Global Crossing Partners to Fuel Media and Entertainment Extranet

📅 April 23, 2001 - Integrated telecommunication services provider Global Crossing Ltd. (globalcrossing.com) announced on Monday that has established a strategic alliance with VDI MultiMedia, a leader in fulfilling the postproduction and broadcast distribution needs of entertainment media. The deal will see the two companies co-market broadband services to the media and entertainment industry.
The news comes shortly after an announcement made by Global Crossing last week, saying that it had formed a partnership with Constellation Ventures, with that company committing to an investment of $100 million in companies imbedded in the Global Crossing network.
Both announcements are part of a new offering Global Crossing is rolling out, designed to provide services and solutions to the entertainment industry. Through the partnerships, the company is hoping to turn its dumb pipes into an entertainment industry extranet.
Analysts say the decision is ingenious, if a little desperate. Global Crossing's wholly owned network stretches over 101,000 route miles, and reaches 200 cities, but with increasing competition, profit margins for providing bandwidth services are falling. And while many companies are beginning to provide services like Web hosting and virtual private networks to appeal to businesses, Global Crossing's extranet will be targeted toward a particular business, and one that certainly isn?t starving for money.
According to Global Crossing, the company is making good on its promise of creating a truly digital Hollywood by partnering with companies like VDI MultiMedia. The company says it is working to greate a secure community to assist the exchange of ideas and information. VDI MultiMedia provides a range of digitized video and film asset management services to the entertainment, media and advertising industries. VDI MultiMedia offers its clients all of the services necessary to edit, master, reformat, digitize, archive and distribute their film and video content, including commercials, feature films, movie trailers, electronic press kits, infomercials and syndicated programs. The company services major film studios like Disney, MGM, Paramount, Sony Pictures, Fox, Universal, Warner Bros. And Mirimax, as well as top advertising agencies such as Saatchi & Saatchi, Foote Cone & Belding and Young & Rubicam.
Global Crossing says its global media and entertainment extranet will connect geographically dispersed media facilities through the broadband exchange of TV-quality video, CD-quality audio, live event broadcasting and feature films.