ALSO Holding AG: The future of streaming services: ALSO offers new virtualisation platform

The future of streaming services: ALSO offers new virtualisation platform

The market for streaming services is growing. If the big technology companies and content providers have their way, content in, say, the entertainment sector, will in a few years' time mainly be streamed. Content will then come from the cloud and be accessed via platforms. ALSO is now offering its partners a highly efficient platform technology that will make cloud streaming much more attractive, faster and less expensive throughout Europe both for videos, music and online games and for the virtualisation of data-intensive B2B applications such as 3D printing. All content and any software can be virtualised, entirely irrespective of the provider. That will enable service providers and telcos to offer their content on a subscription basis comparable to the offers of leading global technology enterprises. Users can then easily subscribe to content, buy or borrow it, downloading it to all Internet-enabled devices - and paying only for what they actually use.
 

Virtualisation of content, be it games, videos, audio or data-intensive applications, has increased enormously with the triumphal progress of cloud computing. ALSO recognised this trend at a very early stage and in a technology partnership with the Spanish streaming specialist Ludium invested heavily in the development of a platform-as-a-service solution for virtualisation.

«With the new virtualisation platform we will continue to extend our technology leadership as a full service provider in this segment too,» says Gustavo Möller-Hergt, CEO of ALSO Holding AG (SIX: ALSN). «With this solution our partners can offer their customers cloud-based streaming of the widest range of content by means of subscription. We have thereby laid the technological foundations to jointly with our partners benefit as soon as possible from this fastest-growing sector of the entertainment industry.»

The virtualisation platform enables content to be provided from the cloud in very high quality (Full HD) with very low latencies and very little computing capacity. So users can subscribe to, purchase or borrow content on demand in excellent image and audio quality. At present there is no comparable product in the market with anywhere near as good a price-performance ratio. Content can be streamed directly via all Internet-enabled devices.

ALSO offers the platform to service provider and telco market customers in particular and to eTail and retail customers. Any software can be virtualised, irrespective of the provider - high-performance software for the likewise fast-growing 3D printing market, CAD software or legacy software applications, for example. That will enable partners to offer their content on a subscription model basis comparable to the offers of leading global technology enterprises.

ALSO's new virtualisation platform is thus an invitation to European content providers to place their content on the platform in order to jointly develop a European cloud-based content-as-a-service platform.

Direct link to media release: https://also.com/goto/20190328en

Contact person ALSO Holding AG:
Ketchum Pleon GmbH
Manuela Rost-Hein
Phone: +49 211 9541 2160
E-Mail: also.press@ketchumpleon.com

ALSO Holding AG (ALSN.SW) (Emmen/Switzerland) brings providers and buyers of the ICT industry together. ALSO offer more than 550 vendors of hardware, software and IT-services access to over 100 000 buyers, who can call a broad spectrum of other customized services in the logistics, finance, and IT services sectors, as well as traditional distribution services. From the development of complex IT landscapes, the provision and maintenance of hardware and software, right through to the return, reconditioning and remarketing of IT hardware, ALSO offers all services as a one-stop shop. ALSO is represented in 18 European countries and generates total net sales of approximately 9.2 billion euros with around 4 000 employees in the fiscal year 2018. The majority shareholder of ALSO Holding AG is the Droege Group, Düsseldorf, Germany. Further information is available at https://also.com

Droege Group
Droege Group (founded in 1988) is an independent advisory and investment company under full family ownership. The company acts as a specialist for tailor-made transformation programs aiming to enhance corporate value. Droege Group combines its corporate family-run structure and capital strength into a family-equity business model. The group carries out direct investments with its own equity in corporate spin-offs and medium-sized companies in "special situations". With the guiding principle "execution - following the rules of art", the group is a pioneer in execution-oriented corporate development. Droege Group follows a focused investment strategy based on current megatrends (knowledge, connectivity, prevention, demography, specialization, future work, shopping 4.0). Enthusiasm for quality, innovation and speed determines the company's actions. In recent years Droege Group has successfully positioned itself in domestic and international markets and operates in 30 countries. More information: https://www.droege-group.com

Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current assumptions and forecasts of the ALSO management. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors could lead to material differences between the forward-looking statements made here and the actual development, in particular the results, financial situation, and performance of our Group. The Group accepts no responsibility for updating these forward-looking statements or adapting them to future events or developments.