About Us > News > Press Release #2- StreamCenter Admitted to TAP

(Note: this press release about StreamCenter was distributed by the Maryland Technology Assistance Program (TAP)

Knowledge Broadcasting Company Launched by Bell's Great-Grandson

Provides Webcasting Services on a Pay-per-View Basis for Associations and Conference Organizers

COLLEGE PARK, MD - March 22, 2004 - For Edwin Grosvenor, the conceptual roots of his company trace back to his great-grandfather, Alexander Graham Bell.

Among his many inventions, Bell created the concept of the first popular national membership organization - the National Geographic Society - with the mission of increasing and diffusing knowledge. Grosvenor discovered that a few years later, Bell also sketched ideas for "seeing by wire" into his journal.

Grosvenor's new company, StreamCenter, Inc., the latest firm to join the University of Maryland's prestigious Technology Advancement Program (TAP), unites Bell's two ideas: aggregating knowledge and offering it via streaming video - with the goal of creating the largest repository on the Internet of professional education videos and associated documents.

StreamCenter's strategy is to offer associations and conference organizers videotaping, production, editorial, and hosting services at a nominal cost. The associations then receive royalties for each Webcast purchased through StreamCenter's "Webcast Store," a proprietary ecommerce system. StreamCenter also creates metadata about the content, which can be easily located thanks to a sophisticated search-and-retrieval system with customized taxonomies.

"This isn't just Webcasting," observes Reggie Henry, chief technology officer of the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives. "This is the content management and content delivery system of the future. You can use this for distributing anything."

The model, according to StreamCenter, is novel: it offers associations an affordable way to offer Webcasts of their conferences, generates additional revenue, extends their reach to members who couldn't attend, and preserves the content of their meetings.

"It's stunning to think how much knowledge is lost every year from conferences and meetings," said Grosvenor, founder and CEO of StreamCenter. "Thousands of conferences occur each year, but once they're over - the presentations and talks given, the panels, the information shared - much of it is lost."

The potential market is huge. Gale's Associations Unlimited database lists 450,000 U.S. and international organizations, including 22,500 national associations in the U.S. alone. Some of these associations, such as the National Education Association and the American Diabetes Association, have more than one million members.

StreamCenter's launch also comes at the right time. The average association lost a staggering $100,300 on its meetings in 2002, according to a recent report by the American Society of Association Executives. Attendance at many conferences has dropped due to economic factors, fears of terrorism, and the general inconvenience and lost time from travel. StreamCenter estimates that only 5.6 percent of members are able to attend their association's annual meeting.

StreamCenter's offerings include: videotaping, encoding, PowerPoint slide conversion, editorial services, metadata creation for pushing to Internet search engines, customized media player layouts, links to additional material, differentiated pricing for members and non-members, and flexible digital rights management. StreamCenter's current customers include the Urban Land Institute and the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds. The company is just completing a Series A round of financing with local private investors.

"TAP is excited to welcome StreamCenter into our comprehensive incubation program," said Scott Magids, director of TAP. "StreamCenter's innovative concept, experienced and passionate management team, and early-mover advantage should enable the company to become a leader in the emerging market for streaming conference segments. The association market is looking for new sources of revenue as conference attendance has dropped in recent years, and StreamCenter's electronic catalogue solution will enable associations to develop alternative revenues without significant costs."

About the Technology Advancement Program

TAP is a leading incubator and accelerator that assists early-stage technology companies in achieving their goals. TAP expedites the maturation of young firms by providing a unique bundle of services and resources ranging from intense mentoring and funding introductions to deep technical resources and low-cost physical infrastructure. The oldest incubator in Maryland, TAP has successfully incubated nearly 50 diverse emerging companies since 1986, including biotech industry leaders and numerous thriving niche enterprises. TAP is a program of the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland.