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You have been doing some really cool stuff out there! Yes - I mean that. In my job as host of ARCast I run into a lot of people who have been solving hard problems, building systems that work and getting the job done. Well we had an idea about this... I think that your peers would like to hear about the great work you have done. Go ahead and pat yourself on the back for a minute. I want to help you tell your story in a 30 minute video case study. Not the typical glossy, marketing feel good case study... no I want people to know about the pain you went through. The challenges you faced and how you overcame those challenges to build something that works. .gif) | Raiffeisen Bank in Austria
What is it with banks and Composite Smart Clients? This is the second ARCast case study I've done on this exact scenario. This time it is Raiffeisen bank in Austria. Could it be that the mix of many diverse back end systems, web services and the need for a powerful front end just matches up well with the Smart Client Software Factory and Composite UI application block? | | Eco_Log: a case study in Wells, Austria
Warehouses are fascinating places especially when you think about the goal of the warehouse. It's a definite balancing act of warehousing just the right amount of goods or parts so that when the demand occurs at a retail outlet or factory floor you can get the right part to the right place quickly. But on the other hand excess inventory stored in warehouses is expensive and could lead to a disaster if you build things that people don't want. | | CommSee Project: Commonwealth Bank of Australia
CommSee is a simply amazing application written by the team at CBA. This application is visually stunning, architecturally interesting and on top of that it has delivered solid business value to the bank stakeholders, users and customers. Wouldn't you love to be a part of a project like that? After hearing about it we decided we had to learn more so we spent a day chatting with the team. | | Remend
Software as a Service (SaaS) is simply the idea that instead of paying for the bits and running them on your server, you ought to be able to buy the service you want and let somebody else manage it. Of course, this is nothing new. You may have my website hosted by people you've never met. You don't care too much about the bits that actually run the server, you just want it to run and you don't want to think about it. In this case study overview we meet Remend one of the new crop of companies who are moving to a SaaS business model. | | Flatburger
Flatburger... a strange name but an interesting concept for a company that is enabling the little guys to have a marketplace for selling modular software and bringing together the three main components of Software as a Service (Saas) the customer, the hoster and the developer. In these type of 3 way relationships you almost always need a middleman to negotiate the deal and Flatburger aims to be just that. |
Case Study: Support Technicians on the RoadMonicomp is the largest maintainer of banking equipment in Hungary. The organization installs, maintains, and repairs Point of Service (POS) terminals, Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) machines, and other similar banking equipment using hundreds of technicians scattered all around the country. In the article, we will show how the architecture of MUVESZ (a solution to cover from inventory to billing... more
Credit Suisse Develops and Deploys SOX 404 Compliance Solution using SQL Server 2005Credit Suisse, based in Zurich, Switzerland, provides investment banking, private banking, and asset management services to clients in more than 50 countries. Because its shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the company had to comply with regulations specifying internal controls introduced by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) Section 40... more
Microsoft Portugal and University of Beira Interior Hipercambio ProjectThe Hipercambio Project is the first project of Microsoft’s new High-Performance Computing (HPC) Lab in Portugal. Built on a partnership between Microsoft and the University of Beira Interior, the main purpose of this project is to apply HPC technologies using Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 to breast cancer research; develop parallel and scalable algorithms that will enable the processing of... more
Protecting Your Business from Online ThreatsThis case study, which is a collaborative effort by Microsoft, the US Chamber of Commerce, and other industry groups, provides prescriptive advice on how businesses can protect their domains, customers, and assets.
Fasthosts: Hosted Services Provider Delivers More Competitive Services with New PlatformIn 2005, Fasthosts decided to offer dedicated servers for both Linux and Windows customers. It investigated a system based on Linux, but ultimately decided to base its provisioning and deployment system on Windows Server 2003. Implementing a Windows Server 2003 environment ensures that the entire dedicated server transaction�from customer sign on to provisioning and deployment of servers�is delive... more
Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003: Desk-Side Supercomputing in the Automotive IndustryHigh-performance computing (HPC) is crucial for the automotive industry. HPC is employed in mechanical computer-aided design and computer-aided engineering to test structural integ�rity, airflow motions of components and systems, and simulated crash-testing. Now HPC is poised for an evolutionary development that will help drive accelerated speed to market, significant cost reductions, and tremendo... more
Microsoft HPC Lab in Portugal Supports Breast Cancer ResearchMicrosoft Portugal introduced a High-Performance Computing Lab, based at the companys head office at Porto Salvo, for the development of Hipercmbio - High-Performance Computing Applied to Medical Data and Bioinformatics a project to support breast cancer scientific research in Portugal.
