NETWORKS

Kontiki, a provider of Grid delivery solutions for high quality video, software and digital content, announced that its Delivery Management System (DMS) 4.0 is now available. The new software includes many enhancements that lower total cost of ownership such as simplified deployment, support for the Windows Server Platform and the flexibility to completely customize the user experience depending on business needs. Kontiki's DMS eliminates network gridlock by securely delivering high quality video, software and other digital content to virtually any size audience at a fraction of the cost of alternatives by efficiently utilizing existing computing and network resources. In a recent report, Gartner predicted that through 2008 enterprises will grow their bandwidth use by 50 to 100 percent per year. Factors driving this demand for network capacity include use of multimedia intranets, video communications, frequency of software updates and an increase in mobile workers. If companies do not respond to this demand for network capacity, the threat of "gridlock" looms where WANs become overloaded, central servers fail and critical communications cannot reach users. "A top IT hurdle to enterprise adoption of video and digital media is the real possibility of breaking the network," said Lawrence Orans, senior analyst at Gartner. "Grid delivery provides a cost effective and elegant solution to this problem by allowing companies to take advantage of existing computing and network capacity to efficiently deliver large content files such as video and software." VeriSign Inc, a provider of intelligent infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications networks, has been using Kontiki's software for corporate communications for over two years and recently upgraded to DMS 4.0. "Before we started using Kontiki, we just couldn't take advantage of all that video had to offer in improving communications to employees," said Stratton Sclavos, VeriSign's president and CEO. "Now, we are able to deliver timely video communications and critical large files to offices around the globe while avoiding network congestion." Kontiki's DMS software is built on the company's patent-pending Grid Delivery Technology which eliminates delivery gridlock by efficiently utilizing idle network and computing resources to lower delivery costs by 70 to 90 percent. With the Delivery Management System 4.0, Kontiki is extending its leadership in Grid delivery by further lowering total cost of ownership and greatly increasing the customization options available for the user experience and application integration. New features in 4.0 include: Even Lower IT Costs Deployment in one day -- Automated XML-based deployment manager enables fast deployment of Kontiki servers. Gain the benefits of Grid delivery with 40 percent fewer servers -- The Kontiki DMS architecture has been simplified for easier and less expensive operation with 40 percent fewer servers. This means that companies will enjoy even greater hardware cost savings when using Kontiki to deliver digital content across existing networks. Windows Server support -- IT now has the flexibility to deploy the Kontiki DMS on the Windows Server platform. Kontiki also integrates with several Windows technologies including Windows Media 9 Series and Active Directory. Customization & Integration Complete user interface customization -- Companies have the flexibility of developing custom interfaces for finding, obtaining and using video. For example, media companies like CNET and AOL/Moviefone have created branded desktop clients that can be used to easily obtain high quality video content. Enterprises have integrated Kontiki into their rich media portals to enable easy access to video content from employees' browsers. Seamless application integration -- Enterprises also have the flexibility of integrating Kontiki with their existing applications so that they become Grid enabled. For example, a Fortune 100 technology services company seamlessly integrated their software distribution system with Kontiki to accelerate the speed of software updates while reducing the number of servers and bandwidth normally required to deliver the updates. Improved Business Solutions Improved business analysis -- Content delivery and usage reports are now available in near real time, giving IT and business users quick access to business results. IT can also view deliveries and use by various groups such as specific geographies within an enterprise. Simplified publishing and collection management -- Publishing content is now faster and it is easier to manage thousands of content items. "Our customers want to take full advantage of business video to communicate mission-critical information and need to deliver large software updates quickly and efficiently to all employees worldwide. Quite simply they cannot afford network Gridlock," said Bryan Plug, Kontiki's CEO. "Kontiki's solution makes it possible to use video and deliver software updates without having to upgrade their network infrastructure with additional hardware and bandwidth." Kontiki's Grid delivery technology is currently in use at Autodesk, CNET Networks, Ernst & Young, Nextel, VeriSign and other major enterprise organizations for a myriad of video and software delivery applications. The use of Kontiki's worldwide Grid has now surpassed 18 million users.