Expands hosting network to connect to 18 internet exchanges; improves the routing of internet traffic within its European network via peering.

LeaseWeb, a hosting provider, today announced that it is adding seven new internet exchange points in Europe to its worldwide hosting network. The company says that it will provide connections along with the Internet exchanges in Milan, Copenhagen, Oslo, Paris, Budapest, Bratislava and Bucharest.

The company states that with this expansion, its hosting network will be connected to a total of 18 Internet exchanges. According to the company, its network already had connections with the Internet exchanges in Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt, New York, Brussels, Vienna, Stockholm, Warsaw, Zurich, Prague and Madrid. Milan, Copenhagen, Oslo, Paris, Budapest, Bratislava and Bucharest have now been added to this list.

It explains that this increase in Internet exchange points will allow it to further improve the routing of Internet traffic within its European hosting network by means of peering, i.e. by exchanging Internet traffic with other providers, instead of purchasing transit traffic from telecom carriers. It avers that it uses both transit and peering in order to achieve the best possible mix in Internet traffic.

Con Zwinkels, Managing Director of LeaseWeb says: ''The additional peering capabilities will allow us to create more Internet routes in our European hosting network, which will benefit network redundancy and uptime. Our uptime is 99.999 percent. By increasing the number of Internet exchanges, among other things, we will be able to sustain this high uptime rate. In addition, peering will keep our Internet traffic affordable. This will allow us to continue to guarantee LeaseWeb's competitive price-quality ratio since it will reduce the amount of bandwidth we have to purchase from telecom carriers.''

The company adds that it is installing a router in each of the new Internet exchanges. ''We always use Cisco router equipment,'' says Zwinkels. ''LeaseWeb's network is critical to the total portfolio of hosting products we provide. We need a high uptime and a minimum risk of parts failure. Cisco simply offers the highest quality and the best performance in this respect.''