Enom 2014 Annual Report Download - page 9

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Technology
Our technologies include software applications built to run on independent clusters of standard and commercially available
servers located at co-location facilities located in North America. We make substantial use of off-the-shelf available open-source
technologies such as Linux, PHP, MySQL, Redis, mongoDB, Memcache, and Lucene in addition to commercial platforms such as
Microsoft, including Windows Operating Systems, SQL Server, and .NET. These systems are connected to the Internet via load
balancers, firewalls, and routers installed in multiple redundant pairs. We also utilize third-party services to geographically deliver
data using major content distribution network (“CDN”) providers. Virtualization is heavily deployed throughout our technology
architecture, which affords scaling numerous properties in an efficient and cost effective manner. Enterprise class storage systems
provide redundancy in order to maintain continued and seamless system availability in the event of most component failures.
Our data centers host most of our public-facing websites and applications, as well as many of our back-end business intelligence
and financial systems. Some of our websites are hosted with a third-party cloud hosting provider. Each of our significant websites is
designed to be fault-tolerant, with collections of application servers, typically configured in a load balanced state, in order to provide
additional resiliency. Our environment is staffed and equipped with a full scale monitoring solution, which includes a Network
Operations Center that is continuously staffed.
International Operations
We provide our products and services to consumers around the world. Our Content & Media service offering includes eHow en
Español, Livestrong.com en Español and eHow Brasil (Spanish and Portuguese language sites that target both the U.S. and the
worldwide Spanish/Portuguese-speaking market), as well as eHow UK and eHow Deutschland (eHow sites that we have launched in
the United Kingdom and Germany). Our online artist marketplaces are available to artists and buyers globally. Information regarding
financial data by geographic areas is set forth in Note 16 of our Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part III, Item
15, “Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and additional information regarding certain risks
associated with our international operations is provided under the heading “Risk Factors” in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on
Form 10-K.
Customers
Our Content & Media customers currently include advertisers and advertising providers that purchase advertising space on our
owned and operated online properties; third parties that publish content created by our content creation studio on their online
properties; and third-party brands, publishers and advertisers that we provide and publish content for as part of our Content Solutions
service. Additionally, products and artworks are sold directly to individual consumers through our online artist marketplaces.
Competition
We operate in highly competitive and developing industries that are characterized by rapid technological change, various
business models and frequent disruption of incumbents by innovative entrants.
Content & Media. The online content and media markets we participate in are rapidly evolving, fragmented and intensely
competitive. Competition is expected to intensify in the future as more companies enter the space. We compete for advertisers and
customers on the basis of a number of factors including return on marketing expenditures, price of our offerings, and the ability to
deliver large amounts, or precise types, of segmented customer traffic. Our principal competitors in this space currently include
traditional online Internet marketing and media companies such as AOL and IAC; leading online media companies such as Yahoo!;
social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, where brands and advertisers are focusing a significant portion of their
online advertising spend in order to connect with their customers; and specialized and enthusiast online properties that focus on
particular areas of consumer interest. Many of these competitors are making significant investments, particularly in online video, in
order to compete with various aspects of our business. Our primary competitors for our Content Solutions service are other companies
that employ a content creation model similar to our platform, such as NewsCred and Contently.
Marketplaces. Our online artist marketplaces compete with a wide variety of online and brick-and-mortar companies selling
original artwork and customized design-focused products. Society6 competes with companies, such as RedBubble, Zazzle and Minted,
that offer specialty products that are produced and shipped based on a print-on-demand model, whereby user or artist generated art
designs are printed on t-shirts, art prints, mobile accessories and other products, as well as small online providers of niche
customization services and product offerings. Saatchi Art competes with traditional offline art galleries, art consultants and other
online properties selling original artwork, such as Artfinder, Artspace and Ugallery. Our artist marketplaces must successfully attract,
retain and engage both buyers and sellers to use our platforms. We believe that the principal competitive factors for our marketplaces
include the quality, price and uniqueness of the products being offered; the selection of goods and artists we feature on our online
properties; the ability to source numerous products efficiently and cost-effectively with respect to our print-on-demand products;