GeoVideo Networks Announces Beta of Software

GeoVideo Networks (http://www.geovideo.net), a venture of Lucent Technologies, said today it released the beta of its GeoVideo Browser software. The Browser allows users to manipulate real-time, "TV-quality video" and conduct multi-party conference sessions.

GeoVideo Networks says it is assembling a video network designed solely for the Internet age over a private, international fiber-optic backbone. The GeoVideo Browser will act as the client over this network, letting users view any type of video.

The company claims that its network can handle up to 16 simultaneous real-time video windows at 30 frames per second to a PC.

The full product release of the GeoVideo Browser is scheduled for release in the fourth quarter this year. Service will be activated in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, and Philadelphia, initially.

"The GeoVideo Browser is the killer app for making Internet video communication as efficient and ubiquitous as e-mail," said Garrett Fienberg, vice president and general manager of GeoVideo Networks. "This is highly scalable, efficient software that complements the GeoVideo network."

Its first customers will be public television stations. CSRG Digital L.L.C., a group of 27 public television stations -- including WNET-TV in New York and KCET-TV in Los Angeles - is among the first.