UK - June 24, 2010 - Rise - part of Fasthosts Internet Ltd. - announced it has been selected as a finalist for the Microsoft Partner Awards in the Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year award category.

Rise (www.rise-partners.co.uk), a new company from Fasthosts launched earlier this year, provides cloud and dedicated infrastructure as well as end-to-end solutions for channel partners. Rise’s partnership with Microsoft and utilisation of its technology, enables it to offer key services including virtual private server, dedicated server, exchange and email hosting and web hosting.

Steve Holford, marketing director Fasthosts and Rise, said: “Rises’ partnership with Microsoft is a fundamental part of our offering to the UK market and key to our future growth. Whilst Rise is supported by a global giant in Fasthosts, we are in many ways still a start-up, so this nomination is important validation of our strategy and offering.”

Holford continues, “To date SMEs in the UK have failed to capitalise on the benefits and cost savings which cloud computing provides. Recent research commissioned by Rise found that 58 per cent of small businesses have not even heard of cloud computing – let alone deployed it. The truth is that SMEs do not actually care about technology – they are interested in the business benefits which technology can deliver. With that in mind, Rise has worked hard to deliver a robust, reliable and cost-competitive platform which allows vendors to sell services to SMEs through the cloud and deliver those business benefits. Our relationship with Microsoft is the backbone of this offering.”

Awards are presented in a number of categories, with winners and finalists chosen from a pool of almost 3,000 entrants worldwide. The Hosting Solutions Partner of the Year Award honors partners who have demonstrated solution innovation and a commitment to engaging with Microsoft. This award recognises Rise for teaming with Microsoft to address their customer needs through identifying new market opportunities and using technology innovation.

“Congratulations to the 2010 Partner Award finalists for delivering such creative and superior Microsoft solutions and services,” said Allison Watson, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft Corp. “It’s incredible to see the level of expertise our partners continue to exhibit as they create and deliver innovative solutions and services to grow their businesses, meet customer needs, and drive down costs.”

The Microsoft Partner Awards recognise Microsoft partners that have developed and delivered exceptional Microsoft-based solutions over the past year.

About Rise
Rise is a brand new company launched on 31st March 2010 from Fasthosts. Rise provides cloud and dedicated infrastructure as well as end-to-end solutions for channel partners to either resell, or offer as a white label service under their own brand.

www.rise-partners.co.uk

Fasthosts is a leading web hosting provider. Based in the UK and operating 24x7 from their dedicated UK data centres, Fasthosts keeps over 1 million domains running smoothly and ensures over 40 million emails are delivered safely each day. All Fasthosts services can be self-managed through the award winning Fasthosts web-based control panel that provides customers with unparalleled online control, enabling them to manage hosted services including domain registrations, shared web hosting, business-class email, dedicated servers, software-as-a-service, internet merchant accounts and unlimited broadband. Fasthosts' maintains an award-winning, highly successful reseller channel.

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For additional information:

Stephen Smith     
Harvard PR     
[email protected]     
0207 861 2835   

Steve Holford
Chief Marketing Officer, Rise & Fasthosts
[email protected]
01452 561 855

Product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.