The Planet Reports First Quarter Results

HOUSTON, April 29, 2009 – The Planet, the global leader in IT hosting, today discussed its results for the quarter ended March 31, 2009. The Planet provides quarterly updates to its customers, business partners and prospects with information relative to new initiatives and its progress.

“Our largest accounts fueled our growth this quarter, with virtual and private rack solutions making significant contributions to our revenue,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Douglas J. Erwin. “Of note is that one-third of our sales this quarter were derived from products and services that didn’t exist in our portfolio just one year ago. Customer satisfaction remains at record-high levels in both our call center and in our data centers. 

“Despite the challenging economic environment faced by companies around the world, including our own, we continued our strong year-over-year double-digit revenue growth,” Erwin continued. “We are financially stable and well-positioned to sustain our business model, backed by our $45 million credit facility secured last fall. Our new colocation facility in North Dallas is scheduled to open this quarter, and leasing has begun on our new London data center. We are continuing our strategic direction, putting into place the infrastructure that will maximize our returns as the economy rebounds. More than any company in our business, we provide our customers with the best and broadest range of cost-effective hosting options in the industry.”

“We ended the first quarter with the highest EBITDA in our history, and one of the best quarters in terms of free cash flow,” said Chief Financial Officer Kevin Klausmeyer.  “Our cash position and balance sheet remain healthy, and we continue to make long-term investments.”

First Quarter Highlights

New Customers: The company added more than 1,300 new customers in the first quarter, for a total of approximately 20,000. New data also reveals that The Planet now hosts 16.9 million Web sites.

Storage Cloud:  The company announced the industry’s only globally dispersed Storage Cloud solution. Customers can choose from an on-premise local node in the Dallas D2 data center, or from locations on the East or West Coasts, Europe or Asia, through its partnership with Nirvanix.

Alpha Professional Services:  The company added new advanced services, expressly designed for its private and virtual rack customers, the fastest-growing products in its portfolio. Services include around-the-clock direct contact with a dedicated team of certified systems administrators, one-hour hardware replacement, server monitoring and daily backups.

Online Hosting Requirements Tool:  For customers evaluating hosting options, the new online survey helps companies determine the precise requirements and appropriate budget for their business. The survey offers recommendations based on IT infrastructure size; server choices based on price vs. performance; platform preferences; management needs; SLA options; and budget.

Panacore Corporation:  The company added Panacore Corporation (www.panacore.com) to its list of Northstar Managed Hosting customers. Based in Odessa, Texas, Panacore provides Internet services, software development and interactive communications to its clients in the petroleum, medical, legal and entertainment industries.

Q Point Technology:  Based in Mountain View, Calif., Q Point Technology (www.truesafe.net) announced it has added The Planet Storage Cloud solution to its portfolio. Q Point is the developer of TrueSafe software, which enables services providers, such as IT Managed Services Providers, to offer their own online backup services through a Software-as-a-Service subscription model.

ITEI Industry Consortium:  The Planet launched the Information Technology Effectiveness Index (ITEI) in conjunction with a number of companies that are focused on small- and medium-sized business. In a 12-question survey, the ITEI provides business owners and IT executives with a free online benchmarking tool that uses a methods-based framework to compare the effectiveness of their IT systems with companies in the same industries and peer groups (www.iteffectivenessindex.com). In addition to The Planet, ITEI sponsors include HostSearch (www.hostsearch.com); Kennesaw State University (www.kennesaw.edu); Microsoft (www.microsoft.com); Nine Lives Media Inc. (www.ninelivesmediainc.com); SmallBizTechnology (www.smallbiztechnology.com); Small Business Trends (www.smallbiztrends.com); SMB Nation (www.smbnation.com); and Yankee Group (www.yankeegroup.com).

About The Planet

The Planet is the leading provider of On Demand IT Infrastructure solutions, hosting more than 20,000 small- and medium-size businesses and 16.9 million Web sites worldwide.  Customers have the power to choose from the broadest range of hosting solutions in the industry, from dedicated servers, Managed Dedicated Servers, Northstar Managed Hosting and data center colocation, all backed by 24x7x365 support.   With the best choice of servers, software tools and world-class service, backed by state-of-the-art data centers and an enterprise-class network, The Planet turns IT into a powerful competitive advantage that enables customers to grow their businesses. For additional information, visit www.theplanet.com.

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