Monday, April 5, 2004

BT Launches Rich Media Platform with Real Networks

BT, in partnership with Real Networks, introduced a digital media platform that allows anyone from a large corporate to a small business to become an online content provider to the mass market. The service, which embeds Digital Rights Management (DRM) into all hosted content, offers the ability to store, retrieve, manage, package, sell and deliver anything from digital music and video footage to live sport and special interest content.



BT is using Real Networks' Helix Service Delivery Suite and Helix Media Delivery Platform. The BT Rich Media launch event will be supported by a demonstration of flexible bandwidth, which gives users the power to temporarily boost their broadband speed up to 2 Mbps. http://www.btplc.com

  • In March, BT unveiled four innovations aimed at transforming its broadband DSL service across the UK. Apart from the Rich Media platform announced today, the other 3 innovations are:



    Flexible Bandwidth: DSL users will be given the power to temporarily boost their bandwidth to up to 2 Mbps for faster downloads of premium content, such as DVD-quality streamed videos or online gaming. Users who continually need to accelerate their broadband speed will be given the option to instantly upgrade to a higher tier DSL service.



    BT Communicator: working in partnership with Yahoo!, BT is will roll out an integrated call management application aimed at the mainstream consumer. The application, which will include VoIP capabilities, takes the features and functionality of Yahoo! Messenger and integrates telephony capabilities, such as PC to phone calling, Internet call waiting, directory lookup, etc. All calls made using Yahoo! Messenger with BT Communicator will be billed directly to the customer's home phone bill. The application enables users to manage all their communications - phone calls, emails, instant messaging and text messages - together in one place. BT Communicator will be made available for trial in May.



    BT Remote Management System: - enhances network support capability in the broadband home. This will allow troubleshooting and diagnosis of broadband service issues using information from BT, provided from intelligent home network routers in a customer's home. The system will be live later in 2004