Arel Spotlight Application Suite

A flexible user interface integrates the functionality of Arel Spotlight Meeting, Arel Spotlight Webinar and Arel Spotlight Campus.

Arel Spotlight Meeting is designed for small work groups as well as one-to-one interactive meeting:

• Supports adhoc or pre-scheduled meetings.
  
• Democratic voice interaction (equal speaking rights).
  
• Highly collaborative
  
• All users can create and moderate meetings
  

Arel Spotlight Webinar is a new addition to the Arel Spotlight family of applications designed for Live web based seminars for knowledge delivery:

• Designed for one time events.
  
• Moderator led in nature.
  
• Support for self registration and confirmation process.
  
• Suitable for any audience size.
  
• Allows for On-demand viewing.
  

Arel Spotlight Campus is a feature rich solution covering all learning aspects for large corporate training applications.

• Designed for continuous blended courses (a combination of live and on-demand lessons)
• Instructor-led in nature
  
• Interactive content for assessment and measurement (questions, tests and surveys)
  
• Comprehensive evaluation tools
  
• Robust authoring capabilities
  

Live Interaction Fully integrated multiple video windows, application and data sharing, chat, questions, whiteboard and recording capabilities creates a compelling teamwork and conferencing environment.

Web-management and Administration Administration over the net allows for auto-management and includes user and authorization management, creation and scheduling of conferences, email invitations as well Instant Meeting^TM reservation-less capabilities.

Integration with corporate applications This functionality enables corporate customers to integrate with popular front-end applications as well as widely accepted back office systems in order to improve the end user experience (such as integrating with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Messenger) and administrative functionality (such as integrating with LDAP directories).

Arel Spotlight Client Types and Access Methods Arel’s full featured Spotlight web client gives users complete real-time, rich-media voice, video and data interactivity. Arel Spotlight also supports alternative methods for participating in live Arel Spotlight Meeting and Arel Spotlight Webinar events via telephones and browsers.

Special Arel Spotlight Campus Functionality Arel Spotlight Campus supports several specialized learning tools for training applications. This full-featured training solution covers all aspects of large corporate learning, knowledge exchange and communications needs.



Live Interaction

Arel Spotlight Meeting, Webinar and Campus are "bandwidth-sensitive" video-enabled and media rich applications that provide comprehensive collaboration and interaction capabilities. Attendees may speak and be seen, freely share documents, use whiteboard tools and chat, all this using a fraction of the available network bandwidth.

Multiple video windows - Depending on camera and bandwidth availability, multiple video windows can be displayed on screen. Video adds a crucial sense of social presence and is very important for observing body language and to affirm understanding of important points. The combined bandwidth of an audio and video window can be as low as 30kbps.

Collaborative interaction - Attendees may collaborate using whiteboard, chat, application sharing, instant yes/no polling, questions and surveys to complement audio and video interaction and create an effective working and conferencing environment.

Sharing Moderator desktop with Attendees - Moderators can demonstrate the operation of any software application running on their PC to remote participants who don't necessarily have that application installed. In addition, the Moderator may grant a participant the option of working on that application for sharing or learning purposes.

Creating “pop” agenda items - Creating pop items "on-the-fly" enables the Moderator to send PowerPoint presentations, other documents, textual questions or initiate a browsing session at any time during a live event.

"Over the shoulder" capability- A Moderator can remotely view and control an Attendee's desktop or any open application for an application sharing session. This functionality is useful for monitoring a participant’s understanding and progress, as well as for software training assistance or for technical support purposes.

Giving Moderator controls to Attendees - At any point the Moderator can hand over the control of Moderator functionality to any participant. The Attendee receives all the Moderator's capabilities to lead the Conference. The Moderator can regain control at any time. Attendee color coding – Each attendee is assigned a color to identify whiteboard annotations and Chat messages.

Session recording – Moderators can remotely record sessions from any Arel Spotlight Client and choose to automatically notify users by email upon recorded sessions. Arel Spotlight Campus has advanced functionality for centralized studio recording mode (see Special Campus Features).


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The Arel Spotlight web portal provides user-friendly tools for:

• Easy creation and scheduling of events
• Inviting participants
• Preparing rich media agenda items
• Previewing schedules
• User management and authorization capabilities
• Generating system reports and billing information

Easy creation and scheduling of events – The Arel Spotlight web interface enables the creation of events including self-scheduling, content creation and assembly, and inviting attendees by e-mail. Instant creation and launching of a live event requires nothing more than simply entering a topic for the session and launching it. Attendees can be invited from the Arel database; search mechanisms are available to assist in finding attendee details from the database. External guests may also be invited to attend an event.

