The first module “Images”, for long-standing Client Musto Clothing will be available put live shortly after extensive testing over the last 6 weeks.

David Stanley from Musto stated: “OC Vision developed our first image library almost five years ago and were the natural partner for our latest state of the art DME system.  The development process couldn’t have been easier, we conducted our own research on the old site – likes, dislikes, wishes.  We relayed this to Carl and the OC Team, who then incorporated it into the brief, suggesting what additional features the site could benefit from.  It couldn’t have been simpler.  The same principle applies to the interface – it’s so simple that it’s easy to forget how many features have been incorporated into the site and how complex the backend system is.”

“We had an idea of what we wanted as end users and administrators, Carl and the team at OC Vision then helped us refine the brief, told us what they thought would be possible and then told us features and benefits which really make a difference but we hadn’t thought possible.”

“OC Vision’s experience at the forefront of digital communication, handling international sailing events, has been invaluable.  As a result our site is has been painless to develop, quick and simple to use and delivers everything we want as users and administrators.”

Boasting a revolutionary ‘toggle-tag’ navigation system, the DME allows visitors to obtain content using a bespoke system where they simply ‘turn-on and turn-off’ keywords and phrases.

Built in Ruby on Rails and utilising the Amazon S3 cloud computing network means that hosting and platform requirements are kept to a minimum without compromising on any technology or functionality.

“The OpusDME system represents a new phase in high-end technology output for OC Vision”, says Group IT and Technology Manager, Carl Crawley. “This [OpusDME] is a unique product in the marketplace, allowing administrators to perform previously impossible or extremely laborious tasks simply with the click of a button and gives the ability to communicate effectively to provide mass media distribution to associated press and media.”

The OpusDME platform promises to offer a high level of technological integration with a great importance on ease of use. The system boasts the following functionality:

• Dynamic Image Tagging with built in EXIF/IPTC Reader
• Automatic Image Resizing to support Small,Medium and Large
• Content logging and user audit tracking
• In-built messaging and communication systems
• Customisable security levels
• Saved Searching / Previous Search Logs

…plus much much more.

Already in development are the second and third modules “Documents” and “Video”. These will also share the same ‘toggle-tag’ navigation system for consistency in use. Multi-Lingual Modules are also being developed into French and Spanish.

Parent Company, OC Group will also be implementing an Opus DME powered Media Exchange in the coming months to accommodate its vast library of Images and Video currently in the region of 400 Gigabytes.

A third client is yet to be announced.

For more information on the iShares Cup, take a look at www.isharescup.com

The Ellen MacArthur Trust takes young people aged between 8-18 sailing to help them regain their confidence, on their way to recovery from cancer, leukaemia and other serious illness.

The new website heralds a new phase in the website production for OC Vision and encompasses some of the latest technologies available at the moment.

The site also integrates a number of existing social platforms such as YouTube to gain maximum awareness of this worth while charity.

We wish the Ellen MacArthur all the best and hope that you all feel ‘inspired’ to donate.

Visit the website at www.ellenmacarthurtrust.org

Brian, crossed the finished line in fifth place at 09.31am local time off the West coast of France, having sailed 28,699.8 nautical miles and spent a total of 98 days, 20h, 29m,55s at sea. Throughout that time Brian kept us all up to date through his blog – which can you view at htpp://teampindar.com

Speaking on the dock Brian commented, “It’s been the most remarkable journey. Ever since I was a boy, I have dreamed of sailing solo around the world. The incredible feeling of crossing the finishing line made all the challenges of the last three months pale into insignificance – it’s a beautiful day.”

Known as the ‘Everest of the Seas’, the 2008/09 edition has lived up to its reputation as one of the world’s toughest sporting challenges.  Since the start of the race on November 9, just 11 of the original 30 boats look set to complete the race.

The rowboat and the cloud

Taken from: Official Google Blog by Posted by Andy Berndt, Managing Director, Google Creative Lab
Late last month a young man named Oliver (Olly) Hicks climbed into his boat, the Flying Carrot, and set out from Recherche Bay in Tasmania, Australia on the Virgin Global Row, his attempt to become the first person to row solo around the entire globe. We jumped at the chance to offer our products to help Olly, both because we think this inspiring quest is eminently worth supporting and because we can’t imagine how anyone else could more aptly illustrate the power of the web.

