Case Study: For DSM Chemical, VOD Spells Satisfaction

Vincent Engelke, corporate training coordinator for DSM Chemicals North America, says that for 20 years he's been seeking on-demand video training and, to paraphrase Mick Jagger, getting no satisfaction. Today, thanks to a SuperView video server from Axonix, his demand for on demand is finally being met.

"The ability to quickly add training video content and launch a training event delivered directly to the desktop on demand, without overloading the bandwidth capacity of our intranet, is a major plus," says Engelke.

Engelke has suffered through some less-than-ideal video training delivery methods—the use of videotapes in TV/VCR combos, for example. "People were always fighting over them," he complains. So DSM added more machines. "We started with two units, actually in the plant operating control rooms," says Engelke. "Demand for access increased, and we placed an additional eight units. Then the media [tapes] were in greater demand than we could supply."

DSM later tried running videotapes continuously (looping them) over an analog cable system to 16 separate workstations. This helped to boost the usage rate, but, says Engelke, "the problem we experienced then was the mechanical failure of the VCRs and the videotapes themselves." Also, this didn't give employees the sort of individualized on-demand access and control that Engelke feels is crucial for satisfying learners.

Today, thanks to DSM's SuperView-based Video on Demand (VOD) system, everyone in DSM's North American headquarters (about 350 employees) has instant access to training videos. SuperView can deliver a separate stream to every desktop. "There are no excuses anymore," says Engelke. And consequently, "our compliance training has gone through the roof," he says. This is a good thing, because compliance safety training, for example, not only protects employees but it also for protects the bottom line, as failure to comply can lead to fines from regulatory bodies such as OSHA.

Engelke says, in fact, that his on-demand training system could help save his company hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines by making it easier for them to prove to the EPA and other agencies that they have indeed given their employees the compliance training required by law. In this case, says Engelke, the VOD system will allow DSM to save money by "closing a liability window.""

Axonix calls its SuperView an "integrated video server appliance." Unlike regular video servers which require software loading and configuring, as well as driver downloads and system optimizing, by an already-overworked IT department, a SuperView comes with everything pre-installed and ready to go. It is "plug and play," according to Axonix sales manager Steve Auerbach. And all functions are "accessed and administered" via a standard Web browser, he says.

SuperView systems come with different interfaces for different bandwidths—10/100Mbit and Gigabit Ethernet. The company designates their three models by the number of hours of "near-VHS" quality video their hard drives can hold. For example, the Model 600 can hold 600 hours. The company defines near-VHS quality as 320 x 240 pixels, 20-25 frames per second, 400-800 Kb/second, and it claims that at this quality level, over a 100 Mbps network, a SuperView can ordinarily deliver 125-250 simultaneous streams.