Is this the start of unification?
NBC and CNET's Snap Announces New Distribution and Carriage Partners for Next Generation Internet Portal for Higher Speed Users Related Items
March 22, 1999 -- Snap LLC, the Internet portal service company from NBC and CNET, today announced a new roster of distribution and carriage partnerships for a new, free portal service designed for higher-speed Internet users (formerly known by the code-name Snap "Cyclone"). Snap.com for higher-speed users is the first service of its kind from an Internet portal company, offering a next- generation experience that showcases multimedia content and navigation services.
Snap.com for higher-speed users, which today officially launched a
preview version, will provide Internet users with an experience that
showcases all rich media types -- video, audio, gaming, animation,
telephony, and more -- built atop the powerful Snap.com Internet
directory and search service. The new service, which features the
largest rich media directory in the world, offers rich media content in
key Snap topics: News, Finance, Sports, Entertainment, Television,
Music, Video, Games, Movies, Computing, Shopping and Travel. (See
Related Release, "NBC and CNET's Snap Launches Preview of Next
Generation Internet Portal for Higher Speed Users").
Snap today announced that this new service will be carried by
higher-speed Internet services offered by Cable & Wireless USA,
Flashcom, iBEAM Broadcasting Corp., InReach Internet, I3S, Reach
Communications, and Advanced Radio Telecom Corp. Each carrier will make available customized versions of the new Snap.com portal for high-speed users, developed exclusively for their customers and communities.
These new carriage and distribution partners join eight other partners
that last month announced carriage of the new service: Bell Atlantic
Internet Solutions, GTE InterNetworking, SBC Internet Services, Epoch
Internet, JPSnet, DSLnetworks, EastLink Cable and TriaxCommunications.
Additional high-speed Internet access service partners will be announced in the coming months.
All distribution and carriage partners receive customized editions of
Snap.com for higher-speed users, developed exclusively for their
customers. To do so, Snap is harnessing the power of its proprietary
SnapLENS edition management system to automate custom production
processes.
Snap.com for higher-speed users also is available as an option, free of charge at www.snap.com, designed for all Internet users with
higher-speed capabilities. High speed Internet users also may access the new service directly at speed.snap.com.
Halsey Minor, Chief Executive Officer, Snap LLC, said: "Snap's move to
become the first Internet portal company to launch a new service
designed for higher-speed users has enabled us to establish a true
leadership position in this field and to forge distribution agreements
with some of the finest high-speed Internet services in the country.
With Snap customizing and aggregating the best rich media content and
services for our Internet service partners, they will be better able to effectively market the consumer benefits their groundbreaking high speed connectivity services afford."
Additionally, Snap.com for higher-speed users will be integrated into
all NBC Television Network analog and digital enhanced broadcasts, and
in enhanced telecasts of CNBC programming, 24-hours a day. NBC and
CNBC's enhanced telecasts are viewable on TV sets and personal computers equipped with such technologies as Microsoft WebTV, Intel's Intercast and others.
* Cable & Wireless USA and Snap.com for higher-speed users
Cable & Wireless USA (www.cwusa.com) -- owner and operator of one of the world's fastest and largest Internet networks -- is a leading provider of integrated communications, including: Internet, data, voice and messaging. Cable & Wireless USA entered into an agreement with Snap LLC to integrate customized versions of Snap.com for higher-speed users into current Cable & Wireless USA offerings. Cable & Wireless USA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cable & Wireless plc -- one of the world's leading providers of integrated communications and a major global carrier of communications traffic: Internet, data, voice and video. With 17 million customers in 70 countries, Cable & Wireless is one of the world's largest carriers of international traffic, provides mobile communications in more than 70 countries and operates the world's largest, most advanced cableship fleet. Cable & Wireless plc is listed on the Stock Exchanges of London, New York and Frankfurt.
* Flashcom Inc. and Snap.com for higher-speed users
Flashcom (www.flashcom.com), the nation's largest Digital Subscriber
Line (DSL) exclusive supplier, has agreed to distribute as its default
service, Snap.com for higher-speed users. Flashcom is the only company
currently providing service to thousands of businesses and power users in Northern and Southern California, Massachusetts, Washington, New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, New
Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia, Texas and Washington DC, with plans for
18 more markets by year's end. Flashcom will offer each of its DSL
customers their own customized edition of Snap.com developed exclusively for them.
At its top speed, Flashcom's DSL service is up to 100 times faster than dial-up modem connections and over 25 times faster than ISDN. And, unlike dial-up services, there is no wait to connect and no busy
signals. Once installed, the high-speed connection is always on and
available. Unlike existing high bandwidth transport technologies, DSL
service is a flat-rate service with no usage or mileage charges.
Flashcom provides its DSL service nationwide starting at only $59.95 a
month with a superior Digital Network that was designed exclusively for DSL and is unique in its ability to provide private, secure connections between sites without using the Internet.
"Flashcom is excited about this opportunity to provide a media rich
portal to our users nationwide that finally takes advantage of our high speed transport at no additional cost. With Flashcom and Snap.com, users can surf the Net as fast as they can click their mouse. The future of broadband portals is now here today," said Brad Sachs, President and CEO of Flashcom.
