MediaPearls today introduced a new streaming media development platform which it bills as an “enterprise-level” system that “simplifies the creation of synchronized, on-demand presentations.” The new system utilizes HTML and XML and supports multimedia content developed using QuickTime, as well as technology from RealNetworks and Microsoft.
MediaPearls recognizes that content creation is a complex process that’s been made more difficult by the proliferation of competing standards and players, like QuickTime, RealPlayer and Windows Media Player. MediaPearls president Mark Halliday said that his company has addressed the real bottleneck — content production.
“To make streaming media an everyday activity, and create online environments that offer a more interactive experience, organizations need a development environment in which to create streaming media presentations with any number of elements from video to PowerPoint slides, and deliver it without complication to the end user. That is what we’ve made possible on an enterprise level, so that high-quality streaming presentations can be produced in-house, at a reasonable cost, and fully integrated into the Web infrastructure,” said Halliday.
The company also offers video production services and consulting to help get users of their system up to speed with the technology. The company can also set up a video production studio and train internal staff on how to use it.
MediaPearls features personalization technology that detects the player on the user’s machine and delivers content for that format. Users create a single XML file that defines multiple presentation formats, and content production for RealPlayer, QuickTime and Windows Media Player are all done in a single step. MediaPearls creates Java applets as well, so developers can use their current HTML editors or application servers.
MediaPearls is priced at US$4,995 for 10 concurrent streams on a single Web server. The ability to Webcast 100 streams from a single server costs $9,995.