Philips and SES Multimedia demonstrate satellite-streamed MPEG-4 at IBC2001

Two companies showcase IP multicast delivery of ISO-compliant world standard via ASTRA-NET service platform

Philips and SES Multimedia, a wholly owned daughter company of ASTRA, Europe's leading satellite system, are to give a significant demonstration of MPEG-4 IP-based broadband content streaming at IBC2001, combining the ASTRA-NET broadband satellite service with Philips' ISO-compliant MPEG-4 world standard product solution.

Philips and ASTRA-NET will showcase the clear benefits of streaming content based on MPEG-4, via an open and standard based solution by uplinking content encoded using Philips' WebCine MPEG-4 Encoder and distributed via ASTRA-NET multicast to reception terminals within the Amsterdam RAI convention centre.

Satellite is Europe's fastest-growing broadband distribution medium and is seen as a highly effective way to deliver IP-based streamed media due to the huge bandwidth capacity it offers, helping eliminate the bottlenecks that often affect reception quality of programming on the Internet.

MPEG-4 provides satellite with the ideal solution for streaming media efficiently, as well as enabling programming providers to create and stream rich, interactive and compelling audio, video and multimedia content. Satellite multicasting is increasing in popularity as a method of distributing premium content, such as pay-per-view and video-on-demand for the consumer market, and for distance learning, corporate communications and data caching in the business-to-business sector, with multimedia services deployed to multiple platforms such as PCs, TVs and mobile devices.

"This demonstration is an important step forward for opening up multicasting to content providers," says Christian Schock, Director General of SES Multimedia. "As a strong supporter of open standard-based distribution platforms, we fully endorse MPEG-4 and its ability to provide the content industry with a tool to freely explore the possibilities of broadband satellite multicasting in terms of content creativity and distribution capacity."

"Satellite multicasting and Philips' MPEG-4 solution are a perfect fit," says Ahmad Ouri, vice-president and general manager of Philips MP4net, a business group of Philips Digital Networks. "Our MPEG-4 technology offers superior levels of security, intellectual rights protection and usage tracking, backed by an ISO-compliant world standard available to anyone to create content with and apply. As a standard unencumbered by proprietary interests, MPEG-4 offers unlimited possibilities for creative, rich interactive content to be streamed via IP networks to any number of devices."

Experience the Philips MPEG-4 solution today

The high quality of audio and video streaming offered via the ISO-compliant MPEG-4 standard can be easily experienced by anyone with PC. The Philips WebCine MPEG-4 Player can be freely downloaded from www.mpeg-4.philips.com for use with any PC running Microsoft® Windows® '95, '98, 2000, NT, or Millenium Edition. The site also contains sample content which can be downloaded or streamed.

About SES Multimedia S.A.:

SES Multimedia S.A, owned 100 % by SES, operates ASTRA-NET, the open standards-based broadband satellite multimedia and data distribution platform. Today, ASTRA-NET successfully provides access solutions for corporate and mass-market IP multicast applications via the ASTRA satellites right across Europe. ASTRA-NET enables content- and service providers to reach users at broadband speeds with a variety of applications, based on IP streaming, addressed file delivery and satellite based Internet services, such as webcasting and TCP/IP based web surfing. Digital data and multimedia content is transmitted to DVB/IP PC-cards and devices such as USB- and set top boxes. All content is received via small (50 cm) satellite dishes pointed towards the ASTRA satellites. Data transfers can achieve net rates of up to 9 Mbit/s to individual PCs and of up to 38 Mbit/s to high end servers. The ASTRA-NET services combined with the new broadband interactive (BBI) features (2-way satellite) provide a seamless solution for high-speed interactive satellite communications across Europe and beyond.

For more information, please visit: http://www.ses-astra.com.

About Philips:

Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is one of the world's biggest electronics companies and Europe's largest, with sales of EUR 37.9 billion in 2000. It is a global leader in colour television sets, lighting, electric shavers, colour picture tubes for televisions and monitors, and one-chip TV products. Its 212,390 employees in more than 60 countries are active in the areas of lighting, consumer electronics, domestic appliances, components, semiconductors, and medical systems. Philips is quoted on the NYSE (symbol: PHG), London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and other stock exchanges. News from Philips is located at www.news.philips.com

Philips Digital Networks is a Business Group of Philips Consumer Electronics, a division of Royal Philips Electronics. Digital Networks is playing a leading role in the business of digital media delivery via broadcast and Internet distribution. In addition to being one of the world's top providers of digital television systems and set-top boxes, including Internet TV and personal video recording solutions, Philips Digital Networks has major business activities in enabling technologies like MPEG-4-based media streaming, secure content delivery, middleware and applications for digital TV.

Editorial note: Product and company names used herein are trademarks or registered trademarks and are owned by the companies mentioned.

For more news and information: www.digitalnetworks.philips.com and www.ses-astra.com

See us at IBC2001, stand number 8.379 and 1.269

For further information, please contact:

Philips Consumer Electronics Corporate Communications Simon Poulter Tel: +1 408-617 5875 E-Mail:Simon.Poulter@philips.com

Harald Melzer Communications and PR Manager SES Multimedia SA Tel: +352 71 98 98 7119 E-Mail: Harald_Melzer@ses-astra.com