QUALCOMM will make the air interface specification for its FLO (Forward Link Only) technology available to an industry-led group for the purpose of bringing a cooperative specification to standards bodies for ratification. QUALCOMM said it is working with leading companies to create a multi-party organization committed to this initiative.
The FLO technology was designed specifically for a mobile multimedia environment and exhibits performance characteristics suited ideally for use on cellular handsets. It uses advanced coding and interleaving to achieve high quality reception at all times, both for real-time content streaming and other data services.
Qualcomm also announced the appointment of Richard Sulpizio as president for MediaFLO, including MediaFLO USA, Inc. and MediaFLO Technologies. In this position, Sulpizio will provide strategic direction and manage all of MediaFLO’s operations, including overseeing the development and deployment of MediaFLO technology, wholesaling of content-delivery services to U.S. wireless operators, deployment of the nationwide MediaFLO USA network, acquisition and aggregation of multimedia content, and handset availability.
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- In November 2004, QUALCOMM announced plans to deploy and operate a nationwide “mediacast�? network, delivering many channels of high-quality video and audio programming to third-generation mobile phones at mass market prices. The nationwide mediacasting network will deliver multimedia content to wireless mobile devices in the 700 MHz spectrum for which QUALCOMM holds licenses across the U.S. It will be based on QUALCOMM’s “FLO” (Forward Link Only) technology and use the MediaFLO media distribution system for content aggregation, delivery and viewing. The network could support 50-100 national and local content channels, including up to 15 live streaming channels and numerous clip-cast and audio channels using QVGA video at up to 30 frames per second.
- The mediacast network, which would be operated by QUALCOMM’s new subsidiary called MediaFLO, would provide interactive multimedia services to consumers in cooperation with U.S. CDMA2000 and WCDMA (UMTS) operators. MediaFLO will aggregate and distribute the content that is available to all MediaFLO partners and will provide integration of this content with unique content that individual operators provide to maintain their competitive differentiation. MediaFLO would enable the carriers to deliver mobile interactive multimedia to their wireless subscribers without the cost of network deployment and operation.
- MediaFLO said its service would also benefit TV stations and networks, cable TV and satellite operators and networks, and other content providers by offering a major new distribution channel that complements their current offerings.