New Web Hoster in Deals With German Banks

The founders of Internet domain name registration and Web site hosting service TABNet marked the official launch of their new Web-hosting company today by signing up two leading German banks.

Founded in June, 1998 by chief executive Ken Leonard and executive vice president Robert Hermanek, privately-held EONet, Inc. secured its first service provider deals with German banking chains Bausparkasse Schwaebisch Hall and Volksbanken.

Under the agreements, EONet said it will provide e-mail and personal Web site services to the banks’ 13 million customers. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Terms of the exclusive deal with Schwaebisch-Hall Services
GmbH (SHS) call for EONet to supply e-mail, Web hosting and other
on-connective services for a new German ISP to be named Schwaebisch-Hall Online (SHO). The online service is slated to launch later this month.

German telco Deutsche Telekom has been tapped to provide nationwide dialup access and technical connectivity services. SHS and Volksbanken financial network’s small business customers will be provided with services such as commercial Web hosting, domain name registration, advanced e-mail messaging, and turnkey e-commerce solutions.

California-based EONet said it plans to provide its services to Volksbanken branch offices via its server infrastructure located in California and in
Germany. In addition, online security will be offered through the company’s
partnership with Verisign, Inc. and
the American Institute of Certified Public
Accountants’ (AICPA) Web Trust Seal of Approval program.

“Volksbanken are more than just banks in Germany as they offer a range of
services from insurance policies to travel arrangements,” noted Heinz
Wiedenmann, Senior President of SHS. “To maintain our industry leadership and
traditionally high market share of over 60%, it is critical for Volksbanken to
enter the Internet Service Provider business. Our alliance with EONet will
provide us with the technology and marketing know-how to quickly achieve the
same dominant market share in the fast growing German Internet industry.”

“Our arrangement with SHS is the first step in our doing business
throughout the world based on strategic marketing alliances with
well-established channels,” said Ken Leonard, EONet CEO.
“Our exclusive agreement with SHS will also be our model for providing small
businesses around the globe with a network to leverage the Web for online
retail and business-to-business commerce. We will be announcing additional
Web services marketing partnerships for the benefit of large and small
companies throughout the world very soon.”

On July 7 Internet provider Verio Inc. acquired TABNet for $45.5
million in a move aimed at securing a new market channel to target small- and medium-sized businesses.

EONet operates offices in North America, South America, Europe and Asia,
and its strategic partners include CyberCash, ICVERIFY, Network Solutions
and VeriSign.