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News 2008

ioko gains VIP Enterprise Partner status for VMWare
11 August 2008

ioko is now an approved VIP Enterprise Partner for VMWare. This is in addition to our status of VSPP (VMWare Service Provider Partner). Enterprise status means our customers will benefit from our competitive pricing and better visibility within VMWare and via their website – as well as access to tools, knowledge and events. We also have a skilled and qualified team able to deliver VMWare Capacity Planning.

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ioko hires Ray Atkin, as VP of services, to manage its growing North American client base

SAN DIEGO, Calif., July 15, 2008 – ioko, a technology firm specializing in designing, building and running world-class IT platforms on behalf of global Media and Entertainment enterprises, today announced the appointment of Ray Atkin as Vice President of Services for its North American operations. Mr. Atkin is responsible for managing ioko's client services and delivery organizations.

Prior to joining ioko, Mr. Atkin was Group Director, at Organic Inc., where he ran the interactive agency's account services organization for the western region and was responsible for developing Organic's client engagement management practice and served as a member of the senior management team.

Previously, as Director of Client Services at Kontiki, Mr. Atkin was responsible for developing the company's client services organization and managed key client relationships with AOL, BBC and Ernst & Young. Prior to this Mr. Akin served as Engagement Director at Scient where he oversaw the build and launch of several client web infrastructures. Atkin has also held various account and project management positions at Electronic Data Systems and Kurt Salmon Associates.

"We are excited to have Ray join our team at a time when our business continues to grow rapidly in North America and Europe" said Scott Sahadi, CEO North America. "He brings the right mix of client management expertise and in depth knowledge of the digital media space that our growing client base will value and appreciate."

"I am pleased to be joining ioko at such an exciting time." said Mr. Atkin. "ioko is at the forefront of digital media design, build and delivery and has an impressive and expanding base of global media and entertainment clients."

Atkin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lewis and Clark College and an MBA and Masters of Science in Management Information Systems from Boston University.

About ioko
ioko designs, builds and runs digital media platforms for Media and Entertainment companies worldwide. Systems integrated and managed by ioko enable digital media to be delivered across broadcast, broadband and mobile networks to televisions, computers and mobile phones. They power the portals and platforms of many media organizations—providing millions of streams and downloads to millions of users around the world

Media Contacts

Yasemin Krause	Nicola Paisey
Voce Communications	ioko
(415) 848-2579	+44 (0)1904 438 000
ykrause@vocecomm.com	nicola.paisey@ioko.com

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The Future of Television: Round Table
20 June 2008: Broadcast

Fearghal Kelly, ioko’s media solutions vice president joins leading technology players to give his predictions for the future of television. To download the findings of this debate published in Broadcast click here

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ioko extends media solutions expertise to North American market; Names new CEO to run U.S. operations

Scott Sahadi appointed ioko CEO for North America; Corporate Headquarters Located in Solana Beach, Southern California

Solana Beach, Calif., April 14, 2008 - ioko, a technology firm specializing in designing, building and running world-class IT platforms on behalf of large, global Media and Entertainment enterprises, today announced it has formally entered the North American market following more than 10 years of deploying and managing media solutions across Europe. ioko also named Scott Sahadi Chief Executive Officer for North America and established a southern California-based headquarters in Solana Beach. ioko will showcase its internationally recognized digital media services at the NAB Conference 2008 from April 14 - 16 in Las Vegas, NV.

ioko works with its customers to build solutions that power many of the world's most successful Media and Entertainment platforms, including the BBC, Sky, and C4 . ioko has made significant investments over the last nine months in data center infrastructure, employees and operations to bring its expertise and vision to the growing North American market. In addition to its North American headquarters in Solana Beach, ioko has provisioned two data center facilities in Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY which will serve as the backbone for their managed service offerings in North America, and expand their existing footprint in Europe. The company headquarters is based in London, and currently employs more than 300 people globally.

As CEO for ioko's North American operations, and a member of ioko's senior management team, Mr. Sahadi is responsible for all revenue, operations, marketing and business development in North America.

"Scott Sahadi is a recognized industry expert with extensive knowledge of the underlying business models and challenges our customers face bringing new technology platforms to market," said David Griffiths, Director and Founder of ioko. "We look forward to introducing Scott and his plans for North America at the NAB conference as we build on our success in Europe."

