| Anystream
is Everywhere |
By Katie Murphy
Observer Staff Writer |
| Most people come into contact with Anystream on a day-to-day
basis without even knowing it. Major companies like CNN, AOL,
and MTV use Anystream's software to 'stream' their video clips
making them available on the Internet, cell phones and iPods. |
| Some companies, such as CNN, use the software daily to constantly
update video news clips on their Web site. Anystream also
plays a role in many major entertainment events. |
| "The Grammys was a big event for us because MTV sent the
clips of the Grammys to T-Mobil phones as it was going on,"
said Janet Van Pelt, CEO of Anystream. "We're involved in
all the major league baseball web-casting, so opening day
was a big day for us because it was all live." |
| Geoff Allen is the chairman and founder of the Sterling-based
company. Along with Steve Geyer, senior vice president of
technology, the two had the vision of the practical purposes
of this technology. |
| In June 2000, CNN became Anystream's first customer. The
company marketed their software to news and sports networks
who wanted to put their media content online. |
| "It has just continued to broaden and has been a tsunami
over the last 12 to 18 months because everything is going
online now," Van Pelt said. "Including all the TV episodes
now." |
| Currently, the company's clients include all the major broadcasting
networks. "We are tangentially involved in lots of high profile
and interesting events," Van Pelt said. |
| The vastness of this company's expansion has become a running
joke for Van Pelt's three children, Emma, 8, Ethan, 6, and
9-month-old Quinn. The two eldest are constantly identifying
their mother's clients on TV. |
| "They'll watch almost anything on TV and they'll say, 'That's
a client of mommy's company,'" Van Pelt said. "Now, it's as
if I'm spying on them because anything that they do, there
is some connection back to mom and mom's company." |
| In the beginning of 2005, Anystream realized that major
media companies were not their only market. The higher education
market had developed the need to 'stream' their lectures on
the Internet. |
| "We purposely built a product called Apreso Classroom that
enables institutions of higher learning to automate the process
of capturing lectures," said Darian Germane, communications
director of Anystream. "We can capture only the audio, a video
of the professor speaking, we can capture a video that is
shown in class, or anything that was projected on the screen,
like various Web sites shown or excel spreadsheets. We can
capture all those images, then we assemble them, publish them
and put them as an Apreso icon, so when the student opens
it, they get a rich media presentation playing back." |
| The software is not a desktop application meaning the professor
does not have to do any downloading. This software is set
up by through the institution's data center. At the beginning
of the semester, the IT team would program the software for
all the specifics needed for the entire semester, including
holidays, class times, length of class and type of lectures.
|
| Once the lecture is formatted and available on the Internet,
the student can retrieve the lecture as a study aid. The file
has thumbnails that allow the student to scan through the
lecture researching specifically what they wanted to refresh
on or to see the entire lecture as presented to the class.
|
| This is beneficial for students when they are sick from
class, or in a community college where lifestyles sometimes
interfere with class time. It also provides the student the
ability to go back and review something their notes did not
cover. |
| "This is also great for helping professors to spend their
office hours better, rather than having to repeat themselves,"
Van Pelt said. |
| Germane said that professors who use the program have not
seen a decline in attendance. |
| "When we have done surveys, this is not used as a replacement
for classes," Germane said. "It doesn't affect dropping classes
at all." |
| Anystream's latest technology, which they will announce
June 5, completes the higher education package by allowing
these lectures to not just be accessible on the Internet but
also as downloadable files to be transferred onto iPods as
pod casts. The company is excited about the latest project.
|
| So far, Anystream has already witnessed the growth in the
company over the last year from the higher education side
of the business. "We're really pleased with the attraction
and the response we've had," said Van Pelt. |
| Anystream is located at 21335 Signal Hill Plaza in Sterling.
Call 703-450-7030 or visit www.anystream.com. |
