Computer: Video Streams into the Mainstream

Computer T he widespread adoption of streaming video on the Internet appears ready to become the next major frontier for online multimedia. Graphics, animation, and audio technologies have already proliferated on the Internet. However, streaming video—in which viewers can begin watching content almost as soon as it starts downloading—is only now developing as a mainstream technology. “In the past 18 months,” said Alex Benik, an analyst with the Yankee Group, a market research firm, “streaming video has evolved from being a toy to something that service providers of all kinds can hope to generate revenue from.” The Gartner Group, a market research firm, estimates that the portion of US companies using streaming media has almost doubled, from 9 to 17 percent, since last year. Benik said two of the key factors driving this trend are the increasing adoption of broadband services that speed Internet access for users and the development of backbone networks that speed the delivery of content by providers. In the past, video has been too data intensive for most users. However, the growing use of broadband technologies has spurred the rapid growth of streaming media, according to Martin French, vice president at MeTV.com, a streamingvideo content provider. “A year ago,” he said, “the only people with fast Internet access were with companies with T1 lines. Now we are seeing an awful lot of people with [asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSL) service] and cable modems.” People are also using broadband fixedwireless and satellite technologies for Internet access. In addition to spurring consumer applications, streaming video also promises to fuel corporate applications over intranets and extranets to support distance learning and training, corporate communications, marketing, and advertising. In fact, said analyst Cushing Anderson of IDC, a market research firm, streaming video will help drive sales of distancelearning applications from $1.1 billion in 1999 to $7.1 billion in 2002. A number of companies provide streaming-video technologies, but the major players are Apple’s QuickTime, Microsoft’s Windows Media, and RealNetworks’ RealVideo.