Mr. Sahadi joins ioko from VeriSign, where he held the position of Vice President of Marketing for VeriSign's Global Media and Entertainment vertical. Prior to VeriSign, Mr. Sahadi served on the executive management team for Kontiki, a company that pioneered secure and scalable digital media delivery. Mr. Sahadi holds a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from U.C.L.A and an MBA from the University of Southern California with an emphasis in finance and marketing.

"I am fortunate to have worked with ioko for years and I know first hand what this company can offer its customers," said Mr. Sahadi. . "The success of ioko in Europe provides an important blueprint for our North American customers as they look to invest in similar 'game-changing' digital media platforms."

About ioko
ioko designs, builds and runs digital media platforms for Media and Entertainment companies worldwide. ioko's unique approach combines cutting edge software and application development with a dedicated managed service offering giving customers a flexible, tailored solution designed to reduce the risk and cost of launching and running M&E technology platforms.

Systems integrated and managed by ioko enable digital media to be delivered across broadcast, broadband and mobile networks to televisions, computers and mobile phones. The company powers the portals and platforms of many media organizations-providing millions of streams and downloads to millions of users around the world.

Media Contacts

Yasemin Krause	Nicola Paisey
Voce Communications	ioko
(415) 848-2579	+44 (0)1904 438 000
ykrause@vocecomm.com	nicola.paisey@ioko.com

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Media engineering for IT and broadcast
TVB Europe (January 2008)

Broadcasting engineers have traditionally been solder-iron focused, rather than PC-orientated. ioko is one of a new breed.

ioko calls itself a media engineer. It takes all of the different products that are already in place in a broadcaster's environment, and integrates them with products from third parties such as Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Microsoft and Vignette. "Our skill is glueing it all together and making it work," says Fearghal Kelly, the firm's Media Solutions director.

From a start in the very early days of the internet back in 1996, ioko now has 250 employees. When people started taking the web seriously during the last dot.com boom, deploying brands online, ioko found itself well placed to help these companies because of its early grip on the world of the web.

The company started off building more traditional-style retail web presences, and evolved from there. These sites are what Kelly calls 'spiky', providing the company with a solid background in high and variable traffic volume websites. "We built a lot of expertise in that engineering. A lot of it, you can't get training on, you can't buy a book on, you've just got to innovate and get inventive," he states.

Now the business has helped to design and make the web presences for Sky News and Sky Sports, both of which are prime examples of 'spiky', heavy traffic sites. At the end of 1999 and beginning of 2000 the company began feeling a demand for video on the web that, as an immature technology back then, provided many challenges for the business.

Sky was one of the first companies globally to adopt video on the web whole-heartedly, states Kelly. It deployed Premiership football on the internet in 2000. ioko got involved as Sky needed help in designing and building a web presence and menu to deliver the video service.

Websites continued to become more media rich, says Kelly. The dot.com crash scared people away from the web, but even so, the technologies behind the web and online video continued to mature. The BT Fusion products, Tiscali's HomeChoice and Sky Anytime, its PC-based delivery for movies and sports clips on IPTV that ioko developed for Sky two and a half years ago, are proof that rich media on the web has been revisited and has grown.

Broadcasters' needs that ioko meets are many, states Kelly: "We now deal with high volume, huge transactional levels delivery of stuff. We have a natural understanding of how to approach those complex technical solutions and how to build platforms that will achieve that kind of loading."

Kelly continues: "All the broadcasters use different technical systems for doing playout, that all work differently and talk in different languages. Each time we have gone into a broadcaster we've had to integrate into all those different systems. The thing we're bringing uniquely to each customer is we don't say 'Here's the car and it only comes in one colour', we build a custom solution for each one of these players to take their content and work it with the output of their scheduling system, metadata system, rights reporting, finance systems, and even user account management systems."

There is a cheap version, but it is not as appealing, says Kelly. "The alternative is you can go out and spend £50,000 on one of these one-size-fits-all services from somebody like Joost or Intrigue or BabelGum, and as long as you're happy looking the same as everybody else, having a very bland user experience, then you can do so."

"But for any big, decent player, these solutions are part of their future; they're going to be making revenue from them whether it's adfunded or pay-per-view, more and more so in coming years. So you've got to spend proper money on it, build proper solutions and basically treat it with the same respect you treat the playout system."

Peer to peer delivery
To get that differentiation, ioko works with partner Verisign to use the Verisign-owned Kontiki technology for peer to peer delivery of video over the internet. Sky Anytime is based on peer to peer delivery from Verisign's Kontiki technology, and has recently passed the one million movie downloads mark.

