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REALNETWORKS ANNOUNCES EXECUTIVE APPOINTMENTS
Former XM Radio Exec Acker Named Vice President, RealPlayer and Tech Veteran Matin is New Vice President of Carrier and System Software
SEATTLE, July 28, 2004 — RealNetworks®, Inc. (Nasdaq: RNWK), the leading creator of digital media services and software, today announced two new executives have joined the company.
Robert Acker, a founding member of the XM Satellite Radio team, has been named Vice President of the RealPlayer® business. Also, Aref Matin, formerly an executive at Juniper Networks and Siemens, joins RealNetworks in a newly created position, Vice President of Carrier and System Software.
"These two professionals will make great new additions to the talented, experienced and creative leadership team we’ve assembled at Real," said Rob Glaser, founder and CEO, RealNetworks, Inc. "Robert’s background is a great fit. He helped to create the satellite radio industry and helped XM become #1 in that business. Aref’s experience at providing innovative and executive leadership to technology teams will be invaluable in leading our efforts to build our systems business."
Mr. Acker will be directing Real’s business around the award-winning RealPlayer, including development, distribution and marketing of the RealPlayer. Robert Acker joins RealNetworks from XM Satellite Radio where he was a founding member of the team and later launching the service as VP of Marketing. Most recently, Mr. Acker was Vice President of Product Development and Planning, where he oversaw the design of XM’s award-winning radios. Mr. Acker holds an MBA from Harvard and Bachelor and Masters of degrees in engineering from MIT. Mr. Acker will report to Richard Wolpert, Chief Strategy Officer.
First launched in 1997, RealPlayer offers consumers the ability to view, manage and play all types of digital media. Earlier this year, RealNetworks introduced RealPlayer 10, which simplifies the online media experience for consumers as the only Universal media player for the PC. RealPlayer plays all major Internet media types, including RealAudio®/RealVideo®, QuickTime, Windows Media, MP3, and MPEG-4. In addition, by offering a newly redesigned Real Guide integrated into RealPlayer, consumers can easily locate the entertainment, music, sports and news content they are seeking. RealPlayer 10 also features the RealPlayer Music Store which offers more than 625,000 songs in the highest quality file formats available from any online store.
Aref Matin joins RealNetworks for the new role of Vice President of Carrier and System Software. Mr. Matin will be responsible for software product development, solution integration services and technical customer support of RealNetworks’ systems software solutions for both wireline and wireless networks. Mr. Matin has worked at the executive level for several technology and system integration companies including Juniper Networks, Siemens AG in Munich, AT&T Business & Communications Services, and AT&T Bell Labs. Most recently, Mr. Matin was VP of Engineering and Operations with Millennial Net, which develops wireless sensor networks. Mr. Matin holds a Bachelors and Masters in Electronic Engineering from Northop University. Mr. Matin reports to Martin Plaehn, Executive Vice President.
RealNetworks’ Helix™ line of products features best of breed audio and video encoders, servers, gateways, media network management software and system support services. Tuned for both wireline and wireless networks, RealNetworks’ audio and video servers offer market tested software for transmitting RealAudio/RealVideo, MPEG4, 3GGP, Quicktime, Windows Media and more than 50 other media types. Additionally, RealNetworks has launched the Helix Community, which offers open source and community licensed versions of core Helix DNA client, encoder and server software.
For More Information, Press Only:
Press: Erika Shaffer, RealNetworks, (206) 892-6191, eshaffer@real.com
ABOUT REALNETWORKS
RealNetworks, Inc. is the leading creator of digital media services and software including the award-winning Rhapsody® Internet jukebox service and RealPlayer 10, the first product to integrate finding, organizing, buying, playing and managing digital audio and video in a single product. Consumers can access and experience audio/video programming and download RealNetworks' consumer software at http://www.real.com. Broadcasters, network operators, media companies and enterprises use RealNetworks' products and services to create and deliver digital media to PCs, mobile phones and consumer electronics devices. RealNetworks' corporate information is located at http://www.realnetworks.com.
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