(Raleigh, N.C.) Inlet Technologies, a leader in live streaming and video-on-demand solutions for digital media, has been selected to provide Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Live Smooth Streaming online video for NBC Universal during the media company’s coverage of the XXI Olympic Winter Games from Vancouver, February 12-28. The announcement was made today by Perkins Miller, senior vice president, digital media, NBC Olympics; Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the .NET Developer Platform at Microsoft Corp.; and John Bishop, senior vice president of strategy and business development, Inlet Technologies.

Inlet’s SpinnakerTM family of encoding solutions is uniquely suited for live sports as it provides broadcast-quality streams over the Internet to multiple screens and devices. With its built-in support for adaptive streaming protocols, including IIS Live Smooth Streaming, Spinnaker generates high-quality streams that enhance online viewing of live sports action. For NBC’s coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, Spinnaker will provide high-definition (HD) streams in real time at resolutions up to 720p. Spinnaker also will enable Olympic Winter Games fans on NBCOlympics.com to easily switch between multiple events.

“Inlet is proud to help NBC deliver the highest quality live streams of Vancouver Winter Olympics coverage,” said Bishop. “Spinnaker, combined with IIS Live Smooth Streaming, will ensure that viewers have access to higher quality video and viewing controls than in the past, helping NBC to improve viewer retention and the time fans spend enjoying Olympic Winter Games coverage online. We look forward to being part of this monumental event.”

“NBC’s broadcast of the Vancouver Winter Olympics is a great opportunity for a broad audience to experience the type of HD-quality, live, online video that Microsoft and its partners can deliver with technologies like Silverlight and IIS Live Smooth Streaming,” said Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of the .NET Developer Platform at Microsoft Corp. “Inlet’s encoding solutions are essential to providing viewers with the highest quality IIS Live Smooth Streaming video that will enrich the NBC online experience of the Olympic Winter Games.”

“We approach every Olympics with the goal of delivering the best possible viewer experience,” said Miller. “With Inlet’s Spinnaker, we’re able to take a major leap forward with advanced video player controls and the first-ever HD delivery of online Olympic Winter Games video.”

Today’s online video experience has become much more interactive and personal, with the Internet no longer seen as a smaller screen television, but rather as a unique platform that can provide a richer experience. Spinnaker’s support of technologies such as DVR-like capabilities, instant replay, and IIS Smooth Streaming has been instrumental in boosting the quality of experience for end users. With Spinnaker, URLs or captions, such as scores and statistics, can also be inserted directly into the live stream.

NBC, America’s Olympic Network, has broadcast 11 Olympic Games, the most Olympics broadcast by any network. NBC surpassed ABC’s 10 Olympics with the 2008 Beijing Games, the most watched event in U.S. television history with 215 million viewers.

The 2010 Vancouver Games mark the sixth of an unprecedented seven consecutive Olympic broadcasts by NBC Sports which began with the 2000 Sydney Games and continues through the 2012 London Games.

Inlet Technologies’ live and on-demand digital media solutions help our customers build intelligent, robust digital media infrastructures. Inlet’s industry expertise, award-winning products and outstanding support enable content owners and distributors to expand their audience and maximize their content’s value. Inlet provides the industry’s fastest time-to-output, sets new standards for quality, and is the first to reach new platforms and screens. Industry leaders such as Major League Baseball, Microsoft Corp., Yahoo!, France Télévisions and Home Shopping Network rely on Inlet for easy implementation, technical prowess and enterprise scale for their mission critical operations. For more information, please visit www.inlethd.com. Follow Inlet on Twitter at InletTech.