Client News
Highwinds
TechJournal South: April 14, 2008
Highwinds sees fair weather ahead for its Rolling Thunder network
By Allan Maurer
INTERPARK, FL—Highwinds Network Group Inc., which blew in a fat $55 million round last month, decided to build out its own network about a year and half ago. It had the advantage of the most recent high-speed technology, says Mark Hayes, VP of marketing and business development. It created a robust network backed by user-friendly software that vastly simplifies content delivery, says Hayes.
The company employs more than 100 people and expects to hire 20 to 30 more this year, says Hayes.
Highwinds, founded in 2002, started as a software company, selling to cable companies and ISPs. About a year and a half ago, the company decided that it should build out a network infrastructure to get into the content delivery business itself. It began buying and building infrastructure, including multiple, redundant 10 Gbps links, 21 points of presence in the U.S. and Europe, and its own network services and engineering team.
Building out the network also led to technology innovations in network management, distributed file system technology and advanced content routing methods, the company says.
Highwinds already has customers and a strong revenue base, which is evident from the strength of its funding efforts.
In the U.S., says Hayes, "80 percent of the content delivered through our network never touched the Internet. It's 90 percent in Europe."
That means it never goes over general purpose connections where the company does not control the quality. "Customers are choosing us for that," he says.
Customers get Highwinds Striketracker (continuing the weather theme in its naming choices), which traces delivery of the their content. Hayes says it takes customers only minutes to upload and start delivering content.
Highwinds announced a partnership with Knack Networks, an IPTV provider this year. "We're focusing on a number of verticals for live delivery," says Hayes. "Because our network is so high-speed, we have an advantage over competitors and IPTV is a natural for us."
People want content choices, he points out, and getting a 4 gig movie download would give most regular hosting companies a hard time delivering it," he says.
Streaming live broadcasts for people who may want to talk to their families in India or China is another area in which Highwinds' network may excel compared to cable or Internet connections, he says. "We can see a market evolving for that type of content and we'll be at the forefront."
Hayes says Highwinds prefers working with partners who already have customer relationships to building its own large sales force. "Our cost of delivery is very low, so we can offer resellers a price advantage with our service."
At the time of its last round funding, Andrew Mulderry, General Partner at Alta Communications, said, "We have invested in a portfolio of best-in-class new media companies, and Highwinds fits superbly into that ecosystem as a supplier and partner to our other investments."
On the Web: www.highwinds.com
