UK School Authority Selects Video Furnace

A major educational authority in South Yorkshire, England, has begun using one of the U.K.’s most technologically advanced IP video distribution systems.

The 17 middle schools and two learning centers managed by the Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council are installing an IP video distribution system developed by Video Furnace, a US-based provider of IP video solutions.

The authority was seeking a video distribution solution to complement its new virtual learning environment.

A VLE is a central repository of digital learning materials that can be accessed by administrators, teachers and students.

Council officials chose Video Furnace because they found it met their three most important requirements:

Support for multiple operating systems. Doncaster required a system that would seamlessly work on a variety of computer platforms regardless of operating system.

No Client Software Installation. With a single centralized video infrastructure serving 19 schools’ independent IT networks, the council needed to avoid maintaining software across thousands of different computers.

Tight VLE Integration. The VLE forms the school’s central IT learning platform. Complementary technologies, such as video on demand, needed to simply become additional resources accessible through this portal.

In addition to enabling Doncaster schools to record and share video of everything from laboratory experiments to guest speaker presentations, the new Video Furnace system also streams 20 live television stations to the schools.

The Video Furnace solution enables any of the Doncaster schools or learning centers to record programs that aired within the previous 48 hours, or schedule recordings up to two weeks in advance.

District officials report that school personnel are very excited about the new Video Furnace IP video distribution system, and that teachers are already coming up with new ideas about how they can leverage the technology.

The system’s live TV streaming capability is already in place and full integration of video on demand into the VLE platform will be completed over the next year.

The installation is supported by a grant from the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund.

The ERDF invests in education and infrastructure improvements, among other initiatives, in regions in need of revitalization.

The Video Furnace system is one element of a major investment by the Doncaster council to upgrade its network infrastructure and technology capabilities.

The council purchased the system with the support of Techex Limited, Europe’s largest distributor of video transmission technology, which distributes the Video Furnace IP video distribution system throughout Europe.

“We’ve been supplying IPTV systems throughout Europe for more than 10 years, and this is the most powerful education system we’ve ever installed,” said Chris Bailey, managing director, Techex.