The 1998 Intel New York Music Festival Rocks The Internet With Technology From Realnetworks, Unisys And Exodus

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 16, 1998 -- Intel Corporation, together with Festival co-executive producers Andrew Rasiej and Michael Dorf, today announced a collaboration with several major technology and infrastructure providers for the 1998 Intel New York Music Festival. Among the companies that will be lending their support to the event are RealNetworks, Unisys and Exodus Communications. The Intel New York Music Festival will take place both physically in New York, and online at www.intelfest.com, July 15-18, delivering music from 300 artists in 20 music venues to a global audience.

For the second year, RealNetworks will be the exclusive streaming media provider for the Festival, furnishing the encoder and server- and client-side software necessary for music fans around the world to experience the sights and sounds of the Festival. Unisys will be the exclusive systems provider while Exodus Communications will provide the server hosting and bandwidth service for the event.

"The combination of technology that's been assembled for the Intel New York Music Festival will deliver the most comprehensive, and engaging online event ever," said Wendy Hafner, director, Music Marketing, Intel Corporation. "We're building a music network that combines everything from musical performances and virtual communities to commerce opportunities and exclusive interviews, and the only place to get it is through the PC."

RealNetworks will provide more than 56 RealAudio** and RealVideo** streams which can be received by tens of thousands of music fans in the online audience simultaneously. In addition, RealNetworks will provide extensive onsite technical support. For the first time, five clubs will feature RealAudio and RealVideo streams, while five other venues will feature RealAudio streams with JPEG photo images. The remaining 10 venues will feature RealAudio streams each night of the Festival. New this year, the Festival site will feature a 24 hour "Best of the Festival" channel containing performances, artist interviews and behind the scenes shots.

Unisys Corporation will provide the entire suite of hardware computing solutions for this event, including five Aquanta DS/2 two-way servers, 55 Aquanta DLX desktop computers and six Aquanta EN/M notebook computers. The servers will be configured with 333-MHz dual-Pentium® II processors; the desktop computers will be equipped with 300-MHz Pentium II processors; and the notebooks will utilize 266-MHz Pentium II processors. These systems will run the mission-critical applications crucial to the success of this event including audio and video streaming encoders, Web authoring stations, Web monitoring stations and administrative systems. Intelfest.com will also be hosted by Unisys servers.

For the second year in a row, Exodus Communications will serve as the official server hosting company for Intelfest.com. Exodus will utilize their hubs and routers, and Unisys' servers, which will be located at their Internet Data Center in New Jersey to provide high-speed direct access to the Internet.

"What started out four years ago with just text and digital images has evolved into a technical tour-de-force thanks to the evolution of technology, and the combination of talent from a number of companies," Dorf said. "It's very rewarding to deliver this impressive combination of music choice for an online audience after a few short years in development."

Rasiej commented, "This powerful combination of companies and technology will make for a more true-to-life experience for online attendees."

The 1998 Intel New York Music Festival Web site (www.intelfest.com) will feature live cybercasts of 300 bands from 20 clubs during the four nights of the festival; a 24-hour audio and video channel which will highlight past performances and exclusive festival footage; live chats with the artists; behind-the-scenes photos; exclusive audio and video interviews; digitally downloadable music; and an online music retail "e-store."

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