* iBEAM Broadcasting Corporation and Snap.com for higher-speed users
iBEAM Broadcasting Corporation, which specializes in satellite-based
distribution of streaming media applications to Internet Service
Providers (ISPs), has forged a multi-faceted agreement with Snap.com for higher-speed users. iBEAM Broadcasting will offer to Snap partners its satellite services to broadcast rich media content directly to the iBEAM Network of MaxCaster servers located in ISP Points of Presence at the edge of the Internet. iBEAM also will offer Snap.com for higher-speed users as a preferred rich media portal for iBEAM's partner ISPs. iBEAM Broadcasting has created a satellite-based network of distributed servers that brings cost savings, improved service, and new revenue opportunities to the Internet community. iBEAM focuses on "Webcast Distribution," the delivery of consistently high quality live and on-demand multimedia content from providers and aggregators, working to eliminate the interruptions and quality problems associated with traditional Internet traffic. iBEAM Broadcasting provides an integrated satellite receiver and replication server, designed to augment ISPs Internet backbone connections, providing a consistently high service level for delivery of live and on-demand audio and video content. Founded by data communications and telecommunications professionals in 1998, iBEAM Broadcasting Corporation's mission is to provide a key infrastructure component in a new era in rich multimedia Internet applications for the mass market.
* InReach Internet and Snap.com for higher-speed users
InReach Internet will provide its high-speed Digital Subscriber Line
(DSL) Internet service customers with access to a unique, customized
version of Snap.com for higher-speed users, which will serve as
InReach's start page. InReach's dedicated DSL connection allows users
throughout California to access the Internet at speeds up to 50 times
faster than a 28.8 modem. InReach's DSL service is available in a range of speeds, from 384 Kbps to 1.5 Mbps, and is also speed upgradable. InReach offers the best possible Internet performance and reliability utilizing a state-of-the-art network connecting users directly onto the leading Tier One Internet backbones -- UUNET, Sprint, and CERFnet/AT&T. Over 30 Internet Service Providers rely on InReach for their Internet connections. InReach telecom facilities in Oakland, Los Angeles, and Stockton, California provide multiple, high speed fiber optic connections to the Internet, and feature uninterruptible battery backup power and emergency generators to keep servers up and running no matter what happens.
* I3S and Snap.com for higher-speed users
I3S Inc., a leading provider of broadband data services to communities
across the nation, will distribute customized versions of the new
Snap.com for higher-speed users, attuned to the user needs of I3S
customers. I3S plans to use its national private network to deliver its BroadbandNow! Internet service to over 1,200,000 homes in 25
metropolitan markets around the country in 1999. As a suite of
high-speed Internet services allowing an always on, always fast, and
always fun connection to the Internet, Broadband Now! enhances
lifestyles at work, home and on the road. The initial residential
deployment for Broadband Now! concentrates on the apartment market which I3S reaches via strategic relationships with apartment REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) and Private Cable Operators (PCOs) who
currently supply video and phone service to apartments throughout the
US. I3S, Inc. is a privately held company based in Dallas, Texas which
has been in the business of delivering high quality network integration service for commercial clients since 1994.
* Reach Communications Inc. and Snap.com for higher-speed users:
Reach Communications Inc., a new breed of telecommunications provider,
will offer a custom edition of the new Snap.com for higher-speed users
as the default portal service for ReachNet DSL, a high speed access
service currently available in New York City. ReachNet DSL is slated to roll-out across the rest of New York, and New England in 1999. ReachNet DSL offers speeds up to 50 times faster than ISDN with no per-minute charges like ISDN, no dial-up process or waiting. ReachNet DSL is always on, runs over dedicated phone lines and is easy and fast to install. ReachNet DSL uses high-bandwidth ADSL service for Internet access.
* Advanced Radio Telecom Corp. and Snap.com for higher-speed users
Advanced Radio Telecom Corp. (ART) plans to provide its customers with
default home page access to a full-featured, customized edition of the
new Snap.com for higher-speed users. ART is a facilities-based,
broadband wireless Internet Service Provider (ISP) providing a direct
connection between the customer premise and the Internet. ART is the
first broadband wireless ISP to work with Snap.com to offer enhanced
services to its customers. ART owns and operates metropolitan area
networks in Seattle, Portland and Phoenix utilizing fixed wireless and
fiber optic technologies. ART owns or manages 38GHz spectrum licenses in more than 210 markets nationwide, including 49 of the top 50 and 90 of the top 100 markets nationwide. With Lucent Technologies as its network integrator and provider of wireless and data networking solutions, ART offers a full range of Internet services including dedicated Internet access at speeds up to 10Mbps, e-mail, web hosting, domain name server (DNS) registration, IP Fax and more.
About Snap LLC
Snap LLC, the Internet portal service company from NBC and CNET,
maintains the Snap.com flagship portal service ( snap.com )
and the newly launched Snap.com portal for higher-speed Internet users ( speed.snap.com ), the first-ever service of its kind. Snap's
Internet portal services feature content from over 100 leading Web
publishers. Snap's Internet portal services are distributed by more than 70 leading Internet Service Providers, telephone and communications companies, PC manufacturers and third-party marketers.
Snap LLC's Internet portal services offer users the most powerful way to organize and find anything on the Internet. Both Snap.com and Snap.com for higher-speed users are logically arranged to give users the quickest route to the best of what they are looking for on the Web, providing efficient, high-quality Internet search results and directory listings and the most often-used content. At the heart of Snap's portal services is a directory of Web sites and over 400 resource centers, built by a team of editors and reviewers to ensure quality, freshness and usefulness. Users may either search the Snap directory by using keywords, or browse through the directory's 16 topics.
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