NEWS & EVENTS

Former Microsoft Executive Joins PPLive as CEO

May 25, 2009- Shanghai, China- Synacast Corporation (PPLive) announced that Dr. Vincent Tao, former executive of Microsoft’s Online Services Division, has joined PPLive as CEO. PPLive is a Shanghai-based online video media company. “Dr. Tao brings unique experiences from both start-up and large corporation management and his passionate entrepreneurial skills in building a scalable business are an invaluable asset to PPLive,” comments Jui Tan, partner at BlueRun Ventures, an early investor in PPLive.

Known as an entrepreneur and technology visionary, Dr. Tao was most recently the Senior Director at Microsoft responsible for the global product strategy and development for Virtual Earth, Local/Mobile Search and MSN. He was also a founding member of major Microsoft initiatives such as Microsoft Virtual Earth product engineering innovation. As Senior Director, Dr. Tao was directly involved in a number of M&A deals and directed Microsoft’s China engineering and business expansion.

Prior to Microsoft, Dr. Tao was the founder and CEO of GeoTango, a Toronto-based 3D earth mapping software company. GeoTango pioneered the first commercial 3D earth streaming and visualization system known as GlobeView™ (two years ahead of Google Earth’s release). Vincent led GeoTango to become a profitable business in less than two years. In 2005, Microsoft acquired GeoTango.

Aside from his business ventures, Dr. Tao has held the eminent Canada Research Chair Professor position in geospatial computing at York University, Toronto. Recognized as a world-class expert in mapping and location based services, Vincent has published over 200 technical papers, holds numerous technical patents, and has received over a dozen international awards for his achievements.

As the Chinese No. 1 online video media service, PPLive has achieved record growth in its first four years, with currently 110 million user installation base and 35 million monthly active users. PPLive is internationally recognized for pioneering China’s first P2P video streaming technology. The service is the world’s largest P2P network on the internet and delivers its scalable P2P platform technology for users and partners worldwide. PPLive is also widely cited for its successful and very profitable business in the global online video market.

Press contact: Amy Chen