Scotts Valley, Ca. – ManyOne
Networks Inc. has just released a pilot version of a next generation Web-based
multimedia content delivery system that it claims has the potential of becoming
the “zone of high-quality, advertising-free content for the public.”
Called Digital Universe, the ManyOne platform
is designed to provide reusable -- or syndicated -- Web content and Internet
services to partner organizations of all kinds, ultimately equipping them to
serve their constituencies with superior information services at lower costs.
Revenue from subscribers is shared around the
partner network, enabling a new democratic financial model for content and
services based upon syndication.
"Today's Web is working very well for
advertising-driven media and commerce, but it can do so much more than it does
now to serve the public at large and the thousands of non-profit organizations
that are working for positive social and environmental change," said Christy
Carpenter, former Vice Chair of the Corporation for Broadcasting also serving on
the ManyOne Board of Directors.
Organized within a socially responsible
financial and ownership model, he said ManyOne's vision is to realize the
original potential of the Internet as an open, democratic medium that inspires
creativity, communication, collaboration and education. It will accomplish this
mission by providing a next-generation
Web content and Internet services platform, and
then syndicate it through other organizations to constituencies around the
world.
“It can become a wholly new kind of Internet
medium -- a genuinely Public Internet Media System,” he said.
Carpenter said a team of executives and staff
from USWeb, Microsoft, UTStarcom, HP, Sony, AOL/Netscape, Nokia and Lockheed
have joined forces over the past three years to the Digital Universe service,
carefully designing it with a socially-responsible ownership, governance and
advisory architecture.
Chaiman and CEO of ManyOne Networks is Joseph
P. Firmage, founder and CEO of USWeb, while Joseph Lapolito, formerly an
executive at UTStarcom, heads operations for the company.
In addition to Carpenter, the company's Board
of Directors includes Paul Irwin, former President of the Humane Society of the
United States; and Robert Richards, a member of the team that founded the
telecommunications giant Sprint.
Underlying the Digital Universe, ManyOne offers
a portal service that may be syndicated -- or "private-labeled" -- by socially
responsible organizations, companies and even individuals.
In the first half of this year, partners will
be able to quickly create specialized portals for their members, complete with
all the multimedia capabilities of the Digital Universe as well as Internet
access, world class e-mail, Universal Instant Messaging and 24/7 customer and
technical support.
“They can also add specialized multimedia or
ordinary website content, if they choose,” said Carpenter. “Future services
built into the platform will include IPTV and online game capabilities. Partners
as a group then receive 50 percent of the net received from subscribers they
bring into the network.
"Today, the Web is a playground of commercial
interests, yielding a medium lacking depth, devoid of privacy and filled with
ads, pop-up offers and transaction fees," said ManyOne CEO Firmage.
To learn more, go to
www.manyone.net or
http://digitaluniverse.net.
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