Sonic Foundry Announces New Conformance with IMS Basic Learning Tools Interoperability Standard

MADISON, Wis., May 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sonic Foundry, Inc. (NASDAQ: SOFO), the trusted market leader for lecture capture, enterprise and event webcasting, today announced integration conformance certification for the IMS Basic Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) standard through its partnership with IMS Global Learning Consortium. This new interoperability enables content from the Mediasite webcasting and lecture capture platform to be seamlessly integrated with all popular higher education course management systems.

IMS LTI provides a single framework or standard way of integrating rich learning applications and content from systems like Mediasite with learning management systems, portals or other systems from which applications can be launched. Basic LTI is the initial release of LTI and is currently the most widely implemented version. It provides a simple method for instructors to provide access to Mediasite content anywhere within their college or university LMS or CMS, including Blackboard Learn, Desire2Learn, Instructure Canvas, Moodle and Sakai. Students can then easily access secure Mediasite content with a single sign-on. Products that are certified for LTI and other IMS standards are posted at imscert.org.

"We're excited for some of the new education standards like LTI to gain more adoption," said Brian Whitmer, co-founder and VP of Products at Instructure. "We think there's a great opportunity for interoperable, usable products like Mediasite to help improve the education ecosystem."

Mediasite's conformance with Basic LTI is part of Sonic Foundry's advanced integration services, which includes both custom development and adoption of industry standards to support clients seeking deeper integration between Mediasite and their enterprise or campus application platforms.

"IMS is very pleased with Sonic Foundry achieving LTI certification," said Dr. Rob Abel, Chief Executive Officer of IMS. "By incorporating LTI integration Sonic Foundry will enable a more seamless experience for their customers across a wide range of integration scenarios."

"Our vision is to capture, manage and make accessible all knowledge transfer that occurs in classrooms, training facilities and meeting venues, regardless of the course management system, training portal or content management system in place," said Gary Weis, chief executive officer of Sonic Foundry. "Sonic Foundry will continue to invest in resources that lead to open, standards-based integrations, culminating in more choices for our customers and easier access to learning."

Trusted by more than 1000 colleges and universities, the patented Mediasite webcasting and video content management system quickly and cost-effectively automates the capture, management, delivery and search of live and on-demand streaming videos and rich media that combines video with slides. 

About IMS Global Learning Consortium (IMS Global) www.imsglobal.org

IMS Global is a nonprofit organization that advances technology that can affordably scale and improve educational participation and attainment. IMS members are leading suppliers, institutions and government organizations that are enabling the future of education by collaborating on interoperability and adoption initiatives. IMS sponsors Learning Impact: A global awards program & conference to recognize the impact of innovative technology on educational access, affordability, and quality.

About Sonic Foundry®, Inc.

Sonic Foundry (NASDAQ: SOFO, www.sonicfoundry.com) is the trusted market leader for enterprise webcasting and lecture capture, providing video communication solutions for education, business and government. Powered by the patented Mediasite webcasting platform and Mediasite Events group, the company empowers people to transform the way they communicate online, using video webcasts to bridge time and distance, accelerate research and improve performance. Product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of Sonic Foundry, Inc. or their respective owners.

Certain statements contained in this news release regarding matters that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements. Because such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, uncertainties pertaining to continued market acceptance for Sonic Foundry's products, its ability to succeed in capturing significant revenues from media services and/or systems, the effect of new competitors in its market, integration of acquired business and other risk factors identified from time to time in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Sonic Foundry, Inc.