The Rackspace Cloud needed a place to showcase all the various products & services that utilize the cloud in their offering. The site needed to be simple, yet effective. Tipit delivered a customized WordPress solution allowing Rackspace to add new “Cloud Tools” as easily as bloggers add new posts. The system has been growing steadily and has scaled nicely to an ever-increasing number of tools.
SaveOnEnergy.com provides utility customers with the tools to easily find, compare, and order competitive energy services. Working with the firm’s designated designer, Tipit has undertaken a complete information architecture overhaul, clarifying and simplifying this outstanding online tool.
With an operational budget dedicated to constantly growing and evolving their website, they are a perfect fit for the Tipit Client Services membership. As a result of this ongoing work, Tipit has taken SaveOnEnergy.com from a simple brochure site to a sophisticated content management system. Their custom CMS includes tools for managing weekly energy rate changes , an affiliate tool for tracking referrals, a lead report suite and a multi-market / multi-state option for adding new markets for users to compare energy rates and sign up for lower cost providers. With each added feature, the site becomes a more useful tool for running their business.
In addition, the site was implemented using pure CSS / XHTML layout techniques and has been constantly evolving to make the site even more optimized for search engines. The success has been truly remarkable and a big score for the continuing development model.
What began as a publishing system for a 24 hours news station in Austin, TX has evolved into one of our largest and most aggressive projects.
Recruited by Time Warner Local News division to develop a news publishing tool for their ‘next generation newsroom system’, we rose to the challenge and re-developed the previous news publishing system into a modular tool to be rolled out with each station launch. Ten years later, Tipit and the Time Warner Local News Group continue to partner in an ongoing effort to utilize web-based interfaces / applications in new ways to facilitate the 24 news production process.
Utilizing C# .NET, this custom content management system enables each news station to rapidly report and edit hundreds of articles a day. Additionally, our on-air ticker system aggregates data from across the internet and allows individual stations to customize on-air tickers using a web-based interface. This enables stations to display sports scores, stock prices, weather events, and virtually anything else of interest to a very localized market with the click of a mouse! As the needs of these unique news stations grow, we look forward to expanding our innovative and successful partnership with Time Warner Local News Group.
Below we have collected a sample of our current projects to highlight various aspects of our work. Note: this is just a small sampling of the breadth of our work over the past decade plus. We pride ourselves on the range and scope of our efforts and hope that our dedication to your needs is readily apparent.
Cinereach is a non-profit that funds innovative film projects. In partnership with Abstract Edge, Tipit created a customized WordPress solution allowing Cinereach to completely control the content on their site, feature films, publish news releases and blog about their projects. WordPress tools were used to allow for the easy adding, editing and updating of content throughout the entire site, while the site design looks like a professional website instead of a blog.
Rock the Bulb was developed for Puget Sound Energy as part of an energy savings competition for their customers. There were several real-world events where people could bring their old light bulbs and exchange them for newer energy-efficient bulbs. The site kept track of who went to these events, what bulbs were turned in and what activities were done at each event. Points were awarded to their customers based on participation and customer referrals.
The site featured a complete administrative suite and a contest tracking feature and was used extensively by the PSE staff. A sophisticated Django application was combined with WordPress for the blogging tool to create a highly functional site that successfully managed all aspects fo this contest. This project was done in collaboration with Abstract Edge interactive agency.
From a virtual mapped drive to a sophisticated backup solution, Jungle Disk applications leverage cloud storage for all sorts of purposes. When Jungle Disk underwent a redesign, they needed a firm that could take graphical comps and produce a C# .NET solution that their internal programmers could then use to insert the business logic that drives the web-based portion of their application. We rose to the challenge, coding all existing content and implementing a template system for easy management and maintenance of the site moving forward.
In collaboration with Abstract Edge, Tipit was brought in to create XHTML templates for the entire Discover Magazine publishing site. Utilizing the open source content management tool, plone, Tipit ensured the front end look/feel of the site matched precisely what the designer had drawn in the design comps.
Acting as the middle man integrator, Tipit had to be able to work on a technical level with the plone engineers and on a visual level with the designers. Bringing both sides together and weaving a middle ground that elegantly brought together form and function Tipit, as a production company, excelled in this role. There are dozens of pieces that have to come together to pull off a successful web production. This project came in on budget and on time.
Read the case study written on the extreme success of this site.
