BT's ADSL and Acorn's set-top box rumor:
CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND, Newsbytes: Acorn has announced
its is teaming up with Silicon Graphics [NYSE:SGI] to develop a video
streaming technology for links between SG's WebForcer MediaBase servers and the soon-to-ship Acorn set-top box systems.
The aim of the technology linkup is to allow Acorn's set-top box units
to be much more than fast Internet access systems for TVs, but to allow them to provide users with video on demand services, subject to
available bandwidth.
The move is an interesting one, Newsbytes notes, as unconfirmed reports are surfacing that British Telecom (BT), which is prohibited by the British government from broadcasting, is looking seriously at offering fast Internet access to subscribers using ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) links across standard copper cabling, with the sweetener of "narrowcasted" (i.e. broadcast to one household) video on demand services. These same rumors suggest that a major contract may be in the offing between BT and Acorn.
The official line about today's announcement is that Acorn will be
targeting the SG-enhanced technology at the original equipment
manufacturer (OEM) marketplace, which will offer consumers video-on-
demand services in the corporate, training, education and consumer
markets.
Plans call for Silicon Graphics to work closely with Acorn to deliver
customized systems. Officials claim that the system is ideally suited
for situations such as training classes or corporate presentations where hundreds of high-quality simultaneous video streams may need to be stopped and started intermittently.
Acorn set-top boxes can operate either in full interactive mode to
support video on demand style movie playback, or in feed mode to support the presentation of real-time video from TV channel encoders, cameras and other types of MPEG (Motion Picture Entertainment Group) sources.
"The integration of Silicon Graphics high-performance WebForce MediaBase servers and Acorn's set-top box hardware and software is a perfect fit," said Marc Trimuschat, a spokesperson for Silicon Graphics.
Newsbytes notes that the technology under development by Acorn and
Silicon Graphics is based on the Real Time Streaming Protocols (RTSP)
standard originally developed by Progressive Networks and Netscape
Communications. RTSP is an open standard for streaming audio and video
which enables efficient, secure and scalable delivery of audio and video content via Internet protocols (IP).
"This is the first time that anyone has implemented RTSP to deliver high resolution MPEG2 interactive video using these protocols, which were originally developed for low bandwidth modem connections," explained Kevin Coleman, Acorn's head of corporate communications.
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This could be the prototype of similar RBOC/ADSL home/business installations here. Zenith has recently developed (but not announced) an Oracle/Acorn set-top box and could be the major set-top box manufacturer/distributor in the US for the set tops of Acorn as well as Oracle. |
