Active 24 Keeps Ellen MacArthur Sailing to Reach World Record

Active 24 Keeps Ellen MacArthur Sailing to Reach World Record

LONDON, February 8/PRNewswire/ --

- As Official Performance Partner, Active 24 Works Hard With
Ellen's Team to Ensure Online Communications Are Always Available



Active 24, the Pan-European leader in hosting services, congratulates
Ellen MacArthur and the Offshore Challenges team on their outstanding
achievement of breaking the world record for sailing around the world solo on
her first record attempt. The record set by Francis Joyan early 2004 was
considered unbeatable. Offshore Challenges turned to Active 24 as the hosting
provider of choice for Ellen's attempt at this amazing feat.



Pushing their sailing team to the edge, Offshore Challenges has developed
a unique blend of sports management, technology and business acumen, creating
an organisation that not only provides the support needed by athletes such as
Ellen MacArthur, but puts sailing at the forefront of the sporting arena.
Hosting the transatlantic solo sailing race The Transat in 2004, Offshore
Challenges needed a resilient managed hosting solution they could rely on
100% so they could focus on keeping their team moving and breaking
boundaries.



"Our communications technologies are most likely to break down when they
are most needed - ie when there is a moment of drama! In this respect Active
24 are a key partner to Offshore Challenges, guaranteeing access to these
services right when they are needed most. We're racing 24 hours a day, and
that is matched by Active 24, allowing the Offshore Challenges media team to
remain focused on providing timely and high quality content that keeps the
media informed, our supporters interested and our sponsors happy," says Ellen
MacArthur, MBE.



Active 24, previously known as Virtual Internet, has been an in industry
leader since 1996 and is well known as the most robust web hosting/server
provider for all applications from small and medium business ecommerce sites
right through to these complex customised solutions for maximum resilience
and availability. The solution designed for Offshore Challenges includes a
fully resilient framework utilising loadbalancers, and mirrored servers with
built in redundancy to handle massive peaks in website traffic and the
distribution of 10 000+ daily emails to Ellen's fan base.



Jaap Zuiderveld, Active 24 CEO and sailing enthusiast, added, "Active
24's expertise and high quality infrastructure makes it easy for SMEs and
Corporations to manage multiple web sites and ensure maximum uptime. By
combining 24/7 technical support, server monitoring, short provisioning times
and competitive pricing with the control and flexibility of purpose built
control panels, Active 24 offers a winning combination for web hosting and
dedicated servers."



About Active 24



Active 24 is a leading network-independent provider of Internet hosting
services in Europe. The company focuses on providing small and medium-sized
companies (SMEs) with complete and cost efficient Internet solutions that
combine relevant, scalable and standardised products with exceptional
user-friendliness. Active 24 provides solutions to basic business challenges
for more than 195 000 customers, so that the customers can redirect their
focus from network problems to business opportunities. Active 24 has
corporate headquarters in Oslo, Norway, sales and operational support units
in the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, and a virtual
presence in 14 European countries. For more information, please visit
www.active24.co.uk or call 0800-11-77-44 within the United Kingdom or
+44-(0)-20-7854-6600 from outside the UK.



About Offshore Challenges Group



Address: Cowes Waterfront - Venture Quays, Castle Street, East Cowes,
PO32 6EZ, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom Tel +44-(0)-8700-630-219 Fax
+44-(0)-207-681-2759



Offshore Challenges Group is jointly owned by Mark Turner and Ellen
MacArthur MBE. The group consists of an athlete management business (Offshore
Challenges Sailing Team); an events management business (OC Events); a
technology business (OC Technology), a creative design business (OC Vision);
and a management training business (OC Leading Lights). The Group operates
across Europe, the USA and Australasia, with a home base in Cowes, Isle of
Wight, UK. Dedicated to turnkey, quality management and marketing solutions,
Offshore Challenges projects have won three Hollis Sponsorship Awards for
their service to sponsors.



Source: Active 24

Patrick McCarthy, Active 24, patrick.mccarthy@active24.com, +44-(0)20-7854-6600


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