Sprint and SolidStreaming Enter Agreement

SolidStreaming (www.solidstreaming.com), has entered into an agreement with Sprint PCS ( www.sprintpcs.com), and will begin testing its wireless multimedia streaming services on the Sprint PCS network. It is the first stage in the process of making SolidStreaming's wireless multimedia software available to consumers.

SolidStreaming offers a proprietary solution for streaming video and audio over 2G networks, and offers an MPEG-4 based solution for 2.5G and 3G networks. In order to receive the new services, a consumer will need a multimedia-enabled wireless device, such as a PDA connected to the Internet.

SolidStreaming will also be announcing agreements with several handset manufacturers to embed its software on their chipsets, according to Ed Bronson, president of SolidStreaming. While the identity of these companies is still top secret, Bronson did indicate that there will be three companies - a Korean, Japanese and American company.

SolidStreaming began the development of its software with the assumption that it would need to be functional on devices with limited memory and processing power, which Bronson believes, makes the 2G solution particularly viable for today's market.

SolidStreaming intends to announce a series of content deals over the coming months. Traffic Cams, Pay-per-View How-To videos, general news, video email and live on-demand radio, are all examples of the type of content the companies hope to offer. The software is capable of two-way transmission, for the future when camera-enabled cell phones are available.

While the system is still in testing, Bronson states that the goal is to make it commercially available by Fall of next year. The agreement is not exclusive, and Sprint PCS previously announced a similar deal with Packet Video in late September.