Microsoft Releases Podcasting Kit for Sharepoint

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The Podcasting Kit for SharePoint (PKS), an open source initiative that helps companies develop and deploy podcasting solutions on Microsoft Sharepoint was announced today at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference.

According to an April 2008 Forrester Research Inc. report, “Global Enterprise Market Forecast: 2007 to 2013,” 56 percent of North American and European enterprises consider Web 2.0 to be a priority in 2008, and the market will increase from $764 million in 2008 to $4.6 billion by 2013. Microsoft is helping to lead that trend by providing the social-computing solutions and platforms today in SharePoint Server that balance end-user empowerment without sacrificing IT control.

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Screenshot: Podcasting Kit for Sharepoint

The Podcasting Kit for Sharepoint (PKS) is a free, open source initiative that provides organizations with a centralized, easy-to-manage solution to create, manage and distribute podcasts. It’s built on the SharePoint Server and Microsoft Silverlight platforms, and compatible with the Zune, Windows Mobile devices, PCs and other devices that play podcasts, the PKS provides a new medium to record and distribute video and audio information via the Internet and intranet.

PKS allow users to:

  • Access audio or video podcasts on PCs, Windows Mobile devices, Zune devices and any other devices that play podcasts
  • Share content by producing personal podcasts and publishing content on PKS
  • Connect and engage with podcasters via integrated instant-messaging programs
  • Find the most relevant content using a rating system, tags clouds and search functions
  • Receive automatic podcast updates by subscribing to RSS feeds, fully compatible with Zune and other devices that play podcasts
  • Play podcasts in real time using Silverlight and progressive playback

Customers can download the PKS at CodePlex, Microsoft’s open source project hosting Web site at https://www.codeplex.com/pks.

More information about SharePoint Server social-computing is available at https://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/capabilities/collaboration/overview.mspx.

There’s a variety of partners delivering new social media technologies and services built on Sharepoint, including:

Atlassian Pty. Ltd. Microsoft partner Atlassian offers the SharePoint Connector for Confluence, a leading enterprise wiki. With the connector, Confluence and SharePoint Server integrate by providing bidirectional content embedding and linking, cross-product search, and single sign-on.More information can be found at https://www.atlassian.com/sharepoint.

Awareness Inc. Awareness integration with SharePoint Server allows SharePoint Server users to seamlessly engage with external-facing Web 2.0 communities from within SharePoint Server. More information can be found at https://www.awarenessnetworks.com/what/sharepoint.asp.

blueKiwi Software. The blueKiwi SharePoint connector and blueKiwi OfficeAssistant, a set of components that enable the integration of blueKiwi’s enterprise social software suite with SharePoint Server and Office, provide SharePoint Server customers with dynamic expertise identification, social-network visualization, and an aggregated view of all conversations happening across the entire enterprise.

Connectbeam Inc. Connectbeam, a Microsoft partner, is announcing Spotlight Connect for SharePoint, a bookmarking and tagging add-on module to its enterprise social search-and-discovery application. A demo of Connectbeam’s integration with SharePoint Server can be found at https://www.connectbeam.com/demo/sharepointintegration.

Leverage Software. Leverage Software’s innovative Web 2.0 social-networking tools extend the reach of a SharePoint Server implementation and allow a company to connect with and learn from its customers, partners and corporate alumni, while maintaining the security and privacy demands of the enterprise.

NewsGator Technologies Inc. NewsGator is announcing NewsGator Social Sites 2.0 plus Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, which delivers positive and tangible social-computing business results.

Telligent Systems. Through its REST API, mail gateway, shared authentication and single sign-on, Community Server Evolution provides deep integration and interoperability among Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Active Directory and Telligent Community Server, an industry-leading social-computing and online-community platform built on Microsoft .NET.

Tomoye Corp. Tomoye is delivering a SharePoint Server-ready offering to enable organizations to deploy communities of practice using proven process and technology.

WorkLight Inc. WorkLight is announcing its new WorkLight for SharePoint, which enables SharePoint Server users to more securely view and update information from SharePoint Server through familiar consumer tools such as Windows Vista gadgets and Facebook applications.