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| Contacts: |
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| Anttoni Vesterinen CEO oplayo oy 358 40 834 5787 anttoni.vesterinen@oplayo.com |
--or-- | Wolfgang Stähle President EMEA Akamai Technologies 49 (0) 8994006-0 wstaehle@akamai.com |
| Eeva Juujärvi Marketing Director oplayo oy 358 40 7099370 eeva.juujarvi@oplayo.com |
--or-- | Kathleen O'Boyle Reach Public Relations 415 - 905 - 4000 |
Delivers High-Quality Rich Content without Internal Server Burden
Helsinki, Finland - October 15, 2001 - oplayo oy, a leading provider of streaming media technology, today introduced a new edge streaming service model that enables companies to enhance the flow of internal communications without burdening corporate server capacity.With the new service, based on oplayo's leading plug-in-free streaming technology, companies can stream rich content to corporate Intranet users from outside the company firewalls using Akamai's globally distributed network, freeing internal network resources for critical business applications. Employees can instantly view rich content, such as executive presentations or training sessions, without having to download or install any media players. With the new service, companies can deliver corporate news and announcements through video clips inserted within emails.
"Communicating with employees quickly and consistently is vital. At Nokia, we are always searching for new ways to improve internal communications that are quick to implement, easy to access and offer variety in presentation. With oplayo's streaming technology, we can provide employees with instant access to more media rich news items," says Lauri Kivinen, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Nokia.
"Because content is streamed over the Internet using Akamai's optimized server network, company servers are not involved. All of a company's server and backbone capacity remains available for business critical needs," says Anttoni Vesterinen, CEO of oplayo oy. "The Nokia News Service project is an excellent example of how organizations can take advantage of oplayo's technology to keep employees informed in a highly efficient, cost-effective way, without overtaxing internal IT resources," Vesterinen adds.
"Streaming video over the Internet to corporate Intranets through the company firewall is a new and revolutionary concept," says Wolfgang Stähle, President EMEA, Akamai Technologies Limited. "The plug-in-free streaming technology developed by oplayo, combined with the consistent performance of Akamai's extensive global network, is the perfect solution for companies wishing to enliven and enhance their corporate communications with video. The new edge streaming service model launched by oplayo and leveraging the Akamai network enables companies to keep their employees better informed by providing them with instant access to high-quality rich media content," Stähle explains.
Akamai provides enterprises and Internet businesses with a highly reliable, high-performance platform for the delivery of all forms of content from the Internet's edge. The massive scalability of the Akamai network ensures support for high-volume, worldwide audiences, regardless of Internet congestion caused by network bottlenecks. Akamai delivers live event webcasts, streaming media on demand, and a range of streaming application services based upon this globally distributed network and core Akamai technology for the intelligent, real-time routing of content requests based on end user location.
About edge streaming
Because streaming media content is bandwidth sensitive, flawed transmission can degrade content quality. Transmission delays, which can be caused by server failure or network bottlenecks, make it difficult to guarantee delivery of high-quality content. Streaming content from the edge of a network - away from slow links and network delays and closer to viewers - through Akamai's globally distributed network comprising over 13,000 servers, helps to ensure delivery of unbroken, high-quality rich content. The combination of edge streaming with oplayo's compression technology further enhances the delivery speed and content quality.
About oplayo's technology
Based on an internationally patented motion vector quantization (MVQ) technology, oplayo delivers higher quality video streaming, with lower bandwidth requirements than other streaming solutions. oplayo's products compress distributed video content into an extremely light packet. The end-user's browser or wireless device automatically decompresses and displays the packet with an accompanying small Java applet (20KB). The applet, which is received in seconds, eliminates the need for plug-ins or media players.
Streaming content with oplayo requires only a standard Web server, making it extremely cost effective. Companies can make the most of their existing Web infrastructure, and reach the broadest possible audience, without additional investments in specialized streaming video servers. The oplayo solution provides new channels for corporate communications, including investor briefings, Web-based training, and mission critical business applications, such as customer and dealer network support. Because oplayo is well suited for delivering video via email, it is the optimal solution for innovative marketing and infotainment applications such as music videos, movie trailers, news and sports highlights.
About oplayo
Founded in 1999, oplayo's corporate headquarters are in Helsinki, Finland, with U.S. operations based in Vienna, Virginia. oplayo's investors include Nokia Venture Partners, zouk ventures, and TEKES, the National Technology Agency of Finland. Additional information about oplayo can be found at http://www.oplayo.com.
One of the first companies to select the oplayo-powered solution is Nokia Corporation, who will pilot it as part of their Intranet-based Nokia News Service, a new internal communications project to be launched in early November.
