Lucent Technologies Perceptual Audio Coder Now Supports Real Network's RealSystem G2 Media Delivery System

Business Wire, Jan 11, 1999

MURRAY HILL, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 11, 1999--Lucent Technologies announced today that a new version of its Perceptual Audio Coder(TM) (PAC(TM)),the leading audio codec in the industry, called EPAC(TM), now supports the RealNetworks RealSystem G2 system for streaming media. This development enables the industry's most recognized system for streaming media, RealSystem G2, to deliver the benefits of EPAC to millions of RealNetworks RealPlayer users.

This enables Web users to listen to streaming music at the highest possible quality levels. EPAC is based on PAC - developed by Bell Labs, the research and development arm of Lucent Technologies - which is a patented audio compression algorithm with the highest-quality audio at the lowest bit rates. At 128 kilobits per second, EPAC offers CD-transparent stereo sound.

Lucent will demonstrate EPAC at the upcoming Midem international music market in Cannes, France from January 24-28, in Booth No. B1.02 at the Espace Ortega in the Palais des Festivals.

"The Web offers music listeners greater choices than ever before, and we believe that the quality of what they listen to will be greatly enhanced by EPAC," said Rachel Walkden, director of Lucent's New Ventures Group.

EPAC uses psychoacoustic modeling - that is, a representation of how humans hear sound - to compress music in a way that is not noticeable to the ear. Music is compressed at a rate of 11 to 1, thus reducing the transmission time/bandwidth and storage by the same ratio, while still retaining its fidelity.

Several recent improvements in EPAC have pushed its performance levels to new heights, including: EPAC's improved quantization and coding, allowing higher quality audio at lower bit rates, and EPAC's improved psychoacoustic modeling from Bell Labs research, which provides CD-transparent sound at 128 kbps.

For more information on how to license EPAC for music contact Joyce Eastman at 732-615-2711 or jeastman@lucent.com.

EPAC's variable bit rates and superior audio quality allow the coder to be used in multiple bandwidth applications.

Lucent's PAC was recently rated the best performing audio coding technology in a class of five tested in independent trials by Moulton Laboratories. In this test, PAC at 96 kbps outperformed the MPEG-2 Advanced Audio Coder (AAC). At 96 kbps, PAC also outperformed AAC at 128 kbps based on a repeatable statistical score.

PAC is a technology which is supported across broad applications by Lucent. For example, Lucent Digital Radio (www.lucent.com/ldr), a wholly-owned venture of Lucent Technologies, will use PAC in its In-Band On-Channel (IBOC) digital audio broadcast (DAB) system.

Lucent Technologies' famed research and development arm, Bell Labs, has been at the forefront of technology for the music industry for decades, with the introduction of sound for motion pictures in 1926; the invention of stereo recording in 1933; the invention of the transistor in 1947; the introduction of computer-synthesized music in the 1950s; the introduction of psychoacoustics in the 1960s; sub-band coding of audio in the 1970s; the introduction of linear predictive coding in the 1980s, and the Perceptual Audio Coder in the 1990s.

Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and microelectronic components. Bell Labs is the research and development arm for the company. For more information on Lucent Technologies, visit the company's web site at www.lucent.com.