Last year saw a number of caching and content delivery companies exit the market. One of them was InfoLibria.

InfoLibria sold hardware and software for building content delivery networks, and it specialized in securely delivering rich media. Like most caching companies, it initially targeted service providers. When the carrier market dried up, it attempted to make the transition to the enterprise, but found that transition to be harder than expected. Last fall, InfoLibria announced it was seeking “strategic alternatives.”

But that doesn't mean that InfoLibria's technology is gone. In January, Certeon, a venture launched by former EMC, Ciena and InfoLibria execs, acquired the assets of InfoLibria and is supporting InfoLibria's customers.

"We're excited about the opportunity to take the best of what InfoLibria has and make it better," says Jeff Black, Certeon's chairman. "We want to help enterprise networks work better, more efficiently."

Certeon is working closely with Microsoft to deliver hardware and software to help customers set up secure content delivery networks and more efficiently move data - everything from streaming media to files to applications. Certeon's products manage networks, so customers can monitor how and where content moves and who accesses it.

The Certeon Content Distribution Platform consists of:

* Content Commander, a network management product that lets users manage access rights based on policies and profiles, and manage devices, content and applications across a distributed content network. Pricing starts at $100,000.

* MediaMall, which enables secure streaming, content hosting and application hosting across the distributed network. MediaMall ES (Enhanced Security) is combined with Microsoft's Internet Security and Acceleration Server to add enterprise-level security and reliability. Pricing starts at $5,000.

Certeon is already shipping products and told me that the U.S. Army Forces Command has begun deploying the Certeon Distribution platform to distribute training and video materials over its network. In the past, the army was using CDs to distribute information.

"With our solution they're doing push-button publishing across a worldwide network and seeing very substantial savings," Black says.

Ann Bednarz is associate news editor at Network World.