Panopto Introduces a New Release of Its Platform for Video Communication and Social Knowledge Sharing

SEATTLE, WA–(Marketwire – Mar 13, 2013) – Video is increasingly regarded by executives, HR professionals, trainers, and marketers as a critical way to communicate and share knowledge. Yet, as enterprise video becomes more prevalent, many companies are grappling with traditional challenges of working with the technology:

• Different solutions for different scenarios – Desktop video solutions typically enable employees to screencast or record using webcams, but don’t provide high-end recording or live broadcasting functionality. By contrast, more sophisticated solutions enable the capture of complex video content and live broadcasts, but require the use of expensive AV equipment and professional services.
• Difficulty in sharing – Most video recording and production tools output a single video file, that must then be manually distributed and converted for playback on various devices. This results in video assets being scattered across departmental file shares and portals, without a central repository to easily access and view videos.
• Inability to find content within video – Today, most solutions don’t enable employees to search inside videos for words mentioned during the recording or shown on screen.

Today, Panopto announced the latest release of its video platform, built to address the traditional challenges of enterprise video, and bring video-based knowledge sharing and communication within reach for any employee:

• A single solution for any recording or live broadcast – Panopto enables employees to record and live broadcast any type of video, from simple screencasts and presentations to complex multi-camera events using only a laptop and their choice of video capture device, from webcams to consumer camcorders to professional video cameras.
• Automatic sharing – Every Panopto recording and live broadcast is automatically uploaded into a secure, centralized video library where it’s converted and instantly available for employees to view on any device.
• Search inside video – Included with Panopto is a unique search engine that enables employees to find and fast forward to words mentioned inside recordings or shown on screen during presentations.

New Social Features for Knowledge Sharing

The latest release introduces new functionality built to facilitate social sharing and commentary on videos, including:

• Comments – Viewers can comment on videos, providing feedback and sharing insights for other employees.
• Ratings – Videos can be rated from one to five stars, enabling employees to find the most popular recordings.
• Bookmarks – Employees can add time-stamped, sharable bookmarks and notes during video playback.

New Functionality and Usability Improvements across the Product

In response to customer feedback, the latest release also includes new features and enhancements to usability, performance, and reliability. These include:

• Failsafe recording and broadcasting – Recordings and live broadcasts interrupted by power failures, hardware crashes, and other issues are now automatically repaired and may be resumed without data loss.
• Additional video analytics – Panopto now supports per-user analytics as well as an admin dashboard for monitoring quotas on video streaming, captioning services, and client software licenses.
• Additional file format support – The following file formats can now be uploaded into Panopto’s media library: wma, mpeg, ps, ts, qt, mp2, m2a, m2v, m4a, m4v.

A more comprehensive list of new features and improvements can be found on Panopto’s blog.

“Panopto is a company founded on the belief that video can transform the way people communicate and learn,” said Eric Burns, co-founder and chief product officer of Panopto. “We believe that in the years ahead, video-based enterprise communication and knowledge sharing will become as ubiquitous as email. With today’s release, our goal is to help our customers take an important step in that direction.”