Alliance Seeks Open Streaming-Media Standards

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December 12, 2000 (12:00 AM EST)

Alliance Seeks Open Streaming-Media Standards

SAN JOSE -- A group of high-tech heavyweights launched an alliance Tuesday to accelerate the adoption of open standards for streaming media over IP networks.

Unveiled at Streaming Media West 2000, the Internet Streaming Media Alliance counts among its founding members Apple Computer Inc. (stock: AAPL); Cisco Systems Inc. (stock: CSCO); Sun Microsystems Inc. (stock: SUNW); Philips Electronics (stock: PHG); and Kasenna, the content delivery spinoff of SGI.

The alliance says open standards will make it easier for content developers to format streaming media and for end users to play it.

The alliance plans to adopt elements of existing standards and contribute to those in development to publish a "systemic, end-to-end specification" that sets up cross-platform and multivendor interoperability.

The first specification will come as an implementation agreement for streaming MPEG-4 video and audio over IP networks.

The different streaming media players in use today, Apple's QuickTime, Microsoft's Windows Media Player, and RealNetworks' RealPlayer, make developing streaming content more difficult, said Satish Menon, CTO of Kasenna, Mountain View, Calif.

"Right now, content providers have to develop content in several formats," he said. "That's led to slower adoption of streaming media than we had hoped for."

Adoption by end users also has proven slow because many find that their chosen media player won't play the video or audio clip they've downloaded, Menon said.

"Streaming media should be as easy to use as e-mail," Menon added. "If you send me an e-mail, I can open it. We don't have to use the same e-mail system. That's not how it works in streaming media right now. That's why we need open standards."

Despite their strong presence in the streaming media player space, Microsoft Corp. (stock: MSFT) and RealNetworks Inc. (stock: RNWK) have not joined the alliance.

But the companies have an open invitation to join, Menon said. Both will likely join the group if it delivers on its promise, said Gartner analyst Sujata Ramnarayan.

"Content providers would rather not worry about formatting for different players and bit rates," Ramnarayan said. "If they deliver something that works for content providers, it will be a lot easier to get Microsoft and Real to sign on."