EAGAN, Minn.--Nov. 5, 2001--WAM!NET, a global provider of secure, content delivery and hosting services, today announced a solution designed to revolutionize CD and DVD content production workflows. Targeted to publishers, replicators and distributors of CD/DVD content, along with the creative and advertising firms responsible for associated CD/DVD packaging, branding and promotional activities, the solution incorporates WAM!NET's fully managed, subscription-based network and data storage services. The CD/DVD workflow is comprised of complex authoring, mastering, replication and packaging processes, and can involve the collaborative efforts of dozens of firms as they assemble audio, video, menus, artwork, text, and other elements to create a master CD or DVD disc that is then distributed globally for regional replication, packaging and introduction to the marketplace. With WAM!NET services, these collaborative organizations are provided with the only viable alternative to today's comparatively costly and expensive analog process of moving and sharing a project's myriad elements via removable media and physical couriers. By contrast, WAM!NET's secure, remotely accessible network and data storage services allow workflow partners to quickly and cost-effectively share and store content, and collaborate seamlessly within a common digital environment. "WAM!NET services are founded upon the principle of helping our customers to dramatically reduce costs, achieve faster time-to-market and drive productivity improvements,'' said Murad Velani, executive vice president, WAM!NET Sales and Marketing. "Our services enable CD/DVD publishers to realize these benefits while eliminating their outdated and costly analog processes. They also are able to avoid the significant capital and time investments associated with building and maintaining their own proprietary networks. Simply put, we help customers to eliminate ''hurry up and wait" from their workflows - something that can mean the difference of millions of dollars in revenue.'' Given the proprietary nature of CD/DVD content as well as the 600-megabytes to 9-gigabytes or more of data that makes up a single disc image, any new solution must provide fast, secure and guaranteed delivery of data files. WAM!NET is the only digital content delivery and storage service to fully address these requirements, while helping customers to manage their increasingly complex workflows and meet tighter deadlines for the release of new content to consumers. WAM!NET's Optical Media Solution comes at a time of rapid growth in CD/DVD production and demand. According to the International Recording Media Association (IRMA), the creation and distribution of CD and DVD content, including audio, video and ROM, will increase to more than 10.2 billion units worldwide by 2002. Further, IRMA estimates that DVD video shipments alone are expected to increase by more than 200% during the same period.