RUCKUS NETWORK LAUNCHES SERVICE FOR DIGITAL CAMPUS COMMUNITY
Company Names CEO and Announces Higher Education Customers,
Partnerships with Labels and Venture Capital Funding

HERNDON, VA—October 19, 2004—Ruckus Network today announced the creation of a digital network that unifies campuses with a wide variety of community offerings and rich entertainment programming designed specifically for college students.

William Raduchel, former chief technology officer of AOL Time Warner and former chief information officer and chief strategy officer of Sun Microsystems, Inc., has joined Ruckus Network as chairman and CEO. Dr. Raduchel will lead the company in enabling college campuses to build stronger communities through a powerful broadband user interface for digital entertainment. In addition, the company announced its first three university customers, licensing agreements with Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, and $9 million in venture capital funding.

The computer network has become the leading source of entertainment and community for most college students, but on many campuses the university itself plays a minor role in that network experience. Without clear alternatives, many students rely on illegal content for their entertainment needs. Ruckus Network has pioneered a solution to this problem, using the network to deliver programmed entertainment to its student audience in affiliation with the universities. Students get a blend of national, local, and university content to match their needs and wishes. Fully licensed movies and music provide a strong foundation, and the Ruckus experience also includes original stories from students, universities, and its staff.

“Private telephone lines, cable TV, and Internet access were all installed in residence halls because they were deemed to be important to student life and learning,” said Dr. James Bruce, Ruckus Network’s chief academic officer and former chief information officer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Ruckus Network is representative of the next generation of services that today’s technology savvy college students will want from their college communities.”

“Ruckus Network is designed for students to connect easily with one another, and it is built around the things they love—their favorite music and movies, local happenings,” said Andy Schuon, an advisor to the company and former executive vice president at MTV and president of programming at Infinity Broadcasting. “Plus, it is programmed to deliver this rich content as instantaneously as possible, usually in just one click.”

Top Industry Executive Named CEO
Named “CTO of the Year” in 2001 by Infoworld, William Raduchel graduated from Michigan State University and spent eleven years at Harvard University as a graduate student faculty member and administrator. Raduchel has the experience and vision to successfully lead Ruckus and continually grow its offerings.

“The student demographic is the single largest consumer of digital media with unequalled access to broadband and computing power. Yet surprisingly, they’ve had to resort to cumbersome and often illegal solutions to get their digital entertainment,” said Raduchel. “By offering a range of community-focused content and on-demand entertainment, Ruckus Network provides college students one central source for their needs.”

Raduchel added, “Digital entertainment is one of the most effective means to inspire individual students to join a larger student community. Ruckus helps students use media to find friends and friends to find media. As community is the backbone of the college experience, sharing media is often more important to students than simply playing songs or movies."

Schools Sign as First Customers
This fall, three universities—Alfred State College (State University of New York), Bentley College and Northern Illinois University—are launching Ruckus Network on their campuses. As a wholesaler of digital entertainment, Ruckus Network strives to make the service affordable for schools and students.

Bentley vice provost and vice president of information technology, Traci Logan, said “We believe the concept of a digital living environment for students is materializing, and online entertainment services will inevitably become a component. We’re excited to be at the vanguard of exploring legal, convenient and inexpensive solutions designed to embrace this medium.”

“Ruckus Network was the obvious choice for NIU [Northern Illinois University] because it meets the needs of both students and administrators,” said Wally Czerniak, associate vice president for information technology at Northern Illinois University. “The committed Ruckus field organization was another key selling point. They work with us on a daily basis to deploy Ruckus and give it a local feel for NIU.”

In establishing these agreements, several of the schools have been working closely with the Campus Action Network (CAN), an initiative dedicated to facilitating the introduction of safe, legitimate digital music services to the campus environment. CAN, which is led by Sony BMG Music Entertainment and other record companies, works with a wide range of legitimate online music services and helps institutions create programs that uniquely fit their needs, as well as the needs of their student bodies.

Partnerships with Labels
Ruckus Network has partnered with Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and independent labels Sanctuary and IODA, to respond to college students’ digital entertainment demands. These agreements form the building blocks of the Ruckus service. The company is in discussions with other major and independent labels and movie distributors.

Larry Kenswil, president of Universal Music Group’s eLabs noted, “We are very supportive of Ruckus’ efforts to bring a legitimate and engaging entertainment service to higher education. Ruckus is the first company to license the UMG catalog that is focused exclusively on meeting the needs of today’s college-age students. We are excited by Ruckus’ singular focus on the college market, the breadth of their offering, and Ruckus’ laudable goal of serving students’ needs while respecting the rights of artists and creators.”

Venture Capital Funding
Ruckus Network is backed by Battery Ventures and Shelter Capital Partners and has raised $9 million in Series A funding. Battery Ventures and Shelter Capital Partners are leading technology investment firms that invest in businesses at all stages of growth with a focus on high-value contributions to companies that have the potential to become industry leaders. Battery Ventures brings solid network hardware, software, and product development expertise. Shelter Capital Partners brings a similar knowledge coupled with know-how in the world of content, media and entertainment. Scott Tobin and Larry Cheng from Battery Ventures and Art Bilger from Shelter Capital Partners have joined the Ruckus Network Board of Directors.

“College campuses are the most accurate barometer of what to expect in the future of digital entertainment, and Ruckus has a unique understanding of what both school administrators and students want and need today,” said Scott Tobin, general partner at Battery Ventures. “With a combination of savvy technology executives and great variety of student-oriented content, they have the capacity and know-how to deliver on the promise.”

"When it comes to both selecting winning content and modes of delivery, from cell phones to laptops, it is actually students who are setting the standards for the digital entertainment industry," according to Art Bilger, managing member of Shelter Capital Partners. "A generation ago, it was TV music videos. Now, Ruckus will be leading the pack in the race to offer an entirely new broadband user interface designed for the youth demographic."

Ruckus Network was co-founded by two MIT graduate students, Vince Han and David Galper, whose initial idea for Ruckus was born on campus and incubated at Battery Ventures.

About Ruckus Network
Headquartered in Herndon, VA with a technology team in Boston, MA, Ruckus Network offers universities a compelling range of content tailored to their own campus community. From the college administrator to the freshman techno-file, Ruckus Network is your digital campus community. For more information on Ruckus Network, please visit www.ruckusnetwork.com.

About Campus Action Network
Campus Action Network (CAN) is a music industry-wide effort led by Sony BMG Music Entertainment and other record companies. CAN's principal objective is to ensure that students have access to safe, legitimate digital music services, and it is working to support the launch of legitimate music services on campuses around the country. CAN provides universities with introductions, information and support on a broad array of online music services. CAN does not recommend or endorse any one service or technology to institutions.

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