Firm offers Net video and audio service

Companies in the Republic will soon be able to share and access their media assets online through a new subsidiary company established by Dublin based broadcast facilities provider, The Yard. Globestream, funded by a £3.5 million investment by The Yard in editing, compression and broadcast delivery systems, will be offering a range of audio and video streaming services on the Internet for both businesses and consumers.

The company's first product, Adnet.tv, is a business-to-business service that offers companies a secure hosting and streaming site where files can be accessed from anywhere through a variety of different formats.

The service is being marketed as one that will allow users, such as advertising agencies and multinational organisations, to facilitate online approvals and showcase new material, among other things.

Mr Liam Cabot, managing director of The Yard, said the company already provides media hosting and video streaming on the Internet to some of its existing clients and that it was a "natural evolution" to develop a range of services along these lines through the establishment of Globestream.

"We're used to the issues of deadlines and quality that face producers regarding broadcast production," says Mr Cabot. Globestream, which is majority owned by the directors of The Yard, including Mr Cabot, will employ eight people led by managing director Chris Schmidt with offices in Dublin and Cork. Mr Cabot says that the company sees a gap in the market primarily for business-to-business streaming services but also for consumer services.

A second service will be launched later this month called Perfectday.tv, which will enable consumers to host their personal video and audio clips on the Internet, such as those from videos of weddings, birthdays, and christenings.

Consumers will provide Globestream with existing video footage which is compressed into a secure file on the Web. Users will be provided with a username and password that they can then distribute to friends, relatives, or business associates to access the individual files.

According to Mr Cabot, a typical cost for hosting a five minute video for one month would be around £50.