Articles
Alliance formed to promote open streaming media standards
December 13, 2000
The companies want to prevent the de facto adoption of any proprietary streaming media standard through sheer market distribution. Conspicuously missing from the list of ISMA members, though, is Microsoft and RealNetworks, whose streaming media platforms comprise the vast bulk of players currently on the market.
ISMA claims that the "prohibitive" costs associated with deploying streaming media services to support disparate formats -- such as Real, Quicktime, Windows Media Player and MPEG-2 -- has prohibited many service providers and other adopters from taking full advantage of existing market opportunities, and that the emerging class of Internet appliances will benefit from a single standard by enabling an "author once, play anywhere" model for content distribution.
ISMA members are looking to MPEG-4, a video standard primarily developed for low bitrate applications such as streaming video over the Internet as well as delivering rich media to wireless devices. Member companies have been working on an initial specification for the standard, which will be circulated for review and input at the first formal meeting in February 2001. The meeting is open to any company interested in becoming an ISMA member.
Upon completion of the specifications, ISMA will publish details on its Web site, www.ISM-Alliance.org, which was launched this week.
The alliance is also working on other areas of streaming media, including reliable quality of service, digital rights management and billing as well as other technologies and services important to the formation of end-to-end streaming media services.
"The exciting promise of streaming media can be realized only if we have a single standard for consumers, service providers, network operators, equipment suppliers and content providers," said William J. Raduchel, AOL's Chief Technology Officer. "Having a standard, interoperable implementation will remove many of the existing barriers to delivering exciting new offerings to consumers and businesses."
Other companies in the alliance include Advis, Analog Devices Inc., Axis Communications, AB, Bit Band Technologies, Bright Alley B.V., Envivio, e-Vue, Inc., Informix Media 360, iVast, Luxxon, Macrovision, Mighty Eyes, Minerva, nCUBE, Network Appliance, Optibase, Packetvideo, Pix Stream, Sea Change International, SGI, Sigma Designs, Streaming21, VCON and Virage.
By Tom Butts
Keyword: streaming media
