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Here is the latest article in a new eWEEK feature series called IT Science, in which we look at what actually happens at the intersection of new-gen IT and legacy systems.
Unless it’s brand new and right off various assembly lines, servers, storage and networking inside every IT system can be considered “legacy.” This is because the iteration of both hardware and software products is speeding up all the time. It’s not unusual for an app-maker, for example, to update and/or patch for security purposes an application a few times a month, or even a week. Some apps are updated daily! Hardware moves a little slower, but manufacturing cycles are also speeding up.
These articles describe new-gen industry solutions. The idea is to look at real-world examples of how new-gen IT products and services are making a difference in production each day. Most of them are success stories, but there will also be others about projects that blew up. We’ll have IT integrators, system consultants, analysts and other experts helping us with these as needed.
Today’s Topic: Building a Multi-Tenant Platform for Pay-Per-View Video Service
Name the problem to be solved: Talguu is a live-casting, video streaming platform that allows individuals and organizations to provide its content to a large audience base of pay-per-view subscribers. The company works with both television stations and other video content providers. Operating in a time- and resource-strapped startup environment, Talguu CTO David Talbot needed to develop a multi-tenant platform to display channels in just a few months.
Describe the strategy that went into finding the solution: Talbot estimated a project budget of $2 million over 18 months using traditional software development methods. As a startup with modest funding provided directly by the founder, Talbot needed to find a way to cut costs and substantially reduce end-to-end development time. After discovering Caspio’s low-code platform, Talbot arranged for a monthlong pilot to ensure that he and his team were familiar enough to be able to develop applications in-house. The success of the pilot convinced Talbot to make a 100 percent commitment to Caspio as Talguu’s primary technology infrastructure.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Caspio enables non-technical business professionals to build custom web applications for capturing data, sharing information and automating business processes—quickly and at a fraction of the cost of conventional development methods.
List the key components in the solution: Caspio’s all-in-one low-code platform combines an online database, visual application development tools and scalable cloud infrastructure. Talbot used Caspio across the full development cycle—application design, development, QA and deployment—to rapidly deliver a minimum viable product and then continue iterating as the market requires.
Describe how the deployment went, how long it took, and if it came off as planned: Using Caspio, the total savings from development was considerably better than had Talguu used traditional development approaches. Talguu developed and deployed its application in a fraction of the time and cost versus the original estimate of two to three years and $1 million to $2 million and without encountering scalability issues. Talbot himself was responsible for 95 percent of the output, with the rest contributed by a small team of freelancers.
Eight months after first meeting with Caspio, Talguu has multiple operational channels, and its small technology group has been able to keep up with the changes and imaginative ideas inherent in a startup.
Describe the result, new efficiencies gained, and what was learned from the project: Using Caspio, Talguu developed its application in five months instead of the estimated 2-3 years. The reduced development time freed up Talguu’s IT resources for higher priority projects. Since he developed much of the application himself, Talbot also retains full creative control over the design and deployment. This allowed him to structure the application so other people in the organization are able to take over when he’s away.
Describe ROI, carbon footprint savings, and staff time savings, if any: Since embracing the Caspio platform, Talguu has achieved notable results. Talbot estimates that he was able to develop and deploy his application with 20 percent of the budget and headcount required of traditional methods. An added benefit to using Caspio is its fixed pricing scheme. A fixed cost is charged regardless of the number of users, giving Talguu a significant profit leverage as they grow their subscriber base.
Here is a YouTube video about the project.
If you have a suggestion for an eWEEK IT Science article, email: cpreimesberger@eweek.com.