Press Releases

PRESS CONTACT: Robert Sax
SAX Public Relations
818-508-7660
robert@saxpr.net

Atzio Technology Announces Arrival of Legitimate Peer-to-Peer Television

Secure, Effective Data Swarming Method of Content Delivery over Internet Benefits Content Providers

LOS ANGELES, California – (August 30, 2004) – Atzio Technology today announced the availability of the company’s Peer-to-PeerTelevision™ technology, which enables Internet Television. Atzio is offering the first legitimate peer-to-peer television network platform, which uses data swarming to allow faster downloads yet gives content providers firm control of their valuable property.

The platform creates an efficient new distribution channel, allowing studios, networks and independent content providers to securely and cost-effectively distribute movies, video and television programs to consumers over the Internet. Because Atzio’s platform maximizes the power of today’s broadband connections, content providers will use it to deliver DVD-quality content to targeted and mass audiences without the need for expensive new high-speed infrastructure.

“Atzio is the first company to offer a legitimate peer-to-peer platform designed for the “Personal” and “Time-shifted” television concepts pioneered by Tivo and Netflix,” said Cedric Van Rossum, co-founder of Atzio Technology. “Broadband plus television is a powerful combination. Once our customers have set up a system based on the Atzio platform, their subscribers can easily order available movies and television shows, which will be downloaded for viewing at their convenience.”

With the Atzio distribution model, when video is released by a content provider, it’s packaged for Internet distribution, protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology and added to the content producer's broad online catalog of titles. A registered, paid-up subscriber or other end user can browse the catalog and choose a video, which is then automatically added to his or her personal wish list (or queue). An Atzio technology-powered server then signals the end user’s Internet Media Receiver (IMR) to transfer the content over the Internet. (IMRs are set-top boxes, media center and other PCs, and other IP-enabled devices.)

The movie is then downloaded via Atzio’s patent-pending ‘data swarming’ techniques. These are designed to take advantage of network bandwidth and parallel processing so that very large video files can be transferred quickly and effectively.

The company’s Peer-to-PeerTelevision™ technology works by splitting a large video file (such as a movie) into a large number of digital “chunks.” Each chunk will be distributed to peers (the IMRs of end users who have paid for the specific video file). Each peer will then ‘propagate’ its chunk of the video file to another, using a portion of the upstream bandwidth available to each peer. Atzio’s technology then reconstitutes the chunks into a whole file in a relatively short time. This technique creates an extremely efficient ‘large pipe’ that allows content providers to serve the network with fewer servers, reducing their distribution and administrative costs.

Atzio’s platform meets the technical and business requirements of content providers for a secure distribution network. Industry-proven encryption and DRM technologies will keep the content secure, with no file sharing possible among end users. Content providers will reap the benefits of peer-to-peer technology without being forced to release content on “unfilterable” networks that don’t exclude illegitimate content.

The new technology is targeted at studios, television networks, independent content providers, e-commerce sites and online music stores (expected to also offer video content in the future.) Advertisers will be able to reach desirable customers with product previews and marketing campaigns.

“Atzio has created truly personal Internet television, offering a personal queue like Netflix, with time shifted delivery like Tivo,” adds Van Rossum. “Our developers are engineers who love movies—and have zero tolerance for piracy.”

Atzio's platform will be available soon to content providers, beginning with beta testing in the last quarter of 2004. The Atzio platform will be available for purchase as a software module and will also be available for licensing. Pricing information is available from the company.

About Atzio Technology

Atzio Technology provides efficient and cost-effective distributed content delivery solutions enabling Internet Television. The Company has developed the first professional data swarming network optimized for Video and TV content. The Atzio solution marries legitimate peer-to-peer technology with the “Time-shifted” and “Personal TV” concepts, providing the ultimate in choice, cost, convenience and flexibility to the end-viewers.

Atzio Technology is a privately held company founded by engineers from Cypress Semiconductor, Siemens and many other technology leaders. The company is headquartered at 2400 North Lincoln Avenue, Altadena CA 91001. More information is available at www.atzio.com.

Note to editors: Tivo, Netflix, Cypress, Siemens Nixdorff and all other trademarks and product names are the property of their respective companies.

# #