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Geneva Area City Schools Saves $200,000 Using VBrick Systems to Stream Cable Television to the Classroom

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

VBrick Systems, Inc. (www.VBrick.com), an industry leader in affordable video over IP network solutions, today announced that the Geneva Area City Schools (Geneva) in northeast Ohio has selected VBrick Systems to stream cable television to the classroom economically and reliably - eliminating $200,000 in traditional Information Technology (IT) infrastructure costs. VBrick also enables Geneva to select and restrict access to specific cable stations, thereby ensuring age-appropriate content throughout the district.

Geneva's cable television streaming initiative is a component the district's modernization plan to build five new schools for its 3,011 students. In addition to the new high school that opened in January 2006, Geneva's strategic plan includes four additional schools by 2010. Ohio funding for new school development is contingent on Geneva's compliance with state guidelines that require all classrooms to include network connections, PCs, and cable television access. Ohio also requires school districts to manage (modulate) access to age-appropriate cable television programming and channels in each building.

The district required robust network classroom capabilities that are economical and easy for its one-person IT department to manage. Geneva also wanted to avoid installing expensive modulation equipment in the planned schools.

Geneva selected VBrick encoder appliances to stream cable television channels to each classroom across the district's gigabit fiber optic network - thereby eliminating the requirement for a separate classroom television coax cable deployment. VBrick also enables IT administrators to restrict cable channel classroom access. Importantly, VBrick empowers Geneva to provide cable streams to the existing schools and add classroom cable television capabilities to the new schools seamlessly without incurring additional costs.

"VBrick was head and shoulders above the other products that we researched because it is easy to configure and use," said Scott Huggins, director of technology, Geneva Area City Schools. "We chose VBrick because it provides the most efficient and economical way to bring cable television into the schools. Its flexibility to support additional applications is nice, but its value as a cable television distribution system is the key short term driver."

VBrick's intuitive management and reliability frees Geneva's scarce IT human resources to focus on other initiatives. School officials estimate that VBrick saves the district $200,000 in initial capital costs - 26 percent of Geneva's new school development IT budget. Geneva also expects to sidestep management requirements using VBrick.

Geneva's Streaming Solution

A VBrick digital video appliance receives cable feeds from CBS, CNN, Discovery, and other networks. VBrick appliances then typically digitize and stream the programming to all networked PCs or televisions in real time. VBrick multicasting technology enables an unlimited number of IP networked users to view a video stream, while only requiring the bandwidth of a single stream.

Geneva developed an IPTV cable streaming solution using VCRs and VBrick MPEG-4 dual-channel appliances. The new high school's media facilities room includes 10 VHS players, each tuned to a different cable television station. Two VHS players, in turn, are plugged into one VBrick dual-channel appliance. Each VBrick encoder appliance streams two digital video channels to the classroom across the district's network segment provisioned for video traffic.

Networked classrooms access all 10 simultaneous channel streams from VBrick. Teachers view the cable channels directly on the classroom PCs. VBrick's StreamPlayer software, installed on PCs, enables the teachers to access any of the 10 cable streams. StreamPlayer's intuitive menu-driven interface makes it easy for teachers to select a preferred channel. Most classroom PCs are connected to television sets, which broadcast content to students. In select labs, the PCs connect to LCD projection systems.

"Geneva Area City Schools combines ingenuity and leading technology to lay the foundation for a best-in-class learning environment," said Pat Cassella, senior director of marketing, education, VBrick Systems, Inc. "We commend Geneva's commitment to identifying cost savings while providing premier teaching resources to engage students. VBrick continues to enable Geneva and other districts to provide innovative learning tools for diverse applications and budgets."

Extending Digital Video Education Applications

VBrick provides the flexibility and scalability to support the district's evolving visual communications requirements. In addition to cost and time saving benefits, flexible VBrick appliances support multiple applications. In the future, Geneva may use VBrick to stream morning announcements or presentations across the district. Teachers who have recorded video on a DVD or VHS tape can also make that video available to any classroom on one of the 10 available channels.

About VBrick Systems, Inc.

VBrick Systems, Inc. creates and delivers innovative networked video solutions that enhance communications and reduce costs for organizations around the world. VBrick's broad range of video solutions provide the simplest and most reliable visual communications to businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies ranging in use from distributing news and information to distance-learning, training, and surveillance. VBrick, an ISO 9001:2000 certified company, has garnered numerous industry accolades including the Deloitte Technology Fast 500, Connecticut Technology Fast 50, and the National Association of Broadcaster's (NAB) Award for Innovation in Media in the Content Delivery category. Based in Wallingford, Connecticut, USA, VBrick's products are distributed through industry-leading value-added resellers, system integrators, and distributors. Find out more at www.VBrick.com.

Source: Business Wire

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