Prospectus Summary
This summary highlights information contained elsewhere in this prospectus. This summary is not complete and may not contain all of the information that you should consider before investing in our common stock. You should read the entire prospectus, including the more detailed information and the financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.
iBEAM BROADCASTING
We provide an Internet broadcast network that delivers streaming media with viewing and listening quality that approaches television and radio, at lower cost than current Internet solutions and with the ability to scale to serve large audiences of simultaneous users. Our breadth of services enables content providers to more easily and cost effectively broadcast content over the Internet. Our network uses point-to-multipoint satellite broadcasting of Internet content to our intelligent iBEAM servers located at the edge of Internet, which is the Internet access point closest to the end user. Our network currently uses iBEAM servers located in the facilities of network providers, hosting companies and Internet service providers, or ISPs. Our proprietary technology and the software incorporated into our intelligent servers enable us to deliver high quality video and audio streams. We believe our investment in intelligent servers at the edge of the Internet provides us with competitive advantages and allows for the development of new value-added services for both content providers and ISPs.
Investments in "last mile" high-speed Internet connections to homes and businesses, intended to improve viewing and listening quality, are increasing the traffic load on the Internet causing web congestion and degradation of viewing and listening quality. Despite these limitations, existing websites, traditional media companies, such as Time Warner and Sony, new media companies, such as Launch Media and ProWebCast.com, and creators of new applications, such as online education, are aggressively trying to attract and retain Internet users by using greater amounts of streaming audio-visual content. The Gartner Group projects that more than 50% of websites will include some streaming media by 2001, a five-fold increase from 1998. Through our focus on the edge of the Internet and the use of satellite delivery, our approach to webcasting overcomes the inherent design limitations that disrupt the delivery of streaming audio-visual media and degrade viewing and listening quality.
Our solution is built on nearly 40 man years of proprietary software development by technical specialists from CNN, Bloomberg, and Microsoft which led to early developments in the delivery of rich video and audio content over the Internet. We commercially introduced our service in October 1999. As of January 25, 2000, our network investment, which we will continue to develop, is sufficient to support 300,000 simultaneous 20 kilobit streams of data. As of January 25, 2000, we have over 40 customers including MSNBC, Warner Bros. Interactive, Launch Media and Pixelworld. In addition, we have agreements with over 40 ISPs, including Covad Communications and Northpoint, that enable us to broadcast directly through their local distribution networks.
Business Strategy
Our goal is to become the leading provider of high-fidelity Internet broadcast services by developing the world's largest, premier quality and most cost efficient distributed streaming network. To this end, we are capitalizing upon our innovative network architecture, proprietary technology and first mover advantage to position us as the broadcast network of choice for reliable, high-fidelity Internet broadcasting. Our strategy comprises the following initiatives:
. Expand Our Customer Base of Leading Media and Entertainment Companies . Globally Build Out Our High-Fidelity Internet Broadcast Network . Further Leverage Our Intelligent Network to Drive Economies of Scale . Introduce New Value Added Features and Services . Pursue Additional Strategic Relationships . Create Open Platform for New Applications Our Internet Broadcast Network We have developed and deployed an Internet broadcast network that combines the quality, scalability and efficiency of the traditional television and radio broadcast networks with the interactivity and personalization of the Internet. The architecture of our network is conceptually similar to the architecture of traditional broadcast television and cable. Traditional television is collected over a dedicated acquisition network, then broadcast by satellite to a network of downlinks at television affiliates or cable facilities geographically dispersed across the country. We collect streaming Internet media from providers, then broadcast it via satellite to our network of servers, which we call MaxCasters, located in the facilities of ISPs. We then deliver these high- fidelity video and audio streams to the end user. Our services require no special end user hardware or software. In addition to the efficient distribution of streaming content, the iBEAM MaxCasters are intelligent servers that can perform a wide range of other value-added applications, including usage reporting and targeted advertising.
The key benefits of our network to our customers include:
. High-Fidelity Video and Audio Streams . Low Cost Distribution . Scalability . Transparent to the End User . Turnkey Solution . Advanced Reporting Capability . Flexible Network Design Our main executive offices are located at 645 Almanor Avenue, Suite 100, Sunnyvale, California 94086, and our phone number is (408) 523-1600. Our website address is www.ibeam.com. The information on our website is not part of this prospectus.