"Mainstream television is moving to the Internet," said Tony Naughtin, president and CEO of GridNetworks yesterday, as he announced $9.5 million Series A financing led by Panorama Capital and two strategic investors to be disclosed in the future. "GridCasting is a great solution to support this. We provide a real television experience for the consumer, allow low-cost distribution, and produce a content delivery service that is very sympathetic to the ISP network," he added.

GridCasting is GridNetworks' name for its managed service offfering.

"GridCasting, streams television and film content with HD clarity and high-fidelity sound to a computer or a living room television screen via the Internet," explained Naughtin, a co-founder before GridNetworks of  Internap Network Services.  

"We are currently executing a strategy that provides GridCasting service directly to media and entertainment companies, embeds our client software into network and consumer devices, and integrates our technology into carrier and cable operators’ networks," he continued.

Based in Seattle, Washington, GridNetworks’ model is based on a hybrid set of technologies that include the GridCast Connector, a unique type of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) client, and Grid Network Control, a network-hosted system that orchestrates real-time service management and network-friendly video streams. Grid Network Control and GridCast Connectors work in tandem to ensure that millions of viewers can simultaneously watch television programming from Internet broadband connections without re-buffering or interruptions.

The $9.5M financing will be used to expand development of GridNetworks’ core technology and grow the company’s Internet Television distribution businesses.