New award program recognises outstanding partnership with leading eCommerce platform provider

London, UK, 23rd April 2012 - PEER 1 Hosting, the global IT hosting provider, is today announcing it has selected Magento, a leading eCommerce platform provider as the winner of its 2011 Partner of the Year Award. The inaugural award honours excellence in customer service and top referrals.

Magento is the fastest growing eCommerce platform in the world, serving leading brands, innovators and large retailers. Magento and PEER 1 Hosting collaborated closely for the last two years to create robust solutions for eCommerce clients. Recently, the companies have begun offering online retailers an optimised Managed Hosting solution designed and calibrated to improve the performance and reliability of Magento-based storefronts. The turnkey infrastructure solution has been extremely successful and has enabled customers to grow their business and scale the solution to suit their needs.

"Magento embodies what being a partner means in every sense," said Amanda Dunn, Director Business Development EMEA, PEER 1 Hosting. "They work with us to ensure our joint customers are receiving the very best service and performance from their solutions."

This year's award winner was selected by PEER 1 Hosting's newly formed Partner Evaluation Committee, which is comprised of three Senior Executives and five Partner Relations team members. The committee looked at various criteria to select a winning company, including highest number of customer referrals. Magento is a SMART+ Partner under the revamped Partner Program announced earlier this month, meaning the company has referred more than any other partner in recurring revenue. The committee also awarded Magento high marks for its commitment to customer service, the access and viability of its ecosystem/community and its global reach. These factors, coupled with the outstanding technical collaboration, has earned Magento this year's award.

"This award represents the intersection of huge growth in eCommerce, demand for the Magento platform and need for a trusted hosting partner," said Bob Schwartz, President, Magento. "Our merchants trust us to design software that gives their customers the best online shopping experience and we trust PEER 1 Hosting to keep our joint clients' websites running on a strong network with top-notch support."

Further cementing PEER 1 Hosting's dedication to eCommerce excellence, the company is hosting ‘eCommerce Futures Conference 2012' on 16th May 2012; an exclusive one-day event for senior European retail decision makers. Delegates will learn how best to manage growth, reduce costs and improving customer experience based on Magento and PEER 1 Hosting's enterprise eCommerce solution. For more information: ecommercefuturesconference.com.

PEER 1 Hosting is also a proud gold sponsor of the upcoming Magento Imagine Conference being held in Las Vegas, Nevada. For more information visit: http://www.imagineecommerce.com.