KPNQwest, the leading pan-European data communications and hosting company, announced today that it has signed an agreement with Host Europe to deliver co-location services for its German operations. Host Europe provides hosting, global domain name registration and e-commerce services to the SME market.

Under the terms of the agreement, KPNQwest will co-locate Host Europe's equipment on its EuroRings(TM) network. The service will provide the company access to the largest, most advanced fibre-optic network in Europe with virtually unlimited bandwidth capabilities. Customers will benefit from faster and more direct access to information with the fastest possible delivery times. The company will also enjoy a full set of redundancies at both the network and hosting levels to eliminate all single points of failure.

Abby Hardoon, Chief Executive Officer, Host Europe, commented: "Host Europe has been able to reach a very attractive agreement that avoids the necessity for significant capital expenditure in Germany while at the same time allowing us to continue to control our own operations. We have been very impressed with the standard of the KPNQwest facilities and are confident that they will allow us to continue to provide the highest levels of customer service, performance and resilience as we continue with our strategy to provide higher-end hosting solutions to SMEs".

Joseph J. Ferraro, KPNQwest Head of Hosting and Media Solutions, said: "We are delighted to provide the secure infrastructure facilities allowing Host Europe to support its European customers. We will continue to provide the extensive pan-European coverage, and exploit our massive bandwidth capabilities and short lead times to meet these requirements.