Recently, Germany’s Fraunhofer (News – Alert) FOKUS Institute sealed a deal with Microsoft and announced the new release of a free Web browser solution in their Famium platform. FOKUS, a prominent institute that specializes in progress in technology for applications and media, provides an end-to-end platform for the creation and delivery of protected adaptive bitrate content. This Berlin-based company works to find new ways in which communications networks can work toward a more convenient and secure way of living.

The newfound connection to Microsoft (News – Alert) provides a significant addition to the platform, creating new content protection to premium video on the Internet to browsers that do not have plug-ins, delivering an upper hand to new ISO MPEG standards DASH and CENC to create DRM-interoperable media encoding.

So what does that mean in English, exactly? Microsoft PlayReady Senior Director Hayette Gallot says that this deal began in June when they showcased protected Web content with HTML5, PlayReady, and Internet Explorer 11. From there, they displayed how Microsoft PlayReady DRM works in an interoperable way and a standard way simultaneously separate from Web browsers, and this collaboration with FOKUS simplifies development and accelerates the ability to build better experiences for the customer while using the browser of their choice and providing excellent content protection using PlayReady. This development is a huge step in providing better customer experience as well as making huge strides for both companies.

FOKUS competence center Future Applications and Media (FAME) provides recent technologies and advancements that standardized media use on televisions, personal computers, mobile phones, etc. Head of FAME at FOKUS, Dr. Stefan Arbanowski, says that the company is thrilled to be a part of this merger with Microsoft to provide functionality, new solutions, and challenges presented in this deal.