News for and about the Internet2 community

["Joann Rasmussen, APR, MBA (CampusEAI Consortium)" <>]

Video Furnace enables OSTN to extend reach to all users on campus
regardless of device operating system or player software and enables 
additional functionality

CLEVELAND – November 01, 2007 – OSTN (www.ostn.tv), the leading provider 
of student-produced entertainment, educational and news IPTV content and 
services, today announced it has selected Video Furnace 
(www.videofurnace.com) as its new video distribution system provider.

The Video Furnace video distribution solution is a complete, integrated 
system that enables educational institutions and other organizations to 
deliver live, broadcast and on-demand TV-quality video to any computer 
or TV connected to the network. Platform-independent, the Video Furnace 
solution is compatible with Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating 
systems, and it is the only one that does not require any resident 
player software, browser plug-ins or hardware on the connected devices. 
An industry first, Video Furnace’s patent-pending viewer, InStream, 
arrives with the video stream and disappears when viewing ends, 
eliminating the need to install or manage any end-user software.

With the migration to Video Furnace, OSTN now can extend its reach to 
all users on a campus network, regardless of the device operating system 
or player software. Previously, users needed a specific operating system 
or media player to view OSTN content. With Video Furnace, OSTN can 
provide integration with course management software to deliver content 
such as distance-learning assignments and event broadcasts.

“After an 18-month competitive analysis, we selected Video Furnace 
because it provides a robust feature set and a seamless viewing 
experience,” said Rich Griffin, OSTN executive vice president and 
director of Technology. “The OSTN/Video Furnace partnership provides 
institutions with a scalable and secure solution to meet the growing 
demand for IPTV communication and education.”

“OSTN content is available to more than 4,500 colleges and universities 
across the globe. Any university or research institution connected to 
Internet2 or other multicast-enabled network can join OSTN and receive 
its content,” said Arun Kumar, OSTN President and CEO.

“Having the leading provider of educational and entertainment IPTV 
content and services choose Video Furnace is a testament to the power, 
flexibility and ease-of-maintenance our system provides, especially for 
the education market,” said Howard Weinzimmer, CEO, Video Furnace.



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About Video Furnace:
Video Furnace is a leading provider of mission-critical, end-to-end, 
enterprise-class IP video solutions. The privately held company has 
developed the only solution that brings live and pre-recorded video as 
well as video-on-demand (VOD) to network-connected devices, such as 
laptop and desktop computers, without requiring the user to install any 
resident player software or hardware. Enterprise, education and 
government organizations use Video Furnace to manage and deliver live 
and prerecorded TV-quality video to improve communications, deliver 
training, offer entertainment and enable complex monitoring. With more 
than 100 customer installations around the globe, the five-year-old 
company has quickly established itself as the video distribution 
technology of choice in the enterprise space. Headquartered northwest of 
Chicago, Video Furnace distributes its products through value-added 
resellers, system integrators and distributors. More information is 
available at www.videofurnace.com.

About OSTN:
OSTN is the leading provider of entertainment, educational and news IPTV 
content and services. OSTN features the only 24/7 worldwide channel 
exclusively devoted to student-produced programming. OSTN now is 
delivered to 42 million subscribers at more than 4,500 university member 
campuses and 37 countries around the globe.

In North America, OSTN uses Internet2’s advanced network to distribute 
programming to members. It uses ORION in Ontario, Canada and the GEANT2 
Network, managed by DANTE, in the European Union. GEANT2 links to Asia 
via TEIN2, the Middle East and Africa via EuroMed, Latin and South 
America via ALICE and Australia via AARNet. For more information, visit 
www.ostn.tv.

InStream is a trademark of Video Furnace.