CI Host CEO Christopher Faulkner to Speak on XML and the Wireless Internet.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

Communications SOLUTIONS EXPO Spring 2001

BEDFORD, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2001

Faulkner to Discuss the Dynamics of the Future

of Accessing the Internet Through Wireless Devices

and How XML Makes That and Other Web Magic Possible

Christopher Faulkner, founder, president and chief executive officer of CI Host, will speak on the influence of the current economy on the development of wireless access to the Internet and on the development of XML, a flexible markup language, at the Spring Communications Solutions Expo on May 23 in Washington, D.C.

At a time of economic downturns and the rare reversal of the United States lagging behind Europe and Asia in developing a wireless Internet, Faulkner will examine just where the United States is on the wireless stage and how XML -- still in its developing stages -- fits into that picture.

"We may actually be in a good place," Faulkner said. "We have some breathing room when we can let the dust of oversold e-commerce settle and watch developing trends without the pressure of the warp-speed changes of the past few years.

"Industry executives and analysts believe," Faulkner said, "that U.S. consumers and communications companies can benefit by letting someone be the guinea pig this time.

"By watching what is happening now in Europe and Asia, companies here can possibly avoid costly investments in network capabilities that customers may not want," Faulkner said. "Already, there are signs that the more practical the service and the less it depends on a decent-sized monitor, the more likely it is to be successful."

XML, which is more flexible than HTML and makes reaching the Internet through wireless devices such as cell phones and pagers possible, is also going through changes as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops recommendations and protocols for the language.

"XML's potential is huge," Faulkner said. "Besides making a wireless Internet possible, it's a human-readable, machine- understandable language that allows people in disparate disciplines -- from music notation to specs for stealth bombers -- to write their own tags.

"But XML doesn't exist in a vacuum, either. Besides the vagaries of the current global economy, there is the question of what has to be done to find enough space on already-congested airwaves to make wireless devices practical here."

The expo is expected to draw between 13,000 and 16,000 participants, 90 percent of whom are decision-makers who come to the show to select new products and services.

CI Host rolled out the first phase of its wireless Web site -- the network status page -- in late April. That will be followed by a wireless version of the complete Web site. Since CI Host has long been an industry leader in allowing clients to do practically everything concerned with their site online, this step takes them light-years ahead of the competition.

"With this wireless Web site, a potential client can surf our products and prices, order a Web-hosting service and have their login e-mailed back to their cell phone within 30 seconds," Faulkner said. "Resellers can send an order for a new account and have the entire procedure completed immediately."

CI Host is the fastest-growing leader in e-business solutions and the Web-hosting industry. Its growth is surpassing 200 percent a year, and it is on track to sign up its 100,000th client by the end of May.

CI Host will be exhibiting in Booth No. 324 at the Washington Convention Center at the Communications Solutions Spring Expo, May 23-25 in Washington, D.C.

About CI Host

CI Host (www.cihost.com) is a Web-hosting and Internet solutions provider, domain name registrar (DNR) and application service provider (ASP) serving more than 95,000 individual consumers and businesses in 176 countries worldwide. CI Host is consistently ranked among the top five Web-hosting companies out of 16,000 around the globe by cnet's Ultimate Web Host List, HostIndex.com, and Web Host Directory.

CI Host offers turnkey services ranging from initial domain name registration to custom dedicated servers for e-commerce on today's Web. The company offers innovative packages and services to the Internet community.

CI Host operates three diverse data centers across the United States, with its main facility and Network Operations Center in Bedford.

All telco-grade, tier 1 data centers are wholly owned and operated by CI Host and consist of redundant diesel generator backups and a temperature-controlled secure environment with fully redundant UPS capability. All server hardware is fully tested and configured for optimal performance. Daily Web server backups and full fire protection guard against any data loss.

To deliver speed and reliability, CI Host's servers are connected to five DS-3 and OC-3 lines from five diverse Internet backbones, for a total of more than 380 Megabits of available bandwidth.

Call 817/868-6999 for more information, or visit online at www.cihost.com.