ISMA interoperability and conformance

Ubiquitous streaming of rich media has long been one of the most difficult challenges, and at the same time it has invoked the most rewarding killer applications. With the increasing bandwidth available to users, expanding pervasiveness of multimedia-ready devices, and growth in rich media content, the dream of streaming rich media is coming closer to reality. However, interoperability is still one of the important remaining challenges. The Internet Streaming Media Alliance (ISMA) is working toward the goal of interoperability of streaming rich media (video, audio, and data) over Internet protocol (IP) networks by developing open streaming standards. Some of ISMA´s interoperability testing work takes the form of plugfests that provide intense interactions and exchange of media streams among tools and systems. This article describes how ISMA addresses interoperability testing and conformance, working toward the vision of seamless interworking streaming media devices.