DREAMHOST ADDS FREE JABBER-BASED INSTANT MESSAGING TO ALL WEB HOSTING PLANS

July 29, 2002

Los Angeles - |072902 DreamHost is now offering free Jabber-based instant messaging services with all of its web hosting plans, allowing hosting customers to offer instant messaging services branded with their own domain names at no additional cost - a first in the web hosting industry.

A June 2002 Nielsen/NetRatings study concluded that 40 percent of home Internet users and 31 percent of corporate Internet users use one of the top four instant messaging clients in any given month.

By offering branded Jabber services to its customers, DreamHost has become the first web hosting company to fully embrace the online instant messaging revolution.

"DreamHost's new Jabber service allows instant messaging to finally become a mission-critical application, as business and personal users no longer need to send their instant communications over public servers," said Josh Jones, CEO, DreamHost. "We're excited to enable users' full control of their instant messaging destiny."

Traditionally, offering Jabber to site visitors required extensive technical know-how and full access to the hosting server. Now, DreamHost's customers can easily add Jabber accounts using an intuitive web interface. Jabber user IDs appear just like email addresses and include the site owner's domain name. By offering free Jabber accounts branded with their domain, sites can build visitor loyalty and benefit from free advertising whenever someone uses it to chat.

Jabber is a distributed instant messaging standard that allows users to communicate in real time around the world. As an open XML-based standard, Jabber has spawned numerous clients for nearly every conceivable computing platform and is quickly gaining popularity as an open alternative to commercial instant messaging services. Through the use of gateways, Jabber even allows users to interact with those using other services without the need for separate dedicated clients.

Three protocol submissions related to Jabber have been proposed to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for review as an official Internet standard.

About DreamHost

DreamHost provides web hosting, dedicated server and domain name registration services to more than 40,000 domains worldwide. The company offers customized service plans for hobbyists, entertainers, creative professionals and small businesses. All DreamHost plans feature a customizable web panel, which gives customers unsurpassed personalization and manageability of their data.

For more information, please visit |072902 http://www.dreamhost.com.