futureLAB press release, 22nd of May, 2008
Within the scope of the project Swisscom intends to release a series of products for the football summer during the UEFA EURO 2008™.
End of last year tenders all over the world have been invited to bid for the project. After a detailed analysis and considering all the important factors of the offers as well as the meetings held with futureLAB and other well known suppliers the project team selected futureLAB as the partner for the UEFA EURO 2008™ Album.
futureLAB’s experience in on-line imaging and printing as well as references of successful integrations in similar projects with Internet service providers have been the deciding criteria. Apart from integrating with the existing on-line album, it was also important to meet the very high performance standards required. In addition, the whole application had to be adopted to the new Swisscom corporate design and it was important to supply a state-of-the-art innovative rich Internet application (RIA).
The goal of the Swisscom UEFA EURO 2008™ album project was to allow Swisscom mobile customers to design their personal UEFA EURO 2008 photo books. Together with their own pictures that can be uploaded directly and free of charge from mobile phones or from the web users may also integrate exclusive pictures of the Swiss national team as well as other photos from UEFA to design their Swisscom UEFA EURO 2008™ albums. Archiving the pictures as well as selecting the photos to be used for the personalized photo album is done in Swisscom’s existing on-line album (www.swisscom.ch/on-line album) which was supplied by a third party and had to be integrated by futureLAB.
To allow a quick and hassle-free start the photo book application from within the on-line album, a special interface was defined together with the manufacturer of the on-line album software. This interface allows a fully automated background synchronization of all the pictures across the data centers involved.
For the actual creation of the photo books futureLAB uses a mix of technologies (among them Ajax and Flash) to deliver the best possible user experience. This allows the easy creation of photo books accessing the users own pictures as well as licensed content, templates and backgrounds by using drag & drop directly in a web browser. Attractive backgrounds and layouts that are exclusively available as thematic templates for Swisscom customers have been provided especially for the UEFA EURO 2008™.
The printed photo books come with a high-quality book cover and a precious UEFA EURO 2008™ embossement. The books spine can be personalized with own text. Three different formats are available: "Pocket" (11 x 16.5 cm), the practical photo book to take along, "Quadro" (21 x 21 cm), the modern photo book in square format, "Deluxe" (20.9 x 27.5 cm), the luxurious photo book in A4 format.
«fo Print & media» was chosen to print the photo books. The company is one of the leading printers of Switzerland with about 130 employees and located in Egg near Zurich. With «fo Print & media» as a long-standing partner of futureLAB the team formed by both companies granted the smooth conversion of the photo books designed online into physical products.
The project was completed successfully and on time for the UEFA EURO 2008™ despite the tight schedule and the fact that there were four partners involved in the implementation. Now the exclusive photo books are presented in Swisscom shops (glass cabinets) as well as at the UEFA EURO 2008™ service points and in the fan zones. In addition Swisscom launches various marketing activities, among them flyers distributed in shops and in the fan zones.
The next projects for other photo books and prints are already planned. Swisscom has selected futureLAB as a strategical partner in the area of imaging and printing. The Swisscom UEFA EURO 2008™ album is therefore the first project on the way to more innovative offers around photos, videos and printing which Swisscom customers will see during the coming years.
www.swisscom.ch/online-album
About Swisscom
Swisscom is Switzerland's leading telecoms provider, with 5 million mobile customers, around 5.3 million fixed lines and 1.6 million broadband connections. In 2007, the company's 19,844 employees (full time equivalents) generated revenues of CHF 11.1 billion. More than 850 young people complete an apprenticeship at Swisscom in the fields of IT, telematics, mediamatics, retailing and commerce.
Swisscom has a presence throughout Switzerland and offers a full range of products and services for mobile, landline and IP-based voice and data communication. Massive investments in network infrastructure ensure that this will remain the case in the future. Swisscom is active in one of the most attractive broadband markets in Europe via the Italian provider Fastweb. Swisscom also offers services for IT infrastructure outsourcing as well as the management of communications infrastructures.
Swisscom fosters close ties with its target groups - shareholders, employees, suppliers, the public and, above all, its customers. Swisscom offers them
* Everything they need
* Simple, one-stop solutions
* Unbeatable quality and service
With initiatives such as Swisscom Help Point and Internet for Schools, Swisscom is helping to shape the information society in Switzerland. Swisscom also supports Switzerland's national football teams, the Swiss-Ski teams and the 2008 European Football Championship.
http://www.swisscom.com
For further information, please contact: Swisscom (Schweiz) AG, Mr. Jan Linder, Product Management, 3050 Bern, phone +41-79-292 54 01
About futureLAB
futureLAB is a software development company founded in May 2000 by its employees. The engineering team consists of very experienced Internet software and network specialists. All members of the management team have a track record of successfully building new products, lines of business and entirely new businesses that have generated millions in revenue in telecommunications and Internet industries. futureLAB specializes in the design and implementation of innovative software solutions. The fotoZEN online photo management platform is the latest achievement in that area. «Best of Swissweb» assigned it two awards in the categories «innovation» and «creativity» and it is being used worldwide as managed service by more than thirty partner companies like cablecom, SF TV (Swiss TV), NZZ, Blick, Hotelplan, Interdiscount and others which are offering services to end-users.
http://www.futurelab.ch
For further information, please contact: futureLAB AG Mr. Christoph Bochsler, VP Marketing, Tel. +41 52 260 22 22, Fax +41 52 260 22 23
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