services
o Management and Lower Infrastructure Costs

ServePath is found in the Microsoft Hosted Windows Server 2008 Partner Directory at: www.microsoft.com/serviceproviders/hosting/windowsserver2008/directory.mspx.

ServePath is a dedicated server and managed hosting specialist, providing custom services to businesses that need powerful Internet hosting platforms. Its new 10,000% Guaranteed Service Level Agreement is unique in the web hosting industry, promising specific levels of network performance and 100% uptime with a 100x guarantee. ServePath also provides colocation services through its ColoServe division. The employee-owned company has been in business for five years and operates its own San Francisco data center.

To learn more, please visit: www.servepath.com.

Robert Cichon, President of CrystalTech noted, ”As a key participant at MIX08, CrystalTech is further solidifying its status as an important partner to Microsoft with respect to web hosting and web-related technologies. MIX08 affords us a great opportunity to not only meet with individuals who count on CrystalTech for their web hosting needs, but also allows us to interact with the designers and developers who will produce the next generation in cutting-edge websites and web applications.”

The sandbox will be held on the fourth floor of the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino meeting space and will consist of over 60 personal computers (PCs) in a 4,000 square foot area. Developers and designers will be able to take part in high-quality hands-on labs, as well as test samples of products and technologies showcased at MIX08.Participants will also have the opportunity to try demos, dive into code, and publish web content on complementary Sandbox-in-the-Sky websites hosted by CrystalTech.

The conference will also highlight the latest on ASP.NET and Expression, among other key technologies. In conjunction with products discussed at MIX, CrystalTech is thrilled to announce its offering of free Microsoft Expression licenses to dedicated hosting customers. Expression is a professional design tool with built-in support for today’s modern web standards, and makes it easy for users to optimize accessibility and cross-browser compatibility.

The first 300 customers to select the Expression software option when purchasing a dedicated server will be provided with a free license.

Mr. Cichon noted, ”Our ability to provide free Expression licenses, through our partnership with Microsoft, is an incredible opportunity for our customer base to experience the innovation this product has to offer.”

Newtek Business Services, Inc. is a direct distributor of a wide range of business services and financial products to the small- to medium-sized business market under the Newtek brand.
Since 1999, Newtek has provided small- and medium-sized business owners with tools to manage and grow businesses. Newtek provides one or more of its services to over 84,000 business accounts, and has positioned the Newtek brand as a one-stop-shop provider of business services to the small- and medium-sized business market. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there are over 26.8 million small businesses in the United States, which in total represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms.

Newtek’s 10 business service lines include:

Electronic Payment Processing: electronic solutions to accept non-cash payments, including credit and debit card, check conversion, remote deposit capture, ACH processing, and electronic gift and loyalty card programs.
Business Lending: broad array of lending products including SBA 7(a), conventional commercial real estate and SBA 504 loans, account receivable financing, business lines of credit and business credit cards.
Web Hosting : Full-service web host which offers shared and dedicated web hosting and related services including domain registration and online shopping cart tools.
Insurance Services: commercial and personal lines of insurance, including health and employee benefits in all 50 states, working with over 40 insurance carriers.
Web Design and Development : Customized web design and development services for a powerful web presence.
Data Backup, Storage and Retrieval : Fast, secure, off-site data backup, storage and retrieval designed to meet the specific regulatory and compliance needs of any business.
Payroll: Complete payroll management and processing services.
Outsourced Digital Bookkeeping : Bookkeeping and financial information management solutions at a fraction of the cost of in-house staff.
Tax Preparation and Advisory Services : Expert tax planning and consultation for your business.
Business Plan Preparation : Professional business plan development.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Newtek Business Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: NEWT), CrystalTech Web Hosting, Inc. is one of the largest Windows-based web hosting companies in the world, hosting customers in over 100 countries, ranging from small businesses to Fortune 100 corporations. CrystalTech is responsible for hundreds of millions of visits each day on the Internet and uses a state-of-the-art data center that includes redundancy throughout core systems like power, air conditioning, network connectivity, network transportation, as well as a secured environment for their network operations center.

Founded in 1992, CrystalTech Web Hosting, Inc. is one of the largest Windows-based web hosting companies in the world, hosting customers in over 100 countries, ranging from small businesses to Fortune 100 corporations. CrystalTech is responsible for hundreds of millions of visits each day on the Internet and uses a data center that includes redundancy throughout core systems such as, power, air conditioning, network connectivity, network transportation, as well as a secured environment for their network operations center. CrystalTech is a subsidiary of Newtek Business Services, Inc., a provider of business services and financial products to small and medium-sized businesses. For more information about CrystalTech, please contact 877-323-4678.

To learn more about CrystalTech at MIX08 and the Microsoft Expression offering, please visit: www.crystaltech.com/visitmix.aspx.

For more information about CrystalTech, please visit: www.crystaltech.com.

