Verio Provides Solid Foundation for ‘Extreme Makeover’ Builder’s Website

March 27, 2008; 08:41 AM

CENTENNIAL, Colo., March 26 – When Oldport Homes, a quality builder of classic New England style homes, volunteered to build a new home in Warwick, Rhode Island for the blockbuster ABC show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” Fleming + Company Inc., a full-service marketing and creative design agency, knew that it would need to make some improvements of its own to get the site, http://www.oldporthomes.com/extreme/, ready for the onslaught of fans, well-wishers and volunteers. To provide its client Oldport Homes with the necessary bandwidth and capacity, Verio upgraded Fleming’s hosting plan and helped migrate Oldport Homes’ site to a powerful Linux MPS pro bono.

Prior to signing on with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Oldport Homes’ Website received about 50 visitors a day, which enabled Fleming + Company to comfortably host its client’s site on a basic starter hosting plan. Paul Fleming, president and CEO of Fleming + Company, soon realized that this service level would not support the anticipated exponential increase in traffic.

“We knew that Oldport Homes’ Website would soon be the focal point for hundreds of thousands of people wanting to track the progress of the build. When we approached Verio with this extreme business challenge, they backed us up 100 percent, providing additional tech support, bandwidth and a dedicated Managed Private Server. And, in the spirit of Extreme Makeover, they did it all pro bono,” said Fleming. “Verio has been a great partner for more than 10 years, and their willingness to support our client’s Extreme Makeover project truly demonstrates that they are dedicated to ensuring the success of my business.”

Verio worked closely with Fleming + Company to migrate the Oldport Homes site and email accounts to the new server. Verio also provided additional training to the company’s IT staff on the new equipment, and 24-hour tech support to answer questions and troubleshoot issues.

The extra effort paid off – when ABC announced Oldport Homes as the Warwick, Rhode Island builder, the site served more than 145,000 page views on February 18 – more than a 1,000 percent increase – and hosted 1,360 unique visitors. The site also logged more than 1,300 applications from volunteers. On February 21, at the height of the build, the site served more than 303,000 page views to more than 3,175 unique visitors – a 6,000 percent increase in average daily visitors prior to the build. By the end of the build on February 24, the site was still serving more than 209,000 pages and hosting 2,000 visitors. Verio has maintained the upgraded site as traffic levels normalize.

“The Extreme Makeover: Home Edition build was an extremely important and high profile project for both Oldport Homes and Fleming + Company, and we’re proud that our contribution enabled them to provide a high quality experience for hundreds of thousands of Extreme Makeover fans,” said Dennis Boyle, chief operating officer for Verio. “We also received great satisfaction from supporting the overall mission of Extreme Makeover, and we wish the Silva family the best of luck with their dream home.”

The Extreme Makeover: Home Edition featuring Oldport Homes will air on May 4, 2008. For more information about the episode, please visit http://www.oldporthomes.com/extreme/index.html.

About Fleming + Company
Fleming + Company is an experienced communications firm that achieves results through sound strategies and distinctive design. They are skilled in all communications disciplines including online marketing, public relations and advertising. They employ the latest technologies to track online marketing activities and provide their clients with monthly reports of results and recommendations.

About ABC-TVs Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," which has won back-to-back Emmy Awards as Best Reality Program (non-competitive), is in its fifth season on ABC. The program is produced by Endemol USA, a division of Endemol Holding. Denise Cramsey is the executive producer; and David Goldberg is the president of Endemol USA.

About Verio
Verio Inc. enables companies to conduct business online, through hosting, applications and managed services serving the business needs of SMB companies and partners worldwide, and is a subsidiary of NTT Communications, which provides complementary global network access reaching over 200 countries worldwide. The company focuses on how to help companies and partners achieve their business goals with functional hosting solutions, applications and services that enable them to drive success online. Verio supports its operations with highly reliable and scalable global infrastructure and systems including the NTT Communications Global IP Network, and provides business solutions to customers and partners in more than 146 countries. More information can be found at www.verio.com.

Verio and the Verio logo are trademarks and/or service marks of Verio Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other names are trademarks or registered marks of their respective owners. ©2008 Verio Inc. All rights reserved.