Educators, Students and Researchers Benefit from Improved Remote Participation and Access to Distance Learning with Affordable, Easy-to-Use Video Service 

Blue Jeans Network has completed the Internet2 NET+ service validation process and can now deliver its cloud based video collaboration platform to nearly 250 universities nationwide over the Internet2 high-speed backbone.

The Blue Jeans service, which is already in use by hundreds of universities, colleges and research facilities around the world, is now available through the Internet2 NET+ portfolio, enabling all faculty and students to connect from any device and access education inside and outside the classroom setting.

Blue Jeans has collaboratively developed a special program and pricing for the research and higher education community. Through the partnership, universities have the option of paying a fixed, flat rate price for up to three years, based on the number of faculty and staff, and get unlimited use of the Blue Jeans service; unlimited meetings, unlimited minutes, unlimited licenses, unlimited ports. In addition, students receive free access to Blue Jeans making communication with professors, staff and peers easy and more effective.

As part of the rigorous evaluation process, Blue Jeans worked closely with several Internet2 institutions, including The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of Southern Florida and the University of Michigan.  

“Blue Jeans allows us to leverage the significant investment we’ve made in traditional video conferencing infrastructure to meet with people connecting from consumer devices. There is no pre-certification or testing required using Blue Jeans. Users simply click a link to join, and the meeting is off and running,” said Casey Emerson, Director of Education Technology, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at Chapel Hill. “We find new use cases for Blue Jeans daily; it’s been used for everything from student debates, remote collaboration and presentations, to meetings with clinical faculty located in hospitals and pharmacies across the state.  Blue Jeans and the Internet2 partnership reinforce our dedication to enabling effective collaboration for our students, faculty, and staff.”

As a member-owned, advanced technology consortium, Internet2 provides a collaborative environment for members to solve technology challenges and develop innovative solutions. To become a service provider in Internet2’s NET+ initiative, Blue Jeans had to pass a series of rigorous tests and an in-depth review of security measures and controls. Blue Jeans also worked to integrate their service with other Internet2 services including a direct connection to the high-speed Internet2 Network and integration with Internet2’s InCommon identity federation, which protects and federates the online identities of more than six million individuals. Universities that sign up for Blue Jeans through Internet2 will have their traffic automatically routed over the Internet2 Network backbone and users can log in to the Blue Jeans service by using their existing university credentials, for seamless single sign-on support.

“In today’s age of information sharing, the Internet2 community requires video collaboration platforms that are high-quality, affordable, easy-to-use and can be easily administered through our various universities. Blue Jeans passed the community developed Internet2 NET+ certification program with flying colors,” said Shelton Waggener, senior vice president for Internet2. “Blue Jeans provides a cloud-based service, which eliminates the need for costly and complex hardware. It is refreshing to have face-to-face interactions with colleagues across the country by simply clicking on a link.”

“Internet2 and Blue Jeans have a natural synergy; we are both focused on the power of collaboration,” said Krish Ramakrishnan, co-founder and CEO of Blue Jeans Network. “Communicating through email and audio calls is ok, but real-time, face-to-face collaboration is far more impactful. Our mission is to make video meetings so easy that anyone with a camera-enabled computer, phone or tablet can turn their device into a video conferencing system, resulting in more meaningful personal connections. The Internet2 partnership gives faculty and students an effective collaboration tool for every day use.”

For more details on the partnership, Blue Jeans and Internet2 will be conducting a videocast on Feb. 6 at 1 p.m. EST to dive deeper into how customers can take advantage of the new certification. To register for the videocast, visit http://pages.bluejeans.com/bluejeans-and-internet2-netplus-i2.html. To sign up for a free 14-day trial visit http://internet2.bluejeans.com.