Ruckus Joins Internet2 to Develop Next-Generation Content Distribution Technology

ANN ARBOR, Mich. and HERNDON, Va., Feb. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Internet2 today announced that Ruckus has joined the consortium as a corporate member and will collaborate with the Internet2 community to develop and test ground-breaking content distribution and authentication technologies to enable fast and legal intra and inter-campus sharing of multimedia materials. The membership will also allow the company to provide students at its 208 member universities blazing fast access to Ruckus' innovative multimedia service that enables schools to legally access and share a massive digital library of classroom- related multimedia.

Ruckus will leverage Internet2's high-performance nationwide networks to facilitate research and development on how digital media and campus communities can be enhanced through peer-to-peer networking, content delivery optimization, Shibboleth(R) authentication, and the creation of personal libraries. This work builds on continuing research projects Ruckus has undertaken with universities participating in the Ruckus network since its multimedia service went live in October 2004.

"The Internet2 community provides a view into the future of networking, enabling our corporate members to experiment in ways not possible on today's commercial Internet. Ruckus' partnership in our community will play a critical role in advancing new content distribution and authentication technologies as more and more students are demanding materials online," said Jill Arnold, director of member and partner relations for Internet2.

Ruckus is the first college-only service to blend social networking features with academic library management. As a corporate member of Internet2, Ruckus can leverage the speed of Internet2's backbone network to offer extensive educational multimedia service to the university community at speeds up to 1000 times typical Internet broadband service. Universities that access Ruckus' unique academic content library and distribution platform, Ruckus on Reserve, will be able to assign and digitally distribute classroom related material from six of the largest academic multimedia distributors -- making it even simpler for students to quickly access necessary academic materials from any point on the campus network without any special hardware installation and minimal technical integration.

"We're proud to join Internet2, and will strive to make significant contributions to the development of next generation technology and content," said William J. Raduchel, CEO and chairman of Ruckus. "Our partnership with Internet2 will not only increase the number of students that can access Ruckus' multimedia service for educational purposes, while eliminating implementation and installation costs, but will also help to create an enhanced platform for collaboration and idea-sharing for the growing academic community which we jointly serve."

About Ruckus

Ruckus is the premiere digital entertainment network designed specifically for college students. The Ruckus experience blends college students' top interests -- friends and entertainment -- to create a strong sense of community at universities across the country. The company's academic initiative, Ruckus on Reserve, offers college professors and libraries the same fast, flexible access to multimedia content for classroom use. Today, the Ruckus service is available to hundreds of thousands of U.S. college students and is quickly becoming the brand of choice for higher education institutions nationwide. For more information, please go to http://www.ruckus.com/.

About Internet2

Led by more than 200 U.S. universities working with industry and government, Internet2 develops and deploys advanced network applications and technologies for research and higher education, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet. Internet2 recreates the partnerships among academia, industry, and government that helped foster today's Internet in its infancy. For more information, visit: http://www.internet2.edu/.