Posted: October 23, 2005

Triathlon: Nine Systems Delivered the Ford Ironman World Championship Live Web Cast

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Nine Systems, the leading provider of streaming media applications and content delivery solutions, web cast the Ford Ironman World Championship held on October 15 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii for the fifth year in a row at IronmanLive.com.

Nearly 174,000 people tuned in to watch the Ford Ironman World Championship web cast by Nine Systems which delivered more than 11.9 terabytes of data in 24 hours, doubling last year's usage for the event. Viewers who watched the web cast spent twice as much time viewing this year's event compared to last year. The average view time for the web cast was approximately 40 minutes with more than 8,000 simultaneous users accessing the event at peak.

"In 2003, Ironman and Nine Systems set a record for the largest single day sporting event ever streamed live, with 6.7TB. This year we have doubled that to almost 12TB, proving once again that Ironman and Nine Systems were able to go the distance with another flawless and record breaking worldwide broadcast," said Dan Gerson, Production Manager, Ironman. "Our fans are truly in every corner of the globe, and thanks to Nine Systems, every one of them was able to be in Kona with us, from the starting gun to the last finisher."

The Ford Ironman World Championship web cast, powered by Stream OS, enabled IronmanLive.com to use drag-and-drop functionality to upload, organize and distribute their live content on the web. It gave the competitors' supporters and other triathlon fans around the world the opportunity to experience the toughest endurance event in the world, free, simply by accessing the Internet.

"Consumer demand for streaming video over the Internet has skyrocketed in the past year and will continue to grow," said Troy Snyder, CEO, Nine Systems. "The Internet has become the primary choice of instant content delivery for sporting events like the Ford Ironman World Championship. The live web cast solution allowed IronmanLive.com to show their viewers all over the world just how close they could witness the event as it happened."

The Ford Ironman World Championship drew more than 1,800 athletes from 50 states and more than 50 countries to register for this year's competition. In addition to streaming the all-day live coverage of the race, from swimming to cycling to running, Nine Systems also streamed interviews with athletes and special video segments further describing the elements of the race course. The streamed content was delivered through Nine Systems' Network of Networks, the industry first aggregated system that routes all types of rich media through its Content Delivery Network (CDN) and across other top-tier CDNs.

About Ironman
World Triathlon Corporation, owners and organizers of Ironman, is a Florida-based company known for athletic excellence, performance and quality products. Ironman is comprised of more than 40 qualifying events spanning the globe and partners include Ford Motor Company, Timex and Gatorade. Ironman has been a respected name in triathlon since its inception 28 years ago and is regarded as the world's most challenging endurance event. Millions may remember moments in Ironman history such as Julie Moss' crawl to the finish line in 1982, which was showcased on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Each year, more than 50,000 athletes compete for slots in the Ford Ironman World Championship held every October in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. A global brand, Ironman has been featured in a range of media outlets to include NBC, CNN Headline News, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times and USA Today.

About Nine Systems
Headquartered in San Diego, California, Nine Systems (http://www.ninesystems.com) helps today's best-known companies broadcast audio and video over the Internet and wireless easily, affordably and reliably. Nine Systems' Network of Networks is an industry-first system that routes all types of rich media through the company's Content Delivery Network (CDN) and across other top-tier CDNs to guarantee robust and reliable delivery worldwide. Stream OS is the company's suite of configurable rich media management and delivery tools that enable audio and video streaming, live event broadcasting, web conferencing and the anytime sale of rich media content. Nine Systems serves more than 200 of today's most successful businesses including Universal Music Group, the NBA, CBS SportsLine, and EMI Music.