CAMBRIDGE, Mass. , December 10, 1996 - BBN Corporation, one of the nation'slargest Internet service providers, today announced the creation of a pilotnetwork based on Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) technology. BBNbuilt the pilot network with Worldwide Broadcasting Network (WBN), anewly-formed media company, that will deliver Multimedia programming tomajor corporations and financial institutions using ProVision, BBN's pilotRSVP network. BBN and WBN will publicly demonstrate the network at FallInternet World '96, December 11 - 13, in New York.
BBN's pilot network provides "bandwidth on-demand" using Cisco IOSTMsoftware's multimedia features such as RSVP, IP Multicast and smart queuingto allocate and conserve bandwidth to broadcast WBN's specialized contentto desktops across the Internet. RSVP allows the network to "prioritize"bandwidth to provide broadcast-quality video and audio over the Internet.IP Multicast is an IETF standard that enables efficient data delivery fromone sender to multiple receivers, by allowing many destinations to share asingle source data stream. This pilot network follows BBN's beta RSVPdemonstration earlier this year at Networld+Interop in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The American Stock Exchange and Banque Paribas, a global financialinstitution, are the first pilot sites to receive WBN content beginningthis month. WBN multimedia content incorporates broadcast-quality videoand audio coupled with interactive features such as live and stored video,text and graphics. The content is customized for individual subscribersand "narrowcast" over the Internet directly to corporate intranets fordistribution to desktop PCs. Scheduled programming will include expertbusiness and financial analysis, professional development modules andnewscasts.
"WBN fuses television and the Internet, arguably this century's mostinfluential technologies. This convergence presents tremendousopportunities," says Ali S. Kazeroonian, Ph.D., President, WorldwideBroadcasting Network. "By partnering with technology leaders like BBNPlanet, WBN will deliver true interactivity and facilitate collaborationin a way never before possible. We believe it will change the wayorganizations access, process and use information."
"We are pleased to partner with WBN to deliver their unique content overBBN's ProVision network," said Paul R. Gudonis, President of BBN Planet."BBN Planet is building on our experience and this pilot service to fosterbroad adoption of these technologies. BBN is teamed with other technologyleaders such as Cisco Systems and Intel Corporation to implement advancedprotocols such as RSVP and IP Multicast to enable Internet bandwidthreservations for virtually any application that requires predictable datadelivery over the Internet."
Provision Technology Partners
The BBN ProVision pilot network uses Cisco Systems' routers and software.The RSVP software, which Cisco Systems shipped in version 11.2 of Cisco IOSin October 1996, along with other network Quality of Service (QoS) featuressuch as smart queuing, enable BBN to multicast WBN's content tosubscribers' desktops.Intel Corporation teamed with Cisco and BBN to build the April RSVP betademonstration. "We can see BBN Planet's ProVision pilot with WBN'sapplication as a significant effort that will lead businesses to usenetworked multimedia," said D. Craig Kinnie, Vice President and Co-GeneralManager of Intel's Internet and Communications group. "We look forward toworking with BBN Planet to deploy and test IP Multicast, RSVP and Real TimeProtocol (RTP) in this network."
Worldwide Broadcasting Company (WBN) is a privately held broadcastingnetwork that uses leading-edge technology based on open standards todeliver industry-specific, interactive news and information and trainingprograms via the Internet and intranets. Founded in 1996, the company isengaged in program production and acquisition, research and development,marketing, sales and service from its Cambridge, Massachusettsheadquarters. The company has a news bureau, studio and productionfacility in New York City. For more information, please see WBN's Web siteat http://www.wbnet.com.
BBN is a leading provider of Internet services for businesses andorganizations. BBN, through its BBN Planet division, provides companies ofall sizes with reliable Internet access services, remote access services,network Security, Web site development and hosting, internationalconnectivity and electronic commerce and system integration services toeffectively use the Internet for business. BBN Planet had revenues of $73million and BBN Corporation posted revenue of $234 million for the fiscalyear ended June 30, 1996. For more information, please visit BBN's WorldWide Web site at http://www.bbn.com.
Copyright ) 1996 Cisco Systems Inc. All rights reserved.
