SkyCache Changes Name to Cidera

This winter seems to be a good time for changing your company name. First, encoding.com switched to Loudeye, then ForeignTV changed its name to Medium4.com. Today, SkyCache (http://www.skycache.com) announced it was changing its name to Cidera ( http://www.cidera.com).

SkyCache, er, Cidera, is a company that delivers web content (and streaming media) through satellites.

The company says the new name is based on the Latin word "sidera" which means "star". They say their technology bypasses the traffic and delays over land-based networks.

"Our services have evolved dramatically to meet the growing demand forlow-cost, high-speed Internet content delivery for ISPs, content providers,and enterprise customers," said Cidera CEO Doug Humphrey. "With the rapiddevelopment of our global broadcast overlay network (GBON) and our expansioninto markets ranging from content aggregators such as Akamai to globalcorporations, we want a name that reflects both our space-based technology and the breadth of our services."

"By using satellites, Cidera reduces the number of hops between content providers and the end-user to just one," said Humphrey. "We are adding a new component to the Internet infrastructure that complements the architecture already in place."

Cidera has deployed satellite dishes to 250 points of presence (POPs) throughout the U.S. and Europe, and plans to expand its network to new locations.