The new service, which augments the companies' existing Flash Video Streaming Service, is designed to help customers protect their Flash transmissions and make them exclusive to paying customers, according to company officials.

With the secure service, media and entertainment companies, online retailers, and advertisers can monetize their Flash video content and online events with more secure pay-per-view, subscription and other pay-for-content models.

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Also, customers using the service can ensure that their content is played only from the intended Web site and not posted on other sites, company officials said. In addition, the streaming URL cannot be mass-mailed to users who have not been authorized to use it.

Gordon Smith, vice president of marketing for Speedera Networks Inc., said the company maintains points of presence in dozens of countries for hosting and delivering Web content, software downloads and streaming media. "Customers can outsource the hosting and deliver the content to us, and we provide delivery on a global basis. Customers can reduce the infrastructure they have to maintain themselves and also have massive capacity on demand," Smith said.

"A secure option for Flash Video Streaming Service … is the next logical step in the evolution of Flash video technology," said Scott Cunningham, multimedia technologies manager for USA Today. "From content providers to corporate communications, maintaining the secure distribution of content while targeting the widest possible audience is extremely valuable."

Speedera's Flash Video Streaming Service with the secure option is built on Macromedia Inc.'s Flash Communication Server MX and integrated into the Speedera SpeedSuite platform, company officials said. The new service requires no client software installation and can be implemented on customer Web sites within hours.

"Macromedia Flash video is emerging as a key format and helping to drive the adoption of online multimedia by consumers," said Steve Vonder Haar, research director for Interactive Media Strategies. "By marrying Flash with stronger content security tools, Speedera and Macromedia are helping to spur the development of new business models for multimedia content developed under the Flash umbrella."

Customers will pay a flat monthly charge of $1,500 to have their streaming media secured, according to Speedera's Smith.

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