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RealNetworks gives Microsoft an iQ test
(IDG) -- On Monday, RealNetworks announced a major upgrade to its media distribution technology, promising significant business advantages for its major customers. The new streaming server system - dubbed RealSystem iQ, to suggest an intelligent or self-aware network - is designed to make streaming networks more reliable and efficient. What's new in RealSystem iQ is the introduction of robust communication protocols between servers, which will reshape the network architecture from the current origin-server-to-edge-servers linear distribution into a Web of interconnected peer-to-peer servers. Streaming audio or video files will be shunted around the network in much the same way that data packets are switched around the Internet.
The result will be a network with no origin and no edge. That means a more reliable and efficient system - one with the capacity for self-healing if any one server goes down. This redundancy will allow broadcasters, for example, to reconfigure their servers without stopping their broadcast. The ability to distribute intelligently from any node in the network also means that network capacity can be optimized: If servers in one time zone are relatively quiet, they can be pressed into service to carry part of the load from another region. "It's taking a network-centric view of media delivery," says CEO Rob Glaser. "It's an architecture we've been working on for probably the better part of two years and we think it's as generationally significant as anything we've done." RealNetworks has compelling reach as the market leader in streaming-media software. A survey of all streaming files from the top couple of hundred Web sites by Seattle-based multimedia search engine company Singingfish.com found fully 72 percent in RealNetworks' format, while only 11 percent used Microsoft's. In addition, RealNetworks now claims 160 million unique and active users of its RealPlayer. The company can push software to those users anytime they click on an audio or video file. RealNetworks, then, is strongly positioned for a future of widespread broadband access to commercial audio and video. However, across Lake Washington, bitter rival Microsoft is constantly upgrading the free digital media technology in its operating systems to match RealNetworks'. In addition, a current ad revenue slowdown, as well as broad industry barriers to fulfilling its potential, such as the delay in the release of commercial content by rights holders and the slow pace of broadband deployment, threaten the company's growth. RealSystem iQ represents a major push to stay ahead. Because the software essentially enhances Internet plumbing, users won't necessarily notice any change when networks implement it, although streaming files should play more reliably. However, according to Glaser, its server-system customers will see immediate business-side benefits: greater scalability at lower cost, easier administration and ease of deployment. "As we're rolling out to the stakeholders who make the decisions as to how to deploy the networks," Glaser says, "their response has been hugely positive." RealNetworks charges customers that deploy its server software according to the capacity on their networks and the number of server boxes they deploy. If, as is hoped, the new technology enables those customers to increase network capacity, then RealNetworks will reap increased revenue. RealSystem iQ has been available in early beta form to a few of RealNetworks' top customers since the summer. It will be widely available in its final form Dec. 18. The technology comes as a free upgrade to the current RealServer software, from which RealNetworks makes most of its money. Four hundred thousand RealServers, which deliver media streams around the Internet, have been deployed worldwide by Internet radio broadcasters, ISPs that host Web sites with streaming files, enterprise customers streaming on corporate intranets, and large content-delivery networks. With clients such as Akamai, AOL, Digital Island, Deutsche Telekom, Inktomi and Lucent, the company has managed to embed its technology deep within the Internet infrastructure. In addition to RealAudio and RealVideo files, RealSystem iQ is able to deliver Apple QuickTime files, Macromedia Flash files and MP3 audio files. Indeed, it supports all major media file formats except Microsoft's Windows Media. There's no technical reason why Windows Media support could not be added, but given the bitter rivalry between the two companies, that's not likely to happen. RELATED STORIES: Microsoft puts the pressure on Real Networks; Xing extricates itself RELATED IDG.net STORIES: Digital media battle heading to Congress RELATED SITES: RealNetworks, Inc. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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