Welcome to the Research and Development Division of Vision Media

Vision Media takes part in a variety of research and development projects in the field of information technology, particularly new open-source developments that are often referred to as "Web. 2.0" and "RIAA"- an abreviation for "Rich Internet Application Architecture". Our objective in our research and development is to provide a platform that will allow businesses to run ALL of their software applications from an external web server managed in a level-3 data center with 24-hour monitoring and support. We also conduct a variety of market research for our clients consisting of industry analyses, market segmentation, industry metrics, and other research projects associated with Marketing campaign development.

How to Give your Company an Upperhand in Technology

We are currently experiencing the most opportunistic time in over 100 years for entrepreneurs.   As Darwin pointed out, “It is not the strongest of a species that survives, nor the most intelligent, it is the one most adaptable to change.”   A fact that vividly illustrates this deals with a company's average lifespan on the Standard & Poor (S&P) 500, and is described by Curtis Carlson and William Wilmot in an important book entitled Innovation.   The average company on the S&P 500 at the beginning of the 20 th century was 50 years.   In contrast, at the turn of the 21 st century, the average company lifespan was only 15 years.   Carlson and Wilmot explain that “Curiously, these companies are not dying because of a lack of opportunities- they are swimming in them.   These are just opportunities that the established companies can't respond to fast enough.” With that in mind, the term “built to last” appears to be only an illusion.

Consider the significant increases in company mergers and acquisitions in recent years.   In the Information Technology industry, acquisitions appear to occur as a result of a very small company in comparison to their acquirer, developing a technology that threatens the acquiring company.   Take for example Adobe's recent acquisition of Serious Magic- a very small yet innovative multimedia software company.   Serious magic developed a revolutionary method of creating professional video broadcasts, empowering non-professionals to quickly and easily bring professional newscasts to the public.   Not only were they able to spot and fill an immediate need, they threatened software giant Adobe Systems, inc, they are already single-handedly turning the media industry upside-down as more and more innovative young informational pioneers discover this technology determined to bring unbiased media to the public through the power of the internet.

Surprisingly, the S&P 500 tends to have scarce budgets for research and development because it cuts into the dividends that get are paid to investors. This no doubt gives smaller companies an upper hand, which is why we often see the greatest innovations come from young companies.   Part of the reason smaller companies are more innovative is because they are able to adapt to change in market trends faster.   As a result, corporate giants such as GE, IBM, and Microsoft are known for being the biggest laggards when it comes to in-house technological development.   Most people aren't aware that when new technologies tare rolled out by these big-wigs, they're seldom their own, and are instead intellectual properties of smaller companies that have been bought-out by these giants.   We've provided examples of some current technological innovators below:

Rich internet application architecture

The goal of RIAA (Rich Internet Application Architecture), or "Web 2.0" as it is often called, is to replace desktop computing applications with web-based applications that run on a server and communicate in near-realtime with their respective databases. Newer web-based programming languages- which aren't really new languages at all but rather derivatives of current languages- that we are currently working with include AJAX, which stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, and FLEX, a rich internet application framework by Adobe.

The Rich Internet Application experience was first adopted by consumers by use of Yahoo and Google maps, for example, and in use of web-based communities such as MySpace and dating networks. Businesses are also begining to adopt Rich Internet Applications to streamline business processes in new and innovative ways. This is the general area of emphasis that the Vision Media research and development division focuses on.

Examples of Rich Internet Applications

Ajax13: experience the power of Ajax through this full-featured office application suite built in Ajax- and advanced programming language derived from Java. The programs support all Microsoft Office file formats and run off of the server rather than having to be installed on your computer to use. Note that the programs will only currently run in firefox due to open source limitations.

Home Locater: an innovative tool for property investers and people searching for a new home.

Statpods: a comprehensive and interactive method of tracking web site statistics.

E41st: an interactive way of browsing fo that next great read... A non-profit alternative to Amazon.com that is connected into the public library system.

Lesson Builder: a unique and handy tool for building lessons for instructors, public speakers, presenters, and seminars.

The Evolution of Web-Video

EmpacTV: interactive multimedia technology allows the user to use their remote control as a virtual "mouse" on their TV and browse through television programs the same as browsing through websites

Serious Magic: video creation software turns your desktop into a professional newscasting environment without needing a degree in video production to operate

Contact us if you are interested in becoming part of our research and development team.