STRATO LAUNCHES FIRST EUROPEAN COMMERCIAL .eu DOMAIN

Internet service provider STRATO launches www.synox.eu online for Berlin Entrepreneur

STRATO, one of the leading European Internet Service Provider, today announces the launch of the first European commercial company address with the ending .eu online.

As a leader in the European .eu domain provider market, STRATO has beat competition to become the first international provider to have received the connection contract for a commercial domain. The .eu domain, www.synox.eu, belongs to Berlin entrepreneur, Sascha B. Ehrkamp, and will be used commercially throughout Europe.

As one of the leading internet service providers with over two million domains, STRATO possesses a wealth of experience and expertise in the field of international domains. As a result, the company is the first to be accredited by EURid, the central allocation body for .eu domains, based in Brussels.

"We are pleased to announce the first take-up of the .eu domain in Europe, and strongly believe that this will now set the ball rolling for a catalogue of .eu registrations. As one of the leading European Internet Service Provider, STRATO is keen to make potential users all over Europe aware of the .eu availability.´´, said Damian Schmidt, CEO STRATO.

When registering for new .eu domains, a distinction is made between owners of brand/name rights and general users wishing to register a .eu domain. The official registration phase for owners of brand/name rights has been active in Europe since December 2005.

After April 2006, registration of an .eu site will be open to all interested parties. STRATO will then be responsible for transferring all earmarked .eu domains, which have not yet been submitted, for registration in Brussels.

Notes to Editors

• STRATO is one of Europe’s leading web hosts and in June 2006 was recognized as Germany’s number one web host provider by the eco Association of the German Internet industry, for their ongoing focus on excellent quality and customer service
• STRATO is based in Berlin and currently has two million domains and one million customer contracts. STRATO operations currently exist across Europe, including Germany, UK, Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands
• STRATO was the first major European web host to receive the internationally coveted German Technical Control Board seal “BS7799“ which is now ISO 27001:2005. The British standard certification was awarded by the independent German testing organisation TÜV SÜD, for the reliability of its computing centres, security and data availability
• Partners of STRATO are e.g. Sun Microsystems, Cisco, AMD, Adobe and Microsoft
• Besides complete domain packages and DSL broadband access, STRATO markets high-quality servers and solutions in the area of e-commerce
• STRATO is a one hundred per cent subsidiary of freenet.de, a listed Internet and telecommunications company with over ten million customers
• STRATO benefits from the competence of its parent company and utilises existing group synergies to offer its own customers exceptional services

Information about STRATO can be found on the STRATO website at www.strato.eu / www.strato.com

For more information please contact:

Sneha Nagmoti/Richard Warner
T: 0207 388 9988
E: nagmoti@spreckley.co.uk