BOASTING INNOVATIVE delivery models and tightened security, digital media and streaming content are poised to kick down enterprise doors and take up residence behind the firewall.

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Vendors Kontiki and CenterSpan are among those companies seeking to remove the roadblocks that hindered rich media's enterprise deployment by offering IT administrators more control over security, access rights, and delivery.

Although video, streaming media, and audio could drive more effective corporate communications and improve employee training, enterprises have struggled with the technical hurdle of distributing large media files on a mass scale, said Greg Howard, co-founder and principal analyst at the HTRC Group in San Andreas, Calif.

The core challenge for vendors is to package and deliver rich digital media and streaming "in a way that doesn't interfere with other bandwidth transactions," Howard said.

To that end, Kontiki and CenterSpan are taking a hybrid approach that combines content repositories with peer-to-peer clients to handle the difficult chore of delivering digital content. Within the enterprise, end-user machines can become repositories for content.

Kontiki DMS (Delivery Management System) uses a software-based offering that leverages existing resources in the corporate network for deploying and managing digital media.

In addition, DMS now integrates directly with enterprise directories including Active Directory and LDAP, allowing corporations to apply existing access rules and policies to digital media.

Addressing corporate security concerns, Kontiki this week announced the integration of its DMS with VeriSign's new Access Management System for user authentication, authorization, and management. Achieved through an XML network connector coupled with Web services standards including SOAP, the integration provides encryption for digital video and documents after they arrive on a PC desktop.

VeriSign's AMS also provides Kontiki with end-user single sign-on, consolidated identity administration, fine-grained access control, and centralized reporting and tracking of overall system performance.

"There is a huge focus on security [in the enterprise], and this plugs a substantial hole in the lack of control of digital assets," said Mark Szelenyi, director of enterprise marketing at Kontiki, based in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Kontiki worked with Adobe Systems to enhance the security of Acrobat PDF files.

Also, both Kontiki and CenterSpan leverage DRM (digital rights management) technology, a critical step in giving enterprises more control over sensitive content, said HTRC Group's Howard.

Tackling the problems associated with streaming media quality and bandwidth usage, Kontiki employs outer edge caching technology that can result in better-than-TV quality video, the company claims.

"Every node in the enterprise is able to be a cache at the outer edge for content," Szelenyi said. When a digital media file is downloaded from the WAN to a desktop or server behind the firewall, the next person to access the file or files has more than one source to tap.

Meanwhile, Hillsboro, Ore.-based CenterSpan next month plans to roll out an update to its C-StarOne content delivery service that uses a secure, mediated p-to-p model to deliver digital files. New features designed for ease of use and management include the ability to access the service from a URL, a new customer interface that allows users to publish content into the network and track its activity, and support for any kind of content, not just audio and video.

The delivery model breaks down streamed or downloaded digital files into segments, which are wrapped in a DRM shell and scattered out over a peer network. When a request is made, C-Star simultaneously delivers the segments from multiple locations on the network.

With C-Star "any rich media content gets offloaded from the main corporate network so it doesn't bog down the speed and quality of the data network," said CEO Frank Hausmann.

Other vendors focused on developing p-to-p delivery technologies include Los Angeles-based Blue Falcon Networks and Santa Monica, Calif.-based Uprizer.

The market for managing enterprise media delivery may get even more crowded if traditional CDN vendors such as Speedera Networks, Akamai Technologies, Cable & Wireless (through its Digital Island acquisition), and Mirror Image package their Internet-focused technology for use behind the firewall.

Akamai is undertaking a trial program for an as-yet-unnamed product that may be used for delivering streaming media for corporate communications and other bandwidth-heavy applications, according to Akamai officials in Cambridge, Mass. No release date has been set.