Web hosting provider Pipex Communications's (www.pipex.net) subsidiary WebFusion (www.webfusion.co.uk) announced on Tuesday that it is the first UK Web host to launch DotNetNuke (www.dotnetnuke.com), a tool for creating Web sites with integrated blogs, forums, galleries and other modules. DotNetNuke is an open source solution with a community of over 125,000 users. It was built on the Microsoft ASP.NET platform by Perpetual Motion Interactive Systems.

"As the world's first hosting provider to launch a version of DotNetNuke for free as part of a shared hosting offering, we're committed to simplifying the process of creating, hosting and maintaining websites," says Rick Flood, general manager of WebFusion. "With DotNetNuke available on our secure, resilient servers, both experienced Web developers and new Webmasters will be able to build sophisticated Web sites with all the benefits of our 24/7 support and technical services."

DotNetNuke was included in the recent release of version 3.5 of the Microsoft Solution for Windows-based hosting. WebFusion's deployment runs on a Windows hosting platform and includes free modules.

"The release of DotNetNuke by WebFusion is a clear demonstration of the success of the latest version of the Microsoft Solution for Windows-based Hosting," says Micheline Germanos, director of Web Services and Hosting, Communications Sector, for Microsoft EMEA. "The Solution, developed by Microsoft to encourage adoption of hosted technology, has enabled WebFusion to get to market quickly with an original product, giving them a distinct time to market, competitive advantage over their competitors."