RealNetworks Announces Helix – Open Standard for Digital Media Delivery


Reprinted from a RealNetworks press release:

SAN FRANCISCO, July 22, 2002 RealNetworks, Inc. (Nasdaq: RNWK), the global leader in Internet media delivery, today announced Helix, the first open, comprehensive platform and community to enable creation of digital media products and applications for any format, operating system or device.


The Helix Platform is based on the industry’s most powerful and widely used digital media software technology, with over 1,000 application interfaces. The Helix Community will enable companies, institutions and individual developers to access the Helix Platform source code in order to both enhance the Helix Platform and to build Helix-powered encoder, server and client products. In tandem, the Helix Platform and the Helix Community will provide the standard infrastructure to empower developers, IT companies and CE companies to drive the Internet media industry forward into the future.


“Today is a watershed day for Internet Media Delivery. Since we introduced RealAudio, the world’s first Internet streaming system 7 years ago, the industry has been asking for a comprehensive and open platform that it could standardize and build on. Today, we are fulfilling that longstanding wish with the announcement of the Helix Platform and the formation of the Helix Community,” said Rob Glaser, founder and CEO, RealNetworks.


Twenty-nine companies and organizations are supporting the Helix Community: BSquare, CollabNet, Cisco, Hitachi, HP, Intel, Lindows, nCUBE, NEC, Network Appliance, Nokia, Openwave, Opera, Oracle, PalmSource, Phoenix Technologies, Pinnacle Systems, Red Hat, Sony Corporation, Speedera, Sprint, ST Microsystems, Sun Microsystems, Symbian, Tao Group, Texas Instruments, TiVO, Volera and Xiph.org Foundation.


“Just like RealNetworks, HP has always offered our customers the widest choice of operating systems and hardware platforms for media delivery ranging from our handhelds to the best performing media server platforms,” said Nigel Ball, vice president, HP Enterprise Solutions Partners. “We applaud the Helix source code initiative, as well as its extensible open media platform that gives companies and individuals more flexibility.”


“Sun has a long-standing commitment to leading, supporting and participating in the community’s open standards efforts,” said Mark Tolliver, executive vice president, Marketing and Strategy, Chief Strategy Officer Sun Microsystems, Inc. “RealNetworks’ Helix Community process and its standards-based approach to streaming media solutions is proof that ‘open’ is a viable and commercially feasible option. We are working with RealNetworks to support streaming delivery infrastructure with the Java technology-based Sun Open Net Environment to support the development of flexible and easily integrated media applications and services.”


“The Helix intiative highlights openness and interoperable technologies as a key factor in digital media delivery. Nokia has worked closely with RealNetworks for many years, and we have together built the pioneering mobile media streaming solutions. Through our cooperation, we have witnessed how digital media delivery technologies are moving away from proprietary and towards open solutions, which are prerequisite for successful future mobile services,” said Pertti Korhonen, Executive Vice President, Nokia Mobile Software.


RealNetworks also announced today that it has released a family of products built on the Helix Platform, including the Helix Universal Server

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