With Assistance From Cisco, Intermedia Communications Business Internet and Webcasts.Com
SAN JOSE, Calif., -- March 2, 1999 -- March Madness is on in collegiate basketball. For the first time, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) basketball tournament will be broadcast live to the Web by using a powerful, interactive end-to-end solution from Webcasts.com, Intermedia Business Internet, and Cisco Systems, Inc., and hosted by FANSonly. The ACC basketball tournament will be held at the Charlotte Coliseum in North Carolina from March 4 - 7, 1999.
This media-rich and highly interactive experience will, for the first time, enable viewers to participate in several ways: view the tournament through the WWW with video content; surf or flip to other Web sites during the live webcast; join interactive chat rooms and fan polling; view courtside interviews and live statistics as they happen, and participate in live pre- and post-game press conferences (video/audio with URL links). All the games are available "on-demand" March 5 through April 15.
"We are creating a one-of-kind Web event with this live and interactive Web broadcast of the ACC," said Tim Carruthers, President of Webcasts.com. "We have some powerful players on our team that have created this solution. We'll be using the high-performance and easy-to-install Cisco routers plus Internet connections from Intermedia Business Internet, and webcasting resources, proprietary hardware, and server technologies from Webcasts.com."
"The live and interactive broadcast of the ACC is an excellent example of the new world services that Cisco is helping to create. The broadcast delivers interactive multimedia applications and videostreaming in a very powerful and exciting medium for the end user," said Larry Lang, Cisco's vice president of service provider marketing. "The selection of Cisco routers by Webcasts.com as their hardware platform along with Internet connectivity services from Intermedia Business Internet, a Cisco Powered Network member, shows that this is a high-performance network solution that will be reliable, secure, and responsive to this 'mission critical' webcast of the ACC tournament."
ACC.com is a member of the FANSonly Network, the sixth-largest sports site on the Internet. The FANSonly Network is home to the official athletic sites of 52 universities, conferences, and organizations.
Cisco is providing fully-integrated hub/routers that enable remote offices to provide both LAN and internetwork connectivity. They combine the functions of a standalone hub and router in one chassis to provide easier setup, improved serviceability, reliability, and integrated remote network management.
Webcasts.com incorporates technologies of Real Player, Microsoft and other streaming technologies as part of its rich media offering. The company's combined solutions of applications and technologies are designed for usage on low- or high-speed connections. "Broadcast and the Web are the two most powerful sources for content in the world," said Carruthers. "The result of our efforts is a highly interactive application which provides new media content [streaming video] and contextual links [WWW]."
Intermedia Business Internet was the first national Internet carrier to earn the Cisco Powered Network designation. Intermedia Business Internet offers a comprehensive range of Internet products and services, including high-speed, dedicated business connectivity and value-added application solutions. Their services contribute to the creation of a communications infrastructure for the New World.
About Webcasts.com
Webcasts.com is a company dedicated to providing webcast production services, applications, and server technologies. The company is composed of broadcast and Internet professionals.About Intermedia Communications
Intermedia Communications is one of the nation's fastest-growing telecommunications companies, providing voice, data, local, long distance, and advanced network access services in major U.S. markets. Intermedia's enhanced data portfolio, including Frame Relay networking, ATM, and a full range of business Internet solutions including Web hosting services, offers seamless, end-to-end service virtually anywhere in the world.Cisco Systems
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