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Accelerates Success by Using Cutting-Edge Programming ModelModifications to the company’s COBOL, mainframe-based, car rental system were time consuming. Dollar Thrifty remedied its problems by using .NET 3.0 with Windows Workflow Foundation and Windows Communication Foundation. To create the company’s next-generation car rental application, developers are using Visual Studio Team Edition, designing to take advantage of Windows Server 2003 and the Windows... more
Microsoft Improves Access to Customer Data with New Smart Client SolutionMicrosoft needed to make the customer data in its Siebel solution more accessible and actionable to the company’s 8,000-member sales force. As part of its Project Elixir effort, Microsoft developed Customer Explorer, a smart client application that uses Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2003 to provide access to customer data in several back-end systems.
C.H. Robinson adopts MS Motion to map their business capabilities into a SOAWhen C.H. Robinson needed to create a common language and data model for their multi-mode logistics business, they turned to Microsoft Motion. Motion provided the methodology required to accurately map their complex and unique business model into a common view understood by the business and information technology groups.
HP Builds Comprehensive Solution for Software Development Project and Process ManagementDue to mergers and acquisitions, Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) software engineers have inherited multiple tools used to support the software-engineering process. Through the extensibility, flexibility, and prebuilt features of Team Foundation Server, HP rapidly and cost-effectively delivered APPRISE, a solution that supports and enforces HP’s own development methodologies, processes, and reporting... more
GMAC Commercial Mortgage Reduces Cost of Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance by 50 PercentFacing the need to track more than a thousand business controls and manage several times as many documents for compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, GMAC Commercial Mortgage knew that it would need more than spreadsheets and file shares. Learn how GMACCM now enjoys improved visibility into its risk and controls environment, as well as increased ownership and accountability from the people who pl... more
Enabling an Adaptable, Aligned, and Agile Supply Chain with BizTalk and RosettaNet AcceleratorFor its Microsoft Xbox360 video game and entertainment system, Microsoft faced more complex manufacturing requirements than it experienced with the original video game system. To provide full, real-time visibility into the supply chain for the product’s graphics chips, Microsoft created an integrated business process automation solution based on BizTalk Server and the BizTalk Accelerator for Roset... more
Bungie.net Technical Case StudyThe Bungie.net site is the online companion to the wildly successful Halo 2 video game for Xbox, released in November 2004 by Microsoft. Built with the Microsoft .NET Framework, Bungie.net serves up more than 4 million pages per day. The site provides innovative ways for users to view game statistics and details as well as interact with each other through forums and team Web pages. This case study... more
Bank Austria Creditanstalt Group Cuts Loan Process Time by 70% By Automating Common FunctionsMarket leader Bank Austria Creditanstalt wanted to introduce more automatised processes to improve customer service and support expansion. However, each of its subsidiaries had local one-off branch applications, processes, and departments. This made offering new products difficult. The solution integrated data from the standard legacy system, looking across all of the capabilities involved with th... more
Crutchfield Corporation Streamlines Special Offers Process Across Order Entry SystemsCrutchfield needed a way to streamline the programming for its three order entry systems so that special offers could be made quickly and with less effort. Crutchfield centralized the special offers programming in a single Web service that exposes information for all three applications. The company has reduced development time for each offer (from days to hours), and now can present items consiste... more
Vail Resorts: Developers Improve Reservation Process for Resort Operator; Reduce Support TimesThe company’s reservation agents were challenged by a central reservation system that was difficult to use and almost impossible to update. Within six months, the team created AirLink, a rich client application. AirLink provides reservation agents an easy-to-use application that integrates the central reservation system with an online airfare service and allows to scale efficiently to take advanta... more
Thomson Financial Streamlines its Solution and Enhances Performance with Microsoft .NETThomson Financial, a $1.5 billion USD company with thousands of global customers, needed to consolidate the backend processes of its 40 constituent companies--without reinventing a platform from the ground up. Watch this video case study and learn how Microsoft .NET and a service orientation built ThomsonOne, and opened new markets for the company.
Collaboration Solution Helps Citigroup Global Meet Local NeedsWith 280,000 employees serving 120 million customers in 103 countries, Citigroup found that collaboration is key. The solution, dubbed Citigroup CitiVision, is built on Microsoft .NET technology that helps connect people, information, systems, and devices.
Architecture Review Reduces Risk and Cuts Costs for Towergate UnderwritingTowergate Underwriting Group is one of the UK's leading providers of specialist insurance solutions. Having a history of developing disparate tactical solutions to support new insurance schemes and new products, they now want to develop a single strategic eCommerce platform. CM Group, a Microsoft Gold Partner, conductes an evaluation of Towergate's architecture and technical direction by using a p... more
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