Here Comes Wireless Multimedia"
Boardwatch [www.ispworld.com] (09/00) Vol. 16, No. 10, P. 62; Mace, Scott
Wireless multimedia has the potential to bring wireless standards together. The differing qualities of wireless multimedia as opposed to wired multimedia might make the technology more suitable for a standards-based approach. The MPEG4 video compression standard, which was created in the spring of 1999, may become the digital video standard for wireless multimedia. The standard was originally developed for transmitting direct-broadcast satellite and digital TV signals. According to Steven Burke, chief business officer of PacketVideo Corporation, MPEG4 is the first digital standard that has been created for two-way communication. Burke wonders whether the industry can select a common wireless streaming protocol for MPEG4. In hopes of adopting a common industry standard, PacketVideo has pressured the Wireless Multimedia Forum (WMMF) to evaluate potential standards. The WMMF is assessing a multitude of potential standards, including Real-Time Transport Protocol and Real-Time Streaming Protocol. MPEG4 has improved compression over its predecessor MPEG2. MPEG4 may be a better choice as an industry standard since some wireless operators have already begun constructing wireless networks to support MPEG2. But any choice of a global standard by the WMMF must also be backed by the acceptance of the standard by at least two dominant wireless interfaces, such as GSM or CDMA. PacketVideo President Jim Brailen predicts that carriers will invest more in infrastructure improvements to their networks to ensure the efficient transmission of such services as multimedia. Brailen is opposed to using gateways or transcoding for transmitting multimedia over a 2.5G Network. He notes that gateways can slow down processing. (Multimedia Communications and Digital Media; Wireless Communications
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