EBSCO Publishing Chooses Sockeye Networks to Boost Service For Its EBSCOhost Online Research Service.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 17, 2002

EBSCOhost deploys GlobalRoute service to optimize routing

between multiple ISPs and improve service for customers

EBSCO Publishing has chosen Sockeye Networks(TM) to improve service and manage bandwidth costs associated with EBSCOhost(R), its worldwide online periodical database service, Sockeye announced today.

EBSCO Publishing is the online reference division of EBSCO Industries, a privately owned global corporation with annual sales in excess of $1 billion and approximately 4,500 employees. EBSCO's periodical services began with the print business in the 1930s. CD-ROMs were added to the product offerings in the 1980s and, in 1995, the company offered its first service via the Internet - EBSCOhost. Under the terms of the two-year contract, Sockeye's GlobalRoute(SM) service helps EBSCOhost manage the multiple Internet service providers (ISPs) it now uses to serve data to customers.

"One of our biggest challenges is growing our network to support our expanding services," said Mike Gorrell, senior vice president and chief information officer for EBSCO Publishing. "Sockeye's GlobalRoute service greatly assists with this challenge by improving the speed at which we can get journal articles to our customers and provides the added benefit of allowing us to automatically achieve our performance goals and manage costs. Our engineers are impressed with the visibility it provides with regard to service provider performance."

For redundancy and fault-tolerance, EBSCOhost is multi-homed to the Internet through multiple connections: two T3 lines to regular ISPs, a third T3 linked to Internet2 (I2), and a high-speed wireless link. Until deploying the GlobalRoute service, EBSCOhost relied on the limited border gateway protocol (BGP) that routers use to hand off traffic between multiple ISPs. The GlobalRoute service uses intelligence gathered from continuous end-to-end measurements to choose the most optimal path for network traffic.

"Enterprises must often choose between controlling bandwidth costs and optimizing performance for customers. It doesn't have to be that way," said Valeri Marks, chairman and CEO of Sockeye Networks. "EBSCOhost is supporting its growth in a way that improves customer experience while managing costs. We're pleased the Sockeye Networks GlobalRoute service is a key part of that achievement."

About EBSCO 

EBSCO Publishing, EBSCO Subscription Services and EBSCO Book Services form the EBSCO Information Services group. EBSCO provides integrated information resources and management solutions worldwide through print and electronic journal subscription services, reference database development and production, online multi-database access and e-commerce book procurement. EBSCO upholds relationships with 60,000 publishers and maintains a database of more than 282,000 serial titles. For more information, visit www.ebsco.com.

About Sockeye Networks

Sockeye Networks is the leading provider of route optimization services. For enterprises and service providers with more than one connection to the Internet, the GlobalRoute route optimization service reduces network management and infrastructure costs, optimizes network performance to improve user experience, and mitigates the risk of Internet outages, enabling businesses to confidently depend on the Internet for mission-critical applications. Privately held, Sockeye has raised $40 million in equity financing. For more information visit http://www.sockeye.com.

Sockeye Networks and GlobalRoute are trademarks and service marks of Sockeye Networks, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.