Streaming media is undergoing a much-needed change of image. Best known for consumer applications--Internet-based music delivery such as Napster and adult video--it will soon find its place as an important business tool, as companies seek more effective ways to use the Internet to cut costs.
Streaming media has moved beyond a corporate fad, to a point where companies can see the real benefits. It will help them to disseminate information, run virtual meetings and train employees.
Technology companies already make heavy use of streaming for training that is delivered to the desktop on demand. Companies are also increasingly turning to video conferencing as the result of concerns for safety plus pressures to reduce travel costs and the loss of productive time.
However, for businesses outside the technology sector, streaming has an image problem to overcome. For most people, it means tiny sound and postage stamp-sized video images on corner-cutting consumer sites.
Those applications are not representative of the power of streaming but they have set a low level of market expectation. Advances in compression technology are continually reducing the bandwidth needed to deliver audio and video at any defined quality. But suppliers of media players will still need to come up with business-quality interfaces.
News source: Yahoo! News
