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From NY Times March 22, 1998
Snap Offers New Portal to 'Rich Media'
By LISA NAPOLI
Snap, an Internet company partially owned by NBC, will introduce a new srvice Monday that is designed for users of the Internet who can connect at high speeds.
The previously announced portal site, which was code-named Cyclone and will now use the Snap name, is intended to be a free guide and showcase for bandwidth-intensive applications, like video clips and audio files, by making them easier for users to find.
"This is the first shot in the next big battleground in the portal wars," said Edmond Sanctis, chief operating officer of Snap LLC.
As evidence of a growing need for the sort of service he is introducing, Sanctis said that about 10 of the top 50 search words on Snap have been for some sort of so-called "rich media" -- material with animation, video or audio, such as the increasingly popular MP3 music format.
Though the current market for high-speed Internet applications is small, it is seen by Internet content and access providers alike as an
integral part of the online industry's future. At the end of last year, roughly 500,000 households had high-speed access, either through
cable modems or telephone technology known as asymmetric digital subscriber lines, or ADSL, though NBC said more than 14 million
people have broadband access in the workplace.
Forrester Research predicts that by the year 2000, 2 million households in the United States will have faster connections at home. That number could be accelerated, analysts said, by deals like one made in January that provides high-speed connections to America Online
subscribers who are Bell Atlantic customers for an additional fee.
Along with the official introduction of its new high-speed name, Snap will also announce Monday 20 new alliances with content providers,
distributors, and advertisers. They include agreements with A&E Networks, the World Wrestling Federation, Tower Records, Pseudo
Programs, and Inktomi. In deals with phone service providers such as Bell Atlantic Internet Solutions, GTE InterNetworking, Cable and
Wireless, and 12 others, customized versions of the new guide will be available.
Ed Perry
See:
snap.com |
