TECHNOLOGY & TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Netscape, Other Firms in Real-Time Media Pact: One of the Internet users’ biggest frustrations--the long wait required to access audio and video--could be eliminated if 42 companies are successful. Netscape Communications Corp. and Progressive Networks Inc. said they and 40 other companies agreed to a proposed standard for delivering video and audio instantaneously over the Internet. The so-called Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) is a set of communications rules for control and delivery of real-time media. It would replace the need to download information onto a computer’s hard drive. Analysts say the effort to establish a standard protocol could spur development of applications that use the technology, as well as a market for them.