Dave's staying busy...........................................
Microsoft Announces Acquisition of VXtreme; Rolls Out Streaming Multimedia Strategy With Release of NetShow 2.0
PR Newswire - August 05, 1997 12:07
Support From More Than 30 Industry Leaders Provides Solid Foundation For Growth of Streaming Media Market
REDMOND, Wash., Aug. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)
today announced it has acquired VXtreme Inc., the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based
developer of award-winning streaming media solutions. In a related move,
Microsoft also announced the release of the Microsoft(R) NetShow(TM) 2.0
streaming media server. Together with additional announcements from more than
30 industry leaders, these events will encourage the growth of a broad
streaming media industry, allow Microsoft to provide the industry's most
comprehensive support, and accelerate adoption of streaming media for in-house
corporate use. Today's announcements complement Microsoft's recent news that
it would license technology from Progressive Networks Inc. and integrate
NetShow into Microsoft Site Server.
"The Internet and intranets are empowering technologies that advance the
functionality of broadcast networks such as radio, television, cable and
satellite," said Bill Gates, chairman and CEO of Microsoft. "Our goal is to
enable everybody -- media companies, businesses and consumers -- to receive,
originate and interact with these next-generation broadcasts. That's why
Microsoft is making significant investments in this technology and integrating
it into our Windows(R) and BackOffice(R) platforms."
Microsoft to Take Leadership Role in Streaming Media
All of Microsoft's recent moves in the streaming media market are geared
toward benefiting customers, developers, end users and the industry as a whole
in the following ways:
* Encouraging the growth of a broad market for streaming multimedia, in
which many companies offer competitively priced compatible products.
Microsoft has gained agreement from the industry's leading companies to work
together to define future standards based on Microsoft's Active Streaming
Format (ASF) specifications. Following are key areas of agreement supporting
NetShow and ASF also announced today:
-- Content. AudioNet Inc., a leader in Internet broadcasting, will
accelerate its adoption of Microsoft NetShow and deploy new content and
services, including a personal broadcasting service, using NetShow.
-- Systems integration. VDOnet Corp. will become a Microsoft Solution
Provider, offering video solutions -- based on NetShow-based products -- for
broadband networks.
-- Audio and video tools. Vivo Software Inc. has agreed to base its
broadcast tool product line on NetShow, ASF and Microsoft DirectShow
technology.
* Streaming media servers. Progressive Networks has agreed to use ASF as
the native format for its next streaming media products.
A full list of third-party announcements is available at
microsoft.com.
* Providing the industry's most comprehensive support for streaming
multimedia. Microsoft will enhance NetShow with technology from both VXtreme
and its own high-end streaming media technology for dedicated networks, the
NetShow full-screen video service previously code-named "TIGER." Microsoft
has also licensed RealAudio and RealVideo 4.0 source code from Progressive
Networks and will incorporate compatibility with the file formats into the
next version of NetShow to ensure that customers can use the broadest base of
existing content.
* Accelerating adoption of streaming media for in-house corporate use.
In addition to its growing use on the Internet, streaming media can support
employee training, online meetings and executive presentations. Microsoft is
integrating NetShow into Microsoft Site Server to make it easier for customers
to deploy sophisticated Web sites that take advantage of streaming media
capabilities as well as Site Server's industry-leading features such as
content deployment, commerce and site analysis.
VXtreme Acquisition Brings Microsoft Superb Technology, Personnel and
Customers
The acquisition of VXtreme is a key part of Microsoft's streaming media
strategy. VXtreme has been an innovator in the streaming media market,
building adaptive compression technology that dynamically adjusts to available
bandwidth. The company has attracted top customers including CNN Interactive
and CNNfn, The Financial Network, Bridge Information Systems Inc. and General
Electric Co.
"VXtreme has developed superb compression technology and network delivery
solutions that fully complement our streaming media product strategy," said
Paul Maritz, group vice president, platforms and applications at Microsoft.
"We look forward to having VXtreme's excellent development team join Microsoft
to work on innovating and integrating VXtreme technology into NetShow and Site
Server."
"This partnership marries Microsoft marketing expertise and strong
development framework with cutting-edge streaming media technology from
VXtreme," said Pete Mountanos, CEO of VXtreme. "Together, we'll define future
streaming media standards and quality levels."
NetShow 2.0 Now Available
Microsoft's streaming media server, NetShow 2.0, is available worldwide as
a free Web download product until the end of the year (connect-time charges
may apply). NetShow is Microsoft's technology for streaming production-scale
video, audio, and audio with synchronized images over the Internet and
corporate intranets. More than 135,000 broadcasters, corporations and Web
developers have downloaded the product during its prerelease testing period,
and more than 11 million users have downloaded the NetShow 2.0 player.
"We're very pleased with NetShow, said Lora Jackson, manager, Internet
technology, Taco Bell Corp. "We use it to share video and other multimedia
content over the Internet and our intranets. The tight and simple integration
with Microsoft Internet Information Server, along with its incredible ease of
use, makes this an invaluable tool in delivering cost-effective business value
over the Internet."
The benefits of NetShow 2.0 for broadcasters, IS managers, Web developers
and end users include the following:
* It's powerful. The NetShow server takes full advantage of the high
scalability of the Windows NT(R) Server network operating system, supporting
needs ranging from low bandwidth to full commercial production-scale
requirements. NetShow enables high-quality content generation and streaming
with new, next-generation MPEG compression technology.
* It's easy to use. The open architecture of NetShow makes it easy for
developers and Web professionals to build innovative, interactive applications
that take advantage of the media streaming and multicast technologies in
NetShow. NetShow lets developers take advantage of their knowledge of
Microsoft and third-party multimedia authoring tools.
* It's of high quality. NetShow 2.0 is a standards-based platform that
includes more than 20 popular audio and video codecs, or compression models,
to satisfy the needs of virtually all content providers. NetShow supports a
variety of network transport protocols, so it delivers superb interactivity
and multimedia while reducing demands on network bandwidth.
The NetShow 2.0 client is available for the Windows 95 operating system
and Windows NT, Windows 3.1 and UNIX and will soon be available for the
Macintosh.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products
and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of
making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full
power of personal computing every day.
Microsoft, NetShow, Windows, BackOffice and Windows NT are either
registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States
and/or other countries.
Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their
respective owners.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.
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