Business Projects

When RoadAngel Group Ltd wanted an easy to develop and deploy alternative to Google Maps, that gave them advanced features such as reverse geocode lookup and comprehensive mapping data across multiple countries they needed look no further than Virtual Earth and MapPoint Web Services. Checkout the video to see how they did it and the advantages it gave them over the Google Maps implementation....

  http://soapbox.msn.com/video.aspx?vid=1c081f40-8edd-4858-9daa-bce78df9b996

Dave Baker

http://blogs.msdn.com/davbaker

For the last 18 months, I've been working on great end user UI projects that have taken advantage of new technologies such as WPF, Vista Sidebar, ASP.Net Ajax etc. Now you may think this is strange, but I've wanted to apply these web 2 type experiences into something a little more traditional and create some run of the mill business value driven from a great user experience. I believe the BBC Showcase Application does just this.

Every year the BBC hosts an event in Brighton to showcase (hence the name) its programming content which is for sale to broadcasters all over the world. This year for the first time the BBC turned this into a Multi-Media extravaganza. In previous years, the BBC has taken a physical VHS and more recently a DVD library to Brighton and broadcasters have queued to check out the tapes/disks and watch the content in nearby booths set up with TV's and players. This year however, the BBC created a WPF based application to enable customers to peruse the vast catalogue for sale at a multimedia console connected directly to local and remotely stored programmes. This eliminated the need for time wasted queuing and also enabled the BBC to showcase full High Definition quality programmes for the first time at the Showcase event.

So, how does this improved user experience link to traditional Business Value?

The entire solution was enabled over a digital platform, far more information is able to be collected about each user over the course of their viewing habits. A data collection and recommendation engine was built using Excel Services, the resulting information was collected: length of viewing time; programmes viewed; feedback generated via post viewing questionnaire etc. This will enable the BBC to refine its recommendations both on screen and in other forms of communication throughout the year, they can also understand which clips generate purchases, additional information that the sales staff can use for follow up sales calls and they can also use the information to make the event even more compelling for future years.

A case study about this has been created and can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000000254

Chris Bright

Silverlight is a cross browser, cross platform plug-in that delivers a consistent user experience across browsers, and can reproduce deployed client performance in the browser.  If you look a little deeper it could be considered a little more than a plug-in.  In fact it could be considered a development platform.  It should not be thought of to replace existing browser targeted technologies, but to augment their capabilities.  In fact browsers were designed with browsing in mind, so it could be argued that the new capabilities in Silverlight are more appropriate for developing and delivering a richer experience within the browser.

What's interesting to our team is what business value Silverlight brings.  What new scenarios can be developed, or existing ones extended or improved.  So here are some thoughts:

Next Generation Media Experiences

A seamless video capture, distribution and playback experience can be delivered due to the range of supported codec's in the Silverlight player.  Supported codec's include WMA, WMV and MP3.  Meaning a personal video camera can be used to record some footage, upload to a PC using Windows Media Player, and made available to the web.  This can eliminate the requirement for expensive and time consuming pre-production processing, which ultimately can reduce the cost of getting video clips onto the web.  This also reduces the time between the initial creation of the idea to its consumption.

It's very simple to overlay artefacts on top of video.  So if a movie trailer is being played in the browser, links to further products or additional information about the movie can be placed on the video.  Delivering a compelling click through experience to the user.  This leads to the potential for up-sell and cross-sell of products, in addition to increasing stickiness of the site because it adds more value.

Video can have associated meta data.  Meaning that it is easy to tag different points within a video with additional information.  This information can be used to enable richer use of the video content, for example easy searching within the content.  This obviously reduces the cost of pre-production processing, and increases the value and usefulness to customers.

Rich Internet Applications (RIA)

Features such as drag and drop, rotate and zoom, enable a more pleasurable and intuitive user experience.  You can see some video examples here, and play with some samples here.  Previously this level of interaction was expensive to develop and maintain.  This enhanced level of interaction can make a website more fun to use, which can in turn increase traffic.

Team Structure

Because the Silverlight runtime can consume XAML in the same way that WPF can, it means that a design and development team can be structured in a more appropriate way.  The designers can use a design tool, such as one of the Expression products, and deliver the design in XAML to the developers.  The developers can then take this XAML, import it into their development tool and add the code that implements the business functionality.  This type of team structure can improve efficiency, resulting in a product being delivered faster to market, as well as improving the overall quality of the final product.

This way of working has many benefits including the designers original design actually gets implemented in tact, and the design is abstracted from the business logic.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Because the content authored in Silverlight is purely textual it lends itself to be indexed and therefore, theoretically more discoverable.  I say only theoretically because currently search engines do not search for, and index XAML files.  However there are some interesting approaches to solving this.  Taking this approach results in a web property being listed by a search engine, which in turn drives awareness and traffic to the site.

