Digital Rapids TouchStream Boosts Veterinary Education at the University of Guelph

MARKHAM, Ontario, Feb. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Rapids announced today that the University of Guelph has purchased 20 TouchStream live streaming appliances for video capture, archiving and live streaming at the Hill's Pet Nutrition Primary Healthcare Centre at the Ontario Veterinary College. The TouchStream units stream and record medical procedures, interviews and other clinical activities from multiple locations within the Centre.

Hill's Pet Nutrition Primary Healthcare Centre is a state of the art experiential learning facility where students develop enhanced skills, competence and confidence in providing veterinary healthcare.  To support their educational goals, the Centre sought a user-friendly solution to capture video and audio from multiple patient care and procedure rooms, stream it live for immediate remote observation and store it for subsequent on-demand review.

The TouchStream appliances receive source video signals from a variety of locations throughout the Centre and encode them into digital formats for live streaming and on-demand viewing on the Web and other devices. Supplied and deployed by systems integrator Design Electronics, the TouchStream units are integrated with a Crestron control system, allowing recording and streaming to be remotely activated from each location. TouchStream's flexible concurrent streaming and archiving capabilities and its ability to integrate with third-party components were key considerations for the project, and contribute significantly to the overall system's ease-of-use.

"TouchStream plays a crucial role in allowing over 400 student veterinarians immediate and asynchronous access to observe and learn from the clinical activities of the Centre from anywhere on the Web," said Dr. Shane Bateman, DVM, DVSc, DACVECC, Director of Hill's Pet Nutrition Primary Healthcare Centre. "The use of this technology allows us to meet the learning objectives we've set out for our students and to expand our influence in veterinary medicine globally."

"Live video streaming and archiving for access on the Web and additional viewing devices is becoming a crucial component of today's advanced learning environments," said Wesley Thiessen, Product Manager at Digital Rapids. "TouchStream's ease-of-use, quality and adaptability make it ideal for educational applications, and we're excited that the University of Guelph has chosen TouchStream for this project."

TouchStream delivers Digital Rapids' renowned quality and reliability in a portable appliance with unparalleled ease of use. Software controls are accessed through an intuitive touch-screen interface with integrated video monitoring, eliminating the need for laptops, keyboards, mice and separate monitors. Flexible features allow refinement of the incoming source and the addition of branding to the outgoing stream, while models supporting multiple formats provide easy adaptability to varying project requirements.

TouchStream and other Digital Rapids solutions will be showcased in booth number SL6010 at the 2011 NAB Show, April 11-14 in Las Vegas. For more information about Digital Rapids, please visit www.digital-rapids.com.

About Digital Rapids Corporation – Digital Rapids provides the leading hardware and software solutions for transforming and delivering media, enabling the multi-platform experiences that are changing how audiences view content. Scaling from standalone appliances to global workflows, Digital Rapids solutions enable media professionals to maximize their productivity, quality, and the value of their content. Recipient of a coveted IBC Innovation Award and four prestigious Frost & Sullivan honors for encoding and transcoding leadership, Digital Rapids combines innovative technology with proven expertise to help our customers expand their audiences, increase their media revenues and reduce their costs. Digital Rapids Corporation (www.digital-rapids.com) is headquartered in Ontario, Canada with offices in the United States, the UK, Australia, Argentina and Hong Kong.

Copyright 2011 Digital Rapids Corporation. All rights reserved. Digital Rapids, the Digital Rapids logo and TouchStream are trademarks or registered trademarks of Digital Rapids Corporation. Dolby is a registered trademark of Dolby Laboratories. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders. Features, pricing, availability and specifications are subject to change without notice.

SOURCE Digital Rapids Corporation