Sonic Foundry Enhances Webcasting and Video Distribution with Mediasite 6.1 and Mediasite Desktop Recorder

New features mark a more holistic approach to user-generated content with recording at the desktop, approval workflows, search-based catalogs and unprecedented customization

Madison(08 May 2012)

Sonic Foundry, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFO), the trusted market leader for lecture capture, enterprise and event webcasting, todayunveiled several significant new Mediasite features at UNLEASH 2012, its sixth annual Mediasite User Conference.

The new functionality marks the most holistic and enterprise approach to creating, managing and distributing video-based instruction and user-generated content (UGC).

This evolution of the Mediasite EX webcasting and video content management system (VCMS) provides unprecedented control and flexibility for universities and enterprises with multiple content producers, featuring web-based tools and collaboration workflows to manage their growing online knowledge libraries.

Now from the convenience of their desktop or laptop, Mediasite users can also record rich media presentations, learning object or training modules that synchronize video with their visual aids and automatically upload to the powerful Mediasite EX platform.

New Mediasite features include:

• Web-based Mediasite Desktop Recorder for user-generated content creation
  
  “The Mediasite Desktop Recorder will look better, be easier for our faculty and students to use and be easier for us to maintain than other software-based options. And because the Mediasite Desktop Recorder is a web client, our user-generated content will automatically upload to our Mediasite EX management platform. The app is just so easy to use, I know even our most tech-challenged staff are going to quickly adopt it.”
  ~Brian Smith, IT Specialist, University of Florida

• Collaboration workflows to review-edit-approve multimedia presentations before distributing
  
  “With more faculty requesting control over their own content, and with the University looking at creative ways to allow students to add presentations into our Angel LMS though Mediasite that are true works of academic content, it is important for us to have workflows identified that not only allow us to review, edit and approve presentations, but also maintain multiple revisions over time. Additionally, we want to be able to give our end users – no matter what their role is at the university – the feedback ability to help us manage content that has become dated. Lastly, we have been looking forward to a user-friendly playground to further explore user-generated content for playback both within and outside of our organization, and with Mediasite 6.1, we can automate and streamline how we publish these presentations through the approval pipeline.  We see this assisting us internally with in the Angel LMS and are excited about the possibilities of how it may also lend itself to our admissions department in the marketing of our university.  

~Thomas Kemp, Director of Instructional Technology & Learning, Ashland University

• Catalog creation based on search terms, enhanced mobile catalog navigation and analytics for individual catalog owners
  
  “As our Mediasite video library continues to grow, we find that different groups need to present custom playlists of presentations based on specific topics or themes. Allowing anyone in the organization to curate catalogs on the fly from search terms will have a big impact on our ability to customize the experience for different audiences and allow us to maximize our collection of on-demand rich media content.” 

~Scott Lawson, Director of IT Architecture, QAD Inc.

• Mediasite Player customization, including the ability to change video, slide and thumbnails sizes
  
  “The NASA Safety Center uses Mediasite for technical training, and occasionally there’s a need to increase the size of the slides being presented to enhance something that’s very detailed on the screen. The ability to customize the player solves that problem. And, while the Mediasite Player is very streamlined and professional looking, we’re looking forward to being able to customize it to work well with the brand of The NASA Safety Center. “

~James D. May, Ph.D., ELearning Program Manager, Alphaport, Inc., supporting the NASA Safety Center

• Personalization of the Mediasite Management Portal

• Content import and management for MP4s generated by NCast™ and Camtasia Relay®, in addition to current H.264 and Windows Media Video import capabilities
• Web-based Mediasite Editor, automatic software updates and data collection for Mediasite Recorders, plus dozens of workflow enhancements to the Mediasite Management Portal, Mediasite Analytics and Mediasite API

“To date, we engineered Mediasite as a room-based system that efficiently extracts and digitizes the knowledge shared every day, in classrooms or conference rooms. Once captured, this knowledge is then preserved, secured, distributed and analyzed, but always just a link away from anyone who needs it. With Mediasite 6.1, our new Mediasite Desktop Recorder and the evolution of our Mediasite EX VCMS, knowledge sharing can now happen anywhere, in an automated fashion, regardless of technology infrastructure or users’ technical skills,” said Gary Weis, chief executive officer of Sonic Foundry. “We took time to understand why current desktop offerings failed to deliver, and we identified key capabilities that we know are required for widespread adoption of user-generated content creation. Through that process, we eliminated much of the complexity that has kept online video from scaling effectively at an enterprise level. With the explosion of e-learning and massively open online courses or MOOCs, our clients are now eager to combine automated room-based recording with the market’s easiest-to-use desktop capture, and thus fulfill the promise of online learning with a proven leader and scalable approach.”

Mediasite 6.1 and the Mediasite Desktop Recorder will be available for demonstration at UBTech booth 301, June 11-13, and InfoComm booth C9141, June 13-15 in Las Vegas, Nevada.