Seattle Based
Real Networks (
Nasdaq:
RNWK) is the industry leader in internet
streaming audio and
video technologies. Their competitors inlude primarily
Apple Computer's
Quicktime and
Microsoft's
Windows Media formats.
Their core technologies
Real Video and
Real Audio form the basis of many content distribution systems for the
internet. Unlike many other solutions, their streaming technologies use
UDP, and require special streaming
server. They are moving more and more into
media delivery, and joining the dying "portal" craze. Their main consumer end software product, is
RealPlayer, the front-end to the aforementioned technologies.
Real Audio and Real Video download a .ram file to your computer, which gives directions on how to retrieve the audio stream. RealPlayer then connects and retrieves the .rm (Real media/video) or .ra (Real audio) file.