Portfolio Skills

Delve into our background: Browse through a selection of our projects based on our skills and see some of the innovative software, applications and web services we have created for and with our clients. We develop for many platforms and work with Windows, UNIX, Linux and OS X servers.

ING – Digital Asset Management

ING – Digital Asset Management

ING Group

FRS  Image Bank 

ING Group – FRS Image Bank

The ING Group is a global financial institution of Dutch origin with 115,000 employees. They have 60 million customers in almost 60 countries. These include individuals and families as well as small and large companies, institutions and even governments. As a result, the ING Group offers a wide range of banking products and services. While banking is their core business, they excel in the field of insurance and asset management. Consequently the ING Group includes a number of leading brands, including Postbank and RVS Verzekering.

In 2002, we introduced a customized FRS MediaBank web-application within the Postbank for the management and distribution of brand images (logos, photos, PDFs). Because of the good experiences and the excellent hosting facilities offered by BSL, ING asked BSL to introduce the Image Bank within several other divisions.

 

Image Bank

Access anywhere, anytime

We delivered the ING Image Bank as a web-service, using Oracle. Since our FRS asset management software is designed for easy customisation, the Image Bank is a fully customised system. First of all, ING has a strong corporate identity, so we designed a user-friendly interface based on the ING house style. And by introducing the Image Bank, ING could immediately start managing all of their marketing material. This includes all campaign texts, PDF’s and images. As a result, ING employees and their creative partners can quickly create and distribute new material.

The entire Image Bank can be accessed using any web browser. So authorized users can access the ING Image Bank anytime and anywhere via their favorite browser. Designers, creative consultants and photographers can easily add images, page layouts and illustrations. Furthermore, the ING content managers can check and enrich the content by adding descriptions and keywords using a custom designed asset management application. And with the integrated search technology from Autonomy K2 (now HPE IDOL), all information in the database can be automatically categorized and indexed.  Due to this feature, users can find content at lightning speed.

“Modifying FRS and adapting it to the exact requirements of the ING represented a challenge. Furthermore, as other members of the ING Group adopted the image bank, they asked to introduce their individual house styles. As a result we had to create multiple interfaces using a single database. Due to our experience, we could offer a unique product to each organisation in a cost-efficient manner. Also our tried and trusted FRS multimedia modules meant that each update was delivered quickly.”

Eric

Software architect, Bright Side of Life

At BSL, you have come to the right place for…

Flexibel management

Innovative BSL technology ensures that data and user management is possible from almost anywhere in the world. So ING’s business units can each individually manage their assets. And system administrators can change group and user rights, wherever they have access to the internet. As a result, the ING Image Bank offers a user-friendly way to manage a complex system, while at the same time offering enormous flexibility. Flexibility that makes it possible to share ING designs, images and campaign material with third parties, such as design bureaus, photographers and printers.

Fast search technology

By using Autonomy search technology, all information in the database can be automatically categorized and indexed. So users can find content at lightning speed. Autonomy offers many possibilities for smart search queries. As a result, users can search with so-called ‘wildcards’, or combine search terms with AND / OR / NOT. Therefore by using advanced search technologies and a user-friendly interfaces, users can quickly and easily find the desired results.

User-friendly software

At BSL, we strive to develop user-friendly applications. During the design and development of the ING Image Bank, much attention was paid to ease-of-use. And this included making it easy to customise search results for each user. For example, they can choose how many images are shown on each page. We also keep the screen displays simple, and use icons to access more information about each image.

We’ve got a great track record developing image databases, and online multimedia archives. The ING is just one example of us delivering a solution that can be easily integrated within the existing production workflow. Let us help you to manage your digital assets. Get in touch – no strings attached!

Martyn Simpson

Director, Bright Side of Life

NIOD – World War II Photo Archive

NIOD – World War II Photo Archive

Netherlands Institute of War Documentation (NIOD)

World War II Photo Archive

NIOD, World War II Photo Archive

The Netherlands Institute of War Documentation (NIOD) was established shortly after liberation on 8 May 1945. The NIOD is the most important resource for anyone interested in discovering more about the Netherlands (including the Dutch Indies) during the Second World War, or carrying out research in this area. The NIOD brought together numerous archives related to the German occupation of the Netherlands, and the Japanese occupation in the Dutch Indies, including illegal newspapers and pamphlets, posters, photographs, books and articles.

Unique collection

Prints and negatives deteriorate over time. To preserve the unique contents of their collection, the NIOD decided to digitize their most important images. Impressed by our FRS asset management software, they asked BSL to create a custom web application, managing their own image collection, as well as collections from other institutes. We created their WW II Image Bank using FRS, with custom interfaces developed to help them manage their unique collection. This included multilingual descriptions and attributes, and a public web site showing selected images. Researchers, newspapers, web site visitors and others can search the image archive, and order copies of the images for private use, or for research and/or publication.

Photo: Alphons Hustinx/NIOD

Photo: Alphons Hustinx/NIOD

NIOD, World War II Photo Archive

Shared online WW II Image Bank

The success of the NIOD WW II Image Bank encouraged over 30 other institutes to participate in the creation of a joint database. As well as the NIOD, numerous other world-famous organizations – including the Anne Frank foundation and the Resistance Museum of Amsterdam – now share the Image Bank, maintaining and publishing their own collections as part of a new online (multilingual) resource: the World War II Image Bank. This vast wealth of material – including much previously unpublished material – was made available online when the web site was launched by HRH Princess Margriet of the Netherlands in 2008. The World War II Image Bank was developed within the framework of the Ministry of Public Health, Welfare and SportsWartime Heritage’ programme.

Keylane Careers Website
AMC Image Bank Brochure

AMC Image Bank Brochure

AMC Image Bank Brochure – Dutch Language

AMC Image Bank

Laboratory workers at the Academic Medical Centre (AMC) in Amsterdam used a standard “off-the-shelf”  application to register laboratory test results. BSL was asked to add medical scans and images to the test results and link them to other patient details…

We love a challenge, and produced a design for a custom Apple application that integrates a wide variety of image material (scans, graphs and more) with the test results. We developed the AMC image bank, a high performance network database that links the images to patient details using a hidden terminal interface to their existing Oracle software. (more…)

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Contact BSL