BASF Deploys Volera Content Networking Solutions to Improve Employee Internet Access, Increasing Productivity and Reducing IT Costs

Business Wire, Feb 25, 2002

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 25, 2002

Major Transnational Chemical Company Reduces Bandwidth

Requirements and Speeds Content Delivery With Volera

Volera Inc., a leading provider of content networking solutions and a subsidiary of Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq:NOVL), today announced that BASF IT Services B.V., the recently founded IT service provider of BASF AG (NYSE:BF), has deployed Volera content networking solutions for their customer BASF AG to intelligently manage and accelerate the delivery of content across its global network. BASF AG is a leading transnational chemical company. Its 100-percent owned daughter BASF IT Services B.V. provides IT Services to BASF AG as well as to others.

BASF AG, based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, includes 100 consolidated subsidiaries with customers in more than 170 countries and production sites in 39 countries. The company's products include chemicals, plastics, colorants and pigments, dispersions, automotive and industrial coatings, agricultural products and fine chemicals, as well as crude oil and natural gas.

With over 20,000 employees in BASF's corporate headquarters accessing and downloading business-critical Internet content on a daily basis, BASF needed a network infrastructure that could scale to meet user demand -- including demand for rich and streaming media -- to ensure a high quality Internet experience and improve productivity for employees.

To meet this need, BASF selected Velocity CDN(TM), including Volera Excelerator(TM), to accelerate and intelligently manage the delivery of content across its network, guaranteeing rapid employee access to content on its intranet and the Internet -- no matter how heavy the demand.

"With such a large amount of traffic passing through our network every day, we needed a network infrastructure that could scale to meet the needs of our most critical internal users -- our employees," commented Stefan Reinhardt, responsible for Network Services at BASF IT Services B.V. "Volera content networking solutions have enabled us to quickly and efficiently enhance our employees' Internet experience and speed Internet access times, thereby greatly bolstering productivity."

In addition, BASF IT Services' deployment of Volera's content for networking solutions has enabled the company to leverage its existing networking infrastructure to not only improve network performance and employee productivity, but also reduce bandwidth requirements and overall IT costs. Today, BASF IT Services' Volera Excelerator handles 15,000 user requests per minute, and serves more than 30 percent of all requested Internet content.

"Volera's content networking solutions possess an impressive track record and functionality in terms of scalability and price/performance, but most impressive to BASF was the fact that we could meet all of our content networking needs without having to purchase and deploy additional hardware or reconfigure our existing network infrastructure," continued Reinhardt. "This minimal initial investment, combined with the significant bandwidth and IT cost savings we have enjoyed with Volera have enabled us to realize substantial ROI on our IT investment."

"By enabling enterprises to leverage existing networks to more intelligently and efficiently deliver content to end users, Volera continues to help customers like BASF not only improve Internet experiences for their users, but also enables them to do so while bringing down overall IT and bandwidth expenditures," said Gloria Gavin, vice president of marketing and business development at Volera.

About BASF IT Services

BASF IT Services is a European-wide information technology company with over 1,900 employees and annual sales of over EUR 400 m. The company was formed in April 2001 through the merger of the IT activities of the BASF Group organizations throughout Europe, enabling a consolidation of the Group IT expertise, to create a major IT Services Company. BASF IT Services offers a wide range of products and services, including innovative system solutions. It currently operates computer networks serving around 50,000 users at over 250 locations in Europe. IT services in the areas of e-Business, ERP and management of Human Resources-Systems are provided. The range of services also includes application development, human resources management systems, office support and consulting. Find more information at http://www.basf-it-services.com.

About Volera

Volera, Inc. is transforming today's Internet into a fast and reliable business tool with its comprehensive solution for the high-speed delivery and intelligent management of content. Enterprises and service providers can utilize Volera's Velocity CDN software platform as a content-aware network foundation for the deployment of next-generation rich media business applications such as e-learning and Webcasting for corporate communications. Velocity CDN is based upon Volera's comprehensive suite of content networking products that include not only content acceleration software, but also next-generation content management tools and a world-class professional services offering. Engineered to integrate with current networks and offer easy administration, Velocity CDN enables customers to leverage existing IT and network resources while dramatically reducing network and bandwidth expenditures. Volera's customers include American Airlines, AT&T, City of Stockholm, Datek Online, Pharmacia, Southwest Airlines, Target, TeleWest, UniSuper, United Airlines, University of North Texas, Volvo, Watson Wyatt, and many more. Volera Inc. is a subsidiary of Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq:NOVL) with a strategic investment from Nortel Networks and equity participation from Accenture. More information on Volera can be found at http://www.volera.com.