State-of-the-art AMR-WB+ Hi-fi Audio Compression is Now Available for Helix

State-of-the-art AMR-WB+ Hi-fi Audio Compression is Now Available for Helix

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- VoiceAge Corporation, the leading provider of speech and audio compression solutions for mobile and internet applications, announced today, at the CTIA IT and Entertainment conference, the availability of the AMR-WB+ hi-fi audio compression technology developed jointly by Nokia, Ericsson and VoiceAge for the ubiquitous and comprehensive Helix(TM) digital media platform. Standardized by the 3GPP for mobile multimedia hi-fi audio compression, AMR-WB+ delivers unrivaled sound quality across all types of audio, including pure music, pure speech, speech between music and speech over music, at remarkably low bit rates ranging from 7 kbps - 48 kbps in both stereo and mono operation.

Helix is both a platform and a developer community for the standardization and expansion of digital media. The Helix platform, Helix DNA, consists of source code for the creation, delivery and playback of digital media developed by RealNetworks over the past decade, as well as a set of interfaces for building media-enabled applications. Helix Community members, such as Nokia, Motorola and Samsung, use this source code to build media-capable products with industry-leading technology and commonly used interfaces. The Helix Community offers the source code of Helix DNA under commercial community and open source licenses. RealNetworks has also released a family of commercial products built on top of the Helix DNA platform, including the free RealPlayer(R), the RealProducer(R) and the Helix Universal Server.

"We are pleased that VoiceAge is joining us to integrate AMR-WB+ into the Helix platform. The availability of an AMR-WB+ extension for the Helix DNA client will lower our device partners' overall qualification time and allow them to bring exciting new products to market sooner," said Kevin Foreman, GM Helix, RealNetworks, Inc. "We strongly encourage content and rights holders to closely examine the new AMR-WB+ codec when they need very high sound quality for speech and music applications."

Leveraging the rigorously tested, robust and low complexity AMR-WB+ standard technology inside the framework of the proven and widely adopted Helix media platform provides multimedia service developers with the ability to deliver excellent sound quality to a wide array of client devices across mobile and fixed internet networks. The flexible nature of AMR-WB+ enables the adaptive delivery of consistent high-quality audio under dynamically varying network conditions, without compromising the all important end-user experience. This inherent versatility enables forward-thinking full-service operators to save substantial multimedia service introduction and scaling costs, while accelerating their time to market, by deploying and operating a common service delivery platform across their converged fixed/mobile networks.

"We are very excited about the inclusion of AMR-WB+ in the Helix Community tool chest. Combining the versatile hi-fi audio delivery capabilities of AMR-WB+ with the compelling content creation and management capabilities of the widely used and proven Helix platform opens up vast new vistas for the development and deployment of innovative multimedia services across converged fixed/mobile networks," said Laurent Amar, President, VoiceAge Corporation.

About VoiceAge(R) Corporation

VoiceAge Corporation is the forerunner in the development and dissemination of speech and audio compression technologies and solutions at the convergence of wireless, 2.5G, 3G, Wi-Fi, and Internet protocols. VoiceAge codec solutions are based on our flagship ACELP(R) patented technology platform that delivers unsurpassed quality experienced daily by more than one billion mobile phone users and 500 million PC users worldwide. VoiceAge is the License Administrator on behalf of Nokia, Ericsson and VoiceAge itself for the AMR-WB+ patent pool. In addition, VoiceAge plays a key role in setting industry standards as an active member of several standards bodies including ITU-T, ETSI/3GPP, and 3GPP2.

For further information about VoiceAge Corporation, please visit the Company's website at http://www.voiceage.com/. For further information about RealNetworks, Inc., please visit the Company's website at http://www.realnetworks.com/.

VoiceAge Corporation. ACELP and VoiceAge are registered trademarks of VoiceAge Corporation. Helix, RealPlayer and Real Producer are trademarks or registered trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc. All rights reserved. All other brand names, product names or trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Source: VoiceAge Corporation

CONTACT: Baris Demir, Director of Marketing, VoiceAge Corporation, +1-514-737-4940 ext. 233, baris.demir@voiceage.com

Web site: http://www.voiceage.com/

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