Digital Island to Stream Auto Show News

LONDON--Jan. 3, 2002-- Digital Island, a Cable &Wireless company , today announced that it is providing 2Way Web Services(TM) to deliver video news from four North American International Auto Shows (NAIAS) to MSN visitors in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), across all MSN Carview Web sites in the region. Digital Island's 2Deliver(TM) services will provide on-demand streaming of video coverage of new car releases and auto news from four auto shows in 2002. The first event, the Detroit NAIAS Auto Show, opens Saturday, Jan. 5, 2002.

MSN Carview will leverage Digital Island's 2Deliver global streaming media network to lower the cost of delivering content and dramatically improve the performance and reliability of video downloads. MSN Carview is the international division of Microsoft's Carpoint Inc. Carpoint Inc. operates the world's most visited network of auto Web sites, across five continents, including Carpoint.com in the US and Carview.co.uk in the United Kingdom. The MSN Carview Web sites alone provide auto news, car buying and ownership services in 12 languages for up to two million unique users per month from 15 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa through the MSN portal.

``Consumers have embraced the Web for making their car buying decisions, while the enthusiasts are demanding the opportunity to see the latest models as soon as they become available,'' said Omer Khan, group program manager, MSN Carview EMEA. ``By providing the best quality video coverage from the world's top auto shows on the Internet, we can help users make decisions and easily access information on the latest automobiles.''

Digital Island's 2Deliver services lower the cost of providing on demand streaming video, while improving performance by placing the video at the edges of the Internet, close to the end user. Digital Island's patented Footprint® Service Enabling Technology monitors the demand on individual servers housing the videos, along with the conditions of the Internet, to send users on the most efficient path to the server best able to meet their request. Costs are minimized through reduced communications routes and lower capacity requirements.

``MSN Carview places great importance on the value of digital video in developing an attractive service for a highly targeted and sought after audience,'' said Adam Cohen, chief media officer, Digital Island. ``To uphold the quality of the MSN brand, we must meet these consumers' expectations by providing a fast and reliable experience each time they visit a MSN Carview site. The global reach of Digital Island's 2Way Web Services and robust performance helps MSN Carview provide dependable, high-quality streaming audio and video on its many Web sites.''

Digital Island provides 2Way Web Services for various MSN Web operations, including services to deliver up to 860 million online MSN advertisements per day reaching 233 million unique viewers per month in 33 countries. Digital Island also provided 2Deliver streaming services to 55 countries for the launch of Windows XP with Bill Gates on Oct. 25, 2001.