Web hosting from Hostway Corporation’s platform, has been deployed by Verizon Business, to provide small and medium sized business customers with an upgraded e-commerce application.

Alan J. Lough, Director of Business broadband services for Verizon commented, ”Now more than ever, a business of any size cannot afford to do business without a web site. We make it easy for small and medium-sized businesses to create an online presence. We’ll handle the technical aspects, and we provide the Internet infrastructure to host their Web sites so they can focus on their business.”

Industry intelligence indicates the demand for Web hosting and related services is expected to grow at an annual rate of nearly 20 percent for the next three years, to more than $3 billion in 2009. Growth will largely be fueled by rising broadband penetration, increasing Internet popularity and expanding web site utilization by small businesses.

Art Matteotti, Vice President of global sales for Hostway Corp. noted, ”Most small and medium businesses today look to a web hosting service to get their Web site up and running so they don’t have to deal with the hardware and provide their own IT support. It’s much less complicated and allows them to focus on their core business. At Hostway, we’re committed to the development and providing the latest technology to host Web sites of all sizes.”

Verizon offers three web hosting solutions driven by Hostway, a leading provider of hosting services, each with free set-up (savings of at least $39.95); custom domain name registration; unlimited Web site pages; 24 x 7 technical support; CleanMail virus and spam filter; and SiteMail, a web based e-mail system. The solutions are: — Verizon Basic, which costs $9.95 per month and supports: 600 MB (megabytes) of disk space, 50 GB (gigabytes) of monthly hosting traffic, 15 e-mail accounts and a mailbox size of up to 250 MB. — Verizon Premium, which costs $14.95 per month and supports 12 GB of disk space, 100 GB of monthly hosting traffic, 50 e-mail accounts and a mailbox size of up to 600 MB. — Verizon Professional, which costs $24.95 per month and supports 25 GB of disk space, 300 GB of monthly hosting traffic, 100 e-mail accounts, a mailbox size of up to 1 GB, and GigaMail, which allows for the transfer of files up to 1GB by sending recipients to a Web site to download the large file.

Verizon offers a variety of products and services that allow businesses to customize the solutions they need to better compete in the marketplace. In addition to broadband Internet access, solutions include online backup storage, e-mail encryption and communications management tools. Verizon Business customers who purchase services totaling at least $125 per month may be eligible to enroll in Verizon Business Link Rewards to earn bonus credits to redeem for prizes. Earlier this year, Verizon was cited by J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Major Provider Business Telecommunications Services Study for the Highest Customer Satisfaction With Small/Midsize Business Data Service Providers.