Mobile Audio Content

Technical Architect

October 2007 – September 2008

Wile’s core business was around delivering important messages to busy people, primarily making use of mobile phones.  As Wile was a startup company my remit was very wide from technical specialist to CEO and I was responsible for all things technical.

  • Technical Designs
  • Liaise between external software houses and senior management.
  • Quality check, and challenge all technical documentation from software houses regarding proposed designs.
  • Recruitment
  • Infrastructure implementation
  • Disaster Recovery Strategy and process

Mobile Audio Services

The system implemented took written content primarily in the form of PDF’s and Word Documents.  This was entered into the system using a custom built application designed by myself to allow a content editor to quickly extract content into relevant fields, including not only content but also ‘Tagging’ and dating data.

This data was then packaged and queued using MSMQ to our Narrators who would narrate the text and submit the audio for verification.  Again this was managed with a custom application designed by myself.

Once the audio had been verified it was automatically converted in to a number of formats including MP3 and SPX and became available for download for registered subscribers.

Subscribers typically defined search filters on their publication using the Wile website and the approriate content would be packaged for them over night.

The final step in the process was for the custom mobile phone application ‘WilePlayer’ to logon over night and download waiting content ready for playback typically during the morning commute.

Scope

During this startup phase of Wile I was responsable not only for the technical design of the proposed system but also the internal infrastructure and networks.  Many of the tasks undertaken by myself whilst working for Wile Audio Services are listed below.

Development

  • Implement software revision control and bug tracking systems using Subversion (SVN) and Fogbugz.
  • Configuration of IIS6 web servers including custom ISASP filters.
  • Defining XML schemas (XSD) and web services in Service Orientated Architectures (SOA), using tools such as XMLSpy.
  • Design and write specification for SOAP/ XML web service based services to allow third party devices including mobile phones and PDA’s to interact with in-house database and file systems.
  • Working with developers under SCRUM Agile programming methodologies to ensure fast iterative turnaround of code, developing C# .net 3.5 web services using Visual Studio 2005/2008.
  • Introduction of VMWare Server to maximise development processes
  • Web Service unit testing using SoapUi, C# trace, MSSQL 2005 Profiler, tracing end to end messaging.
  • Authoring of basic SQL Stored Procedures.
  • Proof of concept work on integrating internal audio systems with Spinvox’s web service based voice to text solution producing lecture transcripts.
  • Write specification for Mobile phone software to integrate with core business systems by calling web services via 3g / WiFi. (Symbian7,8,9 & Windows Mobile 5).
  • Produce batch script to automate the slicing of audio and conversion to MP3 & SPX formats.
  • Prototype IPTV based lecture capture solution.

Core Business Systems

  • Install and configure Small Business Server SBS 2003 for the local management team.
  • Configuration of Active Directory & GPO.
  • Configuration and Maintenance of DNS hosting for multiple Web, Mail and WAP services.
  • Setup Hardware based VPN access for remote workers.
  • Implement change control process.

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