New York, NY -- Sept. 8, 1999 -- President Bill Clinton, former South African President Nelson Mandela and British Prime Minister Tony Blair today logged on to the world's newest and most powerful web site, launching a global initiative to tap the growing power of the Internet to help eradicate one of the world's most serious problems, extreme poverty. The three world leaders cut the virtual ribbon on the web site by making the first hits on www.netaid.org in North America, Africa and Europe from their respective offices.
Created by Cisco Systems and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), NetAid brings together for the first time the energy and impact of world-renowned artists, the global reach of television and radio, and the vast potential of the Internet to help more than one billion people who live on less than one dollar per day. Its goal is to generate one billion hits against extreme poverty that will lead to millions of concrete actions including donations of time, expertise, goods or money.
Three overlapping NetAid concerts will be held October 9 at Giants Stadium in New York, Wembley Stadium in London and the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Each of the artists scheduled to appear will play a set. The artists by venue include:
| Giants Stadium Mary J. Blige Bon Jovi Busta'Rhymes Counting Crows Wyclef Jean with Bono Jimmy Page & friends Puff Daddy Sting with Cheb Mami Zucchero |
Wembley Stadium Bryan Adams David Bowie Bush Catatonia The Corrs The Eurythmics George Michael Stereophonics Robbie Williams |
Palais des Nations Des'ree Bryan Ferry Michael Kamen & Orchestra Texas |
Sheryl Crow and Jewel also have confirmed but not for a specific venue.Tickets for the Giants Stadium concert go on sale Friday at 9am EDT at all New York and New Jersey Ticketmaster outlets and at www.ticketmaster.com. Wembley tickets are already on sale. The Geneva show is by invitation only.
"This incredible lineup of talent continues a great legacy of creative artists who have stepped up to help people most in need, and there is no more serious problem today than widespread extreme poverty," said Quincy Jones, a spokesman for NetAid. "The difference this time is that the Internet enables people to take action over and over again, and do much more than contribute money one time." Jones promised that the artists involvement in NetAid will be " the magnet that will draw people in, the sizzle that will excite folks to act, and the spirit that will bring people together as a community to take lasting action to fight extreme poverty."
Wyclef Jean and Bono also announced the release of a new song and video created for NetAid entitled, New Day to be distributed by Columbia Records. The product of an extraordinary collaboration between two major stars, New Day captures the hope of NetAid - a better future for the globe's most impoverished people.
The web site launched with the help of world leaders today is the largest in the world in terms of scale. It has the capacity to handle 125,000 simultaneous streams and one million hits per minute - a tenfold increase over existing sites. The web site has four major areas of content, providing information on NetAid, the concerts, what works (five pillars around which anti-poverty success stories are organized), and an action section through which individuals can find ways to help end extreme poverty. Initially designed to handle large volumes of visitors from the concerts, the site is expected to become the most comprehensive database or portal of poverty fighting activity in the world.
Built by KPMG in just 90 days, the content of the site will be delivered by Akamai using a distributed network architecture that will employ 1,500 servers in over 90 locations worldwide. The site will be able to handle 1,000 secure e-payment transactions per second - one of the largest and most efficient e-commerce capacities ever developed. KPMG and Akamai are sponsors of NetAid.
"The power to end extreme poverty is now online," said John Chambers, President and CEO of Cisco Systems. "Netaid.org enables ordinary citizens as well as world leaders and major artists to take action to fight extreme poverty around the world. The Internet already has made a difference in the way business is done around the world. Now the world's most powerful web site can help make the difference in eliminating one of the globe's most pressing problems."
Secretary General Kofi Annan noted that, "NetAid is an inspiring example of the kind of corporate citizenship and public-private partnership that will be crucial in addressing the challenges of the 21st century."
All of the monies raised through the NetAid web site will be disbursed to anti-poverty projects around the world. Net proceeds from the concerts will be used to help specific populations in extreme poverty in Kosovo and African countries.
The concerts will be widely broadcast by VH1 and MTV in the US and the BBC television and radio in the UK. In addition, Radio Express has secured commitments to date from radio stations in 63 countries and territories. NBD Television Limited is distributing the television feed worldwide and has secured television networks in 17 countries with many more to be finalized. The entire program also will be webcast live with the help of Real Networks on two channels - one carrying the concert, the second showing backstage scenes.
As an example of how corporations can participate, Cisco Systems and the Cisco Foundation announced today their plans to contribute $10 million to the NetAid Foundation.
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is theworldwide leader in networking for the Internet.Through a unique network of 134 country offices, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) helps people in 174 countries and territories to help themselves, focusing on poverty elimination, environmental regeneration, job creation and the advancement of women. In support of these goals, UNDP is frequently asked to assist in promoting sound governance and market development and to support rebuilding societies in the aftermath of war and humanitarian emergencies. For additional information visit www.undp.org/dpa/index.html.
