Espresso Education and E2BN announce distribution partnership
29th January 2003
Strategic Partnership Makes the Finest Broadband Curriculum Resources Available to East of England Schools
Pioneering
digital content supplier, Espresso Education announces another regional
distribution agreement at NAACE
(Feb 5th 2003). All schools in E2BN
(East of England Broadband Network) will be able to use Espresso's unique
digital content directly from E2BN servers, and to subscribe to Espresso
at a specially-negotiated rate. E2BN is one of the largest of the ten
Regional Broadband Consortia (RBCs) across England with a total of 2,824
schools within its borders.
"This is the third major RBC distribution deal announced by Espresso in the last six months," said Richard McGrath, Managing Director of Espresso. "We share E2BN's desire to provide schools with broadband content to enhance the teaching and learning experience and are pleased to be able to deliver our video-rich content to the East of England using E2BN broadband connections."
The Distribution Agreement marks a further development in Espresso's shift from the exclusive use of satellite to deliver the company's unique video-rich services.
"While we found satellite delivery right for the time, the rollout of broadband connections plus the acceptance of the caching technologies long advocated and used by Espresso now gives the company greater and more cost-effective delivery options," commented Tony Tinnirello, Technical Director of Espresso Education.
Our aim is to help raise baseline standards in teaching and learning by using the regional broadband network," said Chris Kastel, E2BN's Project Director. "Espresso's resources will certainly help us to achieve this goal by delivering highly engaging, cost-effective, educationally-based resources that have been proven to increase achievement in schools.
E2BN has been working to ensure its schools have the opportunity for access to high quality, interactive content. Espresso Education has been chosen as a recommended supplier by E2BN and is featured within the "Learning Materials" section of the E2BN portal (www.e2bn.net) which provides a gateway into an approved range of educational materials where teachers can spend their e-learning credits. Schools subscribing to the full Espresso Primary service enjoy weekly updates of fresh and topical curriculum-relevant material, linked to schemes of work and stored directly on the school's network allowing access to high quality video.
E2BN
The East of England Broadband Network is one of 10 regional broadband consortia set up under the NGfL initiative to help raise standards in teaching and learning by the use of broadband technology. The membership of E2BN is drawn from a range of organisations concerned with education in its widest sense. In addition to the region's eleven Local Authorities (Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Luton, Milton Keynes, Norfolk, Peterborough, Southend On Sea, Suffolk, and Thurrock) there are representatives from Further and Higher Education, the University for Industry and Education Action Zones. E2BN is currently carrying out a wide range of activities relating to improving the availability of broadband infrastructure, content and services and the ease with which these can be accessed.
For further press information or paper versions of this release please contact:
Espresso Marketing, Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, Hammersmith, W6 9RL
Tel: +44(0)20 8237 1200
Fax: +44(0)20 8237 1201
Email: info@espresso.co.uk
