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What we've been up to in November...
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Welcome to the new-look Sotic Newsletter, brought to you each month by a different member of the Sotic family. To kick-off this first edition, I, Anthony 'chicken and pesto linguine' Lewis (Website Designer), have compiled a selection of our proudest achievements from November 2009.
Here is a quick taster of what you can expect to read about in this month's Newsletter :
New site launches including Scarlets, Premiership Rugby Academy, WHA Sports, ERC 15 and IRFU's Stay in the Game.
Our first iPhone App launched at the end of October and has generated over 38,000 downloads and has remained in the top three sports apps in the UK for the whole month.
We were awarded with the prestigious RNIB See It Right badge for the BT Paralympic World Cup website after passing their stringent accessibility requirements.
Our Ezine sending system is 75% through a major upgrade allowing you to send over 50,000 emails per hour.
To top off the month, Munster Rugby's website won the coveted Irish 2009 Eircom Golden Spider Award for the sport and leisure category. Congratulations to Pat, Fiona and Glynn.
So please read-on and find out more about what we have been up to here at Sotic.
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Dr. Hook (not Sotic) - You probably can't tell which one is me
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Anthony Lewis - Designer
The years preceding my time here at Sotic have almost paled into insignificance. Since 2007, following a degree in Fine Art: Painting, I have had the privilege of working on some extremely exciting and important websites. My role at Sotic not only quenches my creative thirst, but also provides me with regular opportunities to learn and develop.
During November I have been working on new websites for Scarlets and for Leeds Rugby Foundation, all the while inspired by a soundtrack of classics from the 80's and a lot of Dr. Hook - they dont make 'em like that anymore!
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The new Guinness Premiership iPhone application
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Guinness Premiership iPhone App
Not strictly launched in November, just before it actually, but with well over 38,000 downloads this is definitely something worth talking about.
Launched for Premier Rugby and supported by Land Rover the Official Guinness Premiership iPhone app gives users a whole range of information including Live scoring, league table, fixtures and results, latest news, squad details, player stats and competitions - and it looks great.
This is the first release and plans are already in place for version 1.1 which will include enhanced Live scoring details, historic tables and stadium guides.
We always welcome client feedback on all our products so if you have any suggestions or ideas for what you'd like to see included please let us know. Likewise, if you're interested in having your own iPhone App setup please contact John Ludlam for more details and pricing.
Find out more
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Ezine sending system undergoes major upgrade
Sotic's ezine sending server and the software it uses has been upgraded to improve speed, deliveralbility and bounce analysis. You may have already noticed a considerable difference in sending speeds. During tests we have successfully delivered over 130,000 emails in one hour. Once we have finished the work we expect sending speeds to be even faster! This work is the first phase in the new messaging platform that Sotic will be delivering to clients in the forthcoming months. Our service will not be affected by postal strikes over the Christmas period!
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Sotic integrates with Twitter
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Twitter Integration
Twitter has now been integrated into Manage Content Express, allowing you to dynamically tweet news articles as they appear on your site.
This functionality is now available to all of our clients, so if you are unaware of it, would like to know more, or want a crash course in getting the blue bird to chirp, please feel free to contact us.
Oh, by the way, Sotic are also now on Twitter! So feel free to follow our tweets at twitter.com/sotic
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Promotional Multimedia Player
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Promotional Multimedia Player
Our new mini TV player is a great way of promoting the latest multimedia stories on your website. It can be configured to show the latest story or any featured article.
See a version live here
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Stepan - one of 5 members of staff taking part in Movember
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Stepan Kadlec
Hi, my name is Stepan Kadlec, I recently joined the Sotic team. I am responsible for platform and I.T infrastructure, so basically nothing that is primarily seen until there is an issue. Hopefully my work will remain unseen!
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Scarlets.co.uk
Sotic are proud to announce the launch of the new Scarlets website. Along with a stunning visual identity this site comes with a fully integrated, dynamic match centre, providing up-to-date fixture information to the fans, before and after each match.
Scarlets are also using Sotic's e-commerce and e-zine systems and if that's not enough for you, it's all available in welsh as well!
See it live here
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ERC 15
Sotic have worked closely with ERC to launch a website celebrating their 15th season of organising the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup.
The site is packed full of interesting and historical video clips, galleries and statistics - a must-see for a fan of the modern game.
Visit website
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IRFU's Stay In The Game website
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IRFU's Stay In The Game
IRFU's Stay In The Game website not only directs users to the latest news and galleries, it also allows them to find their nearest rugby club, and offers advice about diet and nutrition.
The future aim is to further integrate this site with popular social networking websites to help encourage communication between users.
Check it out here
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Premiership Rugby Academy website
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Premiership Rugby Academy
The site was redesigned with the customer in mind, making the process of finding and booking a camp as easy and as obvious as possible.
Visit website
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WHA Sports
A UK wholesaler of sports merchandise. The WHA Sports online store demonstrates the flexibility of Sotic's e-commerce solution.
Visit online store
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BT Paralympic World Cup awarded RNIB See It Right badge
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BT Paralympic World Cup awarded RNIB See It Right badge
The RNIB have awarded the BT Paralympic World Cup website with the prestigious See It Right badge, meaning the site is recognised as being fully accesible to users.
Sotic worked long and hard to fulfil all the requirements including appropriate use of alt attributes, ability to navigate the site with keyboard use only, appropriate colour contrast ratios, logical content structure and much more.
Visit website
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Munster Rugby website wins Golden Spider Award
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Munster Rugby website wins Golden Spider Award
Congratulations to Munster Rugby, who were awarded the 2009 Eircom Golden Spider award for Best Sports and Leisure website.
This is a great achievement for the site as the Eircom Golden Spiders base their awards on recognising 'excellence in internet and digital media'.
Visit website
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Good luck to all our clients over the busy Christmas selling period. December's Newsletter will be brought to you by a member of the Technical Department, most likely to be written in PHP coding and with a far less inspired soundtrack.
Hope you have enjoyed reading.
Regards,
Anthony
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