Alliance to help set streaming-media-over-IP standards

In an effort to create a single standard for media streaming over the Internet, five companies last week announced the foundation of the Internet Streaming Media Alliance.

Apple, Cisco, Kasenna, Philips Electronics and Sun announced the founding of the ISMA in a press release, saying they are joining forces to promote open standards for developing end-to-end media streaming products over IP. The founders believe their collaboration will accelerate the adoption of open standards and interoperability, while encouraging the development of competitive streaming media software, the release said.

The promise of streaming media can be realized only if there is a single standard for consumers, service providers, network operators, equipment suppliers and content providers, says William Raduchel, chief technology officer of AOL. AOL, expected to merge soon with Time Warner, is interested in standards for media streaming to ease content distribution.

The cost of deploying streaming media services to support the current disparate formats has prohibited many service providers and other adopters from taking full advantage of existing market opportunities, according to the ISMA.

The alliance plans to adopt elements of existing standards for the deployment of streaming media over IP and contribute to those still in development.

The first specification from the ISMA will define an implementation agreement for the streaming MPEG-4 video and audio format over IP networks, and will be circulated for review and input at the first formal meeting of the ISMA in February.

When the specifications are complete, the ISMA will promote them among developers and those seeking to deploy rich media streaming products. The ISMA Web site (www. ISM-Alliance.org) will publish completed specifications and distribute information about alliance activities.

In addition to the founding companies, several other firms have announced support for the ISMA, including Analog Devices, Axis Communications and Silicon Graphics.

Johnston is a correspondent with the IDG News Service's Washington, D.C., bureau.