Published:
Akamai Technologies and KIT digital Enter Into Strategic Alliance
KIT VX Video Management Platform to Be Offered With Akamai Solutions; KIT digital and Akamai to Collaborate on Joint Sales and Marketing Efforts on a Global Basis

KIT digital,
Inc. (OTCBB: KDGL), a leading global provider of Internet Protocol-based
video management technologies, and Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leader in powering rich media, dynamic transactions and
enterprise applications online, have joined forces to deliver IP video
across multiple mediums, including
online, mobile networks and IPTV-enabled set-top boxes.
The companies have signed a new strategic agreement that calls for them to
build upon a long-standing vendor relationship and engage in collaborative
sales and marketing efforts on a global basis. This is a unique initiative
for both companies and reflects their shared vision for the future of the
IP-video market.
According to the terms of the agreement:
-- KIT digital will package and resell Akamai solutions with its KIT VX
Video Management Platform. This will enable video delivery via online,
mobile networks and IPTV-enabled set-top boxes on a more integrated and
cost-effective basis.
-- For streaming and video-on-demand services, jointly served enterprise
clients will receive maximally efficient storage and bandwidth.
-- Akamai will collaborate with KIT digital to jointly market the KIT VX
Video Management Platform to key Akamai enterprise customers.
Akamai's globally distributed computing platform powers 15-20 percent of
all Web traffic, optimizing the transfer of information and increasing
complex media performance. While Akamai has been KIT digital's preferred
streaming and storage partner for several years, this agreement allows for
a more strategic offering of the companies' respective products and
services, providing end customers with improved quality and a more
cost-effective joint solution.
"As a customer of both KIT and Akamai over the years, we're glad to see
this platform integration partnership take wing," said Pete Picton, online
editor for The Sun newspaper of London, England. "We believe these two
companies are the market leaders in their respective fields of video asset
management and content delivery services, and we are looking forward to
seeing enhanced functionality and pricing benefits."
According to Greg Lazar, vice president and general manager of
international sales and global partners for Akamai: "We continually seek
partnerships with leading software companies that share Akamai's commitment
to providing the best rich media experiences available through Internet
Protocol. We have found KIT digital to be an invaluable partner to Akamai
for global enterprises with complex video management needs. We look forward
to leveraging KIT digital's leadership in the IPTV set-top box market, for
example, to develop new client opportunities for Akamai."
Gavin Campion, president of KIT digital, added: "Our enterprise customers
demand the best quality content delivery services -- whether for
video-on-demand or live streaming -- and have end customers spread across
the globe. Akamai is recognized worldwide as the most reliable and highest
quality provider of IP-based content delivery and storage. This agreement
expands upon our long-standing relationship with Akamai, allowing for
closer collaboration in technology, marketing and sales."
"Our enterprise clients will now be able to better manage and deliver high
quality IP video," continued Campion. "We see the potential here for a more
substantive and integrated partnership than any that currently exists
between a content delivery-focused company and an IP video platform
company, with real revenue and client uplift as a result."
About the KIT VX Video Management Platform
The KIT VX Video Management Platform is comprised of a host of solutions
that allow clients to easily capture, manage, and monetize digital video
assets, and deliver them via the Web, mobile networks and IPTV-enabled
set-top boxes. KIT VX centralizes video asset management, and allows for
multiple users within client organizations to have different access rights
to content to help ensure appropriate distribution, promotion and creation
of content. The platform includes a robust content management system (CMS)
for managing large amounts of text, documents, images, audio and video --
or elements of the platform can be integrated with existing content
management systems via the platform's advanced application programming
interfaces (APIs) that include a number of pre-built, modular extensions.
As part of the new global partnership agreement, KIT VX now integrates with
Akamai IP video solutions, providing unparallel IP-based content
management, storage and delivery.
About Akamai Technologies
Akamai provides market-leading managed services for powering rich media,
dynamic transactions, and enterprise applications online. Having pioneered
the content delivery market one decade ago, Akamai's services have been
adopted by the world's most recognized brands across diverse industries.
The alternative to centralized Web infrastructure, Akamai's global network
of tens of thousands of distributed servers provides the scale,
reliability, insight and performance for businesses to succeed online.
Akamai has transformed the Internet into a more viable place to inform,
entertain, interact, and collaborate. To experience The Akamai Difference,
visit www.akamai.com.
About KIT digital
KIT digital is a leading, global provider of on-demand content management
solutions for managing IP-based video assets. Through its end-to-end
software platform, KIT digital works closely with consumer brands, content
providers and telcos to maximize the value of video content via the
Internet, mobile networks and IPTV set-top boxes. The KIT VX platform
allows clients to ingest, manage, distribute and publish digital video
content, build online/mobile communities and integrate advertising. KIT
offers businesses a full range of interactive marketing solutions and KIT
clients can access approximately 80 KIT-syndicated channels and 40,000
KIT-syndicated videos. KIT digital clients include Associated Press,
Disney-ABC, General Motors, IMG, Kmart, Nasdaq, News Corp, RCS, Telefonica
and Verizon. KIT digital has principal offices in Dubai, Melbourne
(Australia), Prague, Toronto and London. For additional information, visit
www.kitd.com.
Akamai Forward-Looking Statement
The press release contains information about future expectations, plans and
prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements
for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from
those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various
important factors including, but not limited to, the effects of any
attempts to intentionally disrupt our services or network by hackers or
others, failure to have available sufficient transmission capacity, changes
in KIT's VX Video Management Platform or Akamai's services such that they
are no longer inter-operable, a failure of Akamai's network infrastructure,
and other factors that are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form
10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents periodically
filed with the SEC.
KIT Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" related to
the businesses of KIT digital, Inc. which can be identified by the use of
forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects" or similar
expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown
risks and uncertainties, including uncertainties relating to product
development and commercialization, the ability to obtain or maintain patent
and other proprietary intellectual property protection, market acceptance,
future capital requirements, regulatory actions or delays, competition in
general and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially
different from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated
or expected. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are or will be
described in greater detail in our public filings with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission. KIT digital is not under obligation to (and
expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its
forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise.
Copyright © 2009, MarketWire
Copyright © 2009, NewsBlaze,
Daily News
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