RealNetworks

RealNetworks is a digital media services and products company offering video sharing, casual games, direct-to-consumer ringback tone, and RealPlayer—a tool for downloading videos from the Web for playback at a later date. RealNetworks develops and markets software products for creating, distributing, and consuming digital media. The company's portfolio of products and services includes computer vision platforms for live video, a natural language processing platform for multi-media analysis, and digital media expertise. RealNetworks was founded in 1994 by Rob Glaser and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

In 2022, RealNetworks announced the company had entered into a definitive merger agreement with Rob Glaser's affiliate, Greater Heights LLC. Part of the merger agreement includes taking the company private, and the outstanding common stock of the company was converted into cash for holders at USD $0.73 per share. This was done, according to Glaser, to allow the company to focus on research and development of machine learning-based technologies, without a focus on developing short-term profits.

SAFR is a computer vision access control device built for various markets. The system offers mobile enrollment, facial detection while mask-wearing, tailgating (standing too close) protection, and anti-spoofing technology. The SAFR system can be placed indoors and outdoors, offers touchless and fast access control, and encrypts all the biometric data without containing any visual imagery of faces to maintain privacy.

SAFR has partnerships and integrations with AMAG Technology, Genetec, ACRE/Feenics, and PCSC.

Kontxt is a management software for text messaging on mobile networks, with spam and gray route controls, allowing network operators to deliver better messaging experiences for subscribers. The platform works to help mobile carriers, message aggregators, and interconnect vendors filter unwanted messages, enforce gray route policies, and offer delivery prioritization services for enterprise vendors. This is done partially with machine learning, in which Kontxt crawls, analyzes, and processes billions of messaging data points using natural language processing (NLP) and deep learning techniques.

RealMedia offers consumers a high-definition experience for media consumption. It is a successor to RealNetwork's RMVB video codec and offers users up to 8K video delivery on mobile devices and allows mobile users to view high-quality video. RealMedia's technology increases compression efficiency by an estimated 30 to 45 percent when compared to H.264 to free device storage while providing high-definition images and increasing transmission efficiency. RealNetworks offers RealMedia to chipsets vendors to accelerate hardware evolution and for better bandwidth savings; to streaming service providers to offer a faster encoding codec and lower CPU usage and battery consumption; to OEMs to integrate into players and apps for the same efficiencies noted above; and to consumers to reduce their cache and download times with reduced data costs.

Other than Kontxt, RealNetwork offers mobile carriers with Ringback Tones solutions allowing mobile carriers to offer further services to users. This service can allow subscribers to offer an automated call reply to allow a caller to know if they are unable to reach their phone.

RealNetworks also offers GameHouse, which includes thousands of casual PC games in a single place, where members have access to a library of games that can be played whenever and wherever they want. In addition to the GameHouse gaming platform, RealNetworks has a game studio that develops casual gaming series, including Delicious, Fabulous Angela, Heart's Medicine, and Mortimer Beckett, which are available on PC and mobile.

RealTimes allows users to turn their photos and videos into shareable video stories. Users can customize their stories by selecting and editing video clips, applying preferred filters and transitions, choosing music soundtracks, and recording a voice-over. The service is available for mobile, including Android and iOS, and can be played through devices such as Roku and Chromecast.