Akamai and Engage Form Strategic Alliance to Enhance the Targeting and Delivery of Rich Content and Streaming Media Across the Web

Business Wire, May 8, 2000

Business Editors/High Tech Writers

ANDOVER, Mass. and CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 8, 2000

Akamai's EdgeAdvantage(TM) platform to enable high-performance

delivery of ads for Engage's online media networks; Companies to

develop solutions to personalize/customize dynamic Internet content

Two of the Web's leading solutions providers today announced a deal that will help online marketers capture the attention of specific and relevant audiences.

Engage, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENGA), and Akamai Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAM), the foremost provider of global, high-performance services for the delivery of interactive Web content, streaming media, and Internet applications, today announced that they will combine forces to provide products, services and applications intended to greatly enhance the targeting and delivery of online content, starting with advertisements and marketing campaigns to prospects and customers across the Web.

Under the agreement, Engage will purchase Akamai content delivery services built upon the EdgeAdvantage platform and use them to deliver high-speed rich media ads for Engage's online media network properties, including Engage AudienceNet(TM), the first profile driven media network. AudienceNet utilizes anonymous profiles from Engage Knowledge(TM), a database of 52 million anonymous online user profiles, to help marketers identify and target their appropriate audiences. These profiles do not contain personally identifiable information, such as names, addresses or e-mail addresses, but have been developed based on users' online browsing habits and interests.

In addition, Akamai and Engage intend to introduce specialized services for targeted ad insertion in streaming media, a key requirement for content providers looking for return on investment for streaming services. Content providers will be able to take advantage of Akamai's high performance delivery network and dynamic stream assembly technology along with Engage's advertising management solutions, which incorporate targeted anonymous profiling. This is designed to seamlessly personalize and deliver high-impact streaming media ads. Advertisers will benefit from comprehensive reporting and analysis and accurate targeting to increase the effectiveness of their messages.

In addition, building upon Akamai's EdgeAdvantage platform that enables third parties to create integrated and value-added services for content providers, Engage and Akamai also announced that they plan to jointly develop new applications for anonymous personalization. The new functionality will be available across the Engage online media network properties, and will utilize Akamai's network of over 3,000 Web server in over 45 countries across more than 160 telecommunications networks. By integrating technologies and developing new service offerings, Engage and Akamai will make it easier for content providers to deliver relevant, personalized content and advertising to their customers. The result will provide companies with the abilities to greatly enhance the targeting effectiveness of their online marketing campaigns, and to create a more relevant customer experience through personalized content.

"This relationship is a major step in our efforts to Engage-enable the world," said Paul Schaut, President and CEO, Engage. "Akamai's EdgeAdvantage platform not only improves the speed and reliability for the delivery of rich media graphics on our advertising networks but also enables us to create innovative new applications for our profiling technology that will benefit both companies' customer bases. Ultimately, these services will help Web companies capture the attention of their audiences and turn prospects into customers."

"We see this deal as two online businesses coming together to provide customers of both companies with top-of-the-line solutions that will help them improve visitor acquisition and retention through the use of targeted content and high-performance delivery," said George Conrades, chairman and CEO, Akamai. "By becoming Engage-enabled, we are bringing our customers in contact with one of today's leading solution providers in targeted advertising and personalized content. The beauty of our EdgeAdvantage platform is that it enables companies like Engage to easily integrate into the world's leading Internet content delivery network."

Akamai and Engage are both members of the ICAP Forum and plan to use the Internet Content Adaption Protocol (ICAP) in their collaboration. ICAP will be submitted to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Web Replication and Caching (WREC) working group as an Internet draft at the next WREC meeting.

The companies will also enter into joint sales and marketing activities to support new applications that have been jointly developed to support Engage Media delivered over the EdgeAdvantage platform.

About Engage

Engage, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENGA) is the leading provider of next generation online marketing solutions and a majority-owned operating company of CMGI, Inc. Based in Andover, Mass., Engage helps marketers target online audiences and convert them into loyal customers. Engage has European headquarters in London and offices worldwide. For more information on Engage, please visit http://www.engage.com .