You see, although he’ll be alone throughout his two-year adventure, Olly’s water-resistant laptop and satellite uplink will keep him perpetually connected to the “cloud.” So the Carrot, though just 24 feet long, will fit countless millions of books, videos, photographs, songs and websites — not to mention many of the world’s web users. You and I, from the comfort of our own computers, will be able to map Olly’s progress, read the blog items he writes, enjoy the pictures and videos he uploads, ask him questions and vote on which ones he should answer, and follow along in the newest version of Google Earth, where his trip is part of an expedition layer focused on the world’s oceans.

And Olly, in turn, can rest assured that everything he does on the web will be safely stored there forever, even if his laptop happens to take a swim. The cloud will be there for him, as it is for everybody who lives, works and plays online.

So, bon voyage, Olly. We’re rooting for you, and we hope the rest of the world does, too.

Olly Hicks is knowingly tackling what is arguably the world’s most hostile environment, the Southern Ocean.  You can follow Olly every stroke on the way round at virginglobalrow.com designed by our very own Wez Maynard and built by our capable Dan VC…with a little input from a few of our new friends at Google.

‘Virgin Global Row’ is an expedition mounted by Olly, to circumnavigate Antarctica solo, in a rowing boat. Having already solo-rowed the Atlantic, Olly anticipates taking some 18-22 months for the whole voyage around Antarctica and he will be at sea all that time, except for wintering on South Georgia. Through out this time he will be tracked using OC Tracker technology.

So take a look and join the online community and leave a message for Olly, view the map, read the latest blog and get hooked on what is set to be the final frontier…the worlds first solo row round the world!

Further updates to follow…

The massive capsize in 60-knot winds and furious seas on Boxing Day caused terminal damage to the rudder system that could not be repaired at sea.  Sébastien’s tactical and competitive race that saw him take the lead no less than seven times, also caught the attention of the watching media and garnered a huge swell of support from his sponsors employees. Here at  OC Group – Race HQ,  we enthusiastically tracked his every move and shared equally in his disappointment.

BT is now safely moored in Viaduct Basin, home of the 2003 America’s Cup, but Seb has had to watch as the frontrunners escaped Cape Horn and began their race back up the South Atlantic.

“It’s hard to step back ashore when the guys are going back up the Atlantic and it’s not easy to be watching the game from the side of the pitch,” said Seb.

To watch the lastest interview of Seb in Paris discussing the Vendee Globe click here

With our Volvo Ocean Race clients (Team Russia, Green Dragon, PUMA Ocean Racing) tied up in Cape Town awaiting their restart to Kochi, it is the turn of the solo-ists to take to the seas.

30 IMOCA 60’s left the French port of Les Sables D’Olone yesterday facing 26,000 miles of ocean, solo, without assistance.

British teams have had good results in the last events (Ellen MacArthur 2nd in 2001, Mike Golding 3rd in 2005) and our client campaigns are among the favourites for this, the most closely contested, edition.

OC Vision are providing the full suite of digital services to Mike Golding (www.mikegolding.com) and BT Seb Josse (www.btsebjosse.com). Both sites feature the usual array of news, results, analysis and tracking; Powered by our own Content Server CMS with managed hosting from Virtual Internet, we’ll be following the teams closely, day and night, each and every position report.

Check out the sites, subscribe to the RSS, or sit back and watch the videos arrive via satellite, as the story of this the most classic of adventure races, unfolds over the winter.

As we awake in the UK news websites across the world break their traditional layouts to proclaim OBAMA and the Democrat win as a glorious masthead. The Wall Street Journal is even using italics!

Technologies are abound. Brightcove players are sweating to deliver the acceptance speeches to the world audience, and the fantastic BBC iPlayer has it’s moment with a glorious ‘large’ video welcoming readers to the BBC News website.

The New York Times has gone to the cloud. Maybe this was a last minute decision, but they are wholly adopting the use of a CDN (Content Delivery Network, in this case Amazon S3) which is distributing their coloured maps and ’swing’ graphics to news front pages across the world. Latest spot on The Times home page in the UK.

As the internet throbs with the news and waking nations, it’s pretty good to see that web technologies are moving as fast as democracy. Obama himself has used the internet, and some pretty skilled people behind the scenes, to power his win, and it’s great to see technologies often seen as the prevail of the geek-orati in the forefront of news delivery this morning.

Thanks to the glorious current economic conditions, and the falling value of the pound against the US Dollar, we are, err, pleased to remind our US customers that this equates to almost a 15% discount on our pricing. That means all the usual great XHTML and CSS work for a *really great* price.

Submit your first job in our easy to use studio, and take advantage of better rates!