RealNetworks Inc is celebrating a new distribution, development and licensing agreement which will see its streaming audio and video software integrated with Lotus Domino and Notes products. Notes and Domino have some 25m users between them. RealNetworks says it has around 32m active users of its software on the internet. IBM Corp’s Lotus division says it wants the software as the underpinnings for a new set of business communications applications it currently has under development. The deal follows other large distribution agreements RealNetworks has recently struck with America Online Inc and the Santa Cruz Operation Inc, that see it fighting back against Microsoft Corp’s plan to dominate the market by giving streaming technology away for free in the shape of its Windows Media Player. Back in July, the company got caught up in the crossfire of Microsoft’s anti-trust legal battle, and saw its shares plunge in value (CI No 3,460). Lotus says it will integrate Real Networks’ RealPlayer G2 in with Notes clients, enabling users to view and hear multimedia content. RealEncoder G2 will enable the creation of multimedia content for others in the workgroup. And Lotus Domino Servers will integrate RealServer G2 Workgroup Edition, for on-demand communication and training using streamed RealAudio and RealVideo. IBM will integrate the technology using new Java-based middleware it calls HotMedia Connect. The work should be completed by early 1999.
Content from our partners
