ATLANTA, GA — February 12, 2014 — EarthLink, (NASDAQ: ELNK), a leading IT and communications provider, today announced that Ryan Sallee, Chief Information Officer of The College Network (TCN) was selected as a 2014 winner of the Frost & Sullivan Chief Information Officer Impact Award in the Cloud Computing category at the 2nd Annual ConNEXTions 2014: A Frost & Sullivan Executive MindXchange and CIO Impact Award Gala on February 11. The College Network, an EarthLink customer and pioneer in the online education industry, was nominated for its customized, EarthLink-designed private cloud solution that modernized TCN’s entire IT infrastructure and strengthened interdepartmental communication.

1. CIO of The College Network Wins 2014 Frost & Sullivan Impact Award for
Implementation of Innovative EarthLink Cloud Solution
Sallee wins Cloud Computing category for transforming and modernizing IT infrastructure with
EarthLink
ATLANTA, GA — February 12, 2014 — EarthLink, (NASDAQ: ELNK), a leading IT and
communications provider, today announced that Ryan Sallee, Chief Information Officer of The
College Network (TCN) was selected as a 2014 winner of the Frost & Sullivan Chief
Information Officer Impact Award in the Cloud Computing category at the 2nd Annual
ConNEXTions 2014: A Frost & Sullivan Executive MindXchange and CIO Impact Award Gala
on February 11. The College Network, an EarthLink customer and pioneer in the online
education industry, was nominated for its customized, EarthLink-designed private cloud solution
that modernized TCN’s entire IT infrastructure and strengthened interdepartmental
communication.
In 2011, Sallee moved TCN to EarthLink’s efficient and reliable cloud-based solution and placed
daily management of the infrastructure in the hands of the EarthLink team. The project officially
completed in December 2012, with additional updates in 2013. EarthLink deployed a customized
Cloud Hosting and Dedicated Server solution for TCN’s highly-scalable, replicated database that
runs core business applications including customer relationship management and enterprise
resource planning applications, file and utility servers, content delivery system and customer
registration system.
Before virtualizing with EarthLink, Sallee’s team managed approximately 115 physical servers
all connected to Storage Area Networks (SANs). EarthLink designed a customized solution that
went beyond a typical disaster recovery plan and built out a business continuity structure with
multi-path connectivity between The College Network’s headquarters and an EarthLink data
center.
"The Infrastructure as a Service solution gives us an always-on, always-available environment,"
said Ryan Sallee, Chief Information Officer for The College Network. "This allows our internal
IT team to focus less on server maintenance and more on finding new technology solutions."
Aside from creating more bandwidth for TCN's IT team, the new EarthLink solution also
provided added value to TCN's customer base, giving customers reliable access to course
materials.

2. “We significantly upgraded our infrastructure and availability of mission-critical systems, which
makes people more efficient, processes easier, data availability higher and customer satisfaction
better,” Sallee remarked.
Frost & Sullivan selected 26 world-class companies as winners of the CIO Impact Awards. The
recipients are enterprise teams and individuals enabling breakthrough new business models and
strategies through the innovative use of transformative technologies. Each nominated project was
entered into one of six technology-specific categories, and evaluated by a panel of expert Frost &
Sullivan judges.
“Speaking on behalf of the entire EarthLink team, we could not be more pleased that Ryan Sallee
and The College Network received this honor,” remarked Michael D. Toplisek, EarthLink
Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “Working to help such a visionary CIO
achieve his goals is what EarthLink strives to do for all of our IT clients, and it’s gratifying to
have such prestigious judges acknowledge the value of our work on behalf of this customer.”
Click here to view The College Network EarthLink case study. For more information regarding
the CIO Impact Awards & Gala, click: www.frost.com/cioawards.
About EarthLink
Founded in 1994, EarthLink (NASDAQ: ELNK) is a leading IT services and communications provider, empowering
businesses with a fully-managed, end-to-end communications, IT and virtualization portfolio including cloud
computing, IT security, colocation, enterprise-class hosted applications and IT support services. EarthLink operates
an over 29,000 fiber route mile network, with 90 metro fiber rings and 8 secure data centers providing ubiquitous
nationwide data and voice IP service coverage. EarthLink’s service and product innovation enables the company to
design scalable solutions specific to each client’s IT needs, supported by an experienced customer care team. The
company also offers award-winning high-speed, wireless and dial-up Internet services to residential customers
across the U.S. For more information, visit www.earthlinkbusiness.com or follow @EarthLinkBiz.
About The College Network
Since 1992, The College Network, Inc. has provided educational solutions that allow individuals to advance their
education and training with college degrees and professional certificates from highly acclaimed universities. As one
of the nation’s leading educational services companies and a partner with some of the nation’s foremost institutions
of higher learning, The College Network has allowed hundreds of thousands of adults to continue their education
without interruption to their professional lives. Visit www.collegenetwork.com or call 1-800-39-LEARN (395-3276)
for more information.
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