Livecast® and WiMAX Forum® Announce Partnership to Accelerate Live Video Broadcast Platform for Mobile WiMAX? Wireless Networks

Vancouver, BC (PRWEB) October 8, 2008 -- The live video from mobile devices market received a boost today as the industry's pioneer, Livecast (http://www.livecast.com)® (http://www.livecast.com), announced that the WiMAX Forum - the exclusive worldwide body for the licensing and certification of WiMAX (http://www.livecast.com) - selected the company to partner with the WiMAX Forum's Applications Lab Task Group (ALTG) and their two sanctioned testing facilities located at the Maxwell Lab (University of Maryland) and M-Taiwan Applications Lab (Taiwan).

The partnership is focused on providing global wireless network operators and analysts with a hands-on testing environment wherein real-world applications can run on WiMAX? technology.

WiMAX is based on the 802.16e standard and offers a transmission speed up to five times faster than current wireless networks. WiMAX provides broadband (http://www.livecast.com) connectivity anywhere, anytime, for consumers at a lower cost and with greater coverage.

The WiMAX Forum has established independent testing labs in Maryland, USA and Hsinchu, Taiwan - providing operators with a neutral WiMAX environment to showcase mobile (http://www.livecast.com) broadband applications. Operators can experience real-world examples of advanced services using the labs' low risk, proof-of-concept test network environment for load-testing, network stress tests and overall performance analysis capabilities, thereby expediting their own service implementation timeframe.

Livecast was invited by the WiMAX Forum to join them behind-the-scenes in order to ensure that live video - an application extremely well-suited for WiMAX Technology's high bandwidth uplink capability and continuous coverage - could be demonstrated to global operators while also helping to drive customer adoption in the future. Additionally, Livecast's end-to-end WiMAX solution is highly optimized for use by the latest mobile internet devices (MIDs), internet tablets, netbooks and laptops.

Taking it to the Streets:

On a related note, Livecast illustrated the next natural evolution of user-generated video - live mobile video - in the WiMAX environment during the Baltimore XOHM (http://www.livecast.com) WiMAX service launch celebration today. The Livecast demonstration captured driving scenes in various cities - autos with Livecast-ready mobile devices placed on the dash, broadcasting high-quality real-time video of the streets, buildings and billboards as the drivers themselves experience it at that very moment. The video-to-web transmissions look part videogame driving scene and part live broadcast from a roving news truck.

The only company to pair real-time video from mobile devices with location based services (LBS (http://www.livecast.com)) and GPS technologies - resulting in the dynamic mapping of a live video feed, Livecast offers a user scenario that carries with it a variety of very interesting real-world applications.

"Livecast is an ideal application for the WiMAX network. We need products that improve the mobile lives of the WiMAX customer, and Livecast's high-quality video streaming does just that," said Masoud Olfat, co-chairperson of the WiMAX Forum ATLG. "By making the most of the WiMAX high bandwidth uplink capability, combined with effectively leveraging a new generation of faster processors and the addition of location based services, Livecast presents another compelling reason to use WiMAX."

"Livecast's partnering with industry market-makers like the WiMAX Forum has always been a core strategy of the company, as these types of groups are the exact entities that pave the way to widely adopted commercial services," said William Mutual, Livecast CEO. "WiMAX's enhanced uplink speeds enable the Livecast platform to provide high bit rate encoding further raising the bar for quality and successful use by enterprise and consumer markets alike. The resulting Livecast video will have a higher frame rate, better resolution, in a more stable and robust environment. We are honored to be in partnership with the WiMAX Forum in order to showcase a real-world application and assist with further adoption of the network."

About WiMAX Forum®:

The WiMAX Forum® is an industry-led, not-for-profit organization formed to certify and promote the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products based upon the harmonized IEEE 802.16e/ETSI HiperMAN standard. A WiMAX Forum goal is to accelerate the introduction of these systems into the marketplace. WiMAX Forum Certified products are interoperable and support broadband fixed, nomadic, portable and mobile services. Along these lines, the WiMAX Forum works closely with service providers and regulators to ensure that WiMAX Forum Certified systems meet customer and government requirements. Through the WiMAX Forum Congress Events Series of global trade shows and events, the WiMAX Forum is committed to furthering education, training and collaboration to expand the reach of the WiMAX ecosystem. For more information, visit the trade show link at http://www.wimaxforum.org.

About the MAXWell Labs:

Part of the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies, the MAXWell Lab is the home to North America's first dedicated facility for the creation and testing of WiMAX applications. The Lab provides developers of WiMAX compatible hardware and software with a large test bed and support of faculty and students in university's highly-ranked computer science and computer and electrical engineering departments.

About MTWAL:

M-Taiwan Applications Lab (MTWAL) was the first WiMAX applications lab to be endorsed by the WiMAX Forum. The non-commercial proof-of-concept facility is owned and operated by Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and is located in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The main mission of MTWAL is to provide an open environment for international participation and the facility provides a mature laboratory with capabilities for mobile WiMAX application demo and tests. MTWAL has advised and provided demonstrations for over 50 network operators in 23 countries.

About Livecast:

Livecast (formerly ComVu (http://www.livecast.com)) offers a complete solution for creating and distributing the highest quality live video experience in a mobile environment. Pioneering the concept of DIY broadcasting using a cell phone as early as 2005, Livecast enables anyone with a compatible mobile device (over 300 models supported by Symbian S60, Windows Mobile and Linux), PC or Macintosh to stream live video straight to the web. Livecast offers an on-the-go solution for broadcasting social events, entertainment, amateur sports, breaking news and emergencies in the field. Livecast was awarded the prestigious NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge grand-prize for its innovative live mobile video and GPS mapping solution and was also selected as one of the 30 leading technology companies to join the Microsoft Startup Accelerator Program. Livecast is offered direct to consumers and as an ASP service or licensed solution to media companies, enterprises and government organizations. For more information please visit: http://www.livecast.com.

"WiMAX Forum," the WiMAX Forum logo and the WiMAX Forum Certified logo are registered trademarks of the WiMAX Forum. "WiMAX," "Mobile WiMAX," "Fixed WiMAX," "WiMAX Certified," and "WiMAX Forum Certified" are trademarks of the WiMAX Forum. "Livecast" is a registered trademark of LCM Livecast Media, Inc. Third-party trademarks contained in this document are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contact:

Susie Marino

dearsusan(at)marino.com

415.613.9138

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