Under the terms of the agreement, NTT Com/VERIO will deliver high-end enterprise hosting services to UEFA, the parent body of European football. The initial infrastructure solution will support uefa.com as it aims to become Europe’s largest football portal. NTT Com/VERIO will support UEFA through a combination of more than 110 global data centers coupled with a global Tier One network. This coverage enables NTT Com/VERIO to deliver seamless, high-quality service to uefa.com

As a result of these extensive infrastructure capabilities, uefa.com will be able to serve a worldwide audience with high-quality Web content, even during periods of extreme loads. The geographically deployed enterprise hosting solution includes an initial main hub site within Europe, with additional satellite sites in Europe, Asia and North America, as traffic levels increase over time. The site will offer comprehensive coverage of all UEFA competitions, including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, UEFA European Football championships (EURO 2004), UEFA Youth and Women’s competitions. Competition coverage will include live audio streaming of matches, audio round-up shows, video clips of footage, photo galleries, match reports and news of the competitions.

UEFA recently announced the re-launch of its portal uefa.com at the UEFA Super Cup in Monaco. During the UEFA Champions League draw on Aug. 23, uefa.com provided live video and audio coverage of the event. The uefa.com site received more than 1.5 million page views and nearly a quarter of a million visits on this day alone.

This is an excellent partnership for UEFA and uefa.com. We are delighted to be working with NTT Com/VERIO and to welcome them to our exciting new Internet initiative, said Gerhard Aigner, UEFA chief executive. We have great expectations for the development of our site and full confidence in the ability of NTT Com/VERIO to deliver the technology support we will need.

The complex solution involves fully managed Web and application servers, coupled with database clustering, firewalls and Virtual Private Networks. Load balancing, content distribution and storage complete the comprehensive solution. Coupled with a comprehensive Service Level Agreement (SLA), the offering positions uefa.com as one of the most robust Web sites in its field. In addition, the successful design, delivery and management of the project stems from experienced Verio personnel working closely with the design teams of uefa.com.

As European’s football’s most popular Web site, uefa.com requires a partner to support its global Internet audience and grow with its fan base as well as the site’s future Web offerings, said Moos Bulder, president of Verio Europe. NTT Com/VERIO is proud to deliver the enterprise hosting infrastructure that will allow UEFA to achieve its goal of becoming the major sports portal in Europe and a leading online destination worldwide.

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