• Customizable e-mail invitations – Arel Spotlight will automatically e-mail invitations to attendees. The e-mail invitation includes a direct link for launching the session (and to install the Arel Spotlight Client software for first time users). E-mail invitation messages can be customized.
• Instant Meeting^TM Reservation-less meetings – Users are provided with an individual link that launches a personal meeting room.
• “Open” links – Moderators/presenters can decide to “Open” a session to all users by distributing links that will enable attendees to log into sessions without the need to be registered.
• Quick invitations – Moderators/presenters can now invite attendees via the Arel Spotlight client during a live session.
• Email reminders – Moderators/presenters can automatically schedule reminder emails to be sent to attendees.
• Guest login – Guests who are not registered in the system as Arel Spotlight users can now join live sessions with ease from a login page.







• Password protection – Events can be password-protected by assigning a password when the session is created. Attendees will be requested to enter the event password upon joining the session.

Preparing an Agenda for a Conference – Arel’s Agenda Builder enables users to create a list of items that will be presented or shared during the live event. Rich media agenda items may include topics, PowerPoint presentations, Word and Excel documents, HTML pages, pictures, video clips and documents. The Agenda is available to attendees prior to the live session for viewing. The Agenda offers an organized outline structure for easily navigating and launching slides and other content during the event.

• Rich media agenda items – Agenda items can be prepared prior to a scheduled event. The agenda list can be seen immediately upon entering the session in the agenda pane. The Moderator can show attendees the agenda items by simply clicking on the 'Next' icon to send/launch the specific agenda item content. The content can be pre-cached automatically to attendee PCs prior to the live session. A special mechanism will automatically download the attached slides and content to an attendee’s PC prior to the session. This prevents delays in presenting and sharing documents and improves performance and bandwidth utilization.

Previewing Conference schedule - A scheduling page displays a daily, weekly or monthly event schedule. From this page the user can directly join a session or preview its details.

User management and authorization capabilities - Extensive user information is securely stored in the Arel database including names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, registration data, authorizations (for Administrator, Moderator and Attendee roles) and much more. Authorizations relate to specific actions like event creation, scheduling, editing, launching and attending. Interfaces with external HR or LMS databases are available.

Generating system reports and billing information - The system generates pre-defined reports, and allows the administrator to create tailor-made reports. A real-time monitoring screen provides administrators with real-time data regarding system health, performance and usage.

• Web Reports
  • Meeting history report displays meeting that occurred for specified date ranges.
  • Meeting attendance report displays a list of attendees, or lists what meetings were attended by a specific attendee.
  • Response distribution report displays results for interactive polls and questions.
• Real-time monitoring
  • Monitor Server performance
  • Monitor Session statistics
• Billing information
  
  Supports intra-departmental billing for the use of shared resources or billing for use as a hosted service. Call Detail Record (CDR) information is collected in the Arel database and can be exported as files to any external billing system. The information names the Moderator and Attendees, start time and date, duration and nature of activities in the live and recorded Conferences including the interaction type and data usage indications.

Integration with corporate applications Arel’s ICP-based family of Arel Spotlight applications is designed to take full advantage of ICP’s XML .net architecture. Arel’s XML .net approach allows for easy integration with critical databases, web-services, knowledge-ware and content management systems. It also supports contextual collaboration for ad-hoc launching of conferencing/collaboration from within other applications.

• Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange Integration Integration with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange enables Moderators to schedule and manage Arel Spotlight Meetings and Webinars as well as to invite attendees directly from their Microsoft Outlook application. Attendees can view and join upcoming meetings and Webinars from the Microsoft Outlook calendar.
• Windows/MSN Messenger Presence Integration Supports inviting attendees using the MSN presence ability by sending them an email to their MSN passport account.
• Instant Messenger Users can exchange a reservation-less Instant Meeting^TM link to launch an ad-hoc meeting directly from any IM client during a Chat .
• LDAP support Enables customers to import a user directory from external sources such as Microsoft Exchange Global Address List, Microsoft Active Directory or any other LDAP enabled source to the Arel database

Arel Spotlight Meeting and Webinar supports different client types and access methods to ensure that attendees can participate in conferencing and collaboration events in the most optimized way for taking advantage of interactive voice, video and data, as determined by the available capabilities of different end user devices.

This is the normal Spotlight Client designed for synchronized real-time rich-media interactivity. It provides the user with the full set of features and functionality of the Arel Spotlight application suite. This client type takes full advantage of converged IP networks by providing enhanced communication through integrated video, voice and data access via Internet or Intranet connections.

The full-featured Arel Spotlight Client supports both QCIF and CIF video windows. Using this client type, Moderators can choose to expand the video window size so it fills the full attendee video pane, and then switch back with a simple double click or right click on the window.

