Over 2,000 Developers Registered in New Helix Community
Rob Glaser Webcast Presentation and Live Developer Chat Starts at 11 a.m.
Pacific Time Today at http://www.helixcommunity.org
SEATTLE, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
RealNetworks(R), Inc. (Nasdaq: RNWK), the global leader in Internet media
delivery, today announced that Helix DNA Client source code is now available
to developers in the Helix(TM) Community. The core engine powering the
award-winning RealOne(TM) Player, the Helix DNA Client, is now available for
software developers, consumer electronics companies and mobile phone
manufacturers to use in building their own digital media applications and
products. For the first time ever, developers can easily access the code of a
commercial grade media player, integrate support for the industry-leading
audio and video formats, RealAudio and RealVideo, as well as other formats,
and create a robust media player for their own specific needs. Key companies
already supporting Helix DNA Client and RealAudio and RealVideo development
include Acer, Hitachi, STMicroelectronics and Nokia. (see related release)
Over 2,000 developers and companies have joined the newly created Helix
Community since July to create digital media products and applications on a
standardized platform. With server, player and encoder code, the Helix
Platform will enable companies to create applications that interoperate and
support a wide variety of media types. The Helix DNA Client being added to
the community today includes Linux, Windows and Mac OS X-based clients that
developers can use to support a wide variety of medial formats including
RealAudio, RealVideo, MPEG-4, MP3, H.263 and 3GPP formats for PCs, mobile and
consumer electronic devices. Available for both open source and community
development projects, licensing terms for commercial use are more affordable
than the announced MPEG-4 licensing. Server and encoder code will be added to
the Community later this year.
"Today's release of the Helix DNA Client is a watershed event for the
digital media industry," said Rob Glaser, founder and CEO, RealNetworks.
"Three months ago, we announced the Helix platform in order to ignite the next
wave of digital media delivery. Today's release of the Helix DNA Client
fulfills that promise. It will enable thousands of developers to standardize
on a single open media player architecture and bring that architecture to
millions of digital consumer appliances from dozens of different manufacturers
around the world. We encourage all developers to freely register on the Helix
Community website, download the source code and actively participate in
driving the mass medium of Internet broadcasting to the next level."
"The release of the Helix DNA Client source code allows Palm OS(R)
developers to create new and innovative digital media products that will allow
people to receive and view video and other multimedia on Palm Powered(TM)
devices," said Steve Sakoman, chief products officer for PalmSource, Inc.,
provider of the Palm OS. "The Palm OS combined with the Helix DNA Client will
enable superior multimedia functionality to enhance the great user experiences
Palm OS devices are known for."
"RealNetworks' commitment to move towards the open source development
model, as exemplified by the Helix DNA client, shows greater support for a
larger audience of developers," said Paul Cormier, executive vice president of
Engineering at Red Hat, Inc. "Having new rich media technologies available is
clearly a win for the Linux community."
Helix DNA Client Source Code
The Helix DNA Client code in the Helix Community includes media players
designed for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems. Twelve
Community-based projects currently underway using the Helix DNA Client code
include ports to the Palm and Symbian operating systems as well as creation of
browser plug-ins for Mozilla and Opera. For a full listing of code elements
and projects, please visit http://www.helixcommunity.org. Some specific elements
included in the source code include:
-- Example user interfaces for Windows and Motif
-- Cross-platform, multi-project Python Build System in source code
-- Support for MP3 (made available in source code form) and the mandatory
3GPP codecs, NB-AMR and H.263 (H.263 made available in source code
form)
-- RealAudio and RealVideo codecs in object code form
-- RTSP, RTP, RTCP and SDP network playback
-- Multicast, UDP and TCP support
-- RTSP/RTP cloaking support
-- Local file and multiple source playback
-- Multiple audio/video source mixing
-- HTTP authentication and Proxy Auto Configure support
-- RTSP authentication and Proxy Auto Configure support
-- More than 600 exposed APIs for building media playback applications as
well as custom data types
Helix DNA Client Licensing
The Helix DNA Client is licensed through the Helix Community under two
license options: the RealNetworks Public Source License (RPSL) or the
RealNetworks Community Source License (RCSL). Both licenses are available at
Helix Community -- http://www.helixcommunity.org. In addition, as a part of the
Helix DNA Client and RealAudio/RealVideo licenses, RealNetworks, for the first
time ever, is licensing a broad array of RealNetworks-owned patents, including
several patents that are fundamental to general streaming media and
best-of-class implementations of highly desirable features and functionality.
The RPSL is structured to provide developers maximum flexibility in their
use of the source code if their products are also open source. RPSL licensees
also receive royalty-free licenses to certain key RealNetworks patents. The
RPSL has been submitted to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) for an open source
certification.
