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ENRON COMMUNICATIONS AND INKTOMI INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGIES TO CREATE UNIQUE CONTENT DISTRIBUTION OFFERING
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, November 10, 1999
HOUSTON - Enron Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Enron (NYSE: ENE), and Inktomi Corporation (NASDAQ: INKT) announced today a strategic alliance in which the Inktomi Traffic Server cache platform will be integrated into the Enron Intelligent Network to offer high quality network performance and bandwidth capacity to support broadband content distribution and e-business services. The integration of Inktomi’s caching software into the Enron Intelligent Network enhances Enron Communications’ ability to seamlessly and selectively push content to the desktop while handling massive volumes of high bit rate network traffic in a scalable manner.
“With the acceleration of global e-business demands, there is an increased need for an Internet infrastructure that is scalable, reliable and fast,” said David Peterschmidt, President and Chief Executive Officer of Inktomi Corp. “ The integration of our Traffic Server technology into the Enron Intelligent Network will enable a rich suite of broadband applications and services targeted at the next generation of content delivery.”
The enhanced performance of the Enron Intelligent Network, in combination with the Inktomi Traffic Server cache platform, lies in its ability to store content “one-hop” away from the user at the closest ISP server. Enron’s network also provides greater scaling capability to handle peaks in demand without system failures. In contrast, the public Internet has a limited capability to deliver broadband services like streaming media, which is often hampered by packet loss, interference, and other disruptions that slow down transmission speed and compromise the end user viewing experience.
“Enron Communications’ unique e-business platform includes industrial strength routers and servers, combined with fiber and satellite distribution, to deliver more simultaneous streams which overcomes the challenges of the current Internet,” said Mike Ortega, vice president of sales at InterNAP. “Integrating Inktomi’s technology with the Enron Intelligent Network really takes our services to a new level and provides a huge competitive advantage in the delivery of broadband content to our customers.”
The integration of Inktomi technology with the Enron Intelligent Network will represent an industry-best end-to-end solution to deliver mission critical applications to vertical industries like financial services and media and entertainment. For example, the Enron Intelligent Network can host high-quality streaming video road shows for the financial services industry – distributed live, interactive and on-demand. The Enron Intelligent Network offers investment banks, content aggregators and other financial entities a richer, faster and more reliable audio/video experience for their audiences than today’s popular solutions, which are mostly public Internet based.
“Enterprise businesses are looking for the right combination of technology that will enable their swift transformation to e-businesses, which is what the Enron Intelligent Network offers. We offer the end-to-end Internet solution for content distribution, not just a small enhancement to the public Internet,” said Joe Hirko, president and CEO of Enron Communications. “The enterprise seeks online services like TV-quality streaming rich media, video conferencing over the Internet, and large video file transfers over IP, which are transmitted with even higher quality and reliability over the Enron Intelligent Network with the support of Inktomi caching.”
One of Enron Communications’ streaming customers--Countrycool.com, the official web cast site of the 1999 Country Music Association (CMA) Awards--transmitted a live stream of the 33rd Annual CMA Awards over the Enron Intelligent Network. The viewing audience connected to the stream at broadband speeds of 150 Kbps and 300 Kbps. High-bit rate, data-intensive streaming media events, like the CMA Awards web cast, highlight the efficient delivery and robust performance of the Enron Intelligent Network.
“We realized that Enron Intelligent Network was the perfect platform for the most efficient and reliable delivery of our premier streaming event, and in fact, they exceeded our expectations. The quality of this stream got such excellent reviews that our web site audience has increased by nearly 900 percent over last year’s numbers,” said Carol Walcoff, Countrycool.com President and CEO. “Now add Inktomi’s caching technology to Enron Communications’ platform and we truly are able to scale our services and meet our increased user requests for on-demand content.”
About Inktomi
Inktomi (pronounced INK-tuh-me), develops and markets scalable software designed for the world's largest Internet infrastructure and media companies. Inktomi's two areas of business are portal services, comprised of the search, directory and shopping engines; and network products comprised of the Traffic Server network cache and associated value-added services. Inktomi works with leading companies including America Online, British Telecommunications, CNN, Excite@Home, GoTo.com, Intel, NBC's Snap!, RealNetworks, Sun Microsystems, and Yahoo!. The company has offices in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information visit www.inktomi.com.
About Enron Communications
Enron Communications delivers the Enron Intelligent Network™, a Pure IP™ broadband overlay to the Internet. Enron Communications also provides rich, multimedia ePowered™ application services that enhance online commerce and communications. In early 2000, the Enron Intelligent Network will extend its reach to Europe, Japan, Asia and South America with metropolitan POPs and local ePowered distribution partners. Enron Communications offers ISPs and networks providers a range of bandwidth transport solutions that enable businesses to handle high traffic and high bit rate needs. A wholly owned subsidiary of Enron (NYSE: ENE), Enron Communications can be found on the web at www.enron.net.
Enron is one of the world’s leading electricity, natural gas and communications companies. The company, which owns approximately $34 billion in energy and communications assets, produces electricity and natural gas, develops, constructs and operates energy facilities worldwide, delivers physical commodities and financial and risk management services to customers around the world, and is developing an intelligent network platform to facilitate online business. The stock is traded under the ticker symbol, “ENE.”
Click here to download this press release in Microsoft Word format.
For additional information please contact:
Claudia Johnson
503-833.4435
claudia_johnson@enron.net
Julie Keslik
650-653-3071
jkeslik@inktomi.com
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