Another production through our alliance with Origin Digital, American Express needed an event web space to support their open forum broadcast. The space was essentially a mini portal where users could register and participate in a post broadcast Panelist Q&A. The broadcast aired on several major networks in major markets. In addition, once a user was registered they could choose from several chat rooms so users could discuss amongst themselves as the panelist Q&A occurred. The Q&A itself was driven by a AJAX interface that “pushed” the questions / answers to the users browser as they were answered in real time by the celebrity panelists. In addition, Tipit custom developed an admin tool so that the panelists could select questions to answer and submit their answers all in real time. A moderator controlled the publishing of the answers.
As a result of Tipit’s expertise, this project was an overwhelming success. Many different elements were pulled together and the sophisticated delivery wowed everyone involved.
Another collaboration with Abstract Edge, Clairol required a new site to feature their new premium crème permanent color system. Tipit handled all production aspects of this site from an astounding pure XHTML / CSS design (no tables in this site!) to a PHP / MySQL based store locator to a custom flash video player. Each page was hand coded and the site was done under a tight deadline.
Clairol has been so happy with this site, that they have just decided to redo the entire Clairol Pro site in its image. This site will serve as a template for a re-invention and recoding from the ground up of the Clairol Pro site, appropriately placing the premium crème site as a subsection of the overall clairol site.
“Construct inventive, interactive, and affordable solutions to enhance learning, increase technical literacy, and inspire careers in engineering, science, and mathematics.
We integrate and exploit industry leading software and hardware with newly created material to motivate and educate engineering and science students.”
NTS Press needed a clean web design, pure XHTML / CSS layout techniques, search engine optimization and an easy to use content management system to quickly update their site.
They found all this and more engaging Tipit to put together a simple, yet sophisticated solution. Now NTS press is able to reach their audience quickly and easily. The web site is serving a crucial role in their marketing efforts and the easy to use nature of the system leaves them free to focus on other things knowing their website is constantly delivering and easily updatable.
Through our alliance with Origin Digital, American Express needed a quick turn around on a site where they could distribute their messaging to card issuers. The site needed to have a membership system, a secure method for distributing files and a reporting system to see which issuer was using which messaging pieces. Tipit rescued this project and turned it into a resounding success. American Express was never happier and as a result, everybody involved shined.
For over 30 years, National Instruments has been a technology pioneer and leader in virtual instrumentation — a revolutionary concept that has changed the way engineers and scientists approach measurement and automation.
When National Instruments needed a technology partner to manage their affiliated website’s, they turned to Tipit and the Simple Content Management package.
Now, National Instruments has the online tools to reach key customer segments in a timely and efficient manner – all at a low cost.
Liskow & Lewis is a highly respected New Orleans based law firm with unique expertise in energy law. The firm provides comprehensive client representation in litigation and transactional matters across a wide range of business needs and has established itself as a go-to resource for the Gulf Coast region.
In 2005, as part of a larger branding effort, Tipit was selected to manage the redevelopment of the Liskow and Lewis website. That relationship continues today, with Tipit currently handling new projects such as email newsletters, online PDF generation and redundant data hosting.
G Systems is an engineering services and systems integration company specializing in designing and building turnkey test and measurement, data acquisition, and control systems.
They came to Tipit seeking a website that could clearly articulate their offerings; was optimized with the latest in pure CSS / XHTML; had a clean and well structured design; and was easily updatable by the average marketing person.
The new site better reflects their growing sales and market position. The result has been a complete makeover designed to take G Systems to the next level of competition in a global marketplace.
As Austin’s premiere 1-4 unit investment firm, Castle Hill Investments has seen tremendous growth since its inception three years ago.
Working one on one with Robert (founder) Tipit helped Castle Hill Investments get off the ground. As a startup, money was tight so we deployed one of our Simple Content Management website’ giving him a quick, affordable and great looking web presence to build the business.
As the business has matured, the needs of the firm have changed. Email, contact management, mobile technology and data backup have becoming critical elements in the ongoing success of Castle Hill Investments.
Through Tipit’s Clients Services Membership program, we been able to alleviate these concerns so Robert and his team can focus on selling. In addition to providing email hosting and management for his employees, Tipit also provides Blackberry and Treo support for those using these devices. And with world class hosting at Rackspace and continuous statistical updates from LiveStats, Robert know his site is up and his sales targets are on track.
Best of all, as Castle Hill Investments continues to grow, so will the client services offered by Tipit. Ensuring that this is one investment Robert can always count on.
demandFITNESS was created to address the needs of those whose obligations making going to a gym impossible. Delivering professionally-developed health and fitness classes, and using trained instructors, demandFITNESS develops targeted classes which can then be accessed by you on demand — anytime, anywhere. Tipit has been instrumental in managing the video conversions, fitness database and personalization of this hot new start-up.
