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As much as Charlie loves the ocean, his brother, Stanley, loves the sky. Shortly after Stanely completed his doctorate in Astrophysics, the US issued its “open skies” order which permitted legal entities to develop a satellite system for specialized applications. He spent the next 25 years working for telecommunications companies.In 1997, Charlie asked Stanley to head up research for the new satellite television project at Mahggls Industries, Inc.
In 1997, Charlie convinced Stanley to join Mahggls and head up research for the new satellite television project. (Rumor has it that Charlie created this division strictly for the purpose of working with his big brother... but don’t tell Stanley that.) Stanley's research led to the establishment of Total Connect One (TCO), an operating unit of the American Entertainment Systems division of Mahggls Industries, Inc.
Under Stanley’s guidance TCO created the Luna-1 Set Top Unit, which revolutionized the home entertainment industry. For the first time, consumers could rent or purchase one box that fulfilled all of their entertainment needs. The Luna-1 is a satellite receiver and DVD/CD player in one, utilizing smart card technology. It is also a Personal Video Recorder (PVR), a device which records the satellite feed digitally to hard disc and gives the user the ability to pause and replay live television. The PVR unit can be programmed to automatically record up to 60 one-hour television shows per week for later viewing. Up to three of these shows can be recorded simultaneously. The Luna-1 also features Internet access through "LunaNet" and an MP3 recorder/player. The customer can access the World Wide Web, set up five unique email accounts, download and play music and create web pages without owning a personal computer. A newer system, the Luna-2, is in the final stages of product testing. This unit will offer the ability to burn DVDs for permanent storage of programming.
The Problem
In the early days of TCO there were very few subscribers. When one of these subscribers needed a replacement of his or her smart card they called up TCO and the receptionist, engineer, or even Stanley mailed one out. As TCO grew, this wasn’t very practical, so they hired a company, Barton Anderson Distribution Company (B.A.D. Co.), to replace these cards for them. B.A.D. Co. wasn’t very organized, and many errors were made. When the Head Mistress at Our Lady of Grace Catholic High School called Stanley personally to complain that the common room in the girls’ dormitory could now access fourteen different adult entertainment channels, Stanley knew something had to be done.
Our Unique and Rapidly Implemented Solution
With NetFill™, an Internet based system developed in just under two weeks, information on which customer is receiving which smart card is recorded and transmitted to TCO. The card is then activated by TCO to allow the Luna-1 unit to receive only the channels purchased under that customer’s viewing package. The use of barcode scanners significantly expedites this process. The replacement cards are sent by Federal Express to the customers and the Fed Ex tracking number is provided in real time when the order is entered.
TCO customer service representatives can research any shipment and receive immediate feedback with one-click access. Where B.A.D. Co. could replace 300 to 400 smart cards per day with very low accuracy, 16,000 or more (with scalability to any larger number) smart cards can now be replaced in a day with 100% accuracy. Then, when the used cards are returned, they are scanned, along with the returning customer’s name and account information, and that is transmitted to TCO as well. This way, customers who have returned their cards are not charged the $100.00 replacement fee. NetQuery™ allows TCO to access an online report of NetFill activity at any time, day or night.
View an online demonstration of our NetQuery service