Windows Media Support For Intel Xscale

Microsoft And Intel Announce Windows Media Support For Intel Xscale Microarchitecture For Wireless Devices

Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corporation have announced they will collaborate to optimize Microsoft® Windows Media™ Audio, Video and digital rights management (DRM) technology for the Intel® XScale™ microarchitecture utilizing the Intel® Integrated Performance Primitives (IPP). This collaboration will enable makers of 2.5G and 3G wireless devices to accelerate the delivery of richer digital media services for consumers.

As wireless networks throughout the world are upgraded for 2.5G and 3G, delivery of high-speed, two-way data with new Internet-based multimedia services will emerge. Consumers will be able to send and receive personal digital audio and video, and download and stream digital music, Internet radio and short-subject videos such as movie trailers, news clips, financial information and weather reports.

“Microsoft Windows Media Audio and Video 8 provides cutting-edge digital media compression and rights management capabilities to mobile devices,” said Peter Green, general manager for the Handheld Computing Division at Intel. “Intel’s joint effort with Microsoft to optimize Windows Media for the Intel XScale microarchitecture provides a key solution to manufacturers for the development of exciting new products with best-in-class audio and video capabilities.”

Windows Media will be optimized for Intel’s processors by incorporating Intel IPP, a set of highly tuned software primitives for the development of advanced multimedia applications. Consisting of prewritten functions for math, image, speech, audio and video processing, Intel IPP delivers great application performance by accessing the advanced capabilities of each Intel processor via highly optimized assembly language routines. Intel IPP can reduce battery consumption in mobile devices through shorter execution times and helps developers minimize time and costs by enabling an application to be ported more quickly to multiple Intel processors.

In addition to the optimization for the Intel XScale microarchitecture, Microsoft and Intel will utilise the Intel IPPs to optimize Windows Media for the Intel® StrongARM SA1110 and the Intel® Pentium® 4 processor.

“Intel processors such as the Intel StrongARM SA-1110 are already the solution of choice for creating the highest-quality digital media experience on devices such as the Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC,” said Dave Fester, general manager of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft. “Our collaboration today underscores Microsoft’s commitment to the new Intel XScale microarchitecture as one of the key platforms for next-generation mobile devices.”

Today’s announcement illustrates the industry’s rapid embrace of Windows Media for the wireless delivery of streaming and downloadable music and video. Windows Media Audio and Video 8 delivers breakthrough quality at any bandwidth and hits critical thresholds for wireless delivery. Windows Media Audio 8, released in March 2001, achieves near-CD-quality music in files or bandwidth at 48 Kbps or just over one-third the size of an MP3 file at 128 Kbps.

Windows Media Video 8, also released in March 2001, enables the delivery of the highest-quality mobile video experience, offering the same high-quality video in a file or bandwidth that is nearly 50 percent smaller than other video compression technologies. This is ideally suited for the GPRS networks being built today in Europe, Asia and the United States as well as networks upgraded to the third-generation (i.e., UMTS) standard.

Intel XScale Microarchitecture and Intel IPP
The Intel® XScale™ microarchitecture introduces a new level of balanced performance for wireless and handheld applications — a processing solution designed to bring unprecedented low-power operation to a whole new class of integrated devices. Combining performance, speed and cutting-edge, low-power design into a compact, high-performance, RISC core, the Intel XScale microarchitecture is a natural solution for applications where battery life and system performance are critical design goals. From wireless and handheld applications — such as digital phones, personal digital assistants and communicators — to portable Internet appliances such as Web tablets and industrial handhelds, the Intel XScale Technology is breaking new ground in products that will expand the future of the Internet. More information is available at http://intel.com/design/intelxscale/.

Intel IPP is a low-level cross-platform software application programming interface for communications, signal processing, math and media functions. Intel IPP is highly optimized for Intel XScale microarchitecture, Intel StrongARM, Intel Pentium 4 processor and Intel® Itanium™ architecture™.

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