The Mission: Build an online environment where people can go for information on Cisco products and certifications, connect with other professionals, and grow their careers - a network of professional networkers.

The Challenge: Cisco-certified professionals were providing terrific information, but finding information from the thousands of sources defied traditional navigation. Users needed a place to connect, to leverage the collective knowledge of other professionals, and to be able to easily access topics relevant to them.

The Solution: Live Axle partnered with Jive software to deploy an online social network that went beyond traditional expectations. We gave Cisco the tools to build a true community around their networking education, knowledge, products and people. Live Axle provided Cisco with the architecture to organize their information, so that Cisco’s Learning Community blogs, wikis and forums could provide information in a way that’s understandable and compelling. Now users can quickly research certification requirements, find a mentor, or talk about solutions with other networking professionals. Live Axle developed a clean web 2.0 interface design that extended the Cisco brand into the social networking space. We developed and deployed the site on Jive's ClearSpace application.

Less than six months after launch the site is supporting over 40,000 registered and active users.

Cisco NetAcademy wanted to celebrate 10 years of building a global community by launching a site linking students and Cisco non-profit Academies. The site would need to engage close to 2 million students and over 12,000 academies in more than 230 countries. A true global learning institution, paramount to success would be devising a way to foster a sense of community and reach out to students all over the world.

Netspace: A Global Community

Live Axle designed and developed Cisco’s Academy Netspace -- a Flash-based 3D environment that draws in users and invites them to navigate through over 12,000 academies mapped out on a virtual globe and find themselves, their Academies, their friends. "LinkedIn" style functionality allows participants to connect to each other and explore contacts with alumni, instructors and Academies. Today, the site boasts an active community of nearly 50,000 taking the next steps to becoming Cisco certified.

With thousands of registered users, Cisco needed a site that would continue to draw in users past the launch date, something that kept them coming back for more.

Game on

Live Axle developed the Netspace Challenge within the Academy Netspace. Netspace Challenge is an on-line game where students answer questions related to networking and security - winning prizes and expanding their technical capabilities at the same time. Players compete for a spot in Top 10 Leaderboards published throughout the site. Additionally, correct answers earn points for use in the NetAcad online store where users use points to purchase exclusive avatars, wallpapers and screensavers. Over the course of a year, we rolled out exciting new elements engaging the community, highlighting winners, and growing the ability to participate.

Cisco NetAcad users demanded more. More competition, more challenges, more opportunities to test their knowledge and skills.

Head to Head Competition

In response to growing demand for new challenges, Live Axle developed the Cisco NetAcad Skills Game. A time-based tournament, the Skills Game, provides a forum for head-to-head competition between members of the Cisco community in an elimination style tournament. Players are presented with complex networking scenarios and are asked questions about their solutions and approaches. Live Axle developed a secure gaming system to deliver content and measure results, a 3D game board for tracking progress and several "Quick Fire" challenge mini-games within the environment to keep the pace and interest level high. Most recently 8,000 players signed up for the tournament and they were winnowed down to 40 finalists over the course of three months.

OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) is well-known for developing traveling science exhibits that amaze and inform museum-goers nationwide. This exhibit, based on CBS’ CSI television series, provided visitors the opportunity to travel through three different crime scenes, use touch-screen kiosks to analyze the clues and evidence they collected, and solve a murder mystery.

Mystery Solved

Live Axle worked with several vendors on this project, coordinating our technical development of the interactive kiosks with OMSI. Separate vendors provided screen design and assets; we provided the technical implementation in Flash. The eleven separate touch-screen kiosks utilized an xml structure for all text and external assets. Each kiosk was developed in both English and Spanish, allowing users to select a preferred language at the beginning of the experience. The program integrated movies, sound effects, and testing logic to evaluate exhibit visitors’ solutions to the CSI whodunit.

The Oregon Dairy Council’s DASH website promotes adopting a healthier lifestyle by following the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. The site was designed for health professionals use with patients and for just about any one who wants to make healthy food choices. Live Axle created a fresh look for the site to match the upbeat lifestyle approach that the DASH diet advocates.

Visitors to the DASH site can download menus and shopping lists, take an interactive “Rate Your Plate” evaluation of their eating habits, savor the recipe of the week and find a wealth of resources for getting started on the path toward a healthy future.

The site was developed in Drupal - an open source content management system that allows ODC staff easy access to make their own updates and changes to the site. Ensuring that the content will stay vibrant and fresh.

“DASH benefits everyone, not just people with high blood pressure. It’s a delicious approach to disease prevention,” says Garrett Berdan, Oregon Dairy Council Nutrition Educator and Chef. “DASH emphasizes smart choices from all food groups including lowfat and fat-free dairy foods, fruits and vegetables.”

“The ODC was a great client, and it’s been very rewarding to participate in creating a site that will have such a positive impact on people's lives.” adds Dan Rehmann, of Live Axle Interactive.