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Strategies & Market Trends : Cents and Sensibility - Kimberly and Friends' Consortium -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mandalou who wrote (40357)	12/7/1999 9:15:00 PM
From: puborectalis	Respond to of 108040

Hold on to your hats..we're off to the races with SFO. Shares Outstanding 2.67M Float 1.10M....Tuesday December 7, 4:44 pm Eastern Time Sonic Foundry joins Microsoft streaming media group (Recasts 4th graf to add details, updates stock) By Susan Kuchinskas SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Sonic Foundry Inc., (AMEX:SFO - news) a maker of software tools for digitizing media, said on Tuesday it joined a Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) program that aims to broaden the availability of ''streaming media,'' or video and audio delivered over the Internet. ''Streaming media will be huge,'' said Jason Ader, an analyst for the H.C. Wainwright Co., Boston. ''As people get broadband, ADSL and cable modems, as more media, entertainment, news and corporate Web sites use audio and video to spruce up their Web sites, this becomes an environment where streaming media becomes an integral part of the Web's infrastructure.'' The Microsoft Windows Media Broadband Jumpstart program, launched by the software giant this fall, is aimed at increasing the amount of streaming media content available in broadband -- the ''fat pipe'' that delivers audio and video content via the Web at high speeds to personal computers. Sonic Foundry, based in Madison, Wis., creates tools for content producers, allowing them to digitize, manipulate and compress audio and video files. When accessed via broadband, such files allow Web surfers to see and hear audio and video clips more clearly, without the jerkiness that is often experienced when transmitted over a slow-speed telephone modem. ''It's part of Microsoft's initiative to become the player in streaming media, where Real Networks is really the leader right now,'' said Ader. He noted that Microsoft has been making a concerted effort to surpass Real Networks by partnering with the strong players in the market. ''Sonic Foundry is certainly one of those, so this is an important relationship for both companies,'' Ader said. He said participation in the Microsoft program could be a strong marketing move for Sonic Foundry as well and will likely help it find more customers and partners. Jumpstart participants offer preferred rates and services to Web content producers, encouraging them to digitize their properties for faster online delivery. Sonic Foundry's announcement was made at the Streaming Media West '99 conference, held Tuesday through Thursday in San Jose, Calif. Sonic Foundry tools, based on proprietary coding technology, include its flagship Sound Forge product, a Windows-based software set for creating and manipulating audio files. In October, the company announced a new Media Services division designed to handle the actual encoding of the files, freeing content producers to concentrate on creative content rather than the technology. ''We find Web publishers are more interested in publishing than in the art and craft of streaming Web media,'' said David Mighell, director of business development for Sonic Foundry Media Services. ''It's a high price tag to get into the game (of digitizing content) and it's time-consuming.'' Mighell hopes that participation in the Jumpstart program will put his division in touch with owners of large catalogs of content, such as movie studios and record labels, who will hire Sonic Foundry to encode it all. He also hopes to strengthen relationships with infrastructure providers such as Web hosting companies.

To: Mandalou who wrote (40357)	12/7/1999 9:15:00 PM
From: vagabond	Respond to of 108040

I'll bet that if those ACOM & NTPL client-lists were laid out side-by-side in front of potential investors, and nobody was told which company was which, most folks would think the NTPL list was the more impressive of the two... Vagabond (still trying to figure out how to "play" this...)