SANTA CLARA, CA – In an effort to create standardized software for digital rights management (DRM), Sun Microsystems has announced that it will make some of its software available to the open-source community.The aim of the Open Media Commons (OMC) initiative, which Sun CEO Jonathon Schwartz introduced Sunday at the Progress and Freedom Foundation Aspen Summit, is to create an open-source project for developing DRM software as well as a community that will further develop and support the technology.

One of the central challenges facing the OMC is creating a single system for handling a given type of file which is compatible with the full range of technologies that can be used to play and/or view such files, be it a desktop PC, a mobile device, or an Apple Ipod.

The core technology for the OMC project is Sun Labs’ Dream software, which consists of three applications, each licensed under Sun’s Common Development and Distribution License. Dream includes DRM-Opera, DRM architecture that uses standardized processes and interfaces to allow various DRM systems work together regardless of hardware or operating system specifications. Opera could prove useful standardizing future developments of DRM software already distributed by Sony, Apple, Microsoft and other developers.

Java Stream Assembly, an API designed to reduce the complexity in building and managing video streams delivered over networks, is also bundled into Dream, along with Sun Streaming Server, which is designed to broadcast standards-compliant audio and video streaming over IP networks using open-standard protocols, including RTP and RTSP.

Java Stream Assembly and DRM-Opera have been available since Sunday from Sun’s Java.net site, as both programs are written in Java. The C-based Sun Streaming Server is available through the open-source repository at Sourceforge.net.

In addition to Java Stream Assembly, DRM-Opera and Sun Streaming Server, Sun plans to offer more Dream components in the months to come, including a policy server, a management server that lets users create, store, and exchange keys used for public-key cryptography, and a connector that can be used to connect the Sun Streaming Server and other streaming servers.