The search is over: Ananzi comes home to Internet Solutions

Johannesburg, 11 Nov 2004

Ananzi, SA`s premier search portal, is coming home to its birthplace - Internet Solutions (IS). After recently placing its mail service with IS, Ananzi will move its main search servers from MTN Network Solutions to IS. Ananzi will be hosted within the IS data centre at The Campus in Bryanston, North of Johannesburg. In addition, the Johannesburg Ananzi office will relocate to The Campus.

Ananzi, which is part of the Braby`s Holding Group, was born out of an internal IS project in 1996, was the first South African search engine if not one of the first in the world, and today boasts over 500 000 unique users per month, accessing over 10 million pages. Compared to other local services, Ananzi is the number one local search engine.

"It does feel like we are coming home," says Ananzi MD Mark Buwalda. "It`s a bit like a teenager leaving home to spread their wings, growing up and realising the advantages of staying close to the parents, confident in your gained knowledge and independence and not afraid to ask for support when needed. IS is almost like a spiritual home for us."

Ronnie Apteker, a founding father of IS, is delighted to see Ananzi back in the IS community. "Over the years we have put considerable effort and intellectual capital into adding value to Ananzi. Mark and his team have taken it to new heights and now they have their sights firmly set on growing the business and adding value to their users. Having been so intimately involved since conception, I am delighted to see Ananzi come home."

Greg Payne, general manager Hosting Division at IS, sees the move as a positive value-add for his corporate customers. "Now that Ananzi is on our backbone, our corporate users will find searches to be quicker and more efficient. We are providing Ananzi with hosting in our data centre at The Campus, firewall and load balancing. We have our normal SLAs in place and their users can expect world-class service."

Buwalda is very upbeat about the move. "Moving onto the IS backbone brings us lots of value-added benefits as we have our sights set on expansion into the corporate world. The final decider was hearing M-Web was transferring all its dialup users to the IS community. IS brings us this opportunity to show their customers what we can do. We can provide companies with quality traffic through our site, making a difference to their bottom line, and that ultimately is what it`s all about."

Ananzi

Ananzi started life as SA`s original Internet search engine created by Internet Solutions. It has evolved to become the country`s premier search portal, serving up the best of the local Web through its search engine offering and directory service, e-mail offering, ananzishopping.co.za and content zones.

Today Ananzi forms part of the Braby`s Holding Group, the 100-year-old Sub-Saharan leader in business directories. It was acquired from Johnnic e-Ventures over two years ago.

Ananzi is one of the most recognised South African Web brands, with over 10 million page impressions per month. With its 500 000 unique users, it is considered one of the largest sites in the country.

Ananzi is the gateway to the South African Internet consumer and business market and combines the Verity search engine with the most comprehensive fully-audited directory of South African Web sites available on the Internet.

Another popular offering is Ananzi`s personalised start-up page (www.startpage.co.za), which is a customisable list of links and Web sites arranged in various categories.

Ananzi has strategic alliances with more than 25 partners to provide a wide range of content and product offerings.

For more information, go to www.ananzi.co.za.

Internet Solutions

Internet Solutions (IS) has transformed its business model and become the only full network service provider in the country.

The business was founded on the principle of developing a robust infrastructure in order for corporates to conduct e-business. Over the past decade IS has established itself as a leader in this space, attracting over 80% of SA`s top businesses as clients.

During its 10-year life span, IS has evolved and grown its service offerings. Today, the company is the leading hosting service provider and security service provider in SA, as well as having significant market share in the virtual private network and application service provider space.

Internet Solutions has earned an impressive collection of accolades, including eight First National Bank "Most Admired" awards, two Financial Mail Best Company to Work For awards and a place in the Top Unlisted Company Awards.

The company partners with major players such as Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle BT and AT&T and in 2002 was certified as a Cisco Managed Security Service Provider, the first and only company outside of the US to be awarded this accolade.
For more, visit www.is.co.za.

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The search is over: Ananzi comes home to Internet Solutions

Move from MTN NS to IS allows Ananzi to focus on expansion plans