Accord and Akamai Forge Relationship to Optimize Web-Based Business Communications.

Business/Technology Editors

ATLANTA & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 5, 2000

Companies agree to enable seamless automation of

high-quality streaming video for Web

conferencing users worldwide

Accord(R) Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACCD), the leading provider of advanced network switching systems for interactive visual communications, and Akamai Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: AKAM), the leading Content Delivery Services Provider (CDSP), today announced an alliance to enhance the delivery of Internet-based business communications for mutual customers.

The alliance will include an initiative to integrate the Akamai Conference service with Accord's video bridge offerings, helping to accelerate and optimize Web conferencing capabilities. The integrated offering is designed to allow organizations to quickly and seamlessly transform ordinary business conference calls into cost-effective, Web conferences that incorporate high-quality streaming video for internal and external communications. The technology integration is expected to allow for the fast, automated procurement of video streaming, enabling organizations to more effectively leverage video on the Web.

"We're very pleased to team with Akamai and increase the value we mutually deliver to conference service providers," said Phil Keenan, executive vice president, Accord Networks. "By integrating access to the Akamai Conference service with Accord's video bridge technology, we believe users of the joint offering will benefit from improved workflow, complete automation and reduced Web conferencing costs, enabling them to better leverage the Internet as an efficient business communications tool."

"Our alignment with Accord signifies an important step in Akamai's efforts to continually enhance the capabilities, applicability and ease-of-use of our Web conferencing services," said Tony Falco, vice president of product management, Akamai. "We look forward to working with Accord to further integrate our offerings and create best-in-class Web conferencing services for our mutual, worldwide customers."

The Akamai Conference service is a family of conference casting solutions that incorporates live audio and video streaming services and interactive components into traditional conference call offerings. The Akamai Conference service is made available to businesses only through a number of key conferencing service providers who are providing these solutions as part of their overall conferencing offerings. In conjunction with Accord's video bridge offerings, the integrated solution enables organizations to take advantage of fully-automated, live and on-demand video streaming in their Web-based communications.

About Accord

Accord Networks is the leading manufacturer of visual and voice networking products that empower Rich Media Communications over IP, ATM and ISDN networks. The V(2)IPERA product line includes network switches, conference bridges, gateways and management systems. Accord's award winning technology makes it easy for two or more people to participate in Rich Media Communication sessions without having to know the technical characteristics of their network or their video- or voice-enabled system. These systems today could be an Internet telephone, regular telephone, video-PC or videoconferencing system. When integrated into a network solution, Accord's products are uniquely positioned to solve many problems faced by network designers today such as dealing with multiple speeds and feeds, multiple protocols, multiple networks and QoS issues. All of Accord's solutions are managed and controlled under a common management suite. Accord's solutions are used both by end users and by service providers who are offering outsourced solutions to end users. Service providers offering these services include RBOCs, CLECs, ISPs and ASPs.

About Akamai

Akamai is the leading Content Delivery Service Provider, serving over 2,800 customers worldwide. Akamai has the broadest deployment of servers for content, streaming media, and applications delivery with more than 6,000 servers in 54 countries directly connected within 335 different telecommunications networks.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, delay in product development, general business conditions in the industry, changes in demand for products, the timing and amount or cancellation of orders and other risks detailed from time to time in Accord Networks' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Accord Networks' Form F-1 registration statement.

Accord is a registered trademark and MGC-100 and V(2)IPERA are trademarks of Accord Networks.

Akamai Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act 

The release contains information about future expectations, plans and prospects of Akamai's management that constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including, but not limited to, the dependence on Akamai's Internet content delivery service, a failure of its network infrastructure, the complexity of its service and the networks on which the service is deployed, the failure to obtain access to transmission capacity and other factors that are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents periodically filed with the SEC.