RealNetworks Inc. has released Helix, an open, comprehensive platform and community for the standardization and expansion of digital media. It enables the creation of digital media products and applications for any format, operating system or device. RealNetworks has also released a family of products built on top of the Helix Platform, including the Helix Universal Server.
RealNetworks says it developed Helix as a solution to problems facing the digital media industry, including the high cost and complexity of supporting multiple formats and architectures; the cost of developing applications in the absence of standardized application interfaces; and the increase of these complexities as Internet-delivered media moves beyond the PC to mobile and home devices.
The platform consists of source code for the creation, delivery and playback of digital media developed by RealNetworks and a set of interfaces for building media-enabled applications. It is based on widely used digital media software technology, with over 1,000 application interfaces. RealNetworks has been working on the core Helix DNA engine for over 7 years. It contains millions of lines of code and is the next generation of the system that has been deployed on hundreds of thousands of servers and millions of PCs.
The Helix Community enables companies, institutions and individual developers to access the platform source code in order to enhance the platform and build Helix-powered encoder, server and client products. Community members can use the code to build media-capable products with up-to-date technology and commonly used interfaces. The community offers the source code of the platform under community and open-source licenses. It's located at .
Twenty-nine companies and organizations are supporting the Helix Community, including Cisco, Intel, Nokia, Oracle, Sony, Sun Microsystems and TiVo.
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