MIT Selects Vividon for e-Learning Application; MIT Sloan Installs Vividon SDA System for Streaming Courseware Delivery

Business Wire, April 9, 2002

Business/Technology Editors

SUDBURY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 8, 2002

Vividon, Inc., the provider of Internet infrastructure devices that radically improve the economics of streaming media delivery(TM), today announced that MIT's Sloan School of Management recently purchased Vividon's SDA(TM) streaming platform to deliver Sloan School's e-Learning content over the Internet. The Vividon(TM) SDA system is specifically designed for high volume streaming demands, making it ideal for e-learning applications and service provider deployments.

The Vividon SDA streaming system addresses these requirements with the following features:

-- Broad range of media types including Windows Media(TM), RealAudio(TM),
RealVideo(TM), HTTP, QuickTime(R), MP3 and MPEG for on-demand and broadcast
delivery

-- Appliance operation in a compact design ideal for lights-out operation

-- Industry leading price, performance and scalability

"MIT's recent launch of the OpenCourseWare program demonstrates their cutting-edge approach to education," said Tom Pinckney, CTO and co-founder of Vividon. "It is especially rewarding to me to see our success come full circle. The early design of our product was conceived while I was a graduate student at MIT -- now my alma mater is deploying streaming applications that simply were not possible several years ago."

The Vividon SDA streaming appliances are based on DARPA funded research conducted at the MIT Laboratory of Computer Science to develop high performance IO systems using commercial, off-the-shelf hardware. This lab also served as an early incubator for Akamai and Cisco SitePath in the late 1990s.

The Vividon SDA system enables new levels of quality and scalability in distributed learning. "Organizations increasingly seek innovative tools to help them shift from simple content offerings to a more comprehensive e-learning environment," said Gerry Kaufhold, Principal Analyst with In-Stat/MDR. "There is a clear need for the robust streaming infrastructure and economic advantages offered by the Vividon streaming delivery platform."

About Vividon (www.vividon.com)

Vividon builds streaming cache systems that radically improve the economics of delivering audio and video over the Web. The Vividon(TM) Streaming Delivery Accelerator (SDA(TM)) device is a high-availability Internet appliance suitable for centralized and distributed streaming applications in enterprise, edge and service provider environments. The SDA appliance has been extensively tested for interoperability with Microsoft, RealNetworks and QuickTime products and is the first appliance to pass Windows Media(TM) Cache Interoperability Testing -- a battery of over 550 tests. Based on an outstanding independent product evaluation, the Vividon SDA system earned the prestigious World Class Award from Network World for high performance, manageability and functionality. Vividon received funding from Venrock Associates, Atlas Venture, Carlyle Venture Partners and private investor James Dow. The company is headquartered in Sudbury, Massachusetts. Information about Vividon and its solution is available at www.vividon.com, by phone at (978) 371-9550 or by email at info@vividon.com.