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Iowa Network Services Chooses Kasenna for Multi-Carrier VOD Deployment

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 March 2004, 06:00 CST

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Kasenna, the leader in broadband video network systems, today announced that Iowa Network Services, Inc. (INS), has selected Kasenna's MediaBase XMP software and GigaBase(TM) video servers to enable video on demand (VOD) services for its service provider customers. Based in West Des Moines, Iowa, INS is a private company that provides core network transport, Internet access, broadcast video, and other services to 146 independent telephone companies serving approximately 280,000 business and residential customers across the state of Iowa. Based on customer requests, INS investigated options for deploying broadband VOD and chose Kasenna as its supplier.

"We serve a lot of different providers across a large region, so we needed a system that was robust enough to support a large deployment and flexible enough to interoperate over any telephone company's local loop distribution system," said Howard Juul, vice president of network planning at INS. "Kasenna was really the only choice for us. Kasenna's solution reliably delivers high quality video through any kind of remote terminal, and integrates with any of the set-top-boxes the independent telephone companies choose to deploy. Because Kasenna can also easily manage servers in both centralized and distributed deployments, we have a solid and cost-effective foundation on which to build out our VOD network as it grows."

Iowa Network Services is currently rolling out Kasenna-based VOD services to the first telephone company in its network, deploying both broadcast video and VOD service. The deployment is expected to go live on April 15 of this year. Additional telephone companies are in the process of planning rollouts for later this year and in 2005.

The MediaBase software platform that underlies Kasenna's line of servers also includes essential management features that carrier providers like INS need to manage content and network resources across a widely distributed network. In some cases, INS' telephone company customers will obtain all or a portion of the content directly from the master video server at INS' operations center, and in other cases they may opt to deploy their own edge servers. In either case, Kasenna's software provides the management, control and flexibility that are essential to reliable, cost-effective operation in either environment.

"In a distributed network, solving the VOD problem is as much about network flexibility and management as it is about the individual server," said Mark Gray, president and CEO of Kasenna. "Service providers like Iowa Network Services choose our products because they get a range of cost-effective servers that interoperate easily with their network elements, and because our software management capabilities help them keep a lid on operating costs."

About Kasenna

Kasenna is video with vision. Since 1993, the Kasenna team has led the broadband video industry with a focus on open standards and an intelligent management infrastructure. Kasenna's software supports multiple content formats and viewer devices, allowing service providers, enterprises, and other organizations to build commercial-grade IP video networks that support new and emerging video services. Kasenna's patented software technology has been proven with thousands of successful and profitable telecom, cable, hospitality, enterprise, education, and government deployments worldwide. Kasenna's software is available for servers running the Linux, Solaris, and IRIX operating systems. Kasenna is headquartered in Mountain View, California and is privately held. For more information, please visit http://www.kasenna.com/.

About Iowa Network Services

INS was organized in 1988 by 127 Rural Iowa Independent Telephone Companies. INS began providing centralized equal access service to its shareowner companies in 1989. In addition to centralized equal access, it now provides a number of other network-related services to 146 Iowa independent telephone companies that serve about 280,000 subscribers in 330 communities. The INS network includes two access tandems, over 1,900 miles of fiber optic cable, several ATM switches, the largest ISP in Iowa and a digital video head end. For more information, please visit INS's web site at http://www.iowanetworkservices.com/.

Kasenna

CONTACT: Susan Lehman of Gallagher Group Communications,+1-510-832-6006, or susanl@gg-comm.com, for Kasenna

Web site: http://www.iowanetworkservices.com/

Web site: http://www.kasenna.com/

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