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Akamai Provides Streaming Media Infrastructure for WebFN.com 2.0
The relationship between the companies positions Akamai as WebFN's exclusive streaming media infrastructure provider. Through the agreement, WebFN has outsourced its streaming media delivery and storage needs to Akamai, including its live, on-demand and customized financial news programming. Akamai's massively distributed global platform enables WebFN viewers to receive financial news programming from the network's revamped streaming financial news web site, and its licensing clients' sites, with enhanced quality and reliability.
Through Akamai's integrated reporting tools, WebFN is able to effectively measure the success of its programming and better understand its visitors and their interests. This business insight allows WebFN to refine its value proposition and enhance its customers' online experience, demonstrated in WebFN.com's new presentation and enhanced financial research capabilities. WebFN's daily viewership average has increased more than 200 percent since the companies began doing business in April 2001.
"In addition to providing high-quality media experiences, a major challenge facing the streaming media industry is the ability to achieve a more thorough and empirical form of measurement," said Bob Reichblum, CEO of WebFN. "As a company who streams live content daily, the return visitor -- the individual who relies on news programming from WebFN every day -- is a far more valuable metric than any other. Akamai's streaming media platform and historical usage reporting services enable us to overcome these challenges and manage our web site and programming more effectively."
"WebFN, a top news organization and a valued Akamai customer, has built a successful online business due in part to the quality online interaction it delivers to its customers," said Paul Sagan, president, Akamai. "By taking advantage of Akamai's scalable and reliable distributed computing platform and historical usage reporting tools, WebFN is able to effectively distribute its financial news programming across the Internet."
"The value to any advertiser is the opportunity to get their message to its intended audience and having more than one opportunity a month to do that," said Reichblum. "Akamai's business intelligence solutions ensure that we have access to current data to help us refine our approach and optimize our web site's functionality and programming strategies."
About WebFN
Since its commercial launch in January 2000, WebFN has established itself as an industry standard, identifying, developing and capitalizing on the emerging streaming-media market. WebFN is a 24/7 global financial news and information network that streams 12 hours of live, original, financial news programming from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST, every business day on the Internet. Original WebFN programming completes the network's daily 24-hour news loop and airs during the weekend and market holidays. This programming can be viewed at CNBC on MSN Money, E*Trade.com, Fidelity.com, WebFN.com, and the subscription site B4Utrade.com. Collectively these web sites form the networks of WebFN.
About Akamai
Akamai is a leading provider of secure, outsourced e-business infrastructure services and software. These services and software enable companies to reduce the complexity and cost of deploying and operating a uniform Web infrastructure while ensuring unmatched performance, reliability, scalability and manageability. Akamai's services give businesses a distinct competitive advantage and provide an unparalleled Internet experience for their customers. Akamai's intelligent edge platform for content, streaming media, and application delivery comprises more than 13,500 servers within over 1,000 networks in 66 countries. With headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Akamai provides services and industry-renowned customer care to hundreds of enterprises worldwide, including dozens of Fortune 500 businesses. For information on Delivering a Better InternetSM, visit www.akamai.com.
Akamai Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
The release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, general economic conditions, the dependence on Akamai's Internet content delivery service and technology products, potential difficulties that Akamai may encounter in attempting to expand its business into international markets, a failure of Akamai's network infrastructure, Akamai's ability to protect its intellectual property rights and inventions from third party challenges, and other factors that are discussed in the Akamai's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.
| Contacts: |
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| Caryn Brownell Akamai Technologies, Inc. (617) 444 - 4661 cbrownell@akamai.com |
--or-- | Graham Fleming WebFN (312) 660 - 8302 gfleming@webfn.com |
Financial news network provides optimal experiences for viewers via Akamai's distributed computing platform
Cambridge, MA and Chicago, IL - March 5, 2002 - Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), a leading provider of secure, outsourced e-business infrastructure services and software, and WebFN (www.webfn.com), the Internet's leading 24/7 streaming financial news and information network, today announced that Akamai is providing WebFN with streaming media services and historical usage reporting tools for the network's re-launch of WebFN.com.The relationship between the companies positions Akamai as WebFN's exclusive streaming media infrastructure provider. Through the agreement, WebFN has outsourced its streaming media delivery and storage needs to Akamai, including its live, on-demand and customized financial news programming. Akamai's massively distributed global platform enables WebFN viewers to receive financial news programming from the network's revamped streaming financial news web site, and its licensing clients' sites, with enhanced quality and reliability.
Through Akamai's integrated reporting tools, WebFN is able to effectively measure the success of its programming and better understand its visitors and their interests. This business insight allows WebFN to refine its value proposition and enhance its customers' online experience, demonstrated in WebFN.com's new presentation and enhanced financial research capabilities. WebFN's daily viewership average has increased more than 200 percent since the companies began doing business in April 2001.
"In addition to providing high-quality media experiences, a major challenge facing the streaming media industry is the ability to achieve a more thorough and empirical form of measurement," said Bob Reichblum, CEO of WebFN. "As a company who streams live content daily, the return visitor -- the individual who relies on news programming from WebFN every day -- is a far more valuable metric than any other. Akamai's streaming media platform and historical usage reporting services enable us to overcome these challenges and manage our web site and programming more effectively."
"WebFN, a top news organization and a valued Akamai customer, has built a successful online business due in part to the quality online interaction it delivers to its customers," said Paul Sagan, president, Akamai. "By taking advantage of Akamai's scalable and reliable distributed computing platform and historical usage reporting tools, WebFN is able to effectively distribute its financial news programming across the Internet."
"The value to any advertiser is the opportunity to get their message to its intended audience and having more than one opportunity a month to do that," said Reichblum. "Akamai's business intelligence solutions ensure that we have access to current data to help us refine our approach and optimize our web site's functionality and programming strategies."
About WebFN
Since its commercial launch in January 2000, WebFN has established itself as an industry standard, identifying, developing and capitalizing on the emerging streaming-media market. WebFN is a 24/7 global financial news and information network that streams 12 hours of live, original, financial news programming from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST, every business day on the Internet. Original WebFN programming completes the network's daily 24-hour news loop and airs during the weekend and market holidays. This programming can be viewed at CNBC on MSN Money, E*Trade.com, Fidelity.com, WebFN.com, and the subscription site B4Utrade.com. Collectively these web sites form the networks of WebFN.
About Akamai
Akamai is a leading provider of secure, outsourced e-business infrastructure services and software. These services and software enable companies to reduce the complexity and cost of deploying and operating a uniform Web infrastructure while ensuring unmatched performance, reliability, scalability and manageability. Akamai's services give businesses a distinct competitive advantage and provide an unparalleled Internet experience for their customers. Akamai's intelligent edge platform for content, streaming media, and application delivery comprises more than 13,500 servers within over 1,000 networks in 66 countries. With headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Akamai provides services and industry-renowned customer care to hundreds of enterprises worldwide, including dozens of Fortune 500 businesses. For information on Delivering a Better InternetSM, visit www.akamai.com.
Akamai Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
The release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, general economic conditions, the dependence on Akamai's Internet content delivery service and technology products, potential difficulties that Akamai may encounter in attempting to expand its business into international markets, a failure of Akamai's network infrastructure, Akamai's ability to protect its intellectual property rights and inventions from third party challenges, and other factors that are discussed in the Akamai's Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.
