Eircom in games deal for over 550,000 users


29 Mar 2004

Siliconrepublic.com has learned that incumbent carrier Eircom has signed a deal with an international digital distribution company to enable the downloading of computer games to over 550,000 ISP customers as well as provide a business-to-business digital distribution service for software developers and publishers.

Eircom has entered into a contract with Californian technology firm Trymedia Systems to deploy its ActiveMARK secure-gaming catalogue technology in order to make downloadable games more accessible to the 550,000 ISP customers on its network.

Trymedia’s secure digital delivery services provide a neutral foundation for a wide range of solutions dedicated to optimising game and software sales for top tier PC content developers and publishers.

The company also operates the world’s largest B2B marketplaces for downloadable games and software through which major portals and other high traffic destinations, as well as the largest peer-to-peer networks like Kazaa, make a catalogue of ActiveMARK-enabled games and software available to consumers around the world.

Headquartered in California, Trymedia is an Intel Capital-funded company with offices in San Francisco and Europe.

At the same time as signing the deal with Eircom, it is understood that Trymedia has inked similar deals with Yahoo! Australia and New Zealand, KPN and Scandinavian Games Ltd.

The ActiveMARK technology provides a single technology solution for worldwide digital distribution through dynamic currency, taxation, payment and language management from a single point of control. For example, a French national trying to download a computer game from an Irish website would experience marketing interfaces in French, pricing in euros and Vat for France. If that user wishes to email a link to the game to a friend in Australia, his friend will see English language interfaces and prices in Australian dollars.

By John Kennedy