PAIUnet To Provide Pennsylvania Schools With SAFARI Montage

Intermediate Units Supply the Best Educational Digital Video Content via High-Speed Network

Wynnewood, PA (April 22, 2010) - PAIUnet, a statewide digital network, brings the premier SAFARI Montage Video-On-Demand and Digital Media Management system to all PAIUnet-connected Pennsylvania public school districts via the high-speed network. Through SAFARI Montage, PAIUnet will provide school districts with access to rich content and valuable resources that will transform the way educational services and information are delivered, without the need for servers in schools.

“The new statewide educational video network will provide teachers and students throughout the Commonwealth with the finest educational video content available, as well as a means for the state’s Intermediate Units to share their own instructional-rich media resources with schools throughout Pennsylvania,” said Governor Edward G. Rendell.

The project is being funded through a collaborative Act 183 grant awarded to all 29 Pennsylvania Intermediate Units, the state’s regional educational service agencies. Act 183 of 2004, also known as the E-Fund, has created opportunities for school entities to promote and accelerate broadband deployment through the awarding of funds to purchase services, hardware, professional development, technical assistance, and distance education. Launching school year 2010-2011, PAIUnet members will have access to SAFARI Montage K-8, 9-12 and K-12 Core Content Packages which include over 3,000 full video titles and 18,000 images.

“SAFARI Montage is revolutionizing the way educators teach today’s digital learners with the highest quality digital content,” said Andrew Schlessinger, CEO and Co-founder of SAFARI Montage. “We are particularly pleased that all PAIUnet-connected public school students in our home state of Pennsylvania will have access to these resources.”

SAFARI Montage will provide PAIUNet school districts with digital tools that will allow teachers to seamlessly integrate video into their curriculum. The SAFARI Montage Video-On-Demand and Digital Media Management system includes the finest educational video content tied to the curriculum from publishers that include Schlessinger Media, PBS, The History Channel, National Geographic, Scholastic, Disney Education, BBC, Sesame Street, WGBH and more.

In addition to the high-quality digital content, teacher’s guides are supplied as are quizzes which can also be created by teachers. Most video titles are closed-captioned and integration with SMART Board, Promethean interactive whiteboards and other interactive whiteboards are also supported. All videos are segmented into chapters and key concepts, and teachers can also create their own bookmarks. Each title is aligned to Pennsylvania Standards and comes with rich meta-data including grade range, running time, publisher, abstract and copyright date. The SAFARI Montage Media Player, a free plug-in, greatly enhances the multimedia experience specifically in the classroom, including document camera integration.

Creating playlists in the SAFARI Montage system is easy to do and a great way to organize a sequence of video segments and documents for convenient playback to create one multimedia lesson plan. Playlists can also be shared with other users as well as organized into folders.

For more information about SAFARI Montage, the total solution for digital media networks, please visit www.SAFARIMontage.com.

About PAIUnet

PAIUnet is a high-speed educational network that connects all 29 Intermediate Units and their member school districts throughout Pennsylvania. PAIUnet is a statewide telecommunications delivery system developed to support the mission and purpose of intermediate units, including the exchange of K-12 educational content and educational administrative support services. PAIUnet is committed to providing high-quality, cost-effective telecommunications and support services that meet the needs of its member intermediate units, school districts, schools and libraries.

About SAFARI Montage

SAFARI Montage provides K-12 school districts with a comprehensive solution for their digital media networking and visual instruction needs. The full suite of integrated products provides a single interface for accessing all visual resources from inside the school district intranet or from home. The award-winning SAFARI Montage Video-On-Demand and Digital Media Management enterprise solution is designed to cut costs for school districts by utilizing intelligent digital media delivery, while facilitating visual instruction and learning in the classroom. SAFARI Montage servers come preloaded with educational video titles tied to the curriculum from the industry’s leading video publishers. In addition, SAFARI Montage provides the ability for school districts to easily upload and manage their own digital video and other content, and easily disseminate it to all classrooms throughout the district. With the introduction of its new Pathways SM module, SAFARI Montage now provides a solution for districts to control, manage and schedule classroom and district devices.