Bringing the BENEFITS of multimedia services and applications to users

Telecommunications is providing continuously improving tools to communicate. Multimedia is about applications and information, and it uses telecommunications as a tool. While multimedia applications are continuously improving, multimedia tends to adapt to the telecom facilities it can find in the real world. It is more interested in fast modems now than in ATM tomorrow; it is therefore also willing to accept today's Internet as its main platform. The Integrated MultiMedia Project (IMMP, ACTS AC023) has implemented a broad set of networked multimedia services. The approach has been to run end user trials based on real applications and services to study usability and technical feasibility of networked multimedia delivery, and to obtain end user feedback. To be able to arrange these trials, IMMP has defined requirements, studied architectures and network technologies and developed generic platforms and applications. The trials use varying user profiles, network technologies, middleware components, applications and services. These applications, compatible with the business and residential environments, have been developed in parallel with the set up of the trial networks. In the trials, inclusion of applications over the Internet played a key role.