I hope the above ideas and examples have given some food for thought as to Silverlight's applicability to web based scenarios.

Simon Thurman

Remember Windows 3.11? Office 3.0? Still got any floppies or DAT tapes gathering dust on your bookshelf?

Over the last few months I've been in a bit of a time warp... one minute Silverlight... then the next in DOS 6 and considering the implications of getting access to digitally born documents and applications from 10+ years ago. How do documents get stored and migrated to ensure they can be read in the future? How do you make sure those documents can be viewed exactly as they were intended/created? What about the lifecycle of that document? - the changes history?, annotations?, embedded fonts?, ... quite a minefield!

Thankfully the guys I've been working with at The National Archives live and breath this stuff! They have the responsibility to conserve the nation's paper-based and digital heritage and to make it accessible to those who want to view it. Phew!

Anyone remember the Domesday Project 1986 laser discs that Blue Peter buried in their garden? All was well... using the latest and greatest technology presuming it had a strong future... and the nightmare of trying to find a laserdisc reader for a BBC Micro just a few years later. That sums up the problem for me!

The announcement we just made with the National Archives is trying to address the issue of digital conservation head-on. With billions of documents in the world wrapped up in proprietary document formats (from Microsoft and many many other vendors) we felt it was important to focus on how we can help the body in the UK which has the biggest headache and do what we can to assist them in:

• Migrating documents to the latest Office format (Open XML) via our document conversion tools to ensure they can be accessed by the public in the future
• Ensuring legacy documents can be viewed as accurately as possible when compared to their original
• Determining the best way to migrate certain documents
• Understanding what version of tools a document was created in so a conversion process can be automated

To support these aims we evaluated the key Office and Windows combinations that have shipped and looked at some of the typical types of documents in the archive. We built a set of Virtual PC 2007 virtual hard drives containing those O/S and Office versions and made them available to the folks at the Archives to use in their on-going document conversion process. 

[Gordon Frazer demonstrating the VPC library]

At the press launch, I demonstrated the new National Archives Virtual PC 2007 library of previous Microsoft operating systems and Office suites going back to Office 3.0 on Windows 3.11. Remember that beautiful white background? the chunky icons? the "easter egg" with the cast role of the developers (by clicking the yellow flag in help about with ctrl + shift a few times)? It all came flooding back and really made everyone realise how far things have moved in less that two decades! 

The Virtual PC 2007 environment is going to provide an effective way for documents to be viewed in the original context in full fidelity and to enable step-by-step version upgrades to be performed if some document fidelity is lost in other conversion approaches.

Open XML is an Ecma International standard and, once documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. are converted to the various Office XML formats we should be in an easier place to keep migrating documents forward. With XML being based on text we stand a good chance!

So why are we doing this now? Well, we've actually been working with The British Library and The National Archive for about 18 months now on digital preservation with some other European organisations as members of an EU project called Planets. 

I think its fair to say that we are still near the start of getting the digital preservation problems sorted, but I'm pleased to say we're actively engaged in listening to the issues and taking some real action to make the digitally-born legacy of documents readable for our kids, our kids kids, ...

Richard Godfrey and Geoff Hughes

Take a look at the following articles for more background on the announcement:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6265976.stm which also has a video interview with the Microsoft UK MD Gordon Frazer - my laptop's 15 minutes of fame! :-)

http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2117863,00.html

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39287842,00.htm

http://www.computerworlduk.com/technology/applications/desktop/news/index.cfm?newsid=3843

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/science_technology/microsoft+saves+digital+archives/587172

By John Holdstock, and Dave Baker, Developer & Platform Group, Microsoft

Leviton Manufacturing dates back to the dawn of the electrical era in 1906. Originally engaged in the fabrication of mantle tips for gas lighting, the company quickly saw the potential in the newly harnessed source of energy and converted to production of an electrical pull-chain lampholder. Today, Leviton offers more than 20,000 products and is a leader in the electrical industry, serving the industrial, commercial, OEM, and residential markets.

Consistent with its mission to apply the latest technologies to the development of new products that satisfy the needs of emerging markets, Leviton engineers and designers have been at the forefront of delivering trusted residential home automation products to installers, builders, and homeowners. The company's vision to provide consumers with powerful levels of control and customisation for home lighting and appliance automation has led it to pioneer new technologies and expand the potential of "smart" controls for the home.

Leviton saw in the advent of the Z-Wave technology standard a means of offering its customers advanced, next-generation home automation that provides greater flexibility and convenience while moving beyond the limitations inherent in older, wire-based household power-line systems.

