January 2007
LETS Partner Secures Technological Equivalent of Nobel Prize
One of the partners involved in the South Yorkshire (Doncaster), based LETS (Leading Edge Technology Solutions) initiative has been awarded the technology world’s equivalent of a Nobel prize.
LETS’ project partner VBrick has received Frost & Sullivan’s 2006 Market Leadership Award for the World Video Encoders Enterprise Market. The award spotlights VBrick for providing powerful and reliable digital video products that are easy to use.
VBrick, based in the USA, is a world leader in telepresence and teleconferencing is one of the backers of the LETS project along with the EU’s Objective 1 regeneration fund for South Yorkshire and American 3D imaging leaders Eon Reality Inc.
With the help of VBrick, the LETS project is helping South Yorkshire firms to access internet-based live teleconferencing at a fraction of the true commercial cost aiding communication, sales, marketing and collaboration with distant customers, suppliers and trading partners.
Through LETS, around £1million of grant aid is available to small and medium-sized South Yorkshire firms to take advantage of new communications and 3D imaging technology until June 2008. The technology can cut costs and advance speed to market in a variety of applications ranging from improved communications to product design, marketing and distance training.
Organisations rely on VBrick for a myriad of applications such as streaming live and stored training content to desktop comuters; establishing distance learning capabilities at universities; enabling real-time virtual presence collaboration between employees; and conducting remote video surveillance and process monitoring.
Commenting on the award to VBrick, Frost & Sullivan research analyst Vidya Nath said: ”We recognise organisations for advancing their industries and making demonstrable impacts on their customers’ operations and initiatives.
“VBrick’s flexible technology and attractive price is a catalyst for organisations to adopt digital video rapidly for enhanced communications clarity and productivity. VBrick is clearly an enterprise digital video appliance leader.”
Malcolm Kay, Executive Director of the Doncaster Digital Knowledge Exchange which hosts the LETS project, said, “The award to VBrick demonstrates the high quality of support now available to South Yorkshire businesses. If ever there was an opportunity for businesses to make the step change that is necessary to embrace new and innovative technologies at a fraction of the cost for hardware, software or project delivery, it is now.
“The LETS programme has been created for that very reason and the “cannot afford it”, “no time to spend on it” reasoning should not be used as the excuse for not entering the 21st century.”
VBrick’s seamless support for Windows Media and multiple MPEG standards empowers organisations to use the appropriate digital video format for distinct applications – spanning DVD-quality video to Internet streaming. About the size of a dictionary, VBrick digital video appliances provide the portability and ease of use to “plug and stream” presentations virtually anywhere. VBrick appliances enable users to store video temporarily before archiving the content for future viewing.
The VBrick appliance is central to VBrick’s webcast kits, which blend real-time audio/video, live synchronised PowerPoint slides, guided web browsing, and live polling and Q&A capabilities. VBrick appliances also integrate easily with the EtherneTV Media Distribution System, VBrick’s award-winning turnkey platform to record, stream, and manage DVD-quality content.
