Merit Partners with Ruckus To Offer Free, Legal Media Downloading

Students at Michigan Colleges and Universities Get Free Access to More Than 2.1 Million Licensed Songs and Videos • Merit Network and Ruckus Network, Inc. have announced a partnership to provide legal downloadable music and video files to students at more than 50 Michigan colleges and universities. • Ruckus provides students access to legal downloadable music and video files at more than 100 universities nationwide; the Merit partnership expands that list to include Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University, Ferris State University, Lake Superior State University Northern Michigan University, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, and Western Michigan University • All current students can now use their .edu email address to register and download an unlimited amount of free, legal, and safe music from major and independent label artists. • Scores of Michigan students have already registered for Ruckus® based on word of mouth recommendations from friends who have the Ruckus service at their schools.

Herndon, Va. and Ann Arbor, Mich. (PRWEB) January 16, 2007 -- Ruckus Network, Inc. has announced that through a partnership with Merit Network, Inc. it recently began providing a multimedia network that supplies free music downloads specifically for college students to Michigan colleges and universities. Merit Network, Inc. provides high speed Internet access to Michigan's schools, libraries and higher education institutions. Throughout the year, undergraduate and graduate students will be able to access the Ruckus service anytime - on or off campus - to receive the free, unlimited and full-featured music service.

Members of the growing Ruckus community will receive access to the first college-only service that blends social networking features with a massive and continuously expanding library that is free, legal and safe. Ruckus has already proven successful at more than 100 colleges and universities across the country, including Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, Indiana University, Brown University, University of California-Berkeley, the University of Denver and Georgia Tech.

Through the Ruckus service, students can legally download and share music, create playlists, send personal media recommendations to friends and neighbors, browse classmates' profiles and media libraries and meet new friends. Students can build their personal music libraries from Ruckus' collection of more than 2.1 million high-fidelity, virus-free songs. Ruckus eliminates copyright infringement through its licensing agreements with all of the major international record labels, as well as thousands of independent labels and artists.
Merit Network selected Ruckus' free on-campus music service offering based on student demand for the Ruckus service, the network's robust networking infrastructure, and commitment to supporting legal, digital media services through on-campus marketing.

Students at these schools will experience very fast downloads, improved network bandwidth, lower campus network infrastructure costs and access to additional video content.

"We are very excited to make our music service available to students in Michigan along with hundreds of schools across the country," said Mairin Brzica, Director of Campus Relations at Ruckus. "Students at these schools have been emailing us for months requesting subscriptions, and we are happy to now provide a digital entertainment network and a safe and legal solution to file-sharing at no cost to students or to the school."

"In partnering with Ruckus, we are offering students another way to connect with their campus communities, as well as a safe, legal and free way for them to obtain and share digital media," said Don Welch, President and CEO of Merit. "It is a partnership we are very excited about, and we think our higher education community and their students will be as well."

Students from participating schools can begin using the service immediately by simply visiting www.Ruckus.com. Merit higher education institutions can elect to participate by starting at http://www.merit.edu/services/ruckus/.

About Merit Network, Inc.
Merit Network, Inc. (Merit), a non-profit corporation governed by Michigan's public universities, owns and operates America's longest-running regional research and education network. Founded in 1966, Merit supports the high-performance networking needs of Michigan's universities, colleges, K-12 schools, libraries, state government, healthcare, and other non-profit organizations. Through Merit, Michigan's research and education organizations have access to leading-edge network research, state and national collaborative initiatives and international peering.

About Ruckus Network, Inc.
Ruckus Network, Inc. provides the premiere digital entertainment network designed specifically for college students. The Ruckus experience blends college students' top interests - friends and entertainment - to create a strong sense of community at universities across the country. Whether looking for a roommate with similar interests or someone who enjoys hip hop music as much as they do, Ruckus members are able to find friends through media and media through friends. Today, the Ruckus service is available to hundreds of thousands of U.S. college students and is quickly becoming the brand of choice for higher education institutions nationwide. For more information, please visit our corporate site at www.RuckusNetwork.com or our service at www.Ruckus.com.
For more information contact:

Tim Hurley or Andrew Soucy
BluePoint Venture Marketing for Ruckus
781-861-7800

Chris Lawson
Ruckus Network
703-464-6551

Elwood J. Downing
Merit Network, Inc.
734-936-2040

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