A New Protocol Changes the Game

Z-Wave, which was codified through an industry alliance in 2005, is a wireless radio frequency (RF)-based communications standard that makes remote control effective and practical for homes of any size. The protocol, which is embedded in a microprocessor chip and built into a module or device along with memory – flash memory, RAM, or both – transforms a stand-alone appliance into an intelligent networked device that can be controlled and monitored wirelessly. Z-Wave delivers high-quality networking at a fraction of the cost of other similar technologies by focusing on narrow bandwidth applications and negating the need for costly hardware by employing innovative software solutions.

The Z-Wave standard offers a combination of technical and practical advantages that render it superior to conventional home control systems. The benefits include a wide signal range, making remote-control functionality possible for even the largest homes; simple integration that makes it easy to expand the network; low power consumption for deployment in battery-operated devices; two-way communication for remote confirmation of device or systems status; and low cost, making full home automation more affordable than ever before. Moreover, because Z-Wave operates on a narrow band of radio frequencies that aren't affected by other wireless devices such as the very popular 2.4 and 5.8 Gigahertz cordless phones and increasingly prevalent home Wi-Fi networks (a, b, g and n standards), there is no interference like that typically encountered with power-line solutions such as UPB.

Historically, home control systems cost tens of thousands of dollars. Leviton saw an opportunity for innovation in the home automation industry through the cost efficiencies created by Z-Wave devices. Because it's wireless, Z-Wave technology can be installed in a new home that's under construction just as easily as it can be retrofitted to an existing home. However, even with all the lights and appliances in a home enabled on the new standard at substantially lower costs, there is still the need for a central controller, connecting the home to the Internet for remote access. Such controllers have been, until now, among the most expensive components of a home automation system.

Solution

Looking for a solution path to reach the goal of innovation in home automation on the Z-Wave standard, Leviton found that the Microsoft .NET Micro Framework provided the development environment best suited for its product development and integration needs. Lightweight embedded control technologies are central to the .NET Micro Framework because it combines the reliability and efficiency of .NET with the productivity of Microsoft Visual Studio®. The .NET Micro Framework extends the power and richness of .NET development into the realm of the smallest of devices, where there are typically constraints on cost, memory, processor capabilities, or battery power.

"Among the factors that made the .NET Micro Framework attractive to us was Microsoft's position in the marketplace," says Ian Hendler, Director of Automation Products for Residential Technologies for Leviton. "Having a common set of libraries that developers can write to in the .NET Micro Framework was also very, very attractive."

Leviton judged the .NET Micro Framework as being able to offer several advantages over other platforms. These advantages include reduced hardware and licensing costs, direct hardware access at the managed code layer, and the simplicity and high up-time of the platform. "It just seemed like a better fit for a serious embedded device and enabled a lower, mass-market, end-user price," says Chris Walker, President and Chief Technical Officer of ControlThink, Leviton's software partner. ControlThink was tasked with writing the required applications and providing additional, enhanced functionality based on its own IP.

According to Walker, Leviton would have incurred higher development costs if it used proprietary tool chains rather than the .NET Micro Framework. He also stated that "other development tools are not nearly as refined or efficient as the Microsoft tools." In addition, he saw the framework's ability to run on inexpensive processors as a significant additional benefit.

A New Product Is Developed – Fast

Leviton worked with Microsoft, which provided the .NET Micro Framework, as well as with its hardware and software partners to develop the Vizia RF Foyer, the industry's first Z-Wave-compliant Ethernet gateway. The Vizia RF Foyer connects to an Internet-linked PC or laptop through the computer's Ethernet port and transmits signals to a Z-Wave home control network. Peer-to-peer mesh networks based on the .NET Micro Framework, the Vizia RF Foyer, and the Z-Wave protocol overcome the performance issues and high cost of earlier generations of wireless home control systems.

Each Vizia RF Foyer module is equipped with a two-way radio chip that it uses to communicate with modules, called nodes, in the network. Z-Wave command signals travel from node to node along the network to their final destination. If any form of interference blocks the signal along the way (for example, a wall or a large appliance such as a refrigerator), the signal is automatically rerouted through other nodes until it reaches its destination. The "self-healing" feature of the Z-Wave mesh network lends it unparalleled reliability.

An embedded application, such as the one in the Vizia RF Foyer, customarily takes approximately one year to develop. However, with the .NET Micro Framework, Leviton's software partner ControlThink was able to produce a working proof of concept in three days and, porting its existing .Net code base, completed the final application within three months.

"Since .NET Micro Framework is basically standard C# code for embedded devices, it was easy to use Visual Studio Rapid Application Development tools to craft a 'working prototype' very quickly," says Walker. "We have some great .NET skills in-house, so for us the tools and the platform are a perfect match."

