California based Virage has announced the launch of two products. The first is VS Webcasting.

An official release states that the product lets corporations self-produce live and on-demand webcasting events such as executive communications, human resource broadcasts and market announcements. Organisations can schedule and deliver interactive live webcasts that include audio and video synchronised with slide presentations and documents as well as audience polls and questions. At the same time, VS Webcasting creates a searchable, on-demand version of the event that is available minutes after the live broadcast is over.

Virage claims to be a leading provider of enterprise-scale video content management and publishing solutions. Senior VP of products and services for Virage Dave Girouard says their solution not only improves the management and delivery of the live event but also automates the process of turning each event into a valuable, searchable repository of corporate knowledge.

VS Webcasting gives event administrators tools required to schedule a live webcast, notify attendees and manage an event. Real-time management tools provide complete control during the event to ensure maximum audience participation and high quality information delivery. Using desktops viewers can watch the live event, review associated PowerPoint slides and other data. They can also respond to surveys and ask questions.

VS Webcasting uses the proprietary Virage SmartEncode process to automatically encode and index the video during the live event. This process extracts information from the PowerPoint slides to create a table of contents and keyword index. Speaker names and locations can also be added to this index. VS Webcasting also lets corporations control information dispersal and gathering both during and after the event. User tracking and reporting allows administrators to track attendees, survey responses and audience questions.

Virage's second solution, VS Publishing is a next generation publishing solution for web-based rich media. The product is built upon the company's award-winning video application platform, already used by media & entertainment companies and others to create branded, personalised video sites for their fans, viewers and customers. VS Publishing claims to offers fast, flexible, and compelling presentation and delivery of streaming video content

The new turnkey publishing solution offers a streamlined workflow with simple editorial control and greater web site programming capabilities. This allows content owners to publish more content with fewer resources. VS Publishing is available from Virage as either in-house software or as a hosted service.

VS Publishing provides content owners with all the production and programming tools needed to create and deliver dynamic rich media programming to one or more web sites. The solution give producers, editors or webmasters an easy-to-use, web-based interface for selecting, building and posting content highlights from an archive or recently broadcast event onto any part of a web site in a matter of minutes.

VS Publishing enables the construction of highlight reels of sporting events, news stories or entertainment pieces tailored to specific topics without having to go through the task of re-editing and re-encoding each new piece. The straightforward interface of VS Publishing allows users of all levels to assemble and deliver content.

Features of VS Publishing include

1. Search for, preview, and publish clips from archived or recent events
2. Publish a single clip or build a playlist from multiple clips
3. Edit the in- and out- times for accurate publishing
4. Include low-res preview image or related information
5. Publish to an HTML editor, content management system or site management tool
6. Add, edit, delete or share playlists
7. Auto-publish new clips throughout site based on keyword or topic


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