Published in September 7th, 2007
A few days after Microsoft released its Silverlight 1.0 plug-in, Adobe Systems has begun to disclose new features in its upcoming Flash Media Server 3. Many observers see Silverlight as being positioned as a major competitor to Flash and Adobe's other media technologies.
ADVERTISEMENT Adobe's new server, scheduled for release in the first quarter of next year, will have a "flexible environment for creating and delivering interactive social-media applications," as well as enhancements of traditional media-streaming capabilities.
The announcement of the new features was made during the IBC trade show in Amsterdam, where Adobe said the server will be previewed over the next few days.
Live Events, Chats, Messaging
The social-media applications, so popular in these days of Web 2.0, include audio/video messaging and blogging, live audio/video chat, text chat, and multiplayer gaming. There is also live event support for presenters of concerts, news, and other programming, which the company said is made possible in conjunction with the upcoming Adobe Flash Media Encoder 2. And, for content companies wary of stream-ripping, the server offers an unspecified degree of content protection.
The social-media features, as well as traditional streaming, will be enabled by a performance level that the San Jose, California-based company said is twice the previous version's.
With the Internet becoming increasingly accessible on mobile devices, Adobe's Flash Media Server 3 will provide live or recorded streaming to Adobe Flash Lite 3, which is the Flash player for phones and other mobile devices. The company said that Flash Lite 3-enabled phones should be on the market by the end of 2007.
Audiences are expecting "high-quality experiences that live up to and surpass television," said Adobe vice president Jim Guerard, who noted that the new Media Server can help publishers integrate video into their sites and applications "with more control over playback, interactivity, and branding."
Media Player, Cisco Connection
In an apparent reference to the now-emerging Silverlight, Adobe said in a statement that "the Flash ecosystem" is the only "ubiquitous online and offline video solution for creating and delivering" interactive media across browsers and operating systems.
Silverlight is also cross-platform, but Adobe's Flash player is the dominant video and animation viewer on the Web. According to Adobe, the Flash player is installed on 98 percent of the Internet-connected desktops worldwide.
In addition to the battle being fought on desktops and mobile devices, the Silverlight-Flash fight likely will take place on TVs as well. On Thursday, Cisco said that it will work to intregrate Flash Media Server 3 into its Content Delivery System.
Some observers suggest this could mean the delivery of Flash content to home TVs through Scientific-Atlanta set-top boxes, as well as to desktops — or "any stream to any screen," in Cisco's phrase. Scientific-Atlanta is owned by Cisco.
