Luxxon Announces Availability of Wireless Streaming Solution

Luxxon Corporation (www.luxxon.com) announced the release of its Mediator Streaming System. According to Luxxon, the system provides wireless operators with a solution, consisting of Luxxon's Mediator Transcoder and Mediator Server, which enable wireless operators to adapt and deliver streaming audio and video encoded to match the available network bandwidth and specific display capabilities of an end-user's device.

Luxxon states that its system is currently being tested by wireless carriers around the world. According to Roger Brooks, chief science officer and vice president, Media Networking, the Luxxon system offers a number of applications in 2G. Of particular interest for delivery over 2G networks may be the Mediator's ability to transform video into a WAP Bitmap, iMode, or M-JPEG presentation. The conversion of video into a WAP Bitmap would be an example of the Luxxon system adapting the bit rate, frame rate, color depth and resolution of the media stream to match the specific capabilities of a device.

"Today there is not indication that there will be a standardization of devices at any point in the near future," states Brooks. But Brooks does believe that the PDA will remain the most prominent multimedia device for the rest of this year in North America.

According to Dana Gardner, an analyst with the Aberdeen Group, Luxxon's strength is derived from the varying needs of the wireless industry across geographic regions and across differing network protocols. "This is such a complex equation that any transcoding solution is going to be of great benefit," states Gardner. Gardner was particularly impressed with the fact that Luxxon has built a unique chip architecture from the ground up, to facilitate speed and scale in its server.The other advantage that Brooks cites is that content providers can encode content, once into a high-quality MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 file, and Luxxon's system will transcode the media stream into the most appropriate form, including MPEG-4, Real and WMT. Luxxon states that the Mediator Streaming System is also capable of converting audio formats including: MP3, AAC, PCM, and GSM-AMR, among others, so that audio content such as music can be tailored to match the capabilities of mobile phones, PDAs, or desktop computers.

Luxxon's approach to selling wireless carriers on its solution, differs from its competitors. It does not rely on industry adoption of MPEG-4, as Packet Video touts, or on consumer adoption of hardware stream-enabled cell phones. But the Luxxon solution, as a server-side solution, does not currently have the capability to address certain client-side issues, such as battery-power conservation.

As a licensee of some of the major codecs, the solution can piggy-back off of any developments that Real or WMT makes — such as Real's announcement that its system will be integrated into Texas Instrument's OMAP platform. So while other wireless streaming companies are looking to conquer ubiquitous reception across all devices and networks, Luxxon's business model seems to indicate that they are willing to thrive in the chaos.