Claranet Appoints Chief Operations Officer To Unify Group Service Portfolio Across Europe

New COO Position Capitalises On International Expansion

Claranet, the experts that develop, support and manage communication and information technology for business, has appointed Olivier Beaudet to the position of Claranet Group Chief Operations Officer effective March 1st 2007.

The new management role has been created to unify the Claranet Group's service portfolio which currently includes operations in France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Benelux, the UK and the US. Olivier Beaudet, former Founder and CEO of managed application specialist Artful, will also focus on local development, creating "centres of expertise" in each location that will be available to the wider group.

The new role allows Claranet to capitalise on its size and improve international project and product delivery, as well as strengthening our vision of a unified European brand

Olivier brings further strategic and operational experience to the group management team. He steered Artful through the dotcom downturn to become a European leader in managing business-critical hosting and application services, serving clients such as Airbus, Vivendi, Universal Music and Veolia.

Olivier Beaudet will be moving to a permanent base in the UK later in 2007. His strategy for the group includes investing in the roll-out of new services across all countries and exchanging and implementing best practices to provide high-quality services to all of Claranet's European clients.

Claranet Founder and CEO Charles Nasser.

Claranet is entering a particularly exciting phase of expansion. We will work towards providing more value-added services in both access and hosting, sharing applications and IT systems as well as capitalising on the expertise and talent of our human resources.

By capitalising on the strengths of each office and Claranet subsidiaries we can offer clients a total Managed Service package, looking after every aspect of communication and information technology a business needs. Our expertise enables customers to implement fast, cost-efficient and secure technology solutions.

Olivier Beaudet, Claranet Group Chief Operations Officer

About Claranet

Claranet was established in 1996 as a dial-up Internet access provider in the UK. The company's sustained profitability has resulted in continuous reinvestment, transforming Claranet into a multi-national managed service provider.

Today Claranet provides flexible and tailored network infrastructure that performs to the requirements of its 300,000 customers across six European countries and the US.

Claranet customers have confidence in their connectivity. They are served by experienced, innovative and dependable technicians.

Claranet commits to the highest standard of service
level agreement. URL: www.claranet.co.uk

About Olivier Beaudet

Olivier Beaudet is Founder and CEO of Claranet subsidiary Artful. Prior to this, he graduated from Paris' EPITA and spent four years in the development team that launched Havas Online, France's first low-cost ISP.

From founding Artful in 1997, Beaudet oversaw key strategic changes from development to Managed Application Services, and piloted the company through the dotcom bust to win major accounts such as Airbus, Veolia, Hermes, Universal Music, Canal Plus and Vivendi.

In 2005, Claranet acquired Artful and Beaudet headed Operations, Sales and Marketing for Artful's integration into Claranet France.