Background

Objectware's rich experience with the needed applications allowed it to contribute design ideas to our platform that embellished and improved on our original design, allowing us to get to market quicker.

- Shachar Oren
Neurotic Media, CEO

Objectware Inc was hired by Neurotic Media to provide it with an effective tool to manage its music download encryption and distribution. The software's main function is to effectively manage the availability of digital media for download through affiliates and portal websites. Objectware was challenged to develop and implement a comprehensive, scalable and secured system by which music downloads are monitored, categorized and reported. In addition, Neurotic Media needed an intuitive administration tool that would restrict media availability based on timeframe, number of downloads per consumers, number of times downloaded media is played as well as limit concurrent downloads and bandwidth. The administration tool would also need to be designed to provide comprehensive reports on consumers' behavior and demographics as well as success to failure download ratio.

Challenge

Neurotic Media needed to build a system with the ability to support the complete process of publishing, distributing, and managing digital assets such as music files, video files, and other digital media on the web. Neurotic Media created a specifications document detailing an end-to-end web-enabled administrative tool that will provide it with complete control over the digital assets submitted to it by its clients and partners (content licensors and online distribution partners). One of the core functionalities needed within this tool was the ability to monitor and manage the grant and revocation of licenses to download and play media content.

Solution

Neurotic Media needed a partner that could respond quickly to its needs as well as provide a cost effective and complete solution. Objectware Inc boasted a vast pool of talent that coincided well with Neurotic Media's requirements and was known for its strong commitment to its customers' success. Neurotic had a fixed budget and an aggressive timetable that put Objectware to the challenge. Shachar Oren, Neurotic Media's CEO, describes the situation: "We were looking for an outsourcing partner that had a strong business acumen and the needed expertise in our niche. It was also important for us to find a vendor of the right size and nature: Too small a vendor would have made us concerned about the resources available, while too big a vendor would have worried us about being too small a client to receive the proper attention. Therefore, we felt that Objectware was the right partner for our project. "

"Objectware's rich experience with the needed applications allowed it to contribute design ideas to our platform that embellished and improved on our original design, allowing us to get to market quicker," adds Mr. Oren. "As a nimble start-up, we needed an outsource vendor for our technical department - and Objectware has done a marvelous job in creating and maintaining a platform that has proven very reliable. With 99.999% up-time, we are now a trusted partner to the world's largest media companies."

Objectware Inc. incorporated Microsoft's DRM suite into the Neurotic Media Platform, allowing the latter to control the following components per project: Date/Time availability, number of allowable plays per license, restriction of CD-R copies, and more. Encrypted files are made available on the web through Neurotic Media's distribution network. Encrypting and licensing media via DRM is an effective way to monitor the use of music downloads. DRM encryption allows Neurotic Media to enforce license acquisition via the Web (in a non intrusive way) prior to the use of the downloaded content. Encrypted files can also be delivered via off-line methods, such as on a CD or DVD. When encrypted media is distributed via a CD to an individual, he/she will still be forced to obtain a license through the web once an attempt to play is made.

Neurotic's software infrastructure supports high availability and scalability, as some of their affiliates are very popular web content providers such as AOL, Microsoft's WindowsMedia.com, Yahoo, and Launch. For more information about Neurotic Media's DRM services, please go to their website at: www.neuroticmedia.com