News for and about the Internet2 community

["Lauren B. Kallens" <>]

FOR RELEASE: 
June 27, 2005 

INFORMATION:
Gordy Pace
Director of Applications & Media Development The University of Montana
(406) 243-2371 


Ray Ekness
Chair - UM Radio-Television Department
The University of Montana
;
 406.243.4088 

Rishu Sharma
Director of Communications
The CampusEAI Consortium

 ; 216.791.6469

Rich Griffin
Vice President of Technology
Open Student Television Network
;
 216.470.6183 

The University Of Montana Joins The Open Student Television Network

UM to Provide IP Television to Students, Staff and Faculty

MISSOULA, MO - June 27, 2005 - The University of Montana today announced
that it has joined the Open Student Television Network (OSTN). By joining
OSTN, student, staff and faculty at UM will be able to securely access
student television shows developed by peer institutions such as University
of Southern California, Syracuse University, Indiana University, Ohio State
University, and University of Nevada, Las Vegas and broadcast television
programming from content providers such as NBC Universal, FOX and Starz
Encore Group on their laptops and PCs.

Launched in collaboration by Internet2 and the CampusEAI Consortium, the
Open Student Television Network (OSTN) is a hosted IP Television service
that offers traditional broadcast programming over Abilene - Internet2's
nationwide high-speed backbone network which provides end users connectivity
at speeds 100-1000 times faster than the average household broadband
connection to laptops and desktop PCs. The network reaches over three
million users, 206 research and education institutions, and 34 state
education networks.

OSTN has negotiated bulk discounts from major television content providers
such as NBC Universal, FOX, and Starz Encore Group for secure delivery of
their programming over IP to the desktop using conditional access and
digital rights management and Institutions participating in OSTN opt-in and
pay a la carte for the programming on the OSTN IP Television service. 

The Open Student Television Network Channel is a national initiative of
student television stations working together to build a digital channel of
student television shows. On the OSTN Channel, students are not only
creating content but they are also making the important programming
decisions that appeal to their peer viewing audience. The OSTN Channel
provides opportunities for students through resources, community, exposure
and experience. The OSTN Channel gives voice to students by connecting
schools' TV stations through video content sharing and digital delivery of
student-produced video content to the PC and TV. 

"The University of Montana Radio-Television Department is very excited to be
involved with the latest advances in technology that CampusEAI Consortium's
Open Student Television Network has developed for our students, faculty and
staff," said Ray Ekness, RTV department chair. 

"We're happy for this terrific opportunity to showcase our outstanding
student-produced programs around the country through CampusEAI and OSTN. By
seeing what other universities are producing, we hope this service can help
inspire and encourage our students and faculty," Ekness said.

"We're pleased to expand our collaborative efforts with CampusEAI to offer
this unique opportunity for University of Montana students, faculty and
staff," said Ray Ford, Vice President for Information Technology at UM.
"Delivering broadcast quality student-produced media content over
Internet2's high-performance network provides a great educational service
for our University. We're particularly happy to find cases like this where
we can use the infrastructure that we've built, in the form of our CampusEAI
portal and our Internet2 network connectivity, to enhance the educational
mission of a particular academic program."

"One of Internet2's primary missions is to provide a platform for
collaboration and innovation among the research and education community",
said Jill Arnold, director of member and partner relations for Internet2.
"The OPEN Student Television Network is an example of a leading initiative
that enables this kind of idea sharing and content distribution across
higher education - providing students and faculty greater access to
multimedia learning materials and information."

"We are pleased to see The University of Montana joining the Open Student
Television Network," said Anjli Jain, Executive Director of the CampusEAI
Consortium. "We look forward to further supporting this important
initiative."

"We are thrilled to have UM join OSTN. We are really looking forward to
working with such a talented group of student producers, writers and
directors. They will have a prominent position in our programming lineup for
Fall 2005," says Shane Walker, Vice President of Programming of the Open
Student Television Network. "The bulk discount agreements, which OSTN has
negotiated with the television content providers, will help UM to decrease
the costs of providing IP Television to the student, staff and faculty
community."

About University of Montana
Located at the heart of western Montana's stunning natural landscape, UM is
a magnet not only for top-notch teachers and researchers, but also for
students from across the country and around the globe. A city within a city
- with its own eateries, stores, medical facilities, banking and postal
services, and zip code - UM has an increasingly diverse population and rich
culture.

About CampusEAI Consortium
Led by over 100 primary, secondary, and post secondary education
institutions and healthcare institutions in Australia, Canada, United
Kingdom, and the United States, CampusEAI Consortium is a Cleveland-based,
non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating the development and
exchange of community-source software and digital content. For more
information about CampusEAI Consortium, please visit www.campuseai.org. 

About Internet2
Internet2 is a consortium being led by 206 universities working in
partnership with industry and government to develop and deploy advanced
network applications and technologies, accelerating the creation of
tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 is recreating the partnership among academia,
industry and government that fostered today's Internet in its infancy.

About OPEN Student Television Network
Launched by Internet2 and the CampusEAI Consortium, the OPEN Student
Television Network (OSTN) is a hosted IP television service that offers
traditional broadcast television programming and university produced
programming securely over Internet2 to laptops and desktop PCs.
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