Critical to the success of future multimedia services is the ability to provide fast access to stored information via communications networks. In the Nemesis project, we focus on application control protocols for delivering stored multimedia to a user. We are exploring adaptive rate control schemes that make use of predictive prefetch of information from remote storage servers as a strategy for coping with short-term network congestion. For users with low-end equipment or slow network connec- tions, these protocols provide a degraded but still useful service. We also provide "better than being there" features such as variable playback rates with intelligible audio, and synchronization and linkage of multiple media. Our first prototype gives access to a multimedia database containing talks given at AT&T, with hypermedia links between video, audio and accompanying documents and viewgraphs. Nemesis provides for on-line archival storage and remote viewing of these presentations by members of the AT&T R&D community throughout the world. It is integrated with the NCSA Mosaic naviga- tion system as well as the AT&T LINUS information retrieval system. Our goal is to drive the technology and infrastructure to allow communities and large institutions access to multimedia information anytime and anywhere.