The Planet Appoints Network Operations Executive

October 30, 2007; 10:15 AM

HOUSTON -- The Planet, the world’s largest privately held dedicated hosting company, today announced the appointment of Stan O. Barber as vice president, network operations. Barber, who reports to Chairman and CEO Douglas J. Erwin, will be responsible for the company’s Global Network Operations Center (GNOC). He also assumes management for The Planet’s abuse department, which oversees issues related to violations of the company’s acceptable use policies. 

“As we move into the managed services arena, the GNOC nerve center becomes even more important to our business,” said Erwin.  “Monitoring and security are essential to mission-critical, world-class service, and Stan’s experience falls squarely into this realm.  With his years of leadership in hosting and telecommunications enterprises, we are making a significant investment toward our goal of delivering the industry’s best customer support.”

Barber joins The Planet from Nippon Telephone & Telegraph (NTT) America, where he served as vice president of Engineering Operations for the past two years.  He also worked for seven years in a series of increasingly responsible management positions with Verio, a hosting provider that was subsequently purchased by NTT.  During that time, Barber developed and managed its Network Operations Center (NOC).  He also worked for ten years with the Baylor College of Medicine where he was a member of the team that developed one of the first network-based collaboration environments, well in advance of the World Wide Web.   

He has designed and implemented a number of complex networks using TCP/IP, including IPv6.  Barber is a noted authority and industry speaker on linking critical technologies with company goals and objectives.  In 2000, he authored RFC 2989 which pertains to common extensions used by the Network News Transport Protocol (NNTP), while serving as chairman of an IETF working group charged with updating NNTP.  In 2005, he testified before a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives concerning the state of IPv6 deployment worldwide.

He earned a B.A. degree in biochemistry and psychology from Rice University.  Additional studies include one year of graduate work in engineering psychology.

About The Planet

The Planet is the leading provider of On Demand IT Infrastructure solutions, hosting more than 22,000 small- and medium-size businesses and 2.8 million Web sites worldwide.  By offering the best choice of servers, software tools, and world-class support, backed by state-of-the-art facilities and unmatched network connectivity, The Planet helps turn information technology into a powerful competitive advantage that enables customers to successfully grow their businesses.  For additional information, visit www.theplanet.com.