Major Internet Content Providers Adopt Microsoft NetShow
PALM SPRINGS, Calif., Jan. 26, 1998 — Microsoft Corp. today announced at Microsoft® Web TechEd that leading Internet content providers (ICPs) have chosen the Microsoft NetShow
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server as a primary and strategic multimedia platform for innovative, new online programming. In addition, more than 40 infrastructure companies have announced their support for NetShow, including Internet hosting and service providers, authoring tools companies, software vendors and systems providers, signaling that NetShow has become an industry-leading multimedia platform.
“The widespread adoption of NetShow by both ICPs and infrastructure vendors clearly demonstrates that Web-based multimedia is ready for prime time,” said Brad Chase, vice president, Internet client and collaboration division at Microsoft. “The combination of great tools and technology with leading-edge creative talent is driving a whole new era of innovative content on the Web. We’re pleased to see that these leading companies are choosing NetShow.”
Major Internet Content Providers Adopt NetShow
Warner Bros. is the largest producer and distributor of movies, television and home video programming in the world.
“At Warner Bros. Online, we believe that there is a great potential to attract mainstream users to quality interactive Web content that combines the entertainment value of television and the interactivity of the online world,” said Jim Moloshok, senior vice president of Warner Bros. Online. “To accomplish this goal, we are using NetShow as one of our core technologies because of its ease of use and high-quality video and audio.”
MSNBC, a partnership between NBC and Microsoft, is a 24-hour cable news network and Internet news service. MSNBC on the Internet is leading the way in the convergence of the television with the computer to create the most comprehensive news product.
“It’s critical for us to leverage the NBC News television assets,” said Rich Lappenbusch, director of operations of MSNBC. “We will be redesigning components of our site to take advantage of the high-quality streaming capabilities of NetShow. We ran an exhaustive cost-benefit analysis on a variety of streaming applications and found NetShow provides us the most cost-effective long-term solution.”
FOX News Online is the premier destination for timely and comprehensive reports of world news, sports, weather, business, health and sci-tech news, as well as compelling editorial, 24-hour video coverage, free real-time stock quotes, customized stock portfolios and wire reports. FOX Sports Online is the Web’s ultimate provider of sports news and information and in-depth coverage of local and regional sports, offering up-to-the-minute scores, stats, chat, interviews, photos and interactive games among its many features.
“FOX News and FOX Sports are the Web sites of choice for millions of users seeking up-to-the-minute news, sports and information,” said Scott Ehrlich, executive producer of News America Digital Publishing (NADP), which produces FOX News Online and FOX Sports Online. “In naming NetShow as its primary and strategic video streaming platform, FOX News, which has been using Real Video exclusively for almost a year, is making a move to have its streaming video content available to more users than was previously available.”
CNN Interactive is the world’s leading general news and information site on the Web and provides news from around the world with the same accuracy, fairness and speed that viewers expect from all of CNN’s news services.
“Breaking-news video is an ever-growing element of CNN Interactive’s up-to-the-minute coverage, and Microsoft NetShow will allow us to enhance greatly our users’ video experience,” said Mark Bernstein, vice president and general manager of CNN Interactive. “Additionally, we have adopted NetShow as the primary platform to encode and stream our archival video footage, thereby offering our users easy access to CNN’s rich video archives.”
Bloomberg LP’s core business is to provide a worldwide, 24-hour-a-day, real-time financial information network of news, data and analysis of financial markets and business. “We believe that the incorporation of audio and video content will be an essential component of a successful Web site in that it imparts news and information in a gripping, compelling manner. In fact, we have used streaming audio and video since we launched our Web site,” said Jonathan Fram, general manager of new media at Bloomberg LP. “We’re choosing NetShow as our primary and strategic multimedia platform because it offers higher-quality content, integration with Microsoft Site Server and a set of services that will solidify our competitive edge as the leading provider of financial news and information.”
A broad range of content providers, including AudioNet Inc., Capitol Records Inc., MSNBC Desktop Video, National Public Radio and the National Association of Broadcasters, as well as hundreds of local radio stations and thousands of businesses, have already adopted NetShow.
Availability of Infrastructure Products and Services Fuels Momentum of NetShow
More than 40 companies have announced their support of NetShow, including Internet hosting and service providers, producers of authoring tools, software vendors and systems providers. These organizations are working closely with Microsoft to offer their customers a full range of NetShow-supporting products and services, such as content creation and encoding, complete Web solutions, and client/server implementation and systems integration. In addition, Microsoft and Cisco Systems Inc. are working together to improve performance of streaming networked multimedia.
Support from the following companies provides customers with the technology and services necessary to use NetShow to deliver compelling multimedia content for the Web:
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Service and hosting providers. Activate Corp., AudioNet Inc., BoxTop Interactive , Broadway Interactive Group, Concentric Network Corp., ConnectOS Corp., Constructive Media Inc., Cornerstone Solutions Group, CyberSource Corp., Encoding.com, Icon CMT Corp., InterVU Inc., ITV.Net, Plastic, Radio-Active Networks Inc., Rare Medium Inc., Razorfish Inc., Reset Inc., Saltmine Creative Inc.,TechKnowQuest Inc., USWeb Corp., Video2Net, WorldLink Inc. and Yard Productions.
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Authoring tools. Adobe Systems Inc., Asymetrix Corp., Ephyx Technologies Ltd., Sonic Foundry Inc., Telos Systems, Terran Interactive Inc., Vivo Software Inc., Voxware Inc. and Waves Ltd.
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Software vendors. Accipiter Inc., Excalibur Technologies Corp., Free Range Media, Liquid Audio Inc., Magnifi Inc., Starlight Corp. and Virage Inc.
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Systems providers. Cabletron Systems, Cisco Systems Inc., Compaq Computer Corp., Digital Equipment Corp., FORE Systems Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., NeTpower Inc. and Switched Networks Technologies Inc.
Microsoft Releases NetShow 3.0 Beta Software
Meanwhile today, Microsoft announced the release of the beta version of NetShow 3.0. For more information, visit http://www.microsoft.com/netshow/ .
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
Microsoft and NetShow are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
For more information, press only:
Lisa MacKenzie, MacKenzie Kesselring Inc., (503) 225-0725, [email protected]
