Streaming media pioneer joins Redback

Redback Networks this week said it named streaming media pioneer Alan Lippman as chief video architect and director of technology planning.

Lippman helped invent streaming audio and video products for RealNetworks 12 years ago. He will help develop software for Redback that will enable carriers to accelerate the delivery of high-bandwidth video services, the company says.

Video is the single biggest force driving network upgrades worldwide, Redback says, and the company adds that it is “laser-focused” on accelerating video network innovation on behalf of its carrier customers.

Lippman was one of the first five employees at RealNetworks and one of the original creators of RealAudio and RealVideo, which have been downloaded hundreds of millions of times. He was the first member of the development team for RealAudio, and served as chief engineer and as a developer for all product releases for RealVideo through 2001.

At RealNetworks, Lippman was the principal architect behind the real-time encoding and decoding of audio and video on the Web that later became known as streaming media.

In 2001, Lippman founded Trusted Media Networks, a start-up focused on the delivery of high-bandwidth audio and video over any size network pipe, where he filed several patents focused on audio and video delivery. He holds a BSM in mathematics from the University of Washington, which he received at the age of 14. At age 18 he graduated with a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from Brown University.

Before working as a software developer, Lippman worked as an oceanographer, studying climate change and predicting significant weather events.

At Redback, Lippman will report to Scott Marshall, senior vice president, engineering and product management.

Redback is being acquired by Ericsson for $2.1 billion.