The RCSL is structured to ensure that all products built under the RCSL
remain compatible with the Helix interfaces, while enabling licensees to
retain control over the intellectual property in the products they build using
the code. Licensing of the Helix DNA Client under the RCSL is free for
research and development.
Companies or individuals who want to distribute the Helix DNA Client
without RealAudio/RealVideo can enjoy free licensing for the first million
units annually and $0.10/unit beyond that. For those who want to distribute
RealAudio and RealVideo playback, a license is available for $0.25/unit for
products on Wintel-based platforms, and $0.25/unit with a $1M annual maximum
payment for non-Wintel-based platforms. Separate license and pricing is
required for broadband video-based devices. See http://www.helixcommunity.org for
license and pricing details.
On July 22, 2002, the Helix Community was launched with the support of
over twenty-nine companies and organizations including HP, Intel, Nokia,
Oracle, PalmSource, Sony, and Sun Microsystems. RealNetworks and the Helix
Community offer a more affordable and simple solution than other alternatives
such as MPEG-4, which requires payments for video decode rights, usage-based
storage fees and broadcast fees.
Support for the Helix Community
BlueFalcon
"The Helix initiative directly supports Blue Falcon's mission to help
large media and entertainment companies deliver digital media in the most
efficient, cost-effective way possible," said Paul Treece, chief technical
officer, Blue Falcon Networks. "It provides our customers and our developers
with a more profitable, accessible and streamlined approach for delivering
large-scale digital media."
BSQUARE
"As a leading provider of smart device products and services for the
embedded devices market, BSQUARE is pleased to support the Helix initiative,"
said Scott Bufkin, vice president of Professional Engineering Services,
BSQUARE Corporation. "This cross-platform, standards-based media engine gives
OEM device manufacturers the ability to deliver the type of content that
consumers want, and BSQUARE looks forward to providing development solutions
containing Helix DNA to device manufacturers."
Symbian
"As a strong supporter of open standards, Symbian has licensed Symbian OS
to the world's leading handset manufacturers, including Motorola, Nokia,
Panasonic, Samsung, Siemens and Sony Ericsson," said Bill Pinnell, multimedia
product manager, Symbian. "Helix DNA represents an open multimedia standard
that, when combined with Symbian OS, will foster the development of
multimedia-rich applications for Symbian OS phones."
TiVo
"TiVo supports RealNetworks work in developing the Helix Community and its
efforts in the advancement of standards based media applications," said Howard
Look, vice president TiVo Developer Studios. "By remaining committed to an
application development framework such as this, companies working in the
community can ensure that the end result will be for the consumers ability to
enjoy the content and services they want."
Wind River
"Wind River, a leading provider of embedded software and design services
for creating digital consumer electronics, is pleased to support Helix and the
availability of standards based media engine source code," said Sayeed
Choudhury, director of market development for the Digital Consumer Group, Wind
River Systems (Nasdaq: WIND). "As developers will have full access to the
source code, device manufacturers using our software platforms based on the
VxWorks(R) embedded operating system will be able to easily add complete media
playback functionality in products such as digital set-top boxes, integrated
DTVs, and digital home AV receivers."
Further, Japan-based ACCESS, which has browser products licensed in over
72 million devices, is working with both the Helix Community as a developer
and a support partner.
About Helix
Helix is a platform and a community for the standardization and expansion
of digital media. The Helix DNA platform consists of source code developed by
RealNetworks over the past eight years for the creation, delivery and playback
of digital media, as well as a set of interfaces for building media-enabled
applications. Helix Community members use this source code to build
media-capable products with industry-leading technology, intellectual property
and commonly used interfaces. The Helix Community offers source code of the
Helix platform under commercial community and open source licenses available
at http://www.helixcommunity.org. The Helix Community software infrastructure is
powered by the CollabNet SourceCast environment. RealNetworks has also
released a family of products built on top of the Helix Platform, including
the Helix Universal Server available at http://www.realnetworks.com/products.
About RealNetworks
RealNetworks, Inc. is the global leader in Internet media delivery. It
develops and markets software products and services designed to enable users
of personal computers and consumer electronic devices to send and receive
audio, video and other multimedia services using the Web. Consumers can
access and experience audio/video programming and download RealNetworks'
consumer software on the Internet at http://www.real.com. RealNetworks' systems and
corporate information is located on the Internet at http://www.realnetworks.com.
NOTE: RealNetworks, Helix, RealOne, RealAudio and RealVideo are
trademarks or registered trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc. All other
trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE RealNetworks, Inc.
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.real.com
CONTACT:
Kimberly Pepper, +1-206-979-7523, or
kpepper@real.com, or Erika Shaffer, +1-206-972-5514, or
eshaffer@real.com, both of RealNetworks
|
