Williams Launches Broadband Media Platform

Williams Communications’ Vyvx Broadband Media unit has announced the launch of services on its mediaXtranet broadband media platform, including digital media management, managed Web hosting and streaming.

MediaXtranet, which encompasses what Vyvx calls the industry’s only integrated solution for gathering, managing and distributing broadband content, offers media and entertainment companies interconnectivity, reach and media expertise as the industry continues to evolve to full digital production, management and distribution of content.

The mediaXtranet platform, which was completed earlier this year, is unique in that it includes a lit fiber-optic network backbone, plus a centralized media center in Tulsa, Okla., and eight media edge facilities, strategically placed in New York, Boston, Washington, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The media center provides a centralized storage space for archiving and digital asset management, as well as serving content and broadband streams, while the media edge facilities enable gathering and distribution, caching, and points of customer connectivity.

Williams said it has secured mediaXtranet managed Web hosting pacts with EnergyNewsLive.com, an Internet-based business news service tailored to the energy industry that delivers live, broadcast-quality programming via streaming video each hour of the business day; etNetworks, a provider of virtual instructor-led training and education, including IBM learning services; and Deloitte & Touche Outsourcing, which provides financial back office services to clients who are utilizing Deloitte & Touche’s accounting and consulting services.

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Williams, KDDI In Video Transmission Pact

Vyvx also said it would team with KDDI to launch full-time and occasional end-to-end video transmission services between multiple locations in the U.S. and Japan via switched fiber-optic transmission.

The launch marks the first availability of occasional video services between multiple locations in the U.S. and Japan, officials said. Occasional service enables broadcasters, sports rights holders and content owners to utilize the service only when they need it, rather than full-time, giving them a high degree of flexibility and cost efficiency.

Because it utilizes switched fiber-optic transmissions, the transpacific service gives customers better redundancy for their mission-critical content, plus flexibility through connectivity with various locations within the U.S. and Japan, Vyvx said. Multiple video quality levels are available, from standard (NTSC) to high-definition (HDTV). Japan-based broadcaster NHK currently uses the service for HDTV transmission of Major League Baseball games from the U.S. to Japan.

The launch of transpacific video transmission services represents the continuing evolution and expansion of the relationship between Williams Communications and KDDI. The two companies announced a preferred provider relationship for data, voice and video applications in July 2001. A similar agreement between Williams Communications and KDDI America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of KDDI, was signed in 2000, naming Williams Communications as KDDI America’s preferred provider for U.S. traffic.

Bob Woods is the managing editor of OpticallyNetworked.com.