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Top Performers Join Cisco Systems and UNDP to Help End Extreme Poverty
Each of the artists will perform a set at one of the three overlapping NetAid concerts on October 9 at Giants Stadium in New York, Wembley Stadium in London and The Palais des Nations in Geneva. The scheduled artists include:
Bush
Wyclef Jean with Bono
The Corrs
Michael Kamen and Orchestra
Counting Crows
George Michael
Celine Dion
Jimmy Page
Eurythmics
Pete Townshend
Jewel
Robbie Williams
A limited number of artists will be added to the shows.
The concerts will be one of the most widely broadcast programs for social change in history. VH1 and MTV will broadcast the concerts in the US, and BBC television and radio will carry them in the UK. Radio Express will distribute a radio feed of the concerts worldwide, and negotiations are in progress for additional television rights around the world. The entire program also will be webcast live on two channels - one carrying the concert, the second showing backstage scenes. Tickets will go on sale beginning on August 24 for the Wembley show, and on September 8 for the Giants Stadium concert. A total of 110,000 tickets will be available for the two shows. The Geneva concert is by invitation only.
"NetAid is a new Internet model for social change that will combine cutting edge technology with the world's best artistic talent and poverty-fighting expertise," said Don Listwin, executive vice president of Cisco Systems. "Just as the Internet has revolutionized business, the Internet can help lift the hopes of communities in need by bringing ideas, people and resources together in ways never thought possible. NetAid will use the largest scale Internet technology ever deployed to tackle one of the world's largest problems."
The technology employed by NetAid is unique in scale and integration. It includes one of the world's most powerful web sites, www.netaid.org, that will launch September 8, creating opportunities for people to learn, contribute time and money, exchange ideas and expertise, and join with those leading the fight against extreme poverty. The site, which will continue indefinitely after the concerts, will have capacity to handle 125,000 simultaneous live streams, about 10 times the scale of any other streaming site, and 60 million hits per hour - 10 times the peak of the last Olympics and 1998 Men's World Cup.
To manage this traffic, NetAid will employ a distributed network of more than 1,500 servers in over 90 locations worldwide. KPMG, a leading Internet integrator, is building the web site. Akamai Technologies is serving the site content using its Internet content delivery system. Both companies are sponsors of NetAid and are donating enormous amounts of time and technology. Real Networks is supporting the webcast.
The integration of the webcast, web site, television and radio will give audiences unprecedented flexibility, enabling them to enjoy the same program through different media, access a rich diversity of information, and choose their own means to fight extreme poverty. At the same time, the integration will create unique synergies to enhance NetAid's effectiveness. For instance, people watching on TV or via webcast will be prompted by artists and film packages to click online to learn more about certain efforts to address poverty, take action or join with leading UN agencies and non-governmental organ
About Akamai
Akamai Technologies is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has offices in San Mateo and Cupertino, California, and Europe. Akamai is the leader in distributed content, streaming media, and applications delivery, serving over 225 of the Web's most popular properties including over 100 leading e-commerce companies. Akamai has deployed the broadest global network for content, streaming media, and applications delivery with more than 2000 servers in over 40 countries directly connected to more than 100 different telecommunications networks. Akamai (pronounced AH kuh my) is Hawaiian for intelligent, clever and cool.
| Contacts: |
||
| Djibril Diallo UNDP 212-906-5300 |
--or-- | Bob Chlopak NetAid, Wash., D.C. 202-289-5900 |
| Jeanette Gibson Cisco Systems, Inc. 408-525-8965 |
--or-- | Elizabeth Riel NetAid, LA 310-394-1222 |
NetAid Network Will Be Unprecedented in Scale and Integration; Long-Term Initiative to Demonstrate the Internet's Power to Fight World's Worst Poverty
San Jose, CA and New York, NY - Cisco Systems and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today announced a world-class line up of entertainers scheduled to perform in NetAid, a long-term initiative created by the two organizations to help end the growing problem of extreme poverty. NetAid will bring together for the first time the power of the Internet, the global reach of television and radio, and the energy and impact of world-renowned artists and producers to inspire action against one of the world's most serious problems.Each of the artists will perform a set at one of the three overlapping NetAid concerts on October 9 at Giants Stadium in New York, Wembley Stadium in London and The Palais des Nations in Geneva. The scheduled artists include:
Bush
Wyclef Jean with Bono
The Corrs
Michael Kamen and Orchestra
Counting Crows
George Michael
Celine Dion
Jimmy Page
Eurythmics
Pete Townshend
Jewel
Robbie Williams
A limited number of artists will be added to the shows.
The concerts will be one of the most widely broadcast programs for social change in history. VH1 and MTV will broadcast the concerts in the US, and BBC television and radio will carry them in the UK. Radio Express will distribute a radio feed of the concerts worldwide, and negotiations are in progress for additional television rights around the world. The entire program also will be webcast live on two channels - one carrying the concert, the second showing backstage scenes. Tickets will go on sale beginning on August 24 for the Wembley show, and on September 8 for the Giants Stadium concert. A total of 110,000 tickets will be available for the two shows. The Geneva concert is by invitation only.
"NetAid is a new Internet model for social change that will combine cutting edge technology with the world's best artistic talent and poverty-fighting expertise," said Don Listwin, executive vice president of Cisco Systems. "Just as the Internet has revolutionized business, the Internet can help lift the hopes of communities in need by bringing ideas, people and resources together in ways never thought possible. NetAid will use the largest scale Internet technology ever deployed to tackle one of the world's largest problems."
The technology employed by NetAid is unique in scale and integration. It includes one of the world's most powerful web sites, www.netaid.org, that will launch September 8, creating opportunities for people to learn, contribute time and money, exchange ideas and expertise, and join with those leading the fight against extreme poverty. The site, which will continue indefinitely after the concerts, will have capacity to handle 125,000 simultaneous live streams, about 10 times the scale of any other streaming site, and 60 million hits per hour - 10 times the peak of the last Olympics and 1998 Men's World Cup.
To manage this traffic, NetAid will employ a distributed network of more than 1,500 servers in over 90 locations worldwide. KPMG, a leading Internet integrator, is building the web site. Akamai Technologies is serving the site content using its Internet content delivery system. Both companies are sponsors of NetAid and are donating enormous amounts of time and technology. Real Networks is supporting the webcast.
The integration of the webcast, web site, television and radio will give audiences unprecedented flexibility, enabling them to enjoy the same program through different media, access a rich diversity of information, and choose their own means to fight extreme poverty. At the same time, the integration will create unique synergies to enhance NetAid's effectiveness. For instance, people watching on TV or via webcast will be prompted by artists and film packages to click online to learn more about certain efforts to address poverty, take action or join with leading UN agencies and non-governmental organ
About Akamai
Akamai Technologies is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has offices in San Mateo and Cupertino, California, and Europe. Akamai is the leader in distributed content, streaming media, and applications delivery, serving over 225 of the Web's most popular properties including over 100 leading e-commerce companies. Akamai has deployed the broadest global network for content, streaming media, and applications delivery with more than 2000 servers in over 40 countries directly connected to more than 100 different telecommunications networks. Akamai (pronounced AH kuh my) is Hawaiian for intelligent, clever and cool.
