NMM goes CeBIT 2005

[Marco Lohse]

Hi there,

as some of you might know, the Network-Integrated Multimedia Middleware 
(NMM) is one of the major multimedia architectures available as Open 
Source for Linux and others:

http://www.networkmultimedia.org/

NMM will be demonstrated at CeBIT 2005 in Hannover, Germany. Therefore 
we would like to invite you to visit us at our booth there. More 
information is included in our official press release.

Have fun, Marco.


(This text is also available at
http://www.networkmultimedia.org/News/cebit2005.html
an in German at
http://www.networkmultimedia.org/News/cebit2005_de.html )

Press release CeBIT 2005

Multimedia without frontiers: Networked, mobile, cross-platform

NMM software empowering multimedia devices is now available for
additional operating systems

Today, an increasing number of multimedia devices, such as TVs, hi-fi
systems, digital video recorders, but also mobile phones, provide
networking capabilities. However, current applications restrict
themselves to only perform simple data transfer or only work with
devices developed by specific manufacturers. In order to further
exploit the networking capabilities of these devices, researchers from
the Computer Graphics Lab at Saarland University have developed the
'Network-Integrated Multimedia Middleware (NMM)', which by now
supports arbitrary networking technologies and various operating
systems.

The new NMM software architecture allows to transparently connect all
available distributed devices. Furthermore, control options are
provided throughout the network. This results in completely new
'virtual' devices: For example, a commodity mobile phone can become a
radio receiver or the same video recording can be displayed on three
TV sets simultaneously. A ground-breaking and previously not available
feature is the possibility to operate across different
platforms. Arbitrary networking technologies and various operating
systems are supported. The software runs on Windows, e.g. the PC at
home, but also on different Linux and Unix systems, such as
settop-boxes, mobile phones, or personal digital assistants (PDAs).

The potential of this software architecture will be demonstrated at
CeBIT 2005 by showing a networked multimedia home-entertainment
system. The overall system allows for the flexible integration and
control of all available devices, for example for accessing the TV
program at different places within a household. In addition, media
playback can be handed over spontaneously between devices, e.g. from a
mobile MP3 player to a hi-fi system in the living room.  At the same
time, several users are allowed to join already running presentations
in order to enjoy the same content on different systems.

The developed NMM software is released under licenses that allow to
use it within Open Source and research projects, but also within
commercial products. Professional support will be provided by a
specialized spin-off company.

The NMM architecture and the home-entertainment system will be
demonstrated at the Saarland Research Parc at CeBIT 2005 in Hannover,
Germany, from March 10th to 16th (hall 9, booth D09).

More information is available at
http://www.networkmultimedia.org/