Macromedia teams with At Home

Jan. 2, 2002 4:43 p.m. PT

2 min read

Macromedia Inc. (Nasdaq: MACR) announced Tuesday an alliance with At Home Corp. (Nasdaq: ATHM) where the two companies will swap software and traffic.

Macromedia will integrate At Home's Enliven technology with its Web publishing software and expose its Shockwave and Flash technology to At Home subscribers.

At Home online properties will also share Internet traffic with Macromedia's www.shockwave.com Web site, which will be launched later this year. Shockwave.com provides a mix of original cartoons, comics, music and games, popular branded material from movies and television, and user-created content. Macromedia on Monday said it would form a consumer unit around shockwave.com.

Macromedia benefits by getting exposure to At Home's 500,000 subscribers and gets its technology to run on At Home's coaxial network, which delivers information much faster than the standard dial-up connection.

"This alliance extends the reach of shockwave.com and further establishes Macromedia Shockwave and Flash, along with At Home's Enliven, as the key enablers of rich-media Web advertising," said Macromedia CEO Rob Burgess in a statement.

Shockwave is a free animation-plug in and Flash is a graphics tool that Macromedia wants to grow into a Web standard. Enliven is At Home's own marketing software and service, that plans, builds and tracks marketing efforts.

The At Home partnership is the latest move to position the company as a real Internet player.

On Monday, Macromedia said its shockwave.com unit will be headed by a former Disney & Co. executive Stephen Fields and will be completely separate from Macromedia, including its financials. The new unit paves the way for a possible initial public offering.

In addition, Macromedia is hosting a user conference in San Francisco Tuesday and will brief analysts on distribution plans for its Shockwave and Flash technology.

Macromedia shares have been strong of late. The company easily topped Wall Street estimates earlier this month with fourth quarter earnings of 16 cents a share.