Frost & Sullivan Recognizes Echo360 With Product Line Strategy of the Year Award

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the lecture capture solutions market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Echo360 with the 2010 Global Frost & Sullivan Award for Product Line Strategy of the Year in Lecture Capture Solutions.  Echo360, a leading provider of campus-wide solutions that enable universities to record, manage and share rich media course content for blended learning and lecture capture, is being recognized for its unique product strategy that provides higher education with recording options to address a diverse set of teaching and learning needs.

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Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed a comprehensive product line that caters to the breadth of the market it serves. The award recognizes the extent to which the product line meets customer base demands and the overall impact it has in terms of customer value and market penetration.

Echo360's sole mission is to serve the higher education market by providing flexible deployment options and rich features and functionality. Unlike most vendors that provide only one type of solution – desktop-based tools, classroom-based software and appliance-based platforms – Echo360 provides multiple approaches, offering greater flexibility in lecture capture.

"The market for institutional capture is entering a period of accelerated adoption as institutions around the world continue to adopt lecture capture solutions to enhance student experience for on-premise and distance learning initiatives," states Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Aimee Roberts. "Overall, Echo360's holistic approach to lecture capture is unsurpassed by any other vendor in the space and positions it as the imminent leader in the market."

Automating the process of lecture capture, Echo360 offers four methods of recording content.  These include: fixed classroom deployments using EchoSystem capture appliance and software, classroom-based capture through EchoSystem capture software, personal capture for capture occurring outside the classroom, and ingest of video and screen casts created with outside software tools and devices. Each method provides users the ability to record rich content and automatically publish to an institutional website or to a learning management system (LMS).

With all options, recorded audio and video content are synchronized to optimize review and are viewable on any web-enabled device. Students can view captured content via PC or Mac, personal media player, or mobile device.  They can rewind, fast forward or skip to a particular segment through thumbnail navigation or keyword search.

"Echo360's highly scalable solution, which can provide access to thousands of concurrent users and support campus-wide or system-wide deployments, is already being successfully used in hundreds of universities across the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Pacific Rim," says Roberts. "Adoption is set to grow further as the company customizes solutions for different budgets, allowing universities to upgrade to EchoSystem capture appliance on a room-by-room basis."

The real value of Echo360 can be witnessed by EchoSystem's student users. A recent survey conducted at UMASS Lowell indicated that 72% of Echo360 users report improved learning and retention, with classroom scores 11% higher than non-lecture capture using peers. Time and time again institutions have reported improved enrollment rates, and new opportunities as they can facilitate distance and blended learning initiatives while using Echo360.

Based on these factors, Frost & Sullivan is proud to present the 2010 Global Product Line Strategy of the Year Award in Lecture Capture Solutions to Echo360. Frost & Sullivan's Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

About Echo360

They live their lives online, in the car, at work and of course, in school. At Echo360, our dream is to see a day when the college experience intersects with the life experience of students. Using lecture capture technology, students gain unbounded access to their educational content and the opportunity to relive their classroom experience for improved comprehension and satisfaction.

Our team includes current and former university administration, staff, teachers, faculty and technologists with deep experience in lecture capture at colleges around the globe. Echo360 was born as a subsidiary of Anystream, the world leader in digital media production and workflow management solutions for major media companies. In 2007, we acquired Lectopia – the lecture capture leader in Australia and New Zealand. We blended our deep experience in video, information technology and higher education to create the EchoSystem platform for campus-wide lecture capture. The result is a repeatable, on-demand educational experience that is easy for institutions to deploy and support while providing students exceptional playback quality and options in line with their mobile lifestyles.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.awards.frost.com.

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan