4-page Case Study - Posted 4/18/2007

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SWISS TXT

Swiss Content Provider Cuts Costs for Setting Up New Content Services by 70 Per Cent

Schweizerische Teletext (SWISS TXT), based in Switzerland, has achieved great success channelling content to media owners across multiple media channels, but the company needed a fully integrated content aggregation and syndication platform. Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner aseantic worked with SWISS TXT to create a future-proof solution built on Microsoft .NET technology, with Microsoft SQL Server™ 2005 and Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007. dynetic solutions helped ensure the platform supported content-to-mobile device recognition, media and mark-up format conversions, and rendering. Today, SWISS TXT employees can prepare information easily and create new content in customer-specific formats faster—and at less than a third of the previous cost. And with a new operations management system alerting administrators to irregularities, excellent levels of services are maintained.

Situation

With new technologies come new opportunities. Especially in the media industry, which has seen a rapid adoption of digital technology, organisations are looking to evolve their business models. But exploiting new opportunities and gaining a competitive advantage requires a high level of agility—which, in turn, depends on flexible IT environments.

Founded in 1983, Switzerland-based Schweizerische Teletext (SWISS TXT) wanted to make the most of an increasing demand for digital content feeds—news provided in both text and audiovisual format—for television, online information services, mobile operators, and corporate Web sites. Historically, the company, with 200 employees, has provided teletext services for SRG SSR idée suisse, Switzerland’s public television and radio broadcaster.

A new platform would allow us to make the most out of our core competence and improve the efficiency and quality of our content services to our customers. Urs Luginbühl, Head of Business Development and IT Services, SWISS TXT

Today, SWISS TXT aggregates content from around 30 sources and provides services to more than 100 customers. The content is delivered to SWISS TXT in content feeds using different protocols and formats. This is distributed to customers as teletext or digital text services, as XML-based content packages, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, or “white-label” portals, which can be included in third-party Web sites. The content includes news headlines, sports results, weather reports and forecasts, stock exchange data, and air traffic information.

In the past, new content sources were added one by one, which, over time, led to a heterogeneous infrastructure that made it time-consuming and expensive to set up new content services. The infrastructure was also increasingly difficult to manage. Urs Luginbühl, Head of Business Development and IT Services, SWISS TXT, says: “Overheads were increasing, and the steps involved in content processing were complex, numerous, and time consuming. Data feeds from suppliers had to be manually packaged for each customer.”

The platform was growing less fit for purpose at a time when the company wanted to take advantage of new revenue opportunities in content provisioning. Luginbühl says: “We assessed the entire value chain, looking for areas of improvement between content acquisition and content provisioning across multiple digital-media channels. We saw that, if we could make it easier to integrate new content sources, make preparation more efficient, and bring down the time and cost associated with setting up new services, there was a lot of potential for growth.”

SWISS TXT needed an integrated content aggregation and syndication platform that was easier to manage and could adapt to changing business needs. To be future-proof, the platform would have to be based on state-of-the-art software technology and be supported in the long term. It was important the solution be deployed quickly, avoiding delays and technical issues.

“The solution was key for our planned business development,” Luginbühl says. “A new platform would allow us to make the most out of our core competence and improve the efficiency and quality of our content services to our customers.”

Solution

SWISS TXT needed a multi-layered platform with a database management system, converters for the various content sources and distribution channels, workflow and business logic, content management and preparation, and Web publishing. It soon became clear that there wasn’t an off-the-shelf solution that met the company’s requirements, which also included:

• Efficient, reliable, and cost-effective aggregation, preparation, and distribution of multimedia content. 
•  High-automation, user-friendly handling.
• Graphical user interface support for entire publishing and syndication process.
• Re-usability of content for several vectors.
• Time-controlled content publishing.
• Packaging functionality supporting syndication-configuration.
• Cross-reference for each subject.
•  Scalability to support business growth.
• 100 per cent parallel processing.
• Highly transparent and comprehensive system and process monitoring with alerts.
• Easy maintenance and the ability to install enhancements without downtime. 
•  Automatic software distribution for new connectors for every server in architecture.

Based on these considerations, the company made a strategic decision to standardise its entire IT infrastructure on Microsoft® technology. “The Microsoft platform was the best choice for our business needs,” Luginbühl says. “We needed a solution that would keep up with the advancements of software and digital media technology, be easy to maintain, and allow us to add new functionality without having to re-build the platform.

“Around 80 per cent of our IT infrastructure was already Microsoft based. We have found that standardising on Microsoft technology has many operational

The CASPer platform has reduced the time and cost associated with setting up a new content service by 70 per cent. It prevents us having to recreate data feeds manually. Urs Luginbühl, Head of Business Development and IT Services, SWISS TXT

SWISS TXT received expert support from Microsoft Gold Certified Partners aseantic and dynetic solutions. aseantic helped design, develop, and deploy the platform, while dynetic solutions supported the mobile technologies.

The platform includes:

• Windows Server® 2003 network operating system. 
•  Microsoft SQL Server™ 2005 database management.
• Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007 for content management and content preparation workflows.
• Microsoft .NET 2.0 for developing the connectors and converters and providing the workflow support and business logic.
• Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 to monitor the system components and systems events.
• dynetic solutions’ emoveo UAP solution for content-to-mobile format conversions.

Project scoping began in January 2006, and a detailed solution design was completed four months later. SWISS TXT and its partners completed construction in November of the same year, with Microsoft providing technical support throughout the design and deployment phases. Testing then took place, and the solution—the Content Aggregation and Syndication Platform (CASPer)—went live in February 2007.

Day-to-day, CASPer converts data feeds into an XML format, which is stored on the SQL Server database. With all content tagged in the same format, managing the data is easier and less expensive. In addition, SWISS TXT, using the powerful workflows and business logic software combined with the platform’s content-to-mobile functionality, can convert this XML data and feed it to customers in any format using any protocol they choose. Content management and preparation is easily handled through a Web-based user interface with drag-and-drop features.

Benefits

In an industry where digital technology is providing new business opportunities, SWISS TXT needed the agility to respond quickly to a changing environment. With CASPer, the company has created a flexible platform that improves efficiency and quality of service and helps the company pursue its aim of growth.

Time and Cost for Setting Up New Content Services Reduced by 70 Per Cent
SWISS TXT can now set up data feeds for new customers at less than a third of the previous cost. In the past, new feeds had to be created manually, and a lot of hard coding was needed to meet specific customer requirements. CASPer supports SWISS TXT operators in quickly building new content services.

“The CASPer platform has reduced the time and cost associated with setting up a new content service by 70 per cent,” says Luginbühl. “It means we no longer have to recreate data feeds manually. With CASPer, we can easily configure a new data feed, reusing, reformatting, and repackaging our existing content.”

Increased Automation Improves Speed and Cuts Risk of Human Error
Beyond the cost saving, CASPer has streamlined processes, improving the company’s responsiveness to customer demands. The platform has automated content aggregation, preparation, and distribution processes.

The benefits for the business are twofold. First, this increases throughput speeds for data, providing more timely information to customers, and second, it

Because we could deploy CASPer quickly, it had an attractive return on investment. Urs Luginbühl, Head of Business Development and IT Services, SWISS TXT

Adaptable and Scalable Technology Boosts Competitiveness
Based on the Microsoft platform, CASPer is extremely flexible. It can support new formats and provide new content services easily. This adaptability of the platform is key to the company’s competitiveness. In addition, its seamless integration with third-party components, such as emoveo UAP for content-to-mobile conversion, helps keep options for future development open.

Luginbühl says: “We can cater for market demands in a more flexible way and adapt our services easily to customer needs.” The architecture helps operators quickly create new feeds without affecting other services and causing downtime. Today, the company promotes the platform as a “one-stop shop” for data feeds in Switzerland. Ultimately, customers will be able to go online and configure the data feed and format of their choice.

Reliability Protects Revenue Streams
Using Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, which is set to be upgraded to Microsoft Systems Center Operations Manager 2007, platform administrators have gained an easy-to-use management system that monitors operations, safeguards the quality of service, and, ultimately, protects revenue streams. For SWISS TXT customers, it is crucial that data feeds be delivered reliably and in sync with a strict timetable. Similarly, SWISS TXT depends on the reliable and timely delivery of data feeds from its content sources. Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 ensures that administrators receive alerts if feeds do not arrive.

“Our customers demand excellent service,” says Luginbühl. To maintain this level of excellence and protect revenues, SWISS TXT must ensure contracts are honoured and customer content arrives on time.

Adding Value by Extending the Platform
SWISS TXT can take advantage of the interoperability of Microsoft products to add value to the platform. For example, emoveo UAP and SharePoint Server 2007 were added after the core SQL Server and .NET components were deployed, without disrupting operations.

The interoperability of Microsoft technology also ensures reduced deployment times—helping companies realise return on investments faster. “Because we could deploy CASPer quickly, it had an attractive return on investment,” says Luginbühl. “The faster the new platform was deployed, the sooner we could benefit from new business opportunities.”

For more information about aseantic products and services, visit the Web site at: www.aseantic.com

For more information about dynetic solutions products and services, visit the Web site at: www.dynetic.de

For more information about SWISS TXT products and services, visit the Web site at: www.swisstxt.ch

Microsoft Server Product Portfolio
For more information about the Microsoft server product portfolio, go to: www.microsoft.com/servers/default.mspx

For more information about Microsoft Exchange Server, go to: www.microsoft.com/exchange