IP Video Streaming Meets Broadband

Looking to improve the way IP video streaming works on broadband networks,
two companies announced a deal to develop an open platform to integrate
middleware technology with MPEG decoder hardware.

Milpitas, Calif.-based Sigma Designs, an IP video streaming software firm,
said it would partner with Thirdspace to jointly create an open platform to
make its MPEG 1,2,4 decoder hardware work with Thirdspace’s middleware, which is used on broadband television services.

The deal also calls for Sigma Designs to offer the Thirdspace Open Video
Client (OVC) as part of its standard software libraries that are available
for use with Sigma’s MPEG decoder chips. In return, Thirdspace would sell
Sigma’s MPEG decoder chips within its broadband TV software.

The two firms have set sights on the lucrative set-top box market, noting
that the combined services would also be offered to systems integrators,
telcos, broadband and entertainment service providers and hospitality
accounts (hotels etc) worldwide.

Thirdspace spokesman Sebastian Kramer said broadband customers are looking
to integrate high quality IP video streaming software that is scalable to
different size installations, meaning the combining of technologies with
Sigma Designs offers a product that provides a shorter route to market.

“The high quality video streaming we are able to provide will be especially
useful to customers without their own Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP)
and broadband television implementations,” he said.

Sigma Designs markets silicon-based MPEG decoding for streaming video, DVD
playback, and advanced digital set-top boxes. The company’s flagship
REALmagic Video Streaming Technology is used for the decoding of MPEG-1,
MPEG-2 and MPEG-4.

Thirdspace’s middleware provides connectivity to standard RTSP video servers
for MPEG1, MPEG2, and MPEG4, with VCR functionality, support for broadband
television and remote client management tools.