IPTV - TV & Video Over Your LAN. Encoders, TV Gateways, IPTV Receivers and Video on-Demand: Birmingham College Goes Digital Birmingham College Goes Digital ================================================================================ cfarquhar on 09/08/2006 23:00:00 10 August 2006 Matthew Boulton College deploys Exterity's network AV to deliver electronic information points across the entire campus. London, 10th August 2006: Exterity, a specialist in network audio-visual (AV), has helped one of Birmingham's most innovative and technologically advanced colleges, to say goodbye to notice boards for ever! Using Exterity's isocket and idaptor technology, Matthew Boulton College has replaced some notice boards with state-of-the-art electronic information points across its entire campus. The new system enables all students, staff and visitors to access information relevant to their course or school from plasma screens in each department. The new system, which was deployed by Exterity's specialist education partner RM, can stream any type of media across the college's network to plasma screens in each of the nine departments including medicine, media, engineering and business. Each department head has access to the system and can control the material displayed. To date, material displayed includes videos of field trips, footage of students giving presentations, exam results and information on course changes. "Notice boards were just so clumsy," explained John Perks, IT Manager, Matthew Boulton College. "Staff and students were complaining that they were putting information up on the notice boards but no one ever saw it because it either fell off or someone took it down. With the new electronic information points, each department has complete control over the information displayed and can rest assure that the right people have access to the right information." "The college has a huge network capacity so it makes complete sense for them to use this to store and stream different types of media," commented Colin Farquhar, CEO, Exterity. "Apart from ensuring that students and staff alike have access to the information they need, the new electronic information points look very smart and certainly help to portray a professional and innovative image." ''Matthew Boulton College is always looking for new ways to use technology to engage and inspire their students. This use of Exterity is typical of their approach to the latest technology - to understand the possible applications and then implement in a way that truly improves the experience of students and teachers in College,'' explained David Lumsdon, Senior Sales Executive, RM. Looking forward, the college is hoping to extend the system's capabilities by giving media students access to it, which will enable them to set and run "MBTV", the college's first TV station. Exterity's isocket and idaptor technology enables the distribution of a multimedia material such as video, TV and DVDs through a data network. To do this, Exterity simply extends an IP or Ethernet network to provide multimedia services using a combination of its isocket receiver, idaptor, server and TV gateway products. The result is high quality digital video delivered anytime, to anywhere. NOTES TO EDITORS About Exterity www.exterity.co.uk Exterity Limited was formed in 2001 to create products to deliver broadcast quality digital video over IP networks within buildings. Exterity's products represent a significant advance over the co-axial cable systems in common use today but are viable for deployment in large scale video distribution systems. Exterity's core technology, in-socket, allows display appliances, such as televisions, to be connected directly to wall-mounted isockets other Exterity receivers to get direct and easy access to all available digital media and services. About RM www.rm.com RM is the leading supplier of ICT to UK education, providing industry-standard, educational software, services and systems to schools, colleges and universities. Founded in 1973, RM rapidly became a pioneer in the application of technology to education and the company's range of products and services have continued to expand to meet the needs of educational establishments since that time. Media contacts: Steve Douthwaite, Kate Hyslop and Emma Bridgeman Rocket Communications Tel: +44 (0)8453 707 024 Fax: +44 (0)8453 707 034 Email: exterity@rocketcomms.net