"Streaming media will certainly dominate in the next two to four years, in both the entertainment and corporate sector, as broadband networks proliferate. However, we need much more objective data about streaming quality in order to drive the industry forward," says Shai Berger, President, Streamcheck. "With our streaming diagnostic tools, customers can finally measure streaming quality, assess the end-user experience and evaluate their return on investment."

Streamcheck acts as a third party provider of monitoring and quality assurance, allowing content owners to perform impartial comparisons among the relevant technologies and services available, including stream hosts, content delivery networks (CDNs), networks and servers. Streamcheck also offers stream host companies an opportunity to conduct internal testing, thereby verifying the integrity and quality of their delivery systems.

The company's diagnostic scanning devices record critical streaming measurements, such as connection time, buffer time, re-buffer times and bit rate. Streamcheck's distributed network of Scanners can assess streaming quality in more than 15 cities across Canada, the US and Europe. In the process of helping its clients improve streaming quality, Streamcheck has conducted over three million individual checks on streams of all types in the last year. The company's Scanners deployed using DSL or cable-modem connections also provide measurements of the true end-user experience.

The company's sophisticated web-based interface offers subscribers in-depth analysis and reports outlining a stream's connection rate (ability for user to connect to the stream), frustration time (connection delays, buffer time and re-buffer time), average bit rate and other metrics. Streamcheck's proprietary metric, StreamQ™, provides a quick summary of a stream's performance.

"Streamcheck is in the business of ensuring that a stream is delivered as the host intends and the content provider expects. This allows our customers to make informed decisions about their delivery partners and hosting providers, as well as enable streaming providers and content aggregators the opportunity to demonstrate the value of their service to their customers," says Berger.

Streaming Media At A Glance
According to analyst forecasts, streaming media is the fastest growing segment of the Internet. The latest research (Kagan & Associates) estimates total revenues from pay-per-view, ad sales and merchandising in the streaming media category to reach $21 billion (USD) by 2008. Include the rapid increase in corporate sector use and this figure could double. With the migration to broadband and the introduction of superior streaming technology, streaming media will become a dominant delivery system for business and entertainment communications.

Nevertheless, analysts agree that problems with delivering content over the Internet persist. With global brands, mission critical content and business data at stake, robust content delivery facilities and supporting business services are a must for the development of a mature streaming media market.

About Streamcheck
Streamcheck provides end-to-end measurement and monitoring solutions for streaming media, helping customers deliver their message with consistent quality and reliability. Streamcheck's family of services provides 24x7 monitoring, diagnostic tools and customizable reports. Streamcheck offers an objective way to demonstrate quality to customers, advertisers and partners. Streamcheck's distributed network of measurement devices ("Scanners") has performed more than 6 million individual checks on streams of all types and covers major cities in the US, Canada and Europe. To learn more, visit www.streamcheck.com.