PacketVideo Corp. Thursday joined the Alliance Partner Program of Metricom Inc. to jointly develop content and applications targeted for personal digital assistants and laptop computers.
Potential applications include wireless delivery of news and financial information, sports, weather, traffic reports, short entertainment clips, remote surveillance and music using full-motion video and audio, not just text.
Under the agreement, Metricom and PacketVideo will initially test the wireless video streaming technology in three U.S. markets: San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Seattle. The companies are planning to work collectively over the next several months to optimize PacketVideo’s technology for use on the Ricochet network.
“The Ricochet network represents a significant opportunity for wireless streaming media,” said Dr. James Brailean, president and chief technology officer of PacketVideo. “With broadband speeds and Ricochet’s impressive footprint, content providers will be able to immediately deliver high quality programming at broadband speeds to mobile consumers.”
PacketVideo’s software, which is operating system, platform and air-interface independent, is optimized for wireless networks. Its technology is designed to detect, contain and conceal errors inherent in wireless networks, enabling mobile information devices to receive enhanced video image quality over existing wireless networks with bit rates as low as 9.6 kbps and 14.4 kbps, as well as 2.5G and 3G networks.