Toronto, Canada - (The Hosting News) - May 7, 2008 - Web hosting company specializing in small and medium business support, Hostopia, will acquire certain hosting customer assets, of the Tucows Retail Service Group.
The companies have signed a definitive agreement for Hostopia to purchase customer assets including approximately 14,000 Domain Direct, NetIdentity and ItsYourDomain.com (IYD) customer accounts. The companies indicated that accounts involved in the transaction will continue to be served under the familiar Domain Direct brand, which will operate as a managed service by Hostopia.
Elliot Noss, President and CEO, Tucows noted, ''I am confident these shared hosting customers will enjoy quality service and support with Hostopia directly. This move is the first part of a strategy to reposition our retail business to help individuals and small businesses build their identities online.''
Hostopia will pay US$1.6 million in cash for these assets, with adjustments made on closing. This amount is payable 20% on signing of the agreement and 80% upon the closing of the transaction, which is scheduled to occur on May 15, 2008. The companies plan to migrate these accounts to Hostopia's unified web service platform by July 2008.
Colin Campbell, CEO, Hostopia remarked, ''We are very pleased to have concluded this transaction. We are already hosting some of the Tucows Retail Service Group's users so the impact on customers should be minimal. Our plan is to provide customers with numerous upgrades and additional value-added services to earn their loyalty and continued business. Traditional web hosting is fast evolving to the SaaS (software as a service) model and Hostopia is perfectly positioned to offer these services to these customers.''
Tucows provides Internet services for web hosting companies and ISPs. Through its global network of over 9,000 service providers it provides millions of email boxes and manages over eight million domains. Tucows is an accredited registrar with ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). Tucows holds a domain name portfolio of approximately 150,000 domain names that are available for sale, monetized through advertising and support our wholesale Personal Names Service. Our Retail division sells Tucows services to consumers and small business owners through Domain Direct, ItsYourDomain.com and NetIdentity. Tucows.com remains one of the most popular software download sites on the Internet.
Hostopia is a provider of web services that are designed to enable small and medium-sized businesses to establish and maintain an Internet presence. The company's customers are communication services providers, including telecommunication carriers, cable companies, internet service providers, domain registrars, and web hosting service providers. Hostopia's customers purchase its web services on a wholesale basis and resell these services under their own brands to small and medium-sized businesses. The company provides customers with the technology, infrastructure, and support services to enable them to offer web services, while saving research and development as well as capital and operating costs typically associated with the design, development, and delivery of web services.
For more information please visit: http://about.tucows.com.
To learn more about Hostopia, please visit: www.hostopia.com.
