Electronic Learning Products

Switching from Visual C++ to Java Helps Educational Software Firm Cut Development Time and Costs in Half

Electronic Learning Products (ELP) develops and markets software that uses music and singing to help students improve their reading and language skills. The company’s innovative products are becoming increasingly popular in classrooms across the country, and its flagship TUNEin to READING program is described as the fastest, most effective literacy software on the market. ELP is privately held and located in Tampa, Florida.

Customer Challenges

Redesign the company’s flagship single-user consumer application into a multi-user, multi-platform product suitable for enterprise-wide deployment
Get the new application to market quickly using only a small development staff
Provide a rich multimedia experience for users while minimizing network bandwidth requirements
Design the application so that it can be easily deployed and managed in organizations with limited IT resources

Solution

ELP switched from the Microsoft Visual C++ programming language for Windows application development to the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0, and it redesigned its single-user PC-based program into a platform-independent client-server application, with Java Web Start technology supporting the client. The company also adopted a software-as-a-service (SaaS) distribution model with subscription pricing.

Business Results

Cut application development time by 18 months or more
Saved at least 50% on IT labor costs
Expanded market from a few schools and nonprofits in Florida to more than 150 sites across the nation
Improved cash flow by implementing subscription-based pricing

Products and Services

Story Details

Learning to read is now easier and more fun for thousands of kids, thanks to the Java-based TUNEin to READING application from Electronic Learning Products (ELP). After kids sing, they receive a score based on how in-tune they performed, and the software tracks their highest score — just like a video game. Kids can’t wait to start, and they don’t want to stop. The product has been so well-received that it won the seventh annual Technology Innovation