Xing Technology
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software |
| Founded | 1989 in Arroyo Grande, California, United States |
| Founder | Howard Gordon |
| Defunct | 1999 |
| Fate | Acquired by RealNetworks |
| Headquarters | Arroyo Grande , United States |
| Products | Live audio broadcasting software, MPEG video player, MPEG audio decoder, StreamWorks streaming platform, Audio Catalyst MP3 software, MP3 Grabber utilities |
Xing Technology was a company specializing in live audio broadcasting software, established in 1989 in Arroyo Grande, California by Howard Gordon, a former executive in the networking sector.
History
The inception of Xing stemmed from a JPEG decoding library created by Gordon. Chris Eddy, known for developing an optimized software method to handle Discrete cosine transform (DCT) computations, joined the team to assist in creating the initial Xing MPEG video player—an MS-DOS application capable of playing I-frame-only MPEG videos at a resolution of 160x120 pixels.
Xing broadened its product lineup to include Windows compatibility for the XingMPEG player, an MPEG audio decoder software, a real-time ISA capture card supporting 160x120 MPEG video (XingIt!), a JPEG file management tool (Picture Prowler), and various networking solutions. The company introduced StreamWorks, recognized as the pioneering streaming audio and video platform on the Internet that accommodated both live and pre-recorded content. Although RealVideo made its debut in 1997 prior to StreamWorks, its parent company (Progressive Networks, later known as RealNetworks) initially concentrated on audio streaming through RealAudio.
Following the release of StreamWorks, Xing secured $5 million in venture funding. In contrast, Progressive Networks amassed considerably larger capital via its initial public offering and proceeded to acquire numerous competitors such as Vivo Software. Nonetheless, Xing sustained growth propelled by its "Audio Catalyst" MP3 software and "MP3 Grabber" utilities.
In 1998, Xing formed a collaboration with SimplyTV to provide near-broadcast quality video on demand, which demanded broadband speeds of approximately 200 kbps—a bandwidth not yet widely accessible. Market analysts including Forrester Research and RealNetworks expressed doubts regarding the commercial feasibility of this offering.
By 1999, RealNetwork completed the acquisition of Xing.