Unprecedented success story - International symposium marking 10th birthday sketches the future of music distribution

Hamburg, Germany, 12th May 2006 – CoreMedia, technology leader for the digital content business, is today celebrating the tenth anniversary of its foundation. More than 800 guests are expected to take part in the celebrations in Hamburg. This afternoon sees a special symposium in which international experts will discuss the digital content, followed by a gala evening event to be held in Hamburg's famous gallery of contemporary art, Galerie der Gegenwart.

"In 1996 when we founded CoreMedia the potential of the internet was still just a vision. Companies like Amazon, eBay and Google didn't exist," remarked Professor Joachim Schmidt, co-founder and chairman of the supervisory board. "Today the internet is the key medium for the 21st century and CoreMedia is at the global forefront when it comes to doing business with digital content."

CoreMedia is profitable and currently employs a staff of 140. Recently the company was nominated by the renowned Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), one of the largest professional associations in the software, IT and internet industries in the USA, for the Codie Award for outstanding corporate performance – the only European business to be nominated. Since its foundation in 1996, CoreMedia has enjoyed uninterrupted growth and today is one of the fastest-growing software companies in Germany. CoreMedia DRM, the technology for digital rights management (DRM), has helped position CoreMedia as the leader in DRM globally. CoreMedia's fund of expertise in the combination of rights management and content processes is unique.

"The story of CoreMedia's technological and economical success is one-of-a-kind," comments Sören Stamer, co-founder and CEO. "It's our aim to work together with our employees, our clients and our partners, to build up our international position as a reliable leader in innovation. We're doing everything we can to keep our culture of innovation growing, so that we'll continue to be a technology leader in the convergent digital world of tomorrow."

The future challenges to technology, business and markets is precisely the topic of discussion at tonight's symposium. The discussion will be chaired by Ralph Simon, Chairman Emeritus and founder of the Mobile Entertainment Forum, and brings together experts from a range of industries. Representative from Gartner Research, Jupiter Research, Musicload and Vodafone will explore scenarios and strategies for successful marketing of entertainment content.

"CoreMedia is perfectly positioned to face today's and tomorrow's challenges when it comes to secure, efficient distribution of content across all channels," says Sören Stamer. "We're very excited about what the next 10 years will bring – we know it will, as always, go far beyond our boldest expectations."

Leading portal operators and enterprises in all industries trust CoreMedia for reliable, high-quality service and integrated information management. Over 150 companies from all five continents within the telecommunications, media, industrial and financial sectors successfully work with CoreMedia’s technology: amongst them industry leaders such as Bertelsmann, Continental, Deutsche Telekom, debitel, GMX, O2, EPCOS, Musicload, NEC, Nokia, SEAT, T-Mobile, T-Online, ViVo, Vodafone, Wincor Nixdorf, plus more than 60 public-sector organizations.