Early adopter of .NET My Services broadens its appeal by adding Microsoft .NET technology
on board info, a leading UK Internet services company, today announced it will implement Microsoft .NET My Services in its flagship product, Infuzer. Infuzer is a free, one-click service that copies date and time sensitive information events, itineraries, deadlines from the Web or an email directly into users' own electronic calendars. Infuzer also allows Web sites to send notifications of information relevant to 'infuzed' events to be sent direct to users' calendars.
on board info, a member of the Microsoft .NET My Services Early Adopter Programme, decided on a two-pronged strategy to embrace Microsoft.NET technology. Firstly, it is modifying its existing Java J2EE-based server application to take advantage of the new features of .NET My Services. .NET My Services , formerly code-named "HailStorm," is a user-centric core set of XML Web services.
Secondly, on board info is starting to migrate Infuzer over to native .NET C# with its in-built support for creating XML Web services that can be invoked over the Internet, from any application running on any platform.
Ray Eitel-Porter, CEO, on board info said, ".NET My Services provides an ideal platform for third parties to develop Web services such as Infuzer. Infuzer and .NET My Services both share the same vision - a future in which Web services, based on open standards, work across multiple platforms."
"Users of Infuzer will benefit from a streamlined registration process via .NET Passport, providing single sign-in authentication. They will also be able to access the events they have 'infuzed' from any device."
The migration to .NET My Services has been straightforward for on board info as they develop applications and services based on open standards such as SOAP, HTTP and XML, the platform for .NET.
Through the use of these standards, Infuzer will be modified to support .NET Calendar and .NET Profile and will use .NET Passport for single sign-in user authentication. .NET Alerts will also be used to deliver notifications to customers using the Infuzer service via SMS, email and Windows Messenger Service. All of these are .NET My Services, supplied directly by Microsoft.
Richard Hamblen, .NET Marketing Manager at Microsoft Ltd., said, ".NET My Services gives developers such as on board info powerful building blocks for developing services that offer real value and real-time information to customers."
".NET My Services will significantly increase the breadth of Infuzer services offered to both businesses and customers. Third-party software such as Infuzer will play a significant role in making our .NET vision a reality for our customers. "
Infuzer is easy to set up, using simple hyperlink technology, and 'infuzes' the content, along with the brand, into the customer's most accessed application - their calendar. For example, it will increase the availability of more detailed travel itineraries to be provided to customers, encompassing information for the entire journey such as weather forecasts, traffic updates and destination information along with their flight and hotel details.
High profile Infuzer clients who are already using the service include Kalends (Reuters), The Direct Marketing Association of America, The Sporting News and ZDNet.co.uk.
To understand the details of how on board info uses multiple services together, please refer to the notes to editors.
Notes to editors:
The following scenario illustrates how on board info sees how bringing multiple services together will change users' lives:
Richard browses a travel Web site and searches for flights to Venice for his wedding anniversary. He clicks on an Infuzer icon to add a provisional flight itinerary to his electronic calendar while he decides the most convenient time to fly.
The next day, Infuzer uses the .NET Alerts service to prompt him to return to the Web site using the URL in the calendar entry to confirm his booking before the low price fare expires.
Once he completes the purchase, he simply clicks on an Infuzer icon to automatically update his calendar with the new confirmed itinerary.
He decides to defer the booking of car hire and hotels for a few days. Later when checking his calendar, he looks at the itinerary and is reminded of the need to book his car hire and hotel: the relevant URL links are right there in the calendar.
With one click from within the calendar, he is directed to a page personalised to his journey, showing Group E cars available for $99 inclusive.
The site already has his journey details so rather than have to enter the dates and destination of the trip, the system automatically presents a price and a single button to confirm the order!
Alternatively, for a demonstration or trial of Infuzer visit: www.infuzer.com
About on board info
on board info's core product Infuzer, provides a calendar commerce and communication infrastructure for Web sites and emails: a strategically important new channel, as electronic calendars are now used by the majority of business people. Infuzer is a free one-click service for end-users which allows them to copy dates and events from the Web or emails straight into their electronic calendars and personal digital assistants (PDA). Infuzer also allows notifications relevant to events to be sent to the calendar.
on board info is also developing new Web services which take advantage of the .NET My Services core functionality such as micro-payments, enabling e-commerce transactions from within the calendar. on board info was founded in 1996 by Ray Eitel-Porter, where he spearheaded the company from its head office in London, UK. Since 1996 the company has expanded and saw the opening of a US office in 2000 in New York.
Enquiries:
| 
