Technology Services

• Custom Development
• Business Intelligence
• Collaboration
• Content Management
• eCommerce
• thePlatform Integration
• Technical Staffing
• Off Shore Development
• Case Studies
  • Content Management
  • Video
  • Ecommerce
  • Custom Development
  • Business Intelligence / Scorecards

Case Study: University of Southern California - "Trojan TV"

Challenge:

USC had been working with CSTV to broadcast both live and archived events through the CSTV "All Access" player. When USC decided to move their content from local television to their website - usctrojans.com - CSTV contacted Cypress to create the home page and integrate the video backend for this new broadband web portal. Cypress' challenge was to embed all the features of the CSTV All Access application - including Digital Rights Management, content streaming, commerce path, integration with thePlatform's Media Publishing System - into the USC Trojan TV home page. Additionally, the site would stream Windows Media Video and audio and need to work on Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari browsers on both the Macintosh and PC platforms. The code base from All Access could not be used for browser compatibility, as All Access currently only supports Internet Explorer.

Cypress Solution:

Cypress worked closely with USC and CSTV to create a web portal to house their massive inventory of content, as well as news stories, features, and advertising. Cypress used a variety of techniques and the latest plug-ins / browser detection to ensure compatibility with the broad range of required platforms. Our extensive experience with thePlatform and their Media Publishing System (MPS) gave us the proper knowledge to successfully integrate features such as the commerce path (for purchasing and maintaining licenses) and third party systems including DoubleClick, who provides advertising tracking.

Cypress pulled together numerous divergent elements such as site-wide navigation, content updated by USC and delivered via XML feeds, and other elements into a seamless, cohesive site that delivers the latest on-demand and archived USC Athletics content. Cypress also consulted on the overall infrastructure planning necessary to support the site and both its initial launch and projected growth over the future, which included the setup and configuration of servers, integration of load-balancers, and performing pre-launch load testing to ensure the site could handle peak demand. Considerable work was also done to ensure compatibility with the rest of the USC site, including commerce path integration for paid content in other site areas. Cypress created, integrated, tested and then launched this new site on August 1, 2007.

Technologies Employed: .NET 2.0, Windows Media Video / Audio, Double-Click and Nielsen tracking, thePlatform for Media integration, Flip4Mac (Mac WMV playback), XML

URL: usctrojans.cstv.com/