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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / SEPTEMBER 15, 2003: VOL. 2 NO. 37

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Breaking News - Security:

Audible Magic, Palisade Systems Join Forces

Audible Magic Corporation, a leading provider of content management and identification services, announced it has partnered with Palisade Systems, a developer of network management and security solutions. The two companies will cross-license their technologies and work jointly to develop the first network appliances that identify copyrighted works "on the fly" combined with the ability to block individual trades. Both companies will develop products, with the first to come from Audible Magic in the fourth quarter of this year.

The new systems eliminate privacy issues associated with other solutions by identifying and stopping illegal file trades in real-time, without any requirement for individual users to be identified. In addition, files authorized for sharing by the content owner can be freely transferred via the P2P networks. The two companies anticipate particularly strong appeal within the university market, where specific illegal file trades can be blocked, while the legitimate use of, and research into, other P2P applications can continue.

The new appliances will also provide network administrators with the ability to quantify and document infringement problems on their networks rather than relying upon violation notifications from the recording industry. This addresses concerns of institutions seeking an independent source to verify potential copyright violations.

"We are extremely pleased to be working with Palisade," said Vance Ikezoye, founder and CEO of Audible Magic. "The combination of our technologies and systems provides the first capability for protecting the rights of content owners, and respecting the rights of individual content consumers."

The partnership combines two industry-hardened solutions. Palisade Systems' award-winning Packet Hound appliance is used for network application monitoring and management by hundreds of organizations worldwide. Audible Magic's patented ID solutions, which combine audio fingerprinting and a reference database of nearly four million songs, are integrated in the company's RepliCheck product, the de facto standard anti-piracy solution in the CD duplication industry.

The appliances will provide a number of technical advantages for IT administrators struggling with the bandwidth consumption and legal concerns associated with P2P applications:

  • They integrate seamlessly in any network running TCP/IP, regardless of operating systems, machines, or appliances, to make that network "content intelligent" with various types of content. Audible Magic's database of copyrighted works has already moved beyond songs to include over 10,000 software titles.
  • It's a "pass-by" solution that inspects network traffic as it flows by, contributing no overhead to the network. This compares to pass-through solutions that route traffic through the appliance and can degrade system performance.
  • The appliance is transparent, very secure, and virtually impossible to identify, locate, circumvent or attack.

"The technology of Audible Magic brings a powerful extension to PacketHound's ability to manage P2P at the application and packet level," said Eric Schnack, COO of Palisade Systems. "The appliances will provide responsible and practical options without crossing philosophical and moral boundaries. The solution will be able to help not only universities, but also any business concerned about the ramifications of illegal file sharing."

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