‘No Install’ Web Viewer

Attendees who are in an environment with only narrow dialup bandwidth or when downloading a client is not possible, are able to join the meeting using a web based viewer. The following Arel Spotlight features are not available with the Web Viewer client:

• Whiteboard
• Application sharing
• Chat
• Private messages
• Discussion groups
• Co-moderator functionality

Access by Telephone

In some cases attendees will prefer to join meetings using telephone lines for various reasons. For example when a web connection isn’t available or connection bandwidth is extremely low. In these situations, it is possible for an attendee to dial into a meeting for audio with or without a Arel Spotlight web interface for displaying the content.

Arel's Spotlight Campus is a complete distance learning solution for corporate training applications that consists of several components which creates an integrated system. This full-featured e-learning solution addresses all aspects of an organization's corporate training needs.

In addition to sharing the features and functionalities that are common to all Spotlight applications, Spotlight Campus offers specialized capabilities for distance training:

Learning and communications portal - Arel CampusTM

The Arel Campus portal provides Spotlight Campus users with access to both personal and administrative data. Using Campus, participants can launch and attend live and recorded on-demand sessions, preview course content, take off-line on-demand quizzes, and communicate with presenters and expert assistants. Spotlight Campus provides data on course details and scheduling, registration, presenters, individual progress, grades and accreditation.

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Learn at your own pace - Arel Spotlight On-DemandTM

Arel Spotlight On-Demand extends the benefits of live delivery, enabling asynchronous transmission of highly interactive self-paced sessions to increase the versatility and flexibility of the Arel’s ICP-based solution. Advanced recording of live sessions ensure the delivery of synchronized high quality video and rich content, maintaining the indexing and interaction of content such as questions and tests. Interaction which occurred during the live session is recorded including chat sessions, keeping all the content and social parts of the session. Attendance, performance and grades are sent over the network during the participation in the recorded session for traceability and evaluation purposes. Full off-line and CD-ROM publishing of the sessions are available.

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Advanced delivery suite for presenters - Arel PresenterTM
Arel Presenter enables the delivery of different types of rich interactive content to remote desktop participants, with full control over the video size, remote content navigation, and live interaction. The single user-friendly application screen is similar to the remote participants' desktop application. The entire session can also be recorded enabling participants to take the session on-demand.	Click the image to enlarge.

Learning management and administration LMS - Arel Learning ManagerTM

Designed to take advantage of Arel’s innovative ICP core software platform, Arel Spotlight Campus is equipped with a powerful built-in database and management server that handles the administration and control of vast amounts of curriculum content and large numbers of participants. The learning manager offers a full- featured user-friendly environment for registration and management of participants, presenters and sites, courses' scheduling and server configuration. Arel Learning Manager's built-in import/export mechanism allows for easy integration with external LMS and HR databases.

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Create media-rich interactive delivery content - Arel AuthorTM

Arel Author is a stand-alone authoring and content assembly application that enables the presenter or content developer to fully pre-plan the lesson's sequence of content and activities (agenda). This advanced user-friendly application supports various content item types like PowerPoint slides (including animation), web pages and graphics, video clips, customized question layouts and templates, tests, presenter notes and the full control over display and navigation parameters.

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Edit and update recorded sessions for publishing - Arel ProducerTM
Arel Producer enhances Arel's advanced on-demand capabilities by offering a post-production editing environment. Arel Producer enables the user to modify and edit recorded sessions by cutting out undesired items, changing the item's order, replacing outdated content and replacing old presentations with recently recorded segments.	Click the image to enlarge.

Evaluate performance and attendance information - Arel EvaluatorTM
Arel Evaluator is a powerful and comprehensive web based tool for real-time reviewing, comparing and analyzing of participant performance and attendance. Evaluator provides the presenter or administrator with statistics and information about individuals, groups and site progress at the course level or at the level of any of its components (lessons, tests, surveys, and questions).	Click the image to enlarge.

Generate multiple detailed statistical reports - Arel ReporterTM
Arel Reporter is designed for training administrators and presenters to automatically generate detailed standard and customized reports. The user may create customized administrative and performance reports, or choose from more than 40 standardized formats. It is possible to export Arel's reports to different popular formats such as Microsoft Excel.	Click the image to enlarge.

Highly distributed broadband or satellite training - Arel VirtualClassTM

Operating over any type of broadband network, VirtualClass brings the classroom to the participants, reducing training costs and enabling real-time interactivity and just-in-time distribution of mission-critical knowledge. While live video and media-rich content is displayed on a TV monitor, each remote VirtualClass site is equipped with a PC-based controller that manages audio and data interaction via Interactive Response Units (IRUs).

If you are looking for SpotLight, the Diagnostic Knowledge Management application from CaseBank, please click here: http://www.casebank.com/spotlight.htm