Adobe to ship speedier Flash Media Server next year

Adobe Systems plans to release an upgrade of its Flash Media Server in the first quarter, the company said Thursday.

Flash Media Server 3, which streams multimedia content, such as videos, will be faster and make it harder to copy streaming media.

The company previewed the server on Thursday in Amsterdam at the IBC2007 conference for online media.

The media server will allow content producers to stream live video to Adobe Flash Lite 3, the version of the Flash for handheld devices that the company expects to be available by year's end.

The performance is expected to be nearly twice as fast as the existing server, according to Adobe. And to prevent copying of streamed content, Adobe is adding a new encryption protocol.

On Tuesday, Microsoft launched Silverlight 1.0, its challenger to Adobe's Flash Player, and said that a number of high-volume Web sites are using Silverlight.

Media companies are particularly important customers for both Adobe and Microsoft because they purchase expensive media server software and help extend the reach of respective development platforms.

Adobe also announced Thursday that Cisco Systems' Content Delivery System will natively support Flash video streaming.