Exeter College Case Study

Introduction

Exeter College was established in 1970 and offers high quality academic and vocational opportunities for 11,800 full time and part time students, as well as providing vocational courses for 600 14-16 year olds.We began using streaming media to improve access to our large collection of physical media. We now have media content referenced on a Library Management System and can search by title, keyword and description. This approach has saved staff a huge amount in lecture preparation time.

The Challenge

Our challenge was to figure out how best to serve a growing student population with high expectations for learning. We had a remit to implement an e-campus strategy and saw streaming media as an integral part of this. We thoroughly researched the options available and found the offering from RealNetworks provided us with an easy route to deploy and manage streaming media.

Why Helix?

Before making our selection we concentrated on comparing Real with Windows Media and Darwin. Out of these comparisons Helix appealed because of its ability to stream more than one media format as well as its compatibility with multiple operating systems. Occasionally demand does arise from colleagues with different preferences and by opting for Helix we are not locked in to any particular format or operating system.

The Solution

Our Helix Server runs on a Dual Xeon Windows 2003 Server and uses Osprey Capture cards to convert off air recordings to RealVideo. We encode our media using the Real codec as it provides the best quality at the bit rates we desire. All media is stored in a database that corresponds with our Library Management System. Staff and students are then able to access this content, both inside and outside of taught time.

We also run Helix Proxy, which caches our frequently viewed content to help save bandwidth. Recent reporting has indicated we are saving in excess of 862kbps of bandwidth since deploying the Helix Proxy.The RealPlayer Enterprise Manager was very useful, and made it easy to deploy the RealPlayer Enterprise client across our 1600 PCs. We also use it to regularly update and deploy our new RealPlayer builds and found it has taken the pain out of deploying and managing a media player across the College.

Mission Accomplished

Staff are now streaming extensively in their lessons and have given very positive feedback on how useful it is. Requests have been made for further content to be put on the Helix Server, so again we know it is proving vital in their teaching. In addition, a number of Colleges and Universities have visited us to see how they can use streaming technology in the same way.

Furthermore physical media is no longer an overhead since converting all legacy media into RealVideo. Everything is made available from our Helix Server and as a result staff spend much less time in sourcing media materials for teaching.

The Future

We will soon be broadcasting our lectures live and archiving everything on the Helix server for revision purposes. Long term we want to broaden our reach beyond the desktop and will be utilising the mobile streaming aspect of our Helix server to broadcast content to mobile phones.

Contact Streaming Today

Find out how Streaming could help your educational institution implement a streaming media solution. Visit us at www.streaming.co.uk or call us on 01844 337 353.