ACADEMIA
Open Student Television Network, ORION to showcase talent of Canadian schools
Open Student Television Network (OSTN), the only 24-hour, seven-day global channel exclusively devoted to student-produced programming, is partnering with the ORION research and education network to bring OSTN to Ontario. 
The partnership with the Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION) - which links more than 70 research and education institutions with more than one million students and thousands more staff and faculty in the province - brings the channel to the province's colleges and universities and gives students and faculty a powerful platform to showcase their film, video and television productions to a global audience. The agreement also allows institutions to host the channel on campus. Broadcasting programs by students from Harvard, Yale, MIT, USC, and others, OSTN now welcomes content from Ontario students, creating new opportunities for students and faculty at ORION institutions, such as Sheridan College, York University, Ryerson University and the Ontario College of Art and Design and many more. OSTN uses the Abilene network managed by Internet2 (I2) in North America, the GEANT2 Network managed by DANTE in the European Union, and now ORION to deliver OSTN to more than 34 million users at 3,778 university member campuses and 36 countries in North America and Europe. OSTN multicasts short- and feature-length films, documentaries, performing arts, news and cultural programs. Students create content and make programming decisions necessary for the network to appeal to its peer-viewing audience. It also provides students with resources, community, exposure and experience. "This is a wonderful opportunity for Ontario film, video and television students," says ORION President/CEO Phil Baker. "We're very excited about helping to showcase our talent to the world and to contribute to this wonderful global forum," he says. "We soon expect to see high-quality Ontario student content on OSTN, including films, animation and performance arts." Participating in OSTN also allows ORION to showcase its multicast capabilities. ORION features the very latest in advanced network technologies and can support multicast feeds to member institutions. The partnership is a natural fit," said Prashant Chopra, Chief Executive Officer of OSTN. "This is OSTN's first expansion into Canada, and Ontario is its largest province. Thanks to this agreement, these students can view OSTN content via computer or television, and we are looking forward to their submission of quality content." "We are thrilled that students and faculty from Ontario's universities and colleges can now view the programming and we're pleased to work with ORION to help students submit quality entertainment, sports, news and research content for distribution to peers," he said. "ORION's testing of OSTN multicast demonstrated its perfect multicast design and architecture to be enjoyed by the Canadian students to share their known talent and creativity with their peers around the planet" said Latif Ladid, President of IPv6 Forum. OSTN will also collaborate with ORION to advance research in the new IPv6 Internet protocol, enabled throughout most of the ORION network. OSTN is an initiative of the CampusEAI Consortium, a non-profit organisation dedicated to facilitating development and exchange of community-source software and digital content. ORION carries the OSTN multicast feed from Internet2, which connects into Ontario via Canada's CAnet4 national backbone, operated by CANARIE.
The partnership with the Ontario Research and Innovation Optical Network (ORION) - which links more than 70 research and education institutions with more than one million students and thousands more staff and faculty in the province - brings the channel to the province's colleges and universities and gives students and faculty a powerful platform to showcase their film, video and television productions to a global audience. The agreement also allows institutions to host the channel on campus. Broadcasting programs by students from Harvard, Yale, MIT, USC, and others, OSTN now welcomes content from Ontario students, creating new opportunities for students and faculty at ORION institutions, such as Sheridan College, York University, Ryerson University and the Ontario College of Art and Design and many more. OSTN uses the Abilene network managed by Internet2 (I2) in North America, the GEANT2 Network managed by DANTE in the European Union, and now ORION to deliver OSTN to more than 34 million users at 3,778 university member campuses and 36 countries in North America and Europe. OSTN multicasts short- and feature-length films, documentaries, performing arts, news and cultural programs. Students create content and make programming decisions necessary for the network to appeal to its peer-viewing audience. It also provides students with resources, community, exposure and experience. "This is a wonderful opportunity for Ontario film, video and television students," says ORION President/CEO Phil Baker. "We're very excited about helping to showcase our talent to the world and to contribute to this wonderful global forum," he says. "We soon expect to see high-quality Ontario student content on OSTN, including films, animation and performance arts." Participating in OSTN also allows ORION to showcase its multicast capabilities. ORION features the very latest in advanced network technologies and can support multicast feeds to member institutions. The partnership is a natural fit," said Prashant Chopra, Chief Executive Officer of OSTN. "This is OSTN's first expansion into Canada, and Ontario is its largest province. Thanks to this agreement, these students can view OSTN content via computer or television, and we are looking forward to their submission of quality content." "We are thrilled that students and faculty from Ontario's universities and colleges can now view the programming and we're pleased to work with ORION to help students submit quality entertainment, sports, news and research content for distribution to peers," he said. "ORION's testing of OSTN multicast demonstrated its perfect multicast design and architecture to be enjoyed by the Canadian students to share their known talent and creativity with their peers around the planet" said Latif Ladid, President of IPv6 Forum. OSTN will also collaborate with ORION to advance research in the new IPv6 Internet protocol, enabled throughout most of the ORION network. OSTN is an initiative of the CampusEAI Consortium, a non-profit organisation dedicated to facilitating development and exchange of community-source software and digital content. ORION carries the OSTN multicast feed from Internet2, which connects into Ontario via Canada's CAnet4 national backbone, operated by CANARIE.