Vermont Teddy Bear Accommodates 700 Percent Web Traffic Spike Seamlessly with Internap CDN, IP Transit and Colocation Services

ATLANTA, March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Internap Network Services Corporation (NASDAQ: INAP), a provider of intelligent IT Infrastructure services, today announced that Vermont Teddy Bear Company is leveraging Internap's TCP-accelerated Content Delivery Network (CDN) and route-optimized Performance IP™ and colocation services to support its ecommerce business.

Vermont Teddy Bear sells teddy bears, pajamas and flowers via phone, catalog and the Internet across three distinct brands: Vermont Teddy Bear, PajamaGram and Calyx Flowers. With business evolving and 80 percent of sales coming via the Internet during spikes in the end-of-year holiday season and around Valentine's Day, the company needed to expand its IT Infrastructure. It sought a reliable and cost-effective CDN solution that could support significant bursts in traffic during these busy periods with minimal oversight. Vermont Teddy Bear also wanted a CDN that would optimize the performance and availability of its online storefronts and ensure a high-quality customer experience for shoppers, whether they are using PCs, tablets or mobile phones. The company selected Internap's accelerated CDN, as well as its route-optimized Performance IP and colocation services, for a high-performance solution.

"Our busiest sales period is typically from October to December each year, with traffic to our websites increasing approximately 700 percent from the previous quarter, followed by Valentine's Day, when our web traffic is comparable to the holiday season in the week leading up to February 14. Internap's accelerated CDN provides a scalable, high-performance solution that seamlessly supports increased demand while delivering content with quality and speed," said Victor Castro, director of ecommerce operations at Vermont Teddy Bear. "Based on the reliability and flexibility of Internap's combined services, our IT team spent minimal time managing our IT Infrastructure during the 2011 holiday season and 2012 Valentine's Day rush, which freed up resources to focus on other parts of the business and once again affirmed our investment." 

Using Internap's colocation and CDN services, Vermont Teddy Bear can quickly and easily roll out new storefronts and sub-brands with minimal time and technology investment. As traffic to the Vermont Teddy Bear websites from mobile devices – including phones and tablets – has increased 50 percent year-over-year, the ability to optimize the content experience for each end-user device is critical. Internap's global CDN features built-in TCP acceleration, delivering up to four times faster page loads, less buffering and a high-quality customer experience on PCs and mobile devices. Internap's reliable IP service, backed by a superior service level agreement (SLA), ensures that the Vermont Teddy Bear, PajamaGram and Calyx Flowers websites are always available.

"In the premium gift industry, retailers are under tremendous pressure to meet sales goals under condensed timeframes. For gift companies who rely on Internet sales to meet their numbers, there is no room for error when selecting a CDN and other IT Infrastructure services," said Pete Mastin, vice president of Internap's CDN business unit. "Internap delivers a total package for Vermont Teddy Bear, with a flexible platform that can effortlessly support its variable traffic demands while delivering the reliability and performance necessary to ensure a satisfactory experience for its end users."

Internap works with some of the nation's leading ecommerce and retail providers, including six out of Internet Retailer's top 10 online retailers. More than 3,700 customers worldwide rely on Internap's high-performance IT Infrastructure services; they span a wide range of industries including financial services, gaming, media and entertainment, online education, retail, software and technology and SaaS, among many others.

Editor's Note: Adding to Internap's retail industry traction, the company also announced today that National Vision, one of the nation's largest optical retailers, is leveraging its flexible, high-performance colocation, Content Delivery Network and IP services to meet increased demands for IT infrastructure services being driven by rapid company growth.

Tweet this news: http://ow.ly/9GwfC

About Internap

Internap provides intelligent IT Infrastructure services that combine unmatched performance and platform flexibility to enable our customers to focus on their core business improve service levels and lower the cost of IT operations. Our unique trio of route-optimized enterprise IP, TCP acceleration and a global content delivery network improves website performance and delivers superior end-user experiences. Our scalable colocation, managed hosting, private cloud, public cloud and hybrid offerings provide enterprises the flexibility to adapt to changing business needs and future-proof their IT Infrastructure. Since 1996, thousands of companies have entrusted Internap with the protection and delivery of their online applications. Transform your IT Infrastructure into a competitive advantage with IT IQ from Internap. For more information, visit http://www.internap.com, our blog at http://www.internap.com/blog or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/internap.

About Vermont Teddy Bear

The Vermont Teddy Bear Company is the largest handcrafter of Teddy Bears in North America. Each BearGram® gift includes a customized Vermont Teddy Bear accompanied by a personalized greeting card and free candy treat, all packaged in a colorful gift box with an air hole. Orders can be placed by phone at 1-800-829-BEAR, where a friendly Bear Counselor® will assist with Bear selection and personalization, or online at www.VermontTeddyBear.com.

About PajamaGram

Founded in 2002, The PajamaGram Company was born out of a desire to give people permission to relax, unwind, and have a little fun. The Company features hundreds of sleepwear styles for women (sizes XS-3X), men (sizes M-XXL), kids (sizes 0-3mos.-14), and even the family pets, which are delivered as PajamaGram gifts inside FREE keepsake packaging for the ultimate presentation. Orders can be placed online at www.PajamaGram.com or by phone at 1-800-GIVE-PJs.

About Calyx Flowers

Recognized as the finest name in flower delivery since 1988, Calyx Flowers provides exclusive floral designs sent directly from the world's premier growers, guaranteeing freshness beyond compare and exotic varieties you won't find anywhere else. The company has become a trusted source for the freshest, most luxurious bouquets, lush plants, and impressive monthly gift programs like A Year of Flowers and The Best of Calyx. Orders may be placed online at www.CalyxFlowers.com or by calling a friendly Calyx Concierge at 1.800.800.7788.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include statements related to the performance of our IT Infrastructure services and the expected benefits to be received from them. Because such statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, there are important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the actual performance of our IT infrastructure services; our ability to complete expansion of company-controlled data centers within the expected timeframe; our ability to sell into new data center space; our success in attracting and retaining key talent; our ability to respond successfully to technological change; the availability of services from Internet network service providers or network service providers providing network access loops and local loops on favorable terms, or at all; failure of third party suppliers to deliver their products and services on favorable terms, or at all; failures in our network operations centers, data centers, network access points or computer systems; our ability to provide or improve IT Infrastructure services to our customers; and our ability to protect our intellectual property, as well as other factors discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Given these risks and uncertainties, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. We undertake no obligation to update, amend or clarify any forward-looking statement for any reason.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110426/CL90009LOGO )

SOURCE Internap Network Services Corporation