VoD Service for a European Telecom Operator

Long story short

Meet the client

Vodafone, a leading European telecom with more than 470 million mobile and 9.8 million TV customers, provides a wide range of communication services, including mobile, digital TV, fixed broadband and landline calls, and mobile money.

Meet the problems

The client’s web-based Video on Demand (VoD) services lacked functionality and had resource-intensive issues with the existing frontend. On top of that, the mobile UI didn’t meet user expectations.

Welcome the solution

Oxagile built custom frontend rendering functionality from the ground up, creating a sleek mobile-ready UI, as well as significantly extending the backend features.

Starting point: The roots of the challenge

Internal imperfections

A strategic choice was made by a local Vodafone branch to revamp their online VoD service. Numerous aspects of the platform required enhancement, particularly in the areas of media asset management and advertising capabilities.

External shortcomings

The existing frontend was resource-intensive and imposed unreasonably high bandwidth requirements. The mobile UI was too rudimentary and functionally lacking to live up to the users’ expectations, so the client was running the risk of losing market share.

Tracing the steps taken to hit the targets

Choosing the right project management approach

As a large business with rigorously defined processes, the client placed emphasis on strict vendor and budget accountability. Oxagile responded by implementing the classic waterfall approach, dividing the project into sequential phases, with each phase starting only after the successful completion of the previous one.

Requirements analysis and system design

The finalization of requirements assessment and system planning spanned three months. Oxagile’s business analysts and systems architects authored a comprehensive set of project documentation, which was validated with the client to ensure the final product would meet all the captured requirements.

Frontend and backend development

To tackle this workload in the following seven months, Oxagile brought together a well-balanced development team, including a project manager, six Zend-certified PHP developers, and three QA and testing engineers.

Diverse functionalities, big impact

The resulting product was a competitive, user-focused VoD platform that became the key driver of the client’s on-demand entertainment strategy.

Microsoft’s Smooth Streaming

Adapts the stream according to available bandwidth and CPU conditions to ensure minimal buffering and fast start-up time.

PlayReady DRM

Ensures the highest level of content security for various content consumption types and subscription options.

Content and media management

Involves features such as easy content creation, categorization, tagging, version control, and seamless handling of diverse media formats.

Custom advertising module

Enables the customization of ad placements, targeting options, and scheduling. Users can track the performance of ads, gather analytics, and optimize campaigns.

Video recommendations

Utilizing algorithms to analyze user behavior and preferences, the system suggests relevant videos based on users’ past interactions.

Advanced search capabilities

An advanced search mechanism surpasses elementary keyword matching through the integration of filters, facets, and a nuanced understanding of context.

Variable skins

The ability to customize the visual design, color schemes, layout, and overall look and feel of the platform hands-down.

Social features

Enhance user engagement by incorporating elements such as ratings, comments, and social integrations.

Utter system security at the foundation

Protecting media content, as well as user transactions and data, was pivotal to the solution’s success. Therefore, Oxagile took special care to adhere to the industry’s best security practices throughout the project.

These included designing a secure architecture, implementing top-grade authentication and session security, and extensive security testing prior to delivery. Frequent vulnerability checks allowed the engineers to eliminate many security threats, including SQL injections, XSS exploits, and others.

Was the project a success?

“By partnering with Oxagile, Vodafone was able to deliver a complex, feature-rich VoD platform on time and on budget. The new system excelled in terms of video delivery and management capabilities, content security, and advertising features, while sporting a polished, mobile-friendly UI that actively engaged users.

As scheduled, the new platform went live ten months after the project start. The solution received great user reviews and allowed the client to dramatically increase market reach in the VoD segment.”

— Project manager