ISMA Releases Content Protection Specification

Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA) Releases Content Protection Specification for Peer Review

Finalization Expected In June 2003

Mountain View, CA, USA. March 31, 2003.

The Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA), a global alliance of nearly 40 industry leaders in content management, distribution infrastructure, and streaming media, today announced that it is releasing for peer review a new content protection specification which will serve as the technical foundation for the secure delivery of streaming and download media content.

Finalization of the new content protection specification is expected in June following a two-month period of peer review. The specification provides a single, end-to-end encryption scheme for streaming media and file downloading that can easily integrate with different key and rights management solutions and licensed content protection devices.

The specification builds upon the ISMA's v1.0 specification released in 2001, which defines an end-to-end, implementation agreement for streaming ISO-compliant MPEG-4 video and audio over Internet Protocol networks.

"The ISMA's new content protection specification represents a significant next step toward greater market adoption of multi-vendor, interoperable streaming media products and services," said Tom Jacobs, ISMA President. "It builds upon existing open standards and provides a core technical foundation for the protection of digital content. It will ultimately enable a wider range of high-value content to be distributed by content owners and help to promote greater product and service interoperability."

"ISMA's goal is to bring the same level of ubiquity and interoperability to streaming that such broadly used technologies as HTML and HTTP have done for the World Wide Web. ISMA's new specification is to secure media delivery what secure sockets layer (SSL) and HTTPS are to secure web communication."

Jacobs noted that the new specification is based upon open standards and technology, including the National Institute of Standards & Technology's (NIST) 128-bit AES encryption standard, which has been embraced by the consumer electronic and wireless communities. As such, Jacobs said that the ISMA's content protection solution is "unencumbered by any additional royalty fees and intellectual property concerns." The specification is also compatible with established Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) specifications.

Key Features

Key features of the ISMA's new specification include end-to-end encryption for the secure delivery of streaming and download content at the content level. This allows media content to stay encrypted throughout video delivery over IP networks and remain encrypted on player devices.

The content protection scheme has been designed for easy integration with many different types of rights and key management systems providing content owners with maximum flexibility to manage business and technology decisions. "In developing this specification, we spent a significant amount of time gathering feedback from major content owners," Jacobs said. "As a result, our specification does not bind them to utilize specific rights and key management systems or pre-selected solution vendors. This allows content owners to retain control over critical business processes and related decisions."

Technical members of the security or content protection community who are interested in contributing to the peer review of ISMA's draft content protection specification can apply by visiting the ISMA web site, or by contacting ISMA Executive Director, Laura Nugent.

About The ISMA

The Internet Streaming Media Alliance is a non-profit corporation founded in 2000 by Apple (AAPL), Cisco (CSCO), IBM (IBM), Kasenna, Inc., Philips (PHG), and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) to accelerate the market adoption of a universal, open standard for streaming rich media over the Internet Protocol (IP). Today, the ISMA is a diverse alliance with representatives from all points of the streaming workflow. In addition to the founders, the following companies are members of the ISMA: AOLTime Warner, Inc., Analog Devices, Bitband, Coding Technologies, Content Guard, Dolby Laboratories Inc., Envivio, France Telecom, Fraunhofer Institute, Hitachi, Indigo Vision, iVast, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Nagravision, National Semiconductor, NDS Technologies, Neomagic, Network Appliance, net&tv, Nextreaming, Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd., On2 Technologies, Optibase, Sharp Labs, Sony, Telecom Italia, Thomson Multimedia, VBrick Systems, Volera, and the University of Washington. Additional information and a complete list of members can be accessed.

Source: http://www.isma.tv/pub/resources/pr.shtml?PR1011.txt

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive.

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The Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA), a global alliance of nearly 40 industry leaders in content management, distribution infrastructure, and streaming media, today announced that it is releasing for peer review a new content protection specification which will serve as the technical foundation for the secure delivery of streaming and download media content. Finalization of the new content protection specification is expected in June following a two-month period of peer review. The specification provides a single, end-to-end encryption scheme for streaming media and file downloading that can easily integrate with different key and rights management solutions and licensed content protection devices. The specification builds upon the ISMA's v1.0 specification released in 2001, which defines an end-to-end, implementation agreement for streaming ISO-compliant MPEG-4 video and audio over Internet Protocol networks. "The ISMA's new content protection specification represents a significant next step toward greater market adoption of multi-vendor, interoperable streaming media products and services," said Tom Jacobs, ISMA President. "It builds upon existing open standards and provides a core technical foundation for the protection of digital content. It will ultimately enable a wider range of high-value content to be distributed by content owners and help to promote greater product and service interoperability." "ISMA's goal is to bring the same level of ubiquity and interoperability to streaming that such broadly used technologies as HTML and HTTP have done for the World Wide Web. ISMA's new specification is to secure media delivery what secure sockets layer (SSL) and HTTPS are to secure web communication." Jacobs noted that the new specification is based upon open standards and technology, including the National Institute of Standards & Technology's (NIST) 128-bit AES encryption standard, which has been embraced by the consumer electronic and wireless communities. As such, Jacobs said that the ISMA's content protection solution is "unencumbered by any additional royalty fees and intellectual property concerns." The specification is also compatible with established Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) specifications. Key Features Key features of the ISMA's new specification include end-to-end encryption for the secure delivery of streaming and download content at the content level. This allows media content to stay encrypted throughout video delivery over IP networks and remain encrypted on player devices. The content protection scheme has been designed for easy integration with many different types of rights and key management systems providing content owners with maximum flexibility to manage business and technology decisions. "In developing this specification, we spent a significant amount of time gathering feedback from major content owners," Jacobs said. "As a result, our specification does not bind them to utilize specific rights and key management systems or pre-selected solution vendors. This allows content owners to retain control over critical business processes and related decisions." Technical members of the security or content protection community who are interested in contributing to the peer review of ISMA's draft content protection specification can apply by visiting the ISMA web site, or by contacting ISMA Executive Director, Laura Nugent. About The ISMA The Internet Streaming Media Alliance is a non-profit corporation founded in 2000 by Apple (AAPL), Cisco (CSCO), IBM (IBM), Kasenna, Inc., Philips (PHG), and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) to accelerate the market adoption of a universal, open standard for streaming rich media over the Internet Protocol (IP). Today, the ISMA is a diverse alliance with representatives from all points of the streaming workflow. In addition to the founders, the following companies are members of the ISMA: AOLTime Warner, Inc., Analog Devices, Bitband, Coding Technologies, Content Guard, Dolby Laboratories Inc., Envivio, France Telecom, Fraunhofer Institute, Hitachi, Indigo Vision, iVast, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Nagravision, National Semiconductor, NDS Technologies, Neomagic, Network Appliance, net&tv, Nextreaming, Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd., On2 Technologies, Optibase, Sharp Labs, Sony, Telecom Italia, Thomson Multimedia, VBrick Systems, Volera, and the University of Washington. Additional information and a complete list of members can be accessed. Source: http://www.isma.tv/pub/resources/pr.shtml?PR1011.txt Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive.