Fandango Selects Data Return to Manage the Nation’s Largest Online Movie Ticketing Site

Data Return’s Microsoft expertise, full application management solution keys to decision

HostReview.com
Thursday, February 5, 2004; 12:00 AM

DALLAS (Feb. 5, 2004) – Data Return, LLC, a leading tier-one provider of complex managed hosting, announced today that it has been chosen by Fandango, Inc., the nation’s largest online and phone movie ticketing service, to provide infrastructure and managed hosting services in support of the company’s core online business.

“Fandango has experienced tremendous growth, making the performance, stability and reliability of our application critical,” said Walt Williams, chief technology officer at Fandango, Inc. “We found Data Return to be the best partner to manage our application -- from code deployment to comprehensive application support -- so that we can continue to focus on providing consumers with the most convenient way to buy movie tickets online.”

Fandango has transformed the movie-going experience, providing advance tickets, showtimes and movie-related information on the Internet and by telephone. Fandango sells tickets to nearly 70% of all U.S. theaters wired for remote ticketing and is the exclusive provider to the nation’s largest exhibitors, including Loews Cineplex Entertainment, Regal Cinemas and United Artists Theatres. The company recently announced an agreement with Yahoo! under which Fandango’s online ticketing service will be available to consumers through Yahoo! Movies. Data Return’s comprehensive managed solution for Fandango includes its digitalOps? Code Deployment service and full production support for Fandango’s application. Data Return’s ondemand computing capability allows Fandango to meet seasonal peak traffic demands in a flexible and cost-efficient manner.

“We are pleased to partner with an industry-leading company like Fandango. Data Return’s Highly Managed Hosting? service provides a complete managed solution to help Fandango concentrate on enhancing their services and growing their business,” said Sunny C. Vanderbeck, Data Return chief executive officer.

ABOUT FANDANGO
Fandango is the nation’s largest online and phone movie ticketing service selling tickets to nearly 950 theaters and 11,000 screens -- nearly 70 percent of all theaters enabled for remote ticketing in the country. Fandango offers moviegoers the ability to select a film, theater and showtime, and purchase tickets in advance on www.fandango.com and at 1-800-FANDANGO. Fandango sells tickets for: Carmike Theatres (NASDAQ: CKEC), Century Theatres, Edwards Theatres, Loews Cineplex Entertainment, Regal Cinemas (NYSE: RGC) and United Artists Theatres, as well as to Brenden Theatres, Cinemark Theatres, Eastern Federal Theatres, Kerasotes Theatres, R/C Theatres, Star Theatres and Wallace Theaters.

ABOUT DATA RETURN
Founded in 1996, Data Return has more than seven years of experience managing complex, transaction-intensive applications. More than 350 companies around the world, including H&R Block, Match.com and Texas Instruments, rely on Data Return’s experience, proven capabilities, financial stability, and innovative digitalOps? service delivery platform to manage their missioncritical business infrastructure on the Windows, Solaris and Enterprise Linux platforms. Data Return's Highly Managed Hosting? service provides unparalleled value with infrastructure design and testing services, proactive performance analysis and optimization, and full application management that includes production support and root-cause analysis for custom application code. For more information visit www.datareturn.com or call 1.800.767.1514.
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