TMCnet News
Two Major Academic Institutions Select Codian's IP Video Conferencing Products; ESnet at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Virginia Tech Implement Codian Products for Advanced Multimedia Video ConferencingSAN JOSE, Calif. --(Business Wire)-- July 26, 2006 -- Codian, a leading manufacturer of video conferencing infrastructure products, announced today that ESnet at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Virginia Tech have selected Codian video conferencing solutions for online learning and to enhance project collaboration. "The Codian product line is a perfect fit for academic institutions, it allows diverse equipment to be used together optimally, without any sacrifice to the quality of the experience," said William MacDonald, General Manager of the Americas for Codian. "It is for this reason that we have partnered with so many educational and research establishments around the globe, to help make the virtual classroom a reality." The Energy Sciences Network (ESnet), a high-speed network managed and operated by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy, selected the Codian Multimedia Conferencing Unit (MCU) 4220 to expand its audio and video conferencing services to now include ad-hoc video conferencing and live streams. ESnet provides reliable, high-bandwidth connections to thousands of scientists at national laboratories, universities and other institutions worldwide, enabling them to communicate and collaborate as they tackle important scientific problems. "Many of the solutions we considered were just too cost prohibitive, especially when you add features like streaming," said Mike Pihlman, project lead for ESnet's Audio, Video and Data Collaboration Group. "We considered Codian because they offered a product with a built-in streaming server at no additional cost, as well as the performance and reliability we require." To date in 2006, ESnet's IP video conferencing service is averaging almost 6000 port hours per month of H.323 which translates to almost 300 meeting hours per work day. According to Pihlman, ESnet consistently received positive feedback from its users about the quality of the video they received. "We think that image quality, along with the reliability of the service, keeps them coming back to the resource," said Pihlman. In addition to ESnet's adoption of the Codian MCU, Virginia Tech has also selected Codian products to facilitate online learning throughout its educational institution. Located on the other side of the country, Virginia Tech has a long history of providing innovative distance learning to meet the needs of working adults and nontraditional students. Approximately 88 percent of the school's departments offer e-learning courses via VTOnline, which has served some 60,000 students since the school began offering the service in 1998. "The flexibility, expandability and reliability of the Codian solution is ideal for our high-demand environment," said Andrew Olson, video conference engineer in Virginia Tech's Communication Network Services Group. "We now spend a lot less time managing the various video conferences we conduct than we did before. In addition to saving time and improving overall departmental efficiencies, the Codian MCU has enabled us to increase student enrollments at remote sites, resulting in additional revenue, and significantly reducing teacher and student travel." About ESnet ESnet is a high-speed network serving thousands of Department of Energy scientists and collaborators worldwide. A pioneer in providing high-bandwidth, reliable connections, ESnet enables researchers at national laboratories, universities and other institutions to communicate with each other using the collaborative capabilities needed to address some of the world's most important scientific challenges. Managed and operated by the ESnet staff at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, ESnet provides direct connections to all major DOE sites (site list) with high performance speeds, as well as fast interconnections to more than 100 other networks. Funded principally by DOE's Office of Science, ESnet services allow scientists to make effective use of unique DOE research facilities and computing resources, independent of time and geographic location. ESnet is funded by the DOE Office of Science to provide network and collaboration services in support of the agency's research missions. http://www.es.net/ About Virginia Tech Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech is the most comprehensive university in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is among the top research universities in the nation. Today, Virginia Tech's eight colleges are dedicated to quality, innovation, and results through teaching, research, and outreach activities. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs. Find out more at http://www.vt.edu/. About Codian Codian designs and manufactures the most advanced video conferencing infrastructure products available. Codian's product line includes, Multipoint Control Units, Video Conference Recorders, Streaming Servers and ISDN Video Gateways. Using a unique architecture and the latest hardware technology, Codian's products are both easy to use and powerful, supporting enterprise and service provider customers worldwide. Codian has main offices in San Jose, California; Chicago, Illinois; New York; London, UK; Frankfurt, Germany; and Hong Kong. For a product demonstration or to learn more about Codian products, please visit the website at: www.codian.com. |
