Digital Fountain Announces a ``Quantum Leap'' in Content Delivery with New Product Line; Digital Fountain Products Complement Technologies from Microsoft, Sony and Cisco.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 16, 2001

For the first time, it is now both technically possible and economically feasible to provide on-demand access to rich digital media over the Internet to TV-scale audiences. Digital Fountain's new products are based on the company's patented "Meta-Content(TM)" technology -- a technology that changes the fundamental assumptions associated with distributing rich content. With Meta-Content, individual users can receive content whenever they request it, with no increase in server load for each additional user.

The company's two new products are Streaming Fountain(TM), which serves streaming media, and Download Fountain(TM), which serves rich content, like movies, software downloads, image files and music files. Fountain Servers(TM) are the first and only products that combine the efficiency of a broadcast network with the on-demand access and reliability of the Internet.

Digital Fountain's new product line will offer broad support for content using Microsoft Windows Media Technology. "Digital Fountain's innovative approach combined with support for Windows Media Video and digital rights management technology will open up new opportunities for the distribution of digital media," said Dave Fester, general manager, Windows Digital Media division, Microsoft Corp. "This new technology will help enable new levels of cost effective reach to the more than 240 million secure Windows Media Players worldwide."

Sony will develop a solution component for satellite communication that will use Digital Fountain's Meta-Content technology. "Digital Fountain's technology represents a quantum leap in data delivery," said Sunobu Horigome, corporate executive vice president of Sony Corp. "Fountain servers give content owners the ability to reach an unlimited concurrent audience with high quality."

Cisco Systems will use Fountain Servers to distribute high-impact, high-bandwidth, rich media over major enterprise wide area networks and the Internet. The Cisco Content Delivery Network (CDN) System with Digital Fountain technology, designed for distribution over both satellite and terrestrial systems, will be available worldwide in May through Cisco's direct sales force.

"Cisco's CDN products coupled with the Fountain Server are making it possible for large enterprises as well as hosting and application service providers to launch new e-services," said Cheng Wu, vice president and general manager of Cisco's content networking business unit. "CDNs are bringing content and rich media services to all networks, and Digital Fountain technology is an important piece in solving the scalability puzzle."

A New Era in Internet Content Delivery

"Digital Fountain appears to have solved the paradox of popularity," said Michael Hoch of the Aberdeen Group. "Digital Fountain's technology promises to eliminate the cost barriers associated with Internet-based communications. Popular content can be reliably served to a large, dispersed audience without significantly increasing infrastructure and management costs."

It is generally acknowledged that streaming and downloading rich media over the Internet or corporate intranets is very limited today mainly because of this "paradox of popularity." The cost of the hardware and other computing resources needed to support the distribution of rich media increases dramatically with increases in audience size. This is exactly the opposite of traditional broadcasting, where economies of scale improve with audience size.

Current attempts to stream rich media have been limited to scheduled live broadcasts or scheduled on-demand access, minimizing one of the greatest benefits of Internet-based content distribution -- flexible access to the content users want, when they want it.

"In quest of the Holy Grail of efficient, economical distribution of large files and streaming media over the Internet, much has been promised but very little delivered," said Cliff Meltzer, Digital Fountain's chief executive officer. "Using an entirely different and new technology, Digital Fountain today delivers on that promise."

Meta Content Technology: Behind the Magic

Conventional techniques of one-to-one media delivery -- whether on-demand streaming media or FTP file downloading -- treat every user as independent and unique. The server must verify every user, every bit of content and the order in which the content packets are received. As both content size and audience size grows, servers and networks experience increasing loads.

Based on 30 cumulative years of mathematics research, Digital Fountain's Meta-Content technology presents a radical alternative: it doesn't matter which packets are received, or in what order -- it only matters that the right quantity are received. Meta-Content represents content as a series of unique mathematical equations. Once enough of these equations are received, the receiving computer quickly and automatically reconstructs a perfect copy of the original content.

The benefit of this unique approach is that all users can be treated as a single group, no matter when they seek access to the content. This means that the load required to serve one million users is the same as for one user.

New Standards of Performance

Meta-Content technology makes conventional means of server capacity planning obsolete because server capacity is no longer a strict function of the number of users. In multicast environments, a single Fountain Server provides unscheduled access to a virtually unlimited number of users -- something that has not previously been possible with any existing technology.

In unicast environments, Digital Fountain's products far outstrip the capacity of traditional media servers. In a unicast network, Streaming Fountain supports up to 4,000 - 700 kbps quality video streams, 10,000 - 300 kbps quality video streams or up to 60,000 narrow-band streams. Download Fountain supports up to 20,000 dial-up users or 5,000 broadband users.

Other industry-leading features include:

-- The highest output capacity per rack unit in the industry, giving providers
predictable performance even as the size of an audience of concurrent users
grows very large. Fewer servers to manage mean less power, less rack space and
fewer support personnel -- all leading to the lowest-possible total cost of
ownership.

-- Support for the most popular browsers, media players and file formats
(including Microsoft Windows Media Player(TM), Real Player(TM) and Apple's
Quicktime(TM) Player), allowing the servers to integrate with existing
streaming and download solutions.

-- Packaged as an easily installed and maintained turnkey appliance, Streaming
Fountain is a compact 3RU in height (5.25"), and Download Fountain is just 1RU
(1.75").

-- Support for flexible network and management interfaces affording easy
integration with existing network environments.

-- One of the only solutions that enables tracking of both unicast and
multicast users, making it possible to analyze content and server performance,
and measure content effectiveness and audience usage patterns.

-- Dynamic layered congestion control with Download Fountain, allowing users to
receive content at their maximum bit rate.

-- Minimizes failed downloads and download times.

Digital Fountain also effectively reduces server load and alleviates network congestion created by heavy traffic on IP networks other than the Internet. Content delivery networks can use Fountain Servers to move data efficiently along their backbones. Satellite operators can use Fountain Servers to send rich data reliably and far more efficiently than they could with existing technology.

Pricing and Availability

Fountain Servers begin at $40,000 and will be generally available in June.

The first public display and demonstration of Digital Fountain's technology and products will take place at The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference from April 22 through April 26 in Las Vegas. For a live demonstration of a Fountain Server, visit Digital Fountain in booth E5017 on the lower level of the Sands Expo Center, in the NAB "Etopia" section.

About Digital Fountain (www.digitalfountain.com)

Digital Fountain is the leading innovator in Internet content delivery to TV-scale audiences with its patent-pending Meta-Content(TM) technology. The family of Fountain Servers(TM) includes Streaming Fountain(TM), used for streaming on-demand rich media such as corporate communications, training, and movies, and Download Fountain(TM), used for delivering high-demand rich content such as application upgrades, anti-virus files, or music and movie downloads. Fountain Servers are unlike any other server technology in that they generate Meta-Content equations that mathematically represent the content, from which an unlimited number of users can reconstruct a perfect copy of the original content. This enables Content Owners, Service Providers, and Enterprises to build new business models for content delivery, since the cost for delivering rich media can be fixed and independent of audience size.

Additional information may be obtained by calling Digital Fountain at +510/284-1400, sending a fax to +510/284-1499, or sending e-mail to [e-mail]. Company information is also available on the Web at www.digitalfountain.com.