Takeshi Eto, VP Marketing at DiscountASP.NET noted, ”DiscountASP.NET is committed to innovation and being a first mover in the adoption of new Microsoft technology in the Windows shared hosting niche. With our launch of Windows 2008 hosting, we are excited to provide our customers with the most cutting-edge hosting environment so they can create and deploy next-generation web applications.”

The new Windows 2008 hosting platform includes many new enhancements, including:

1. Windows Server 2008 Standard edition
2. Internet Information Services 7.0 (IIS7)
3. FTP 7 (including FTP over SSL)
4. PHP5
5. Trust Level Control
6. Microsoft IIS Manager access

DiscountASP.NET introduces two new Control Panel tools for IIS7 hosting management. Customers can use the Application Pool Pipeline Mode chooser tool to switch between Classic and Integrated mode. In addition, a new Microsoft IIS Manager Permission tool is introduced allowing customers to manage the users that can have IIS 7 Manager access privileges.

Mr. Eto added, ”We also want to make sure that we do not leave out our existing DiscountASP.NET customers from the benefits of the new IIS7 hosting platform. For those customers that want to migrate from our Windows 2003 hosting platform to the new Windows 2008 hosting platform, then can request to schedule a server migration.”

DiscountASP.NET is a Microsoft Windows-based shared hosting provider, focused on ASP.NET and SQL database hosting. A Microsoft Gold Certified partner, DiscountASP.NET was one of the first hosts to launch a free .NET 3.5 hosting and IIS7 hosting beta program, Silverlight-compatible hosting, and ASP.NET AJAX hosting.

For more information about DiscountASP.NET, please visit: www.discountasp.net.

As Microsoft’s 2007 ”Hosting Provider of the Year,” Rackspace has worked with Microsoft on the launch for more than a year and will be introducing Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise and web editions to its comprehensive product portfolio in conjunction with Microsoft’s worldwide launch. Windows Server 2008 is designed to provide customers the ability to deliver rich web-based experiences efficiently and effectively, with improved administration and diagnostics, development and application tools, and lower infrastructure costs.

The new, flexible Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0 provides full customisation of web servers to configure only the server roles and modules needed, creating a more secure and streamlined Web platform for customers.

Doug Loewe, MD Rackspace, EMEA noted, ”To support our customers’ demanding web-centric business activity, it is essential that operating systems offer them flexibility, security and the right management tools – it is incredibly positive to see that Microsoft has made significant progress in this area. We’ve been working with Microsoft for some time now, boasting over 100 Rackspace Microsoft Certified Professionals within our ranks, and plan to focus all of our attention on providing our customers with the technical help they need when choosing to migrate to the latest Windows Server 2008 solution. Fanatical Support is right at the heart of everything we do at Rackspace, and that includes our willingness to offer support to our customers with upgrading their infrastructure to accommodate the architecture which best suits them, helping them to ensure a smooth transition with minimal disruption to the heart of their businesses.”

Windows Server 2008 also includes the enhanced Windows PowerShell to automate common administration tasks for server roles with command-line shell and scripting language to more easily control system administration and to accelerate automation. The hardened operating system and security innovations include firewall improvements, policy based networking and auditing advances to provide improved protection for customers’ data. Rackspace recently completed a successful beta test of Windows Server 2008 with positive customer feedback. After successful testing of the new server’s performance and stability, Rackspace is now making the new Windows operating system available to customers.

Aaron Wislang, Director, Eretz Enterprises remarked, ”Windows Server 2008 and IIS 7.0 are marked improvements on administration, remote access options and increased security-all very important to our business. We’re already looking into further migrations to Server 2008 for the development of a high availability trading platform as well as our existing financial and custom web applications. With such an advanced array of considerations and features, we would have been lost without Rackspace’s Fanatical Support throughout the beta process. They have once again surpassed our expectations, and we will be recommending this new Rackspace offering to our current and future clients.”

Bill Laing, General Manager of the Windows Server Division, Microsoft Corp. remarked, ”Our customers tell us that they are looking to get more out of their technology infrastructures as traditional IT migrates to the web. Windows Server 2008 paired with Rackspace’s hosting expertise and support provides customers an excellent solution for creating, optimising, hosting and managing next generation web applications.”

Rackspace provides a diverse suite of enterprise-class hosted IT services to businesses of all sizes, with hosting specialisation and expertise, integrating the industry’s best technologies and delivering them as services, as an extension of its customers’ IT departments. Rackspace’s portfolio of companies also includes the Mosso (www.mosso.com) cloud computing platform and Mailtrust(tm) (www.mailtrust.com), a provider of business-class hosted email solutions.

To learn more about the new Windows Server 2008 from Rackspace, please visit: www.rackspace.co.uk/windows2008.

For more information about Rackspace Managed Hosting, please visit: www.rackspace.com.