Easy Integration of Hardware and Software

Leviton's hardware partner, Digi International, produced the processor for the Vizia RF Foyer. It also found the .NET Micro Framework hospitable to its work on the project. The Digi Ethernet module, with plug-and-play functionality and comprehensive development tools for custom applications, further simplified the design and manufacture of the Vizia RF Foyer. "What we brought to the project and the .NET Micro Framework really came together with the ControlThink application," says John Leier, Product Manager for Embedded Solutions for Digi. "Everything worked well and easily scaled up to the application for Leviton's new product. This project shows how you can really reduce the amount of time it takes to get your product to market with the .NET Micro Framework."

"Because the .NET Micro Framework is designed to be implemented with hardware solutions, it's an ideal system for us to use in the Vizia RF Foyer," says Grant Sullivan, Product Marketing Manager, Automation Products for Residential Technologies for Leviton. "This has been a little different kind of process for us. Given that Leviton is a manufacturing company, we tend to like to build our own products. But Z-Wave is still a new technology and we felt there was an opportunity to work with Microsoft and our partners to create a better home automation system. Both the process of collaborating to develop this product and the response we're getting to it have been very positive."

Benefits

The Vizia RF Foyer, which will reach the market in the third quarter of 2007, allows connectivity to a home automation system locally and remotely. It makes possible use of a PDA, smart phone or either home-based or office PC to command and control dimmers, switches and other Z-Wave-enabled appliances.

"This product speeds up the home automation system in comparison to power-line wire-based systems," says Walker. "You plug the Vizia RF Foyer into the wall and connect it into your router. Now your smart home is on the Internet and can be controlled both remotely via our secure ThinkConnect service and also from computers in the house that are on the network. This small, inexpensive device is reliable, has intelligence and makes everything run better – it's basically a low-cost, smart server for the home."

Homeowners can conserve energy during the day by turning on house lights and air conditioning using their cell phone as they approach their home in the evening; dim the lights as they watch a movie in their home theater; run a macro so that an hour after the kitchen lights are turned off, the exhaust fan over the stove automatically switches off; or signal their home to go into a preprogrammed "vacation mode," with lights going on and off in different parts of the house at various times, to make it look like its being lived in for increased security.

"The big advantage here is that I can control my home when I'm not there," says Walker. "I can be home when I'm not."

Roadmap for Future Innovation

The primary focus for the launch of the Vizia RF Foyer is lighting and appliance command and control, but it will eventually integrate with window shades, thermostats, door locks, security systems and touch screens that communicate on the Z-Wave standard.

Leviton is currently developing software around the Vizia RF Foyer to help builders, electricians, professional system integrators and home entertainment system installers deploy the Z-Wave technology faster and more efficiently. The Vizia RF Foyer is fully supported by ControlThink's Z-Wave PC SDK (for desktop and mobile .Net applications) and is a platform for unlimited customisation. It's anticipated that this will lead to third-party development of products to work as plug-ins with the Vizia RF Foyer.

Another key improvement expected in future product releases is increased speed across the network.

Faster, Better, and More Economical

Speed is a central theme of the Vizia RF Foyer story. "We've shown that you can reduce the time it takes to get your product to market with the .NET Micro Framework," says Leier. "That really changes the game for embedded device designers and developers. Now they can very quickly and very easily add wired and wireless networking to their products."

"We want to go to the mass market," says Hendler, "so the .NET Micro Framework was the most cost-effective platform for us to adopt. It also delivers the ability to innovate on and is easy to find developers to program on – and our customers are already comfortable working in the .NET world. The price point is excellent and the value proposition in terms of features and flexibility is great. And based on our testing, it's very reliable."

"There's real benefit to Leviton, our customers, and to consumers from all that .NET Micro Framework does today. But I'm very confident that the Z-Wave technology and the Vizia RF Foyer product line will continue to develop and expand in terms of its capabilities and functionality by using the .NET Micro Framework."

"I see this as a platform for growth for Leviton, beyond just this one product. There are other applications we can use it in; this is a residential technology, but there are applications it can perhaps be used for in light commercial or small business. So we see .NET Micro Framework as a very good platform to invest in, because you get a good ROI immediately and you have good potential for future ROI."

Microsoft .NET Micro Framework

The .NET Micro Framework grew out of the Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) initiative at Microsoft. This framework is a natural extension of Microsoft offerings for creating embedded systems and provides an easy-to-use solution for this type of development.

Though it is used on very small devices, the.NET Micro Framework provides a managed code environment that brings a high degree of efficiency and reliability to the realm of embedded software development. You can find more information about this framework at www.msdn.microsoft.com/embedded/netmf