World leader in broadcast and Internet transmission services, GlobeCast has announced the introduction in America of its MCast line of satellite-based Internet services.

The new MCast offer includes four key products that deliver satellite-based Internet push and backbone distribution services tailored to the needs of ISPs, content providers and enterprises in North and Latin America, according to Robert Behar, president and chief executive officer of GlobeCast America.

The broadcast services division of France Telecom (NYSE:FTE), GlobeCast is the world market leader in delivering complete end-to-end transmission and production services for all media, encompassing broadcast video and audio, Internet backbone and content delivery. MCast is the brand name for GlobeCast’s worldwide family of IP products and services, which are already offered in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

At the heart of the new MCast offer in America is MCast CDN, a satellite-based content delivery network that provides push distribution and caching of Internet content at ISPs across Latin America from GlobeCast’s IPSat gateway in Miami. The service is targeted to content providers in North and Latin America seeking faster delivery of their content to the growing base of Latin American Internet users.

‘Latin America is considered to be the area of greatest Internet growth, projected to reach 50 million users by 2005 – with nearly 10 million of them connected via broadband,’ Behar said.

‘GlobeCast is expanding its current U.S. IP transmission infrastructure to quickly build one of the first and largest integrated content delivery networks across Latin America,’ he said.

MCast CDN enables content providers to distribute and cache updated web data and streaming media on local servers installed at ISP headends. By caching web content at the closest point to the end user, GlobeCast offers content providers and ISPs the ability to accelerate the end-user’s access to Internet content.

Satellite offers the most efficient means to deliver and cache web content at hundreds of ISPs simultaneously across large geographic regions. GlobeCast is installing MCast CDN servers at leading ISPs throughout Latin America and at ISPs in North America serving Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking communities. The servers will be updated via satellite from GlobeCast’s IPSat gateway in Miami.

The MCast product line also includes MCast File, MCast Connect and MCast Direct.

MCast File is a high-speed satellite-based file distribution service that allows companies to multicast large databases, video, software, multimedia and data files, and other corporate content simultaneously to an unlimited number of remote servers in North and Latin America in a secure environment.

MCast Connect provides ISPs and corporate users in Latin America with high-speed quality connectivity to the international backbone in North America. GlobeCast’s IPSat gateway in Miami receives upstream requests from Latin America via cable or satellite and returns content via satellite at speeds of 512 Kbps to 45 Mbps.

MCast Direct allows ISPs to offer direct-to-subscriber distribution of IP content via satellite. Business and residential subscribers make upstream requests from Latin America via cable or satellite straight to GlobeCast’s IPSat gateway. Return content is then transferred directly via broadband satellite to small home dishes at speeds of up to 400 Kbps, thus bypassing terrestrial bottlenecks.

All of the MCast services are customizable, allowing customers to choose their bandwidth level and to define their receive sites.

Heading up MCast development for Latin America is Mario Colla, who has joined GlobeCast as vice president, IP services, Latin America. Previously, Colla operated Zona 3000, a Miami-based content delivery network serving Latin America that he founded in 1998. An innovator in computer technology and Internet applications, Colla brings to GlobeCast extensive experience in network hosting and broadcast distribution. Additionally, he has created numerous portals in Latin America for ISPs, as well as web sites for prominent broadcast organizations.

‘GlobeCast’s worldwide investment in IP services positions the company at the leading edge of satellite-delivered Internet, and sets the stage for a new generation of products and services to meet the expanding requirements of broadcasters, ISPs, content providers and enterprises,’ Behar said.

GlobeCast is the world’s largest provider of end-to-end transmission and production services, offering specialized products for every segment of the broadcasting industry in all of the emerging standards, including digital, HDTV and IP.

These include program origination, Internet backbone and content delivery, DBS distribution of world television programming, business television, satellite distribution of syndicated programming, studio and mobile production and post production, language conversion, sports and event transmission and production, satellite newsgathering and audio distribution.

In America, GlobeCast operates four international teleports and production facilities in Los Angeles, New York and Miami, technical operations centers in Washington DC and Salt Lake City, and a regional office in Dallas.

For further information please contact:

Robert Marking
212-885-8732.