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NetAid: The power to eradicate extreme poverty is now online by Judith Broadhurst

NetAid, the ongoing campaign to end extreme poverty launched by Cisco and the United Nations Development Programme in October, is a compelling example of how the Internet is changing the ways we work, live, play and learn. Already, it has raised more than US $12 million. The live kickoff concerts in Geneva, London, and New York were broadcast worldwide on TV, radio, and the Internet — a media first in itself.

The day of the kickoff concert, the NetAid Web site handled 40.29 million hits from people in 160 countries, with nearly 2.5 million Web streams. That set an Internet record for the largest broadcast in a single day, ever. More than 99% of those streams and downloads were successful, and they ran 32% faster than the fastest sites tested by the Keynote Business 40 Internet Performance Index the previous week.

"This probably couldn't have been done as little as twelve months ago," says Don Listwin, executive vice president of Cisco. "We built the site to scale to 60 million hits an hour and 125,000 video streams running concurrently. That was something that no one had ever tried to do before." NetAid exemplifies the success that an Internet ecosystem built on partnerships promises — a model that you can learn from and adapt to your own far-reaching goals. Come backstage for our Web story on the technology that made it work.

A Backstage Look at the Partnerships and Technology Behind NetAid by Judith Broadhurst

"NetAid is not about fundraising," says Don Listwin, executive vice president of Cisco Systems. "It is about creating an ecosystem of people working together to fight extreme poverty, including debt relief for the world's poorest countries. The tremendous success of the NetAid launch also demonstrates the unique power of the Internet as a lasting resource. With more than 2,000 non-profit organizations joining NetAid online, we've taken a significant step towards realizing the vision of creating a public-private partnership to connect the world."

Without those parternships that brought the talent, technology, and other resources of several organizations and people together, Netaid simply would not have been possible — nor nearly so powerful and successful. NetAid exemplifies the Internet ecosystem, which is the business model of the Internet economy. Although Cisco Systems created NetAid, it's a largely pro-bono collaboration among Cisco, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Akamai Technologies, KPMG and the entertainment industry.

The day of the kickoff concert, the University of Oregon also conducted the first large-scale trial of an Internet broadcast enabled by IP multicast technology, which was delivered by Cisco IOS software, and Cisco's network video transmission solution, IP/TV

Who made it work and how they did it

While the stage attracted the production and performance talent that motivates people to visit the NetAid Web site, the distributed network architecture behind the scenes was designed, built, and deployed by Cisco, which also led the technology team, hosted the text of the Web site, and managed the e-commerce functions from its operations center in San Jose, California. Akamai Technologies assisted Cisco in placement and deployment of the network. KPMG a NetAid co-sponsor, designed the NetAid Web site in just 90 days, and also helped Cisco create the e-commerce solutions for the site to accept donations, securely. Real Networks was responsible for the NetAid Webcast, using 300 RealVideo G2 splitters. Red Hat Linux/Apache software was used as the operating system for a number of the NetAid servers.…

And, finally, for those who want to know who was behind the idea, not just behind the scenes: the idea for NetAid came from Diane Merrick, marketing communications manager of the Service Provider line of business at Cisco.

"It was very important that NetAid partners have the resources to make it happen, and it was just as important that they 'get it' on an emotional level," Merrick says. "All the partners have different perspectives and skills, yet we're all committed to making NetAid a success, because we see that its potential impact is larger than any of us. But NetAid also takes the Internet beyond business-oriented advertising and e-commerce. It affirms that the Internet has come of age and that we can use technology for social change."

Here's what you or your company can do to help

• Learn the astonishing facts about poverty, such as:
  • About one fifth of the 4.4 billion people living in the world's developing nations are malnourished — more than 800 million people — 200 million of them children.
  • Every year, water pollution causes nearly 2 billion cases of diarrhea. Diarrhoeal diseases kill about 5 million people every year and are a main factor in the deaths of millions of infants and young children in the poorest countries of the world. 1.3 billion people don't have access to safe drinking water.
• Find out more.

Other ways you can help

• Buy a gift or something for yourself from the NetAid Shop, and make others aware of NetAid in the process.
• Donate money! Please.
• Find out what else you or your company can do.