Problem: Efficiently communicate corporate information
to employees.
Solution: Interactive multimedia kiosks throughout plant, networked
with StarWorks digital video networking software.
Benefit: Increased employee productivity.
Northern Telecom's Brimalea, Ontario, plant needed a much more
efficient, consistent and cost-effective way to communicate important company
information to its 2,500 employees. Company meetings were unproductive and
took too much time, and employee notices on bulletin boards were not always
read. Now, with a new communications system that uses StarWorks(r) video
networking software, Northern Telecom employees can learn about new corporate
programs and events and upcoming products, or even check the company stock
price at one of eight interactive multimedia kiosks at the plant. In an
employee survey, Brimalea employees revealed that this means of communication
has been more effective than any other form of communications done previously
at Northern Telecom. The new system has increased employee productivity
because the number of meetings has been significantly reduced. The high
cost of printing hard-copy reports and notices has been reduced as well.
Delivering digital video over a quarter-mile network
"We needed a way to deliver compelling, consistent, interactive audiovisual
information throughout the plant and across a network that is about a quarter
of a mile long," explains Brian Crucefix, global process and delivery
business analyst at Northern Telecom. "In addition, the information
needed to be easily updated at a single location on a weekly or even daily
basis. Using digital video made continuously updating the information feasible,
and StarWorks video networking software solved the complex technical problems
involved with delivering digital video across a widespread network. StarWorks
and digital video together provided us with a very cost-effective, comprehensive
solution for employee communications."
The Brimalea multimedia system started as a pilot with two kiosks and an
analog television system. The plant still maintains an analog television
system to air executive speeches and the like. The bulk of employee communications,
however, is done through kiosks featuring digital video. "We had a
vision," says Crucefix. "We didn't want television monitors stuck
up all over the place broadcasting information. We wanted employees to be
able to simultaneously access interactive company information at their desktop
computers." Other alternatives such as CD-ROM, Crucefix says, could
not be readily updated from a single location or be accessible from anywhere
in the plant.
To create the system, Northern Telecom has installed StarWorks video networking
software on a Compaq 486 server that distributes video information over
Ethernet to eight kiosks located throughout the plant. Fiberoptic cable
is used for the Ethernet network, because the factory floor is more than
1,300 feet in length and 660 feet in width. Each kiosk node consists of
a Compaq 486/33 PC with 8 MB RAM, a 120 MB hard disk drive, a 20-inch Mitsubishi
touch-screen monitor, and an Intel ActionMedia card. The server is installed
with two SMC Ethernet cards, and storage is provided by two Hewlett-Packard
1 GB hard drives.
There are two multimedia development stations on the network: one Apple
Macintosh with New Video's EyeQ cards for playback, and a PC with Authorware
Professional and other editing tools. These workstations are used to pull
up application content from StarWorks, and then edit and compress the content
for delivery to the server. A bridge to the main corporate network enables
workers producing videos to access files and applications on the company's
NetWare and Banyan VINES file servers, as necessary.
Smooth, simultaneous access to high-quality video
According to Crucefix, StarWorks solved many of the problems traditionally
associated with setting up networked digital video applications. First,
the company was concerned with providing sufficient network bandwidth to
deal with the large streams of data necessary to play compressed digital
video and other high-bandwidth audiovisual data. "We found that StarWorks
solved the bottlenecks of delivering digital video and audiovisual data
via a network at very high quality - smoothly and simultaneously to multiple
users," explains Crucefix. "The pilot system could only play two
videos simultaneously using a normal file server. Subsequent videos would
appear jerky, because there was not enough server and network bandwidth
to support them. StarWorks solved the problem and works with network operating
systems like NetWare and VINES." Northern Telecom's StarWorks setup
uses multiple Ethernet segments to keep bandwidth within acceptable levels.
StarWorks manages server resources and network traffic with video-specific
protocols to ensure high quality, smooth playback to digital video users.
The StarWorks server can control 20 videos simultaneously.
Benefits of the new system
Crucefix says the new communication system at Brimalea has helped the plant
employees in many ways. "Employees are simply better informed using
the new system," says Crucefix. "The audiovisual nature of digital
video makes it a highly effective communication tool. The touch-screen kiosks
enable employees to easily find information on the precise topics they are
interested in without having to wade through piles of information. This
saves a lot of time and energy." Crucefix also says the cost of employee
communications has come down, because the plant saves on paper and printing
costs.
The program has been so well received that, according to Crucefix, the Brimalea
plant employee communications system has served as a model, which has spurred
other parts of Northern Telecom to build similar multimedia systems for
employee communications and training.
The plant has used the system to communicate in other innovative ways as
well. Northern Telecom was recently in the process of bidding on a large
telephone switch contract with the People's Republic of China, and was visited
by a senior Chinese government official. As China's Vice Premier entered
the plant, he was greeted by a multimedia presentation that welcomed him
in his native dialect. Northern Telecom replaced the existing kiosk buttons
with selections in Chinese. "We are a technology company," explains
Crucefix. "We really impress this upon our customers when we use the
most advanced technologies - like digital video delivered using StarWorks
- to get our message across to customers and employees alike."
Environment at a glance
Hardware: Compaq ProSignia 486/66 MHz video server with 24 MB RAM
and 1 GB hard drives; Compaq 486/33 MHz clients; Intel ActionMedia and New
Video EyeQ digital video compression cards.
Network environment: Ethernet LAN, NetWare, VINES.
Software: StarWorks-25M digital video networking software from Starlight
Networks.
Video compression format: RTV video.
Authoring tool: Authorware Professional.
StarWorks is a registered trademark of Starlight Networks, Inc.
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