Microsoft
Corp and PacketVideo today announced a breakthrough agreement that will
enable PacketVideo to support Microsoft(R) Windows Media(TM) 9 Series
technology in the PacketVideo pv3 Mobilemedia System(TM),
becoming the first wireless solution to support this technology. PacketVideo
will now offer Windows Media Audio and Video 9 Series as an option to
PacketVideo's customers within its embedded mobile-media solutions for
handsets and as part of its pvServer(TM) for content delivery. Picture
shows the PV Player.
The
new offering further extends the leadership of PacketVideo Embedded
Solutions as
the mobile-media solutions of choice for leading handset manufacturers
in Europe, Asia, Japan and North America, and opens up new distribution
opportunities for music and video content using the quality and security
of
Windows Media 9 Series.
"Our
customers want flexibility in designing new products and services,"
said Dr. James Brailean, chief executive officer of PacketVideo. "The
addition of Windows Media 9 Series is a great complement to our current
3GPP
products, offering a combination of leading technologies that give customers
the choice they want. This agreement represents a new era of cooperation
that will drive the wireless industry forward toward the successful
deployment of innovative multimedia services that enhance communications,
information and entertainment to bring people closer together."
The agreement and cooperation between the two companies, including
co-marketing plans, brings together best-of-breed solutions that each
offer
unique features and benefits to the mobile marketplace. The resulting
solution offers greater choice of technology for wireless device and
mobile
operator customers as well as for major players in the information and
entertainment space, including content owners and distributors that
want to
expand their existing content distribution beyond the television and
the PC to
wireless devices.
"PacketVideo
is a leading provider to the wireless industry, and it has a
deep understanding of customers' needs and concerns," said Will
Poole, vice
president of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft. "Coupled
with
the launch of Windows Media 9 Series, this agreement opens up new
opportunities for wireless operators to access the wealth of high-quality
Windows Media content available on the Web, and for content owners to
use a
secure, high-quality format to reach the vast array of new, media-enabled
wireless devices around the world."
PacketVideo
can now deliver Windows Media 9 Series audio and video to
mobile handset platforms such as Symbian(TM), Nucleus(R) and others,
including
Windows(R) Powered smart devices, as part of integrated client solutions
that
will support multiple media formats. This support will include both
encoding
and decoding of Windows Media Audio and Video 9 Series, as well as downloading
and streaming of Windows Media content.
On
the server side, PacketVideo can now offer its customers the option
of
Windows Media downloading and streaming capabilities as part of its
standards-
based carrier-class server product line. PacketVideo's pvServer offers
a
unique, flexible architecture for wireless media that will be extended
to
allow for integration of Windows Media Services 9 Series in Windows
.NET
Server to deliver Windows Media content. PacketVideo also will use Microsoft
.NET standards-based SOAP and XML interfaces to deliver both standards-based
and Windows Media 9 Series formats. PacketVideo's pvServer has already
been
adopted by leading mobile operators globally.
PacketVideo's
pv3 Mobilemedia System is based on standards adopted by the wireless
industry through organizations such as the Third Generation Partnership
Project (3GPP and 3GPP2) to enable new services such as mobile-media
streaming and Multimedia Messaging (MMS).
Windows Media 9 Series offers the latest evolution of Microsoft Windows
Media advancements in audio and video compression, third-generation
digital
rights management for audio and video, scalable media server technology,
and
seamless access to the vast array of popular content providers that
support
Windows Media today.
"MPEG-4
and Windows Media are clearly the pre-eminent media formats for
wireless. Soon consumers will have handsets that can play both types
of
content," said Gerry Kaufhold, principal analyst with In-Stat/MDR,
a leading
market research firm. "Microsoft's collaboration with PacketVideo
on mobile
digital media is a huge step forward for consumers and the wireless
industry
as a whole."
