NEW YORK-Although presumably the driver was not watching PacketVideo’s streaming media on a mobile phone as he drove at 80 mph, the technology passed this test, which an undisclosed Las Vegas wireless carrier conducted.
“We are in testing with carriers around the world. In Las Vegas, they tested it at 80 mph,” said Robert Tercek, president of the programming division for PacketVideo Corp., San Diego.
“They are testing the daylights out of it, trying to break our stream. When there is network congestion, the frame will freeze, but our MPEG-4 (wireless multimedia solution) is designed to work with fluctuating data rates. It’s not store-and-forward technology.”
Although PacketVideo’s system is undergoing testing by the Las Vegas network operator, whose identity Tercek would not reveal for competitive reasons, he said the company sees countries like Finland, Japan and South Korea as its early business opportunity.
“We don’t know of another company in the world that has developed a way to encode, serve and decode streaming video optimized for digital wireless networks, which are incredibly challenging with a lot of errors and fluctuating signal quality as you move in and out of cells,” he said.
“We will reign supreme at 64 (kilobits per second) to 128 kpbs.”
Japan’s NTT DoCoMo, he added, expects to begin offering mobile wireless data rates at 128 kpbs by the spring of 2001.
“We also have a vibrant enterprise group because we think the vertical markets in the [United States] will be the first to take off,” he said.
“This isn’t just about video in (personal) wireless devices, it’s also about video on the side of a bus or inside a subway train, and it could be context video that changes depending on the viewers … “
In Tercek’s view, wireless has just entered its mobile multimedia phase, following the eras of analog, digital and data.
“We’ve just entered the post [personal computer] era, with mobile devices as nodes to the network. This new phase calls for a brand new type of video programming, but I’m not really sure what that will mean.”
“Our expectation is that practical utility will drive (initial) purchases, but once people have that, our focus groups show they love entertainment: animation, video clips, music, motion graphics.”
PacketVideo sees streaming multimedia as a way for telecommunications carriers to recoup their investments in third-generation wireless networks.
“Even when bandwidth is poured on, it’s not clear what the benefits are,” Tercek said.
“Wireless carriers are enthusiastic about multimedia because it offers all the complex pricing you get in cable (television), and cable TV operators also see an awful lot of opportunities,” Tercek said.
One possible scenario would be for a cable television operator to transmit trailers, or short teasers, of upcoming programs to its subscribers who also are mobile-phone customers.
Furthermore, PacketVideo believes content providers also have an incentive to get on board the mobile multimedia bandwagon.
“The story of the last two months in the (stock) market is that the dot-coms will have to show profits, and this will drive them to seek additional distribution avenues,” Tercek said.