This is the same technology as another pie that ioko stuck its fingers into with Verisign's Kontiki, the BBCs iPlayer, which carried out its trials before Sky but did not make the transition to market so smoothly. The next client ioko won after that was Channel 4, for 4oD, which ioko built, hosted and managed, again with Verisign's Kontiki. ioko also won the itv.com rebuild and streaming contract.

There are strong advantages to using peer-to-peer software for this delivery over streaming, says Kelly. He explains: "C4, the BBC and Sky are all based on this [peer-to-peer] technology. For any major player that has a lot of content and potentially a very big audience such as the BBC, [peer-to-peer] is the most cost-effective way of delivering content out. If you deliver it as a stream the cost would just be astronomical."

"The other thing is you can get a quality of service that is better than streaming, as you've got the content downloaded and you can play it again and again; streams can get interrupted," he continues. "And you get a download manager on your PC to manage the content from the provider. If you don't have a content manager, you end up with files all over your C drive. It's a well managed, nicer way of interacting with all this content. This means it's easier to monetise a service [run on peer-to-peer software] as the quality of the product is better."

Challenges for ioko started with the convergence of IT and broadcasting. Kelly says broadcasting engineers have traditionally been solder-iron focused, rather than PC-orientated. ioko sits in the middle, bridging the gap between the broadcasters and the IT world, he claims. What the company frequently does is take good IT technologists and puts them through the media landscape, teaching them the language of broadcasters so they do not, in Kelly's words, "scare the bejesus out of people."

There are many more challenges for ioko in its chosen field of expertise, he says. When working with ITV, some of the content for the service had already been digitised as a live stream without digital rights management applied to it. ioko had to create software that would apply these previously encoded assets.

Rights management systems for content can also be problematic for ioko. Just looking at ads designed for television, one might assume they could be shown online. However, the rights for online distribution have not been cleared so they cannot simply be run alongside online content. Ads are also shown with ties to products or content placement; for instance, an advert with Ant and Dec might only be allowed to run when I'm A Celebrity is also playing, further complicating matters. "Creating a system to manage that is not easy," he states.

"The next big challenge is going to be the next big refresh cycle on IPTV," he reveals. "This will happen as IPTV gets more and more accepted by consumers. There will be changes, and they will happen frequently, every four or five years - compared to television where the biggest update is a one-off digital switch over, the only update in 60 years."

Mobile is a current and future area for ioko. "People are always looking to distribute content onto mobiles," adds Kelly. "We work with various partners like Volantis and Vignette to deliver mobile content, at the moment news and sports content. I don't think mobile TV is going to be a very big hit until everyone's got a very big screen on their phone."

"For us it's about changing the video type into something that will work on the phones, changing the resolution of it for the different screen sizes. We're also working with games and ring tone distribution and using your phone as a remote control for your Sky Plus box," he says. "It's the phone as a functional tool and a means of getting content."

Article taken from TVB Europe January 2008 issue, Heather McLean

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News 2007

ioko named Vignette's EMEA Next Generation Web Partner of the Year
22 November 2007

For the second consecutive year, ioko has been honoured with a major partner award by enterprise web innovation company, Vignette. Following its 2006 success as Vignette EMEA Telco and Media partner of the year, ioko attended an alliance partners' awards dinner in Barcelona on Tuesday, 13 November 2007 where it was awarded the EMEA Next Generation Web trophy by Vignette CEO, Mike Aviles.

"ioko has been integral to the development and deployment of Vignette Digital Services Hub implementations. It has used Vignette in leading-edge Video on Demand deployments and helped close the first end-to-end DSH deals in the Middle East region. ioko represents exactly what we are looking for in a Next Generation Web partner - commitment, innovation, and excellent teamwork," said Lisette Sens, Vignette's EMEA strategic alliances director.

The award is recognition for over ten years' investment in Vignette expertise by ioko, including the development of complex web solutions for clients in the UK, Middle East, Russia and the USA. As an end-to-end solution integrator, ioko brings far-reaching domain knowledge, particularly in the telco, media and entertainment sector, and has proven expertise in bringing together diverse technologies to meet the sophisticated business needs of today's online entertainment and digital media companies.

Vignette's Digital Services Hub is a framework for digital media services. It creates a unified platform for the management, presentation, distribution and monetisation of digital assets, allowing TME companies to build new personal connections with consumers and create loyal communities in today's attention-constrained marketplace.

"This year's award consolidates ioko's role as Vignette's leading international partner for innovative web-based solutions," said Kathy Brown, alliances manager at ioko. "We are delighted to receive this accolade; it reflects the strong alignment between our two organisations and our mutual ambition to delight customers worldwide with technical solutions that give them real business advantage."

