WIT News
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WIT-supported music video social networking site continues to make global strides Posted: Fri, January 16, 2009 |
A music video and social networking enterprise which got critical research and development (R&D) support from Waterford Institute of Technology’s ArcLabs research and innovation centre has signed another major licensing deal, this time with the EMI music label.
Six software developers based in Waterford now provide all the technical back-up and support for Muzu TV, one of the fastest growing music video social network sites. Record industry giant EMI is the latest label along with Sony BMG to choose the Muzu TV platform.
It’s another coup for ArcLabs-assisted and now Dublin-based Muzu. Its growth has been so meteoric that it was named new software company of the year by the Irish Software Association in November.
Through this new agreement with EMI, MUZU.TV users will get free access to more than 5,000 videos from EMI Music’s catalogue.
Muzu allows fans to create, watch and share music-video playlists. Users can create video playlists from thousands of videos and embed them on their social networking sites. Muzu TV provides free access to thousands of hours of diverse music-video content, including concerts, backstage footage, documentaries, tutorials, music videos, interviews and classic music TV shows.
“Were it not for ArcLabs, Muzu would most likely have based its software development in Dublin,” according to Waterford-based engineering manager, Colm Harte.
Mr Harte worked with the internationally-renowned research and innovation centre which has helped over 140 business start-ups and is now home to up to 150 full-time researchers and 20 companies before joining Muzu’s growing staff in mid-2007.
“ArcLabs provided Muzu with the necessary incubation space and technical support at a critical time in its development. This back-up certainly spurred its decision to locate its software development centre here in Waterford,” Mr Harte added.
The ArcLabs Research and Innovation Centre at the Waterford Institute’s West Campus in Carriganore is a hot-bed of research, enterprise and education programmes with a growing number of start-up, spin-out and spin-in companies building their business ventures and making an impact, not only locally but globally.
The purpose-designed 2,350-m2 facility, built at a cost of €5 million with funding from Enterprise Ireland, the Higher Education Authority and AIB, is home to the internationally-renowned Telecommunications Software and Systems Group (TSSG), the ArcLabs business incubator and the highly successful South East Enterprise Platform Programme (SEEPP).
With almost 150 full-time researchers, TSSG is now Ireland’s largest ICT software research group with a world-wide reputation for excellence.
- For further details on ArcLabs, visit www.arclabs.ie
