STERLING, Va., June 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Anystream today announced Apreso Podcast(TM), an enterprise podcasting solution that enables institutions of higher education to make any lecture -- anywhere on campus -- available for playback on widely popular Apple iPods, iTunes or any MP3 player. Anystream will offer Apreso Podcast as a $10,000 site license to enable schools of virtually any size to deploy lecture podcasts campus wide.

Concurrently, Anystream announced that University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Arizona State University and Temple University are implementing Apreso Podcast to make lecture podcasts available to students by the Fall 2006 semester.

"Many of our professors were already creating podcasts on their own using manual recorders. Our challenge was to take these grassroots efforts to the next level and make podcasting a consistent, reliable study aid for any student to access," said Mike Lucas, UMASS-Lowell coordinator of distance learning. "Apreso Podcast lets us achieve that goal by automating the entire process of capturing and publishing lecture podcasts without requiring additional staffing or new classroom technology investments," he said.

Available as a campus-wide license, Apreso Podcast lets universities easily offer lecture review by automating the many complex tasks required to capture, encode, manage and distribute lecture podcasts. Based on the same underlying enterprise architecture of its flagship Apreso Classroom(TM) product, Apreso Podcast clients can upgrade individual classrooms to full Apreso Classroom functionality -- adding capture of classroom visuals, video and other materials -- to deliver a progressively richer media playback experience for students.

Apreso's hands-free, around-the-clock operation is made possible by Apreso Content Manager, which acts as a rich media command and control center for lecture podcasting. Included with both Apreso Podcast and Apreso Classroom, administrators use Apreso Content Manager to schedule semester-long audio lecture capture and to specify where, and how, each lecture should be published. The system's enterprise design also ensures that the lecture podcasts integrate seamlessly with key university systems, appearing with a recognizable icon in Blackboard/WebCT course pages or within pre-defined content categories in iTunes U for students to synchronize their iPods for playback at any time. Apreso's open architecture and XML-based API also enable universities to easily integrate with in-house developed course management systems and podcast servers.

"Apreso Podcast turns technology used primarily for personal consumer entertainment into a powerful publishing tool for colleges and universities," said Mark Jones, Anystream vice president of education products. "It's an innovative way for educators to deliver valuable course content that matches the on-demand, mobile lifestyles of their students."

Expanding enrollment of non-traditional students and the proven effectiveness of lecture capture technology to improve learning outcomes have increased the necessity for institutions to offer students online access to learning and classroom presentations. Anystream Apreso's automation, reliability, affordability and schedule-driven workflow have made it the solution chosen by top universities to revolutionize the student learning experience. For more information visit http://www.apreso.com/.

About Anystream

Every day, the world's leading media, education, and broadcast institutions turn to Anystream to publish rich media on the Web, on-demand, and on mobile devices to broaden their reach and maximize the value of their content. The company's scalable, enterprise rich media solutions automate the many complex processes required to change video and audio for distribution over any platform for playback on any device. Anystream has received numerous honors including the Frost and Sullivan Market Leadership Award, Presentations Magazine's Standing Ovation Award, PC Magazine's Technical Excellence Awards finalist, COMDEX Best of Show awards finalist, Entrepreneur Magazine's "Hot 100" list and Deloitte and Touche's "Fast 50." http://www.anystream.com/

Source: Anystream