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IBC 2007 Exhibitor Opinion: Broadcasters embrace broadband
14 September 2007

UK broadcasters are leading Europe with their embrace of broadband as a distribution channel, explains Fearghal Kelly, Media Solutions Director, ioko (stand 3.300)

There is a recognition that broadcasters need to be online, not just with a web site and a few video clips, but with full programs. This is a theme of IBC this year and it is an emphasis for ioko as a systems integrator and managed service provider to many major broadcasters. All major British broadcasters are now putting their programs online as streams or downloads, enabling viewers to catch up on programs they may otherwise have missed.

The BBC can take much of the credit for this. They were the first major broadcaster to consider using secure peer-to-peer networks as a legitimate means of distributing their programs over broadband. The benefit of this approach is in spreading the load across the network, enabling it to serve any number of users without increasing the cost to the broadcaster. The BBC selected the Kontiki system supplied by ioko, which was successfully trialled to a closed group of 10,000 users. Kontiki was subsequently acquired by VeriSign and we worked closely with the BBC, Siemens and Red Bee Media to integrate the software into the new BBC iPlayer.

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Spreading the load
Meanwhile, other customers like BSkyB and Channel 4 have adopted similar approaches, with their Sky Anytime and 4oD services. They each have a very distinctive look and feel aligned to their respective brands and support a range of business models.

Sky Anytime is an added value service to subscribers of premium channels on Sky. If you get Sky Movies you can download any of their films for free to watch them when you want. You can even rent recent releases available on Sky Box Office. There are also top television dramas, general entertainment shows, arts documentaries and of course sports action including the Premiere League.

Channel 4 was the first major broadcaster in the world to make the majority of its scheduled output available for download. Its 4oD service is largely supported by advertising and sponsorship, but they also have rental, retail and subscription models.

Although British broadcasters probably lead the world in providing their programs over broadband, we see similar developments in other countries. As well as working across Europe, we are expanding globally and are currently involved in projects from Singapore, Dubai and Moscow to New York.

We design, develop, manage and maintain digital media technology systems for broadcasters and major media, entertainment and telecommunications companies. Many of them are now turning to ioko for our experience and expertise in delivering media over broadband and mobile networks. Telecommunications providers are now getting more involved in media distribution. In particular, we are increasingly being asked to deliver integrated services across television and computer screens and mobile phones. We anticipate considerable growth in this field as communications networks continue to converge.

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VeriSign Launches Multi-Screen Platform to Deliver Digital Content in Europe
10 September 2007

VeriSign Advances Global Leadership in Enabling Next Generation Digital Media Solutions with ioko

IBC 2007, Amsterdam and Mountain View, CA - VeriSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: VRSN), the leading provider of digital infrastructure for the networked world, today announced the launch of its Three-Screen Solution for Media and Entertainment Companies in Europe. VeriSign has combined its expertise in digital services with an international supplier of digital media technology solutions, ioko, to enable companies to provide consumers with a compelling digital experience across multiple screens.

VeriSign and ioko have enabled successful mobile and broadband content delivery solutions including Channel 4's 4oD, Sky Anytime on PC and for other telecommunications, media and entertainment leaders in Europe, Asia and North America.

"With a trend toward high-quality, long-form content and a consumer that is more mobile and demanding than ever, media and entertainment brands are having to rethink and retool their approach - developing new digital distribution channels and experiences that fully embrace today's connected consumers." said Stephen Condon, vice president, media and entertainment, VeriSign.

"With VeriSign's digital content delivery platform fortified by ioko's trusted consulting and integration expertise, we will deliver solutions that enable our customers to economically harness this rapid pace of innovation."

"The world of digital content is rapidly evolving and there is a requirement for increasing sophistication in the delivery of digital content to consumers", says Mark Christie, managing director, ioko. "ioko's experience with VeriSign, delivering digital media across multiple platforms to diverse devices, means that together we can deliver business advantage to our clients and VeriSign's Three-Screen solution for media and entertainment companies provides us with the flexibility to do this".

The VeriSign® Three-Screen Solution enables media and entertainment companies to accelerate time to market and drive new revenue streams by helping them offer end users an enhanced digital experience across a broad spectrum of media consumer touch points including the TV, PC and mobile phone. VeriSign enables media and entertainment companies to engage and embrace customers anytime, anywhere through intelligent network integration, coupled with consistent and secure content delivery.

With its heritage in security, VeriSign takes an advanced, layered approach to securing digital content, regardless of network or viewing medium. Content is protected from unauthorised distribution with DRM, authentication, encryption technologies (digital certificates) and geo IP restriction in transit and to verify the source. VeriSign will also help media and entertainment companies respond to the complex demands of dramatically changing consumer usage characteristics and distribution opportunities.

The VeriSign® Three-Screen Solution includes the following features:

• VeriSign® Intelligent Content Delivery Network is designed to reach both mobile and broadband consumers, offering cost-competitive content delivery and giving media and entertainment companies the ability to support SMS, MMS and WAP-push modes of content delivery.
• VeriSign® Interactive Applications Services offer media and entertainment companies the ability to capture consumers through an additional marketing channel, encourage brand loyalty and creating additional revenue streams.
• VeriSign® Content Portal Services offer a comprehensive multi-screen experience, designed specifically to solve key challenges related to the life cycle of digital content within a mobile retail ecosystem.

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Broadcasters Embrace Broadband with Platforms Powered by ioko
(IBC, Amsterdam, 7-11 September 2007)

Broadcasters around the world are embracing broadband as a new distribution channel. Behind many of the developments and deployments is ioko. A specialist systems integrator and managed service provider, ioko designs, develops, manages and maintains digital media technology systems for many major media and communications companies.

In Britain, ioko is working closely with the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky to develop and manage their broadband platforms. These leading broadcasters are now making many of their programs available over broadband, enabling viewers to catch up on programs they may otherwise have missed.

In collaboration with the BBC and its partners, ioko has integrated the Kontiki broadband download system from VeriSign for the new BBC iPlayer. In addition, ioko manages the entire broadband platform for ITV and helped create and manage the 4oD service for Channel 4, while developing and operating the broadband portal for satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

Each of these services is very different in function, presentation and business model, enabling the broadcaster to extend their brand over broadband and establish a direct relationship with the consumer and in many cases develop new revenue streams. In each instance, ioko has used a unique combination of innovation and integration to provide a distinct solution that meets the particular requirements of the broadcaster.

"Unlike third party aggregators, portals, or platform providers, we develop and operate systems on behalf of our customers as an integral extension of their existing business," said Fearghal Kelly, Media Solutions Director at ioko. "We specialise in media engineering-applying information technology to digital media delivery."

Based in the United Kingdom, ioko is expanding internationally, delivering projects for broadcasters, platform operators and telecommunications providers around the world. "We are currently involved in projects from Singapore, Dubai and Moscow to New York," said John Griffin, Sales & Marketing Director. "We are announcing significant new clients at IBC that demonstrate the tremendous level of interest we are seeing in our extensive experience and expertise."

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Three-Screen Services - ioko gets Mobile and Expands Internationally
(IBC, Amsterdam, 7-11 September 2007 )

Programming and platform providers now need to reach users through different display devices, from television and computer screens to mobile phones. These displays each have their own distinct characteristics and user requirements. Each delivery network has its own technical considerations. Creating an integrated proposition that works well across all of them is a particular challenge-one for which ioko is well equipped.

As a specialist systems integrator and provider of managed services for media companies, ioko has over a decade of experience. Building on core strengths in information technologies, ioko can exploit this experience across multiple platforms, delivering digital media to diverse devices.

At IBC, ioko will be demonstrating how it can deliver digital media through television, computer and mobile screens to users wherever they are: in the home, at work, or on the move. The company is now delivering integrated solutions for leading corporations around the world.

"One current project for a major broadcaster in the Asia Pacific market is to create a central hub that works both online and on mobile phones," explained John Griffin, Sales & Marketing Director. "It will allow consumers to browse and search for media, stream and download audio and video, and purchase electronic merchandise, including images, music, ring tones and games. The proposition needs to integrate secure delivery and payment platforms with existing services and support systems to create a seamless user experience and unified view of the customer."

"Another client is a major mobile service provider with over 50 million subscribers. They want to replace services provided by partners with a platform that they will own and operate themselves. They need a content management system that can cater for hundreds of thousands of items and support thousands of different device types."

The key to delivering such projects is the use of proven off-the-shelf components from technology partners, integrated to create a bespoke solution that fits the exact needs of the customer. These projects require not only technical excellence, but also an appreciation of the media environment and the local consumer culture. The ioko approach is based on media engineering-a unique blend of consultancy, systems integration and service management, designed to deliver rapid results and a cost-effective platform that offers a firm but flexible foundation for future growth.

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