There will shortly be changes to QMplus Media, our streaming media service introduced in January 2015. The underlying software, MediaCore, has been acquired by a company called Workday who have decided to discontinue the product. We realise that this unfortunate situation may raise some understandable concern among our user community, however, we would like to assure our users that we are working towards finding a replacement for the current service as soon as possible (well before August 2016). We will also ensure that existing media content will be migrated into the new service, including replacing any links for currently distributed content, such as embedded links within QMplus.
Proposed Solution
QMplus Media currently hosts over 2,500 media items, many of which have been embedded into QMplus. The current service serves on average 10,000 streams per week; a doubling of use in 12 months. It is expected that the service will grow considerably over the next two years and we will ensure that the new service will be able to meet our requirements. Further, the new solution will be capable of operating as a standalone media service, as well as integrating with other online QMUL systems such as QMplus and QMplus Hub.
Current Status
A replacement solution is already being implemented. We will ensure that your existing videos are migrated to the new service before the 31st August and this will include replacing any links for currently embedded videos within QMplus. However, if you’ve added QMplus media videos outside of QMplus, such as external websites, or in QMplus Hub, etc. then you will have to re-add them. Please let us know the location of your non-QMplus videos or send us the title and links to those videos and we will help you to replace them. You can do this by raising a Helpdesk ticket (https://helpdesk.qmul.ac.uk).
In order to implement the new solution and migrate your existing videos we have to disable the current QMplus Media, and this will occur on Tuesday, 10th August 2016. The new QMplus Media service will be available on the 24th August 2016.
IMPORTANT: This means from the 10th August – 24th August you will not be able to upload new videos to QMplus Media or embed the existing ones. However, you and your students will be able to watch the existing videos in QMplus throughout this period.
From 24th of August you will be able to use QMplus Media again with several new features. Like the existing solution, the new solution will be integrated with QMplus, will be capable of operating as a standalone media service, will have a Desktop Capture and a Mobile App. You will also be able to utilise some new features such as
- Dedicated Video Assignments
- Ability to embed quizzes to your existing videos
- Ability to edit your videos
Key Dates
- 10th August – QMplusMedia plugin disabled. migration of video content
- 10th August – 24th August – view only access (upload functionality disabled)
- 24th August – new QMplus Media service available, with new features
- 31st August – old service switched off
Please let us know if there are any questions or concerns by raising a ticket on IT Helpdesk.Please pass this information onto your colleagues as appropriate.
