Compaq, Intel, MS to float upstream
- — 21 June, 2000 17:41
The additions to Digital Island's e-Business Delivery Network will be able to support 7.5 million simultaneous streams, expanding to 350 major cities, of which 250 will be outside of the US, said Ruann F. Ernst, chairman and chief executive officer of Digital Island, in a press conference today. "This is the first time the internet will approach the scale of television in streaming media," she said.
The three companies will invest $US45 million to help build up Digital Island's infrastructure over the next two years, using Compaq servers with Intel chips. Specific details of the investment were not disclosed, but Compaq will add an additional $US50 million to finance leasing the new computer hardware.
Although officials stressed that Digital Island's services will be compatible with streaming media players like Apple Computer's QuickTime and RealNetworks's RealPlayer, the servers will be specifically designed for Microsoft's Windows streaming media, said Thomas U. Koll, Vice President of Microsoft's Network Solutions Group.
