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National Geographic
Channel – Synchronized Web Presence for UK, Asia, India,
Hong Kong, Singapore and NGC Global Resource Center
With a viewership of more than 100 million, National Geographic
Channel (NGC) broadcasts span across the globe, in varied time
zones. Acknowledging the power of the Internet, NGC discerned
the need for its online presence. The aim was to display program
schedules online and allow viewers to experience NGC explorations
on the Web. The NGC Web site had to be customized across different
time zones and countries. To manage operations on such a large
scale, NGC partnered with solution providers in various countries
and for India, they chose Icreon (then known as Indicom). The
NGC India Web site was launched in 2000. Providing high-quality
services on consistent basis, Icreon gained appreciation from
the NGC team and subsequently, the responsibility to design,
develop, and maintain six NGC Web sites! |
Customer
Profile
In September 1997, the world's first National Geographic Channel
was launched in Europe and Australia. National Geographic Channel
Asia was launched soon after, in 1998 and has built a loyal
and devoted following. The word spread quickly and now the Channel
has grown to be available in over 133 countries and is viewed
in more than 100 million homes, in 21 languages.
Business Requirement
NGC wanted to launch a turnkey project to accomplish its goal
of global Web presence. The operation would require a very large
& full-time, dedicated team of professionals, not to mention
the physical costs such as hardware, OS etc. To prevent these
costs, NGC chose partners, who would manage its operations in
various countries, with different time zones. Icreon was chosen
for India.
Solution
Benefits
 Consistent
and high-end Web design matching global standards
In-sync
event & operations management for NGC Web sites
Comprehensive
online coverage & promotions for NGC events
Website
traffic analysis and monitoring for consistent performance
High-end
graphic and Micro-Site designs
Interactive
online games and contests
Technologies Used
Windows
NT (formerly deployed on LINUX servers)
MySQL,
MS SQL, Oracle
ASP
( formerly developed in CGI )
PHP
Flash
(ActionScript, Animations)
HTML
Web
Trends Site Analysis
SSI
JavaScript
Requirement
National Geographic Channel was searching for new mediums
to reach its viewers. The Internet having evolved to what it
is today could not be ignored. With growing viewership, NGC
required a strong online presence to provide extensive coverage
of TV program schedules, along with features to add value to
the basic channel subscription. NGC wanted the Websites to provide
extensive TV program promotions through online activities like
contests, polls, games, and other interactive features. Apart
from this, the Websites had to be maintained for India, UK,
Asia, Singapore, and Hong Kong in addition to the NGC Global
Resource Center (Online) – all across different time zones,
with different types of events and contents maintained on a
daily and continuous basis.
Empowering NGC’s Online
Presence
NGC teamed with Icreon in early 2000 with only the India Website
development project. Today Icreon manages the following NGC
websites:
United Kingdom - www.nationalgeographic.co.uk
Asia - www.ngcasia.com
Singapore - www.nationalgeographic.com.sg
Hong Kong - www.nationalgeographic.com.hk
India - www.nationalgeographic.co.in
Global Resource Centre - www.ngcglobal.com
Managing six Websites is only a part of the entire responsibility.
It extends to being the ever-present technical resource for
all online activity - Providing solutions to the global network
of NGC's teams, along with research & development in new
technologies are all part of the services provided by Icreon
to the Channel.
The biggest challenge in being a part of this operation is working
within global timelines. NGC plans its online promotions and
activities on a global level. It is our responsibility to deliver
within specified timelines, in-sync with NGC teams worldwide.
Our Web activities involve:
Online
program database and telecast schedule maintenance
Content
schedule implementation for regional Websites
Page
construction for all content
Online
event implementation (contests, polls, etc.)
Promotional
activities (e-Newsletters, online AV's, etc.)
Application
development for key processes (Banner Management System, Global
Resource Management System, Administration consoles)
Implementation
of interactive features
Beta
testing, debugging and packaging for distribution to NGC teams
worldwide
Web
server & Web site maintenance
Implementation
and monitoring of the WebTrends Live site analysis system
Offline
mirror site maintenance
Offline
Image banking
Icreon has a team of professionals who are dedicated to NGC,
from server administrators to proofreading professionals - the
entire gamut. In addition, we provide the hardware infrastructure
including the Web server for porting the NGC Websites. Previously,
we deployed NGC's Websites on a multi-platform and multi-host
architecture, for serving Web pages and applications. The Websites
were hosted on the Linux platforms. Development of applications
was performed using PHP, CGI-PERL under Linux. This setup has
switched to the Windows platform, using ASP and PHP/PERL-CGI
for Windows.
We utilized MySQL for database management, previously. As of
now, SQL Server 2000 serves as the database management backend
for al NGC Websites. A key concern while developing applications
is that they should seamlessly integrate into the existing system,
irrespective of the databases in use.
A majority of the front-end uses SSI pages with extensive use
of JavaScript. Interactive features are developed using a combination
of JavaScript and ActionScript (Flash).
Some of the sub-projects that we have accomplished for NGC include:
Mission Everest – Complete online coverage of this
contest conducted in India
Mission Mars – Complete online coverage of this
contest
NGC – Geo Genius – An interactive online game developed
by Icreon
Secrets Unveiled & Secret Chambers Revealed –
Complete online coverage of program schedules for these series
The growing faith of the NGC team on Icreon has led to another
successful venture that we are currently managing for NGC –
The History Channel Website.
Summary
We believe in long-lasting relationships with our clients
and NGC is a perfect example! Over the years, we have grown
as a company, and for NGC, our services have only improved.
As Mr. Jayant Shah, VP Media, for NGC puts it – “The
diversity and creativity that the developers at Icreon possess
has been an ongoing asset. In closing, our Team would like to
entrust Icreon for the expert development and project fulfillment
we have experienced thus far, we look forward to many years
of ongoing partnership."
Managing operations across Websites catering to a diverse time
zone, we enable NGC to meet its requirements of turnkey and
high-end Web presence at par with global Web standards.
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