A*STAR Technologies Help Companies Stay Competitive

Singapore, Singapore, January 28, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Companies in Singapore are benefiting from the technologies created by research institutes under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR). Reachfield IT Solutions, a local fast-growing e-Solutions provider, has signed an agreement with Exploit Technologies Pte Ltd (ETPL), the commercialisation arm of A*STAR to develop and market the Scalable Multimedia Platform (SMP) technology, a game-changing software technology that drastically simplifies the current media transcoding, management and streaming process. As a validation of the quality and potential of the technology, Reachfield has already secured a contract with NUS High School to deploy SMP in their internal learning network. Reachfield will continue to promote the technology to their existing customers, including the Singapore Tourism Board, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Archives of Singapore and the Asian Civilisation Museum.

The SMP technology was developed at the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R), a research institute of A*STAR, and brings pronounced benefits for video hosting service providers. While most existing products require the creation of multiple files to cater to a range of bandwidths and device resolutions, SMP is a standards compliant solution that creates a single ‘layered’ source file that can adapt automatically to the device and bandwidth of end users. In this way, substantial savings can be achieved in the reduction of storage space needed, and minimisation of man-hours for file transcoding and complexity of file management.

For end users, if one is a fan of Titanic and wished to view the movie on their iPhone, computer and on a High Definition TV (HDTV), they may need to download multiple files with the corresponding frame rates, resolutions and file sizes. Now, with SMP, a single file is all they need. With just a one-time encoding process, the source file can be loaded and read anytime, anywhere and on any device. The core layer of the source files is backward compatible to the common H.264 format. Users can use their existing H.264 players on their devices to play the core layer of the video file. In addition, SMP can also automatically adapt to the available bandwidth and scale to the best quality of video, thus enabling uninterrupted video streaming over a variable bandwidth. No more endless buffering and playback problems!

Professor Lye Kin Mun, Executive Director of I²R said: “I2R is delighted that its Scalable Multimedia Platform (SMP) technology has been licenced to a local SME and that the company has secured its first customer. We hope that other companies providing video hosting and other video streaming services will take advantage of this cutting-edge software technology to bring new, exciting and innovative solutions to the global market.”

Winson Wee, Reachfield’s Vice President of Client Engagement and Projects said, “Our collaboration with A*STAR on the SMP technology has been an exciting and enriching journey. The I2R team has exemplified their dedication to support us in our common digital entertainment lifestyle vision. With the licensing of SMP, we are now able to expand our core business with scalable video product and service offerings, and be empowered as a differentiated local SME company to stay ahead of our competitors by delivering innovative digital media solutions and cost savings for our customers.”

“Reachfield is a good example of how an SME can effectively make use of promising homegrown technology to grow their business. Local companies need specialised measures to ramp them up, and we have just that— a suite of services tailored just for SMEs to enhance their growth strategies. We encourage more of Singapore’s 154,000 SMEs to come forward and work with A*STAR. There are plenty of other good sciences ready for more of you to springboard to greater heights!” said Philip Lim, CEO of ETPL.

I2R will progressively expand the capabilities of SMP from video-on-demand into other vertical applications including live event-casting, live broadcasting and video surveillance. SMP holds great potential to be deployed across many other complementary media industries.

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