Day: December 8, 2002

Kontiki announced that it has added new Grid Delivery Server software to its enterprise software suite, the Kontiki Delivery Management System (DMS). The DMS enables enterprises to upgrade their existing networks to securely and automatically deliver corporate video and documents. Kontikis DMS is based on the companys grid delivery technology. Like grid computing, which taps underutilized CPU processing power, Kontikis grid delivery software pulls together existing networks and storage space on both PCs and servers to create a network capable of delivering rich media with greater efficiency and lower costs than traditional delivery methods. Kontiki claims the DMS has resulted in reductions in the cost of rich media delivery by a factor of 10 to 25 times, compared with traditional methods of delivering similar content. This improvement is driven by the hardware, bandwidth, and operations savings of Kontikis grid delivery technology. The new Grid Delivery Server runs on standard PC hardware and improves network efficiencies by time shifting deliveries to smooth demand, eliminating failed deliveries with pause/resume, and adaptively multi-serving the content from the delivery grid. www.kontiki.com

Microsoft Corp. announced a new set of technologies designed to enable developers to build business solutions based on the next version of Microsoft Office, code-named “Office 11.” A new set of tools, code-named “Visual Studio Tools for Office,” enables Visual Studio .NET developers to use Microsoft’s application development tool to build solutions based on Word and Excel documents, as well as several new XML development experiences. Microsoft will continue to support Visual Basic for Applications. Using “Visual Studio Tools for Office,” developers can create applications written in Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and Microsoft Visual C# .NET that run in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. “Visual Studio Tools for Office” will be available in conjunction with “Office 11” in mid-2003. “Office 11,” features enhanced support for XML, including improved object model programmability, the ability to use XML schemas, built-in support for XML Web services and a new smart document solution model. Word and Excel templates can be designed with an underlying customer-defined XML structure. Integrated support for XML Web services in “Office 11,” along with support for XSL and XPath, leverages existing Office and Web development skills. www.microsoft.com/office/developer/preview

eMotion, Inc. announced the launch of CreativePartner Project, a service that allows customers to engage eMotion’s digital media management software solution and hosting services on a project-by-project basis. The new offering enables eMotion to target a much broader range of customers seeking a digital media management and collaboration solution for creative projects, but not necessarily on a continuous basis. The CreativePartner Project service includes set-up, hosting, operation and administration of a web-based digital media management solution for as little as two weeks to as long as six months or more. Clients can establish a project workspace for their assets (graphics, photos, video and audio files). In addition to CreativePartner Project, eMotion offers licensed software solutions MediaPartner Enterprise, CreativePartner and ArchivePartner. www.emotion.com