Total Tech
Next Generation Web Security Software
Livia Web Protection is Total Tech’s flagship internet security software, which safeguards families from online threats by allowing parents to manage their children’s use of the internet.
ProblemIn late 2006, Total Tech approached Fairway to help produce its next-generation web security software. Deciding to go with another company based solely on price, Total Tech returned to Fairway in mid-2008 after experiencing significant set-backs and virtually no progress on their keystone project. Fairway provided a top expert with the diverse skill set required to create a state-of-the-art desktop application and Windows service that runs on XP and Vista and would be delivered and managed via a custom website and web services. The website had to allow users to manage their accounts, set protection levels, and review account analytics. And Total Tech administrators needed the ability to manage the customer accounts. Online purchasing of the product required integration with Authorize.NET. In addition to inheriting the aggressive schedule, budget, and feature set, Fairway contended with a code base of poor quality needing vast improvements.
Process
Before writing a line of code, Fairway collected, summarized, and prioritized Livia requirements and created vision and functional requirements documents. Over the next two and a half months, Fairway’s consultant managed the entire project, end-to-end, off-site with occasional on-site meetings. Providing frequent status reports, Fairway used iterative development to keep Total Tech in the loop and confident in the project.
More than just a coder, Fairway’s consultant coordinated a team including project stakeholders, quality assurance testers, and a user-interface designer from Total Tech along with Fairway colleagues. Both the development and production environments, including data and web servers, were built by Fairway, who also worked with the hosting service, NextLevel. Fairway wrote best-practice code and unit tests. When questions arose, Fairway’s collection of top developers put their minds together to provide best-of-breed solutions. And when it came to crunch time, Fairway brought in additional developers who were able to jump in and provide high-quality code under pressure.
Results
Fairway delivered the Livia Web Protection software on-time and stable to a satisfied customer who learned that you get what you pay for in technology out-sourcing. After on-site training, HTML and deployment were transitioned to internal Total Tech resources, and maintenance proved unnecessary. Post-release, Fairway also provided feature enhancements, an uninstaller, and support.
“I originally talked to Fairway Technologies two years ago, but, at the time, I decided to go with another vendor solely based on price. After some challenges, I brought in [Fairway] for the development of Livia, our Web filtering solution for home users. [Fairway] jumped right into the project. [They] architected and coded the solution from the ground up and brought the project to completion in a mere two and a half months. While Fairway isn’t the most inexpensive vendor, they proved to be a very cost-effective option as they produced quality results under an aggressive deadline. I should have hired Fairway two years ago.”
-- Ken Hamilton, Total Tech Founder & President
Technologies & ToolsFairway uses industry-standard methodologies and technologies.
Environment
- MS Windows Server 2003
- SQL Server 2005
- IIS 6.0
- SSL Certificates
- Integration with WebSense
- Integration with Authorize.NET
Languages \ Technologies
- .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
- C# 3.5
- ASP.NET AJAX Extensions
- Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) \ XAML
- Javascript
- T-SQL
- Action Script 3
Code Tools
- Visual Studio 2008 SP1
- SQL Server Management Studio
- LogMeIn.com Remote Access
- Subsonic Data Access Layer Generator
- MS Test
- INNO Setup Custom Installer
- Subversion / TortoiseSVN Bugzilla Defect Tracker
- SSMS Tools Pack
- Adobe Flex Builder 3
