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UM Off Campus Test A Success for IPTV

Students handing out grades this past semester gave Internet Protocol Television an A-plus.

Residents of The Courtyards, a collegiate housing community near the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, were enlisted to beta-test the new IPTV technology, which can deliver a commercial-free, high-definition signal to multiple devices, not just TVs, without consuming internet bandwidth.

"HDTV is awesome to watch and having more channels available whenever and wherever I am is very cool," said Brittany Smith, student at the UM and a resident of The Courtyards.

"Providing adequate bandwidth in collegiate housing communities where students are the heaviest consumers of internet services is an ongoing challenge -- downloading music, movies and TV programming as well as online gaming and social media use," said Karen Farney, community manager at The Courtyards.

Even though "internet" is part of its name, IPTV's delivery is not through the internet, so it doesn't consume precious bandwidth.

"IPTV is a futuristic, leading-edge solution to deliver TV content to the end user," said Scott Casey, vice president of information technology at Education Realty Trust, Inc., the publicly traded real estate investment trust (NYSE: EDR) that manages The Courtyards and facilitated the beta-test.

Student residents at The Courtyards were chosen to be the first to experience and critique IPTV. For more than three months, selected residents provided feedback, helping to define the system's features and services through their comments and suggestions.

"This group was selected to test this system because of their high technology intellect, and because we know the community owners and managers to be very open to providing the next wave of leading-edge technology," said Casey. "So everything came together for a win-win situation for us, the community owners and the students."

"Our residents are very sophisticated in their use of technology and we have a reputation of being ahead of the technology curve to accommodate their needs," said Jim Lee, senior principal of Kensington Realty Advisors, which owns The Courtyards.
"To our knowledge, we were one of the first collegiate housing communities to make 100 megabytes of bandwidth available to residents. By installing the IPTV interface, we are bringing to them a leading-edge tool for accessing media."

Besides convenient, wireless viewing of television programming for the student resident, the IPTV system provides benefits for the property owner and manager: In addition to freeing up bandwidth, costs are reduced.

"This cutting-edge amenity wouldn't be possible without the progressive creativity of the ownership group — Kensington Realty Advisors," said David Braden, vice president of management services for Education Realty Trust. "With these improvements and the energetic and dynamic marketing of the property management team, The Courtyards is ahead in their pre-leasing by over 33% from this time last year."

Providing IPTV programming represents a $15,000 to $25,000 capital investment compared to $30,000 to $50,000 for cable service, Casey said. With IPTV, the standard delivery for cable TV service today, as we know it, could be eliminated.

The IPTV signal is transmitted to a satellite dish on the building and then travels through a fiber optic network that students can access via hardwire or wireless into their preferred viewing choice: computer, iPad or TV. The latest trend for college students is staging a big-screen in the living room for communal viewing while opting for laptops and alternative devices for watching TV in their rooms, Casey noted.

To activate IPTV the student residents in the testing group downloaded a Web application to access the content for standard definition or HD programming. After that, they had access to commercial-free channels on their TVs, computers or laptops. IPTV has a standard program lineup as well as on-demand service.

Education Realty Trust has just created another test group at its community at Syracuse University for the University Village Apartments on Colvin.

"It's great to have additional channels available to me in HDTV," said Kate Vinslauski another UM student and resident of The Courtyards. "I can enjoy all my favorite channels."

Education Realty Trust plans to work with its technology partners to roll out the service to new properties and others "where it makes sense," Casey said, as soon as the new service is available.

"Ultimately IPTV could do away with standard cable delivery in our industry," Casey predicted.

More at www.edrtrust.com.

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