Castle Access Names Officers; Company Houses Internet Servers and Data Off-Site for a Range of Clients.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 4, 2002

Castle Access, a privately held company that houses Internet servers and data off-site for clients, today announced the names of its executive staff.

Mark Barlow was named chief operating officer, Mark Hopperton, chief technology officer and Joseph Alfrey, chief financial officer.

"Our staff has an in-depth knowledge of the Internet and co-location industries. They understand the high security issues and have the business acumen to address our range of clients," said CEO Mike Vignato, former executive with the Internet companies of Yahoo and Akamai and former business development director at Simplenet.com, a Web hosting and access company.

Mark Barlow, chief operating officer, has more than 20 years experience in a range of operations management positions in the retail, publishing and sports center industries. From 1980-88, he was the operations manager for the San Diego Auto Trader, which grew in size from eight to 100 employees during his tenure there. For the next four years, he was COO for Let's Play Sports, a San Diego-based sports center company. Prior to joining Castle Access, Barlow was vice president and marketing director for Palos Software, a San Diego-based software company specializing in photo-ad magazines.

Mark Hopperton, chief technology officer, oversees Castle Access' network efficiencies and infrastructure to assure the provision of continuous Internet connectivity for its customers. He is a specialist in computer design and has developed numerous original computer programs to address internal operational requirements for a range of corporate clients.

Hopperton's 20 years of information technology experience includes establishing management information systems (MIS) from the ground up and expanding the capabilities of computers, long before they could handle such functions. He accomplished this by writing original code, enabling the computer to handle specific internal tasks or expand its existing capabilities. For example, in the early 1980s, he programmed the entire payroll system at USIU (United States International University) and developed programs for the university's registration system.

In the early 1990s, Hopperton co-founded Simplenet, a company that provided low cost Web hosting. He designed the operating system to provide Web site design, hosting and handle email problems. The "simple" but ingenious model provided companies with an affordable Web presence, with offerings of ample disk space and expanded access to the Internet. The model was so successful, it was later purchased by Broadcast.com and subsequently by Yahoo.com.

Joseph Alfrey, CFO, has nine years financial and accounting experience in a range of start-up and public companies in the medical device and health care industries. Alfrey's broad skill set includes general and cost accounting, budgeting and forecasting; financial reporting; acquisition and strategic planning; and fundraising activities for both smaller, venture-backed firms, and large public corporations.

In his previous position with Alaris Medical, Alfrey was responsible for corporate planning and business acquisition analysis for two years. Prior to this, he was controller from 1998-2001 for Hearten Medical Inc., with oversight of all aspects of financial planning and internal/external reporting. Alfrey is a Certified Management Accountant and holds a BBA in Business Economics from the University of San Diego and an MBA in Finance from San Diego State University.

Castle Access is a privately held and funded co-location facility that houses Internet servers and critical data offsite for clients. The company provides network redundancy, which means it assures round-the-clock connection to the Internet utilizing multiple providers and network connections; and offers a range of high security measures, including biometric fingerprint scanners and multiple video cameras for remote viewing of the storage cabinets. The company has a built-in capacity to house up to 200 cabinets, and provides varying cabinet space, depending on customer size and requirements. For more information, contact Castle Access at 858/836-0200 or visit the Web site at castleaccess.com.

Note to media: Photos available upon request.