SHEFFIELD HALLAM TO USE FANTASTIC'S CHANNEL EDITORIAL CENTRE FOR MOVE INTO VIRTUAL EDUCATION
Sheffield / London, July 21, 2000 - Sheffield Hallam University (SHU), the 6th largest university in the UK with almost 24 thousand students, has selected the Fantastic Corporation's broadband technology to develop a Virtual Campus - a programme to produce and deliver high quality teaching and learning systems to students both on and off site. Sheffield Hallam joins Portland College and Aston University in the move to adopt broadband technologies and in appointing Fantastic.
Sheffield Hallam will use Fantastic's Channel Editorial CentreTM (CEC), to tailor, package and schedule its curriculum and learning support programming, which is then sent to the BT Tower. At BT, Fantastic's Channel Management CentreTM (CMC) technology is used to transmit broadband files via satellite, then send material to off-site students' internet addresses. This learning material will include real time audio, video and high resolution animated graphics, which combine the quality, emotion and reach of TV with the interactivity of the Internet.
Ken Mills, Virtual Campus Manager at Sheffied Hallam, commenting on the move to broadband, said: "The broadband technology provided by Fantastic will enable the university not only to increase the number of students we can support and make the learning system more relevant and accessible. In the past, long-distance learning has not had a reputation for working effectively because of the problems involved with sending huge amounts of multimedia content to so many different locations within strict time limits. The speed and format of broadband will greatly alleviate those difficulties. With these new learning technologies and online systems, which are fully backed up by our tutorial support and assessment, Sheffield will be able to enhance its standing worldwide. We predict it will not be long before more universities follow suit."
In addition, SHU is involved in GENESIS, a European-funded project aimed at large scale market testing of Internet-via-satellite services, for the delivery and tutorial support of a number of distance learning courses. In participating as a content provider partner, SHU is adapting a number of existing course materials, including the MSc Networked Information Engineering course. Currently, this course has around 150 students, mainly scattered across the UK. Broadband enabled technology will be able to enhance the learning experience and reach a far larger market without compromising on quality.
Reto Braun, Chairman and CEO of Fantastic said: "I am very pleased to see that broadband technology is being applied in the education sector. Broadband opens new possibilities in the distance learning sector from which people will benefit all over the world."
The Fantastic Corporation (Zug, Switzerland) is the leading provider of end to end software solutions for broadband data broadcasting. This is an emerging communications technology which combines point-to-multipoint digital broadcasting with point-to-point Internet connectivity, in order to deliver rich interactive media content to PCs, digital set-top boxes or handheld devices (including 3G mobile phones) over any broadband IP network.
By merging the inherent bandwidth and speed benefits of broadcasting technologies with the interactivity of the Internet, broadcast data provides superior content distribution and interaction in an increasingly IP-centric world. Fantastic's end to end software supports the rapid growth of the "data broadcast" industry.
Fantastic's customers are typically in two categories. The first includes network operators, satellite companies and any other company providing broadband data transmission services. The second category is content providers, such as media or entertainment companies, or any organisation wishing to transmit large volumes of digital data to target receiver groups quickly and efficiently.
Fantastic is a public company, quoted on the Frankfurt Stock exchange the symbol: FAN.
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For further information, please contact:
The Fantastic Corporation
Annick Lusser
Public Relations
annick.lusser@fantastic.com
The Fantastic Corporation
Neil Corrigan
Marketing Manager
neil.corrigan@fantastic.com
Communications Ltd.
Esther Gottschalk
Marketforce
egottschalk@marketforce-communications.co.uk
Or visit our web site at www.fantastic.com
The Fantastic Corporation is a registered trademark. Channel Management Center (CMC), Channel Editorial Center (CEC), CEC Master, and MediaSurfer are trademarks of The Fantastic Corporation.
