Digital Media

U Utah Moves to Hosted Videos with Sorenson

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 03/26/10

The University of Utah in Salt Lake City has launched two hosted video projects, one in the school of business and the other university-wide, that will use technology and services from Sorenson Media. The university is using Sorenson 360, a suite of services and tools that allow users to manipulate and publish their videos, post code to their Web sites for presenting the videos, deliver the videos to viewers, and measure Web statistics related to video viewing. U Utah will use the service and tools across campus as part of its video infrastructure.

Also the David Eccles School of Business will deploy the company's YouTube-like application, SquishNet. This program allows users to capture Webcam-recorded videos and post them to the school's Web site and lets administrators tag video assets, categorize them, and enter metadata. The tool also enables video search.

"Sorenson Media provides us with a potent, fully customized portal that is extremely easy to use and markets our program in highly innovative ways," said Anne Peterson, director of the Utah Business Leaders History Project for the university. "The company's solutions enable us to teach our students through the powerful emotional resonance and impact of video; they can now see and hear how legendary business innovators make a difference in their companies and in their communities."

The founder of the company, James Lee Sorenson, is part of a Salt Lake City-based family that has made multi-million-dollar donations to the university. The business school is home to the James LeVoy Sorenson Center for Discovery and Innovation Studies.

In addition to the U Utah contract, Sorenson Media has announced deployment deals with Harvard University, Ohio State University, Loyola Marymount University, and Ireland's Dublin City University.