Sep. 30, 2009 (PR Newswire) -- LONDON and SEATTLE, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- RealNetworks®, Inc. (RNWK), the digital entertainment services company, today released a new version of its Helix Media Delivery Platform (Helix Platform)--including tools to rapidly build and deploy mobile TV services to subscribers--with the new features that operators are looking for to help them control and monetize their 3G/4G networks. The new Helix Platform lets operators take control of video usage on their network, the quality of video delivered to subscribers and their ability to test new business models and monetize mobile video.

A number of key partners have run extensive trials of the Helix Platform, including Sky and SFR. Real's beta customers have successfully streamed video--including live sports events, news and user-generated content--to tens of thousands of concurrent subscribers using 3GPP-compliant devices, such as the iPhone. Further, system integrators such as Atos, Nokia Siemens Networks, F-Secure (formerly Steek) and Thomson have selected the Helix Platform as the foundation of their mobile video offerings to operators.

"Quality and reliability are among the top concerns when delivering our content to mobile network operators," said Ben Nielsen, Product Manager Mobile TV at Sky. "Because the Helix Media Delivery Platform is deployed both at the MNO and here at Sky, we can use Helix splitting technology to ensure our content looks great, conserves bandwidth and provides the best end user experience."

The Helix Platform's new features include:

--  Enhanced monitoring and control for both live and on-demand video in the
new Helix Session Manager allows operators to better understand and
manage the ways their network is being used for on- and off-deck video
--  Live rate adaptation in Helix Mobile Server ensures subscribers have the
same consistent video quality with live events that they have for
on-demand content in fluctuating networks
--  Play-list creation functionality in Helix Mobile Server provides
operators ad-insertion capabilities and thus the opportunity to
experiment with business models for mobile video.