Fighting hunger and poverty

Published: 22 September 1999 y., Wednesday
NetAid is many things to many people: a welcome bit of Web-led charity, another chance for rich people to feel good about themselves, a monster site that had to be built in a hurry. KPMG says the NetAid site it developed in just 90 days is capable of handling the 60 million hits per hour it is expected to receive during three televised concerts on Oct. 9. The concerts will benefit the antipoverty efforts of the United Nations Development Programme. NetAid is sponsored by Cisco, KPMG, Akamai Technologies and the U.N. Development Programme, and has attracted a roster of Internet and high-tech supporters. Listed as "key participants" in the project are luminaries as diverse as U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, Cisco Chief Executive John Chambers and Wyclef Jean, a member of the band The Fugees. The concerts will be held in New Jersey, London and Geneva, with appearances by acts ranging from Busta_ Rhymes to David Bowie. The secret ingredient that_s supposed to set NetAid apart from celebrity antecedents like Live Aid is the Web, which is meant to create an ongoing community dedicated to fighting hunger and poverty. Beyond its eleemosynary mission, NetAid is a formidable piece of site development carried out by a team of 50 KPMG employees. The site, which will remain up after the concerts to support the ongoing antipoverty effort, is meant to be capable of handling 1,000 e-commerce transactions per second. Key content-delivery technology, crucial for the live streaming of concert footage to Web audiences, was provided by Akamai.
Šaltinis: Inter@ctive Week
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.

Facebook Comments

New comment


Captcha

Associated articles

The most popular articles

Sea, sun and SMS

EU ends 'roaming rip-off’' with calling, texting and surfing abroad all to become cheaper more »

Anxious Austria awaits Bruno

British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen unleashes Bruno on the world. After Borat and Ali G, the gay Austrian fashion reporter is Cohen's latest character. more »

Russian and rich? No problem here.

There were no signs of an economic downturn at Moscow's Millionaire Summer Fair. more »

Bank SNORAS expands the customer service subdivision network in Vilnius region

This summer Bank SNORAS, owning the largest customer service network in Vilnius region, will add 2 more mini-banks to the customer service subdivision network in Vilnius and Lentvaris. more »

Swimming in the sea? Find out how clean the water is!

When booking a holiday or planning a daytrip many people check out restaurants, sight-seeing and beaches before they leave. more »

Irish women act on climate change in Africa

In Eritrea, women and children spend much of their day collecting fuel. Now, thanks to the Irish Countrywomen's Association (ICA), and the ingenuity of an Eritrean inventor, carbon-efficient stoves are being installed in their homes. more »

Jackson storms the music charts

As the world mourns Michael Jackson, the pop star proves that he deserved the rank of King of Pop. more »

Double bliss for wedding twins

The twin sisters met and fell in love with identical twin brothers, Dmitry and Alexei. Then when it came to planning their wedding day - they decided what better way to celebrate - then all together. more »

Sex-selective abortion protest

Thousands of women hold a massive rally in India protesting against an increasing number of abortions. In some areas of India an estimated 2,000 unborn girls are illegally aborted every day in India, according to the United Nations. more »

Climate change - act and adapt

“Green week” expected to get people talking about environmental issues between 23 and 26 June. more »