San Francisco, CA – September 12, 2008 – MuseGlobal, provider of award-winning content integration platforms worldwide, today announced that VIP Tone, a leading provider of K-12 technology solutions, has selected MuseGlobal’s federated search technology to power EduTone Search for the EduTone Ecosystem. The partnership will enable VIP Tone’s EduTone customers to simultaneously search multiple sources of content—including internal databases as well as millions of images, lesson plans, e-books, biographies and educational games—with one single search query. With the new federated search capability from MuseGlobal, users will have the most comprehensive, up-to-date information possible with a simplifying and time-saving solution in EduTone Search.
The EduTone Ecosystem provides administrators, teachers, parents and students role-based access to Web-based applications, information and now federated search, through a Single Sign-on Portal. EduTone removes technical and administrative challenges of managing multiple online services by automating the online management process and integrating K-12 education-specific content and software applications into a custom portal delivered securely as a service. With its new federated search capabilities, EduTone Search joins EduTone Gateway, Passport and XChange to streamline and enhance the online teaching and learning experience.
EduTone Search will automatically include federated search across free channels such as Eric, the Library of Congress, Verizon’s Thinkfinity and WeTheTeachers.com, EduTone’s Web 2.0 social networking and educational content-sharing website for teachers. With EduTone Search, users can search content on the fly or create personalized queries with a variety of delivery options. Just as users can customize their EduTone portal with access to various applications and services, users can also customize EduTone Search by integrating additional sources that fit their education needs. Available source add-ons for EduTone Search now include:
- Encyclopedia Britannica
- Ebsco
- Associated Press Archives
- Discovery Streaming
- Learn 360
"We developed EduTone as the single sign-on platform to foster online education tools, applications and platforms. Now, having observed the depth and breadth of MuseGlobal’s federated search technology, we believe that this is the right time to connect the dots," stated Robert Iskander, founder, chairman and CEO of VIP Tone. "With the convergence of single sign-on access and authentication with federated, unified search the EduTone Ecosystem is more robust and usable than ever before."
"This collaboration is the result of both VIP Tone’s and MuseGlobal’s mutual desire to simplify access and bring more comprehensive content to the user," said Kristina Bivins, president, MuseGlobal. "Federated search is one of MuseGlobal’s core strengths and we are very excited to partner with VIP Tone to put this technology to work improving the accessibility and value of information for teachers, administrators, parents and students."
Pricing and Availability
EduTone Search is available now. For more information please visit www.EduTone.com or call (866).901.8663. VIP Tone will be represented at the EdNET Educator Conference in Boston, Mass.
About VIP Tone
Serving over 3,600,000 students and over 100,000 teachers in over 7,000 schools around the globe, VIP Tone helps educators create world-class school environments with one integrated solution for their learning, communication and collaboration needs. VIP Tone's product set consists of VIP PBX, an IP telephony communication and messaging system; School MATRIX, an education resource planning (ERP) solution; and the EduTone Xchange, a pre-integrated K-20 educational software and content services delivery platform that features an identity management and automated provisioning appliance. VIP Tone is a privately held company headquartered in Alameda, California. For more information, visit the VIP Tone web site at www.viptone.com.
About MuseGlobal, Inc.
MuseGlobal sets the standard for content integration and federation technologies. Our search integration and federation systems enable institutions worldwide to build outstanding search products and services, unifying the widest range of content sources into high performance and reliable custom search solutions. We support multiple platforms and offer a wide range of interoperability options, as well as robust developer and customer toolkits that ease customization, implementation, maintenance and administration. MuseGlobal works closely with today's most sophisticated publishers, technology companies, enterprises and online services to build effective custom search solutions for their users.