Global Crossing Ltd (NYSE: GX) and The FeedRoom, Inc. announced a strategic agreement that brings The FeedRoom's broadcast applications, services and interactive content distribution technologies to Global Crossing's Media & Entertainment extranet. In addition, Global Crossing will now assume management responsibilities of The FeedRoom's distribution infrastructure from the company's facilities to the premises of partner broadcasting companies and multi-national corporations. The companies also agreed to co-market their services to bring new end-users and content providers onto the Global Crossing Media & Entertainment extranet employing The FeedRoom video platform.
The FeedRoom is a provider of online video experiences that is building a preeminent network of video-rich platforms. The FeedRoom's broadband news network aggregates the latest news, business, sports, and weather video from the local TV stations owned by NBC, Tribune Company, Journal Broadcasting and Granite Broadcasting, as well as dozens of independent news providers. The FeedRoom also creates video destinations for enterprises such as Cisco. The FeedRoom is a portfolio company of Bear Stearns' Constellation Ventures, which recently announced an alliance dedicated to applications partners developing network-centric software and systems that will enhance the value of Global Crossing's Media & Entertainment extranet.
The agreement enables The FeedRoom to dramatically expand its distribution through Global Crossing's fiber-optic network that will, upon completion, span more than 100,000 route miles and reach more than 200 cities. Global Crossing's Media & Entertainment extranet was recently launched specifically to provide a service and solutions offering for the broadcast, film and publishing industries, enabling industry participants to exchange digital content over a secure, high-speed broadband connection.
The Media & Entertainment extranet will connect geographically dispersed media facilities via the broadband exchange of TV-quality video, CD-quality audio, live event broadcasting, feature films and commercial production and on-demand applications.
In addition, Global Crossing subsidiary Asia Global Crossing announced that Yahoo! BB, a broadband service provided by Softbank Group and Yahoo! Japan, will be "Powered by Asia Global Crossing." Yahoo! BB has selected Asia Global Crossing's high-speed IP Transit service as its main international backbone. With multiple Gigabit Ether connections, Yahoo! BB will use IP Transit to better meet anticipated demand created by its recently announced ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) high-speed Internet access and portal services offerings.
Yahoo! BB offers end-users broadband services such as high-speed Internet connection services an ADSL access line, as well as portal services, including broadband content such as images and music, network competitive games, and online education.
Asia Global Crossing was selected because it owns a private high-speed network able to handle high-volume, burstable broadband user traffic driven by services like ADSL. Since its launch last year, IP Transit has been adopted by many major ISPs because the service can handle large volumes of data reliably and is cost-effective.
IP Transit is a high-speed Internet access service offered by Asia Global Crossing to ISPs and enterprises. The IP Transit service enables up to a 2.5Gbps data rate, purportedly the industry's fastest. This service provides enterprise customers with connections to dedicated lines such as T1 (1.5Mbps) or STM-4 (622Mpbs). IP Transit directly connects ISPs and IX around the world via Asia Global Crossing's and Global Crossing's high-speed network, thus allowing ISPs to build very efficient Internet environments at low costs, while minimizing network failures and delays.
About The FeedRoom:
The FeedRoom is a provider of online video experiences that is building a network of video-rich sites. The FeedRoom partners with news organizations, entertainment companies and corporations to bring a TV-like experience to Internet audiences. For more information, visit www.feedroom.com.
About Asia Global Crossing
Asia Global Crossing (Nasdaq: AGCX), a public company whose largest shareholders include Global Crossing (NYSE: GX), Softbank (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 9984), and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), provides the Asia Pacific region with a full range of integrated telecommunications and IP services. For more information, visit www.asiaglobalcrossing.com.
About Global Crossing:
Global Crossing Ltd (NYSE: GX) provides telecommunications solutions over an integrated global IP-based network. For more information, visit www.globalcrossing.com.