BroadSpire Partners with Los Angeles Area Public and Private Agencies to Host Expanding, Award-Winning ExperienceLA.com [April 13, 2004]

LOS ANGELES, Apr 13, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- BroadSpire (www.broadspire.com), a leading managed IT services provider, today announced that the company has signed a three-year agreement to provide Web hosting services for the award-winning ExperienceLA.com (www.experiencela.com) -- a free online resource for exploring the Los Angeles region's wealth of cultural attractions, sponsored by a coalition of prominent Los Angeles area public and private organizations.

BroadSpire -- which recently moved to downtown Los Angeles from the north San Fernando Valley -- will provide services that include managed Web hosting, content backup, Web traffic analysis, security services and systems administration services.

ExperienceLA.com is a public service provided by the City of Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA/LA), the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, LA Inc., the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the University of Southern California and other public and private partners throughout the region. The site recently won a Golden Web Award for excellence and innovation.

The site's sponsors tapped BroadSpire because they wanted a long-term, reliable hosting solution with a top-tier provider that would be able to scale up as the site grows. ExperienceLA.com anticipates a steady month-over-month traffic increase of about five percent. In March, the site had 147,500 page views, nearly 24,000 total visitors and some 21,000 new visitors. First-time visitors spend an average of 6.5 minutes on the site, while repeat visitors average about 10 minutes -- a key indicator that ExperienceLA.com is building a solid base of regular, loyal users.

"Interest in this site is growing fast, and we needed a Web hosting partner that could help us keep pace," said Curt Gibbs, Senior Resource Development Officer, CRA/LA. "As we support more and more visitors and expand our capabilities to meet our visitors' needs, BroadSpire is well-suited to provide the technical support and IT expertise we'll need. BroadSpire has an excellent reputation and cost-effective, leading-edge Web hosting solutions. We're also pleased to enter a contract with a firm based in downtown Los Angeles, which just happens to be within our redevelopment project area."

"ExperienceLA.com is a great example of how regional organizations can come together and provide a truly valuable public service," said Suresh Srinivasan, president, BroadSpire. "We're thrilled to be part of a rich and expanding online resource that helps locals and out-of-town visitors alike find out what's going on in Los Angeles and the easiest way to get there.

"Beyond the site itself, this is an ideal opportunity for us to align ourselves with prominent Los Angeles public and private organizations -- to showcase our integrated managed Web hosting services, and to build long-lasting, profitable relationships with key players throughout the Los Angeles area," said Srinivasan.

Going Multi-lingual

Later this spring, the group will make significant portions of the site available also in Japanese, Mandarin, Korean and Spanish. International visitors currently account for approximately 15 percent of overall site traffic -- without any multi-lingual content. The addition of key information in these four languages, along with related international site promotions and outreach, is expected to significantly boost the number of international visitors, especially from Asia. Europe currently is the largest source of international visitors, accounting for 11 percent of site traffic.

The site's sponsors also expect a surge in visitors thanks to its central role in the 2004 International Pow Wow, the premier international travel/tourism industry conference, which will be hosted by LA Inc. in late April. One of the major themes for Pow Wow will be "Los Angeles - Cultural Capital of the 21st Century," and Experience LA will be heavily promoted as part of that theme.

Other activities expected to increase traffic over the next few months include the launch of the new Los Angeles Cultural Calendar, an interactive cultural information system, and the expansion later this summer of online site marketing and promotional tie-ins with arts and cultural organizations throughout Los Angeles County.

The MTA also is actively marketing the ExperienceLA Web site, along with its Day Pass that makes accessing Los Angeles' cultural attractions easy and cost-effective. Since the MTA added a link from its own home page to the ExperienceLA Web site, traffic has increased by an average of between five and 10 percent every day.

ExperienceLA.com is the first and only Web site to marry culture and transportation in an integrated fashion. Originally unveiled in August, the Experience LA Web portal provides users with free access to searchable destination and event directories, interactive maps, cultural itineraries and easy-to-use information on using public transit to get to it all. People looking for something to do will find special giveaways to local events, listings of "What's Hot in LA," guides to transit-friendly destinations, and themed transit-friendly itineraries -- like touring historic LA, discovering Latino heritage, visiting familiar "On Location" locales and more.

Coupled with this extensive resource of events and activities is a detailed description of Los Angeles' public transportation options, including local transit guides, train and bus schedules and routes, and a list of local low-cost get-around services.

About BroadSpire

Founded in 1996, BroadSpire (www.broadspire.com) is a leading managed IT services provider, headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. In delivering outsourced IT, data center outsourcing and fully managed Web hosting services, BroadSpire maintains a strict focus on customer service that has enabled the company to become a best-of-breed provider both in its service offerings and in its customer care. With discrete lines of business for enterprise and small/mid-size businesses, the company serves as a seamless extension of its customers' information technology infrastructure. BroadSpire has earned the trust of more than 2,000 companies worldwide, including BP Amoco, NBC, Yale University, Paramount Pictures, and Sheraton Hotels & Resorts. BroadSpire is a member of the 2003 Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 50 for the Los Angeles area.

SOURCE: BroadSpire

Edge Communications, Inc.
Ken Greenberg, 818-719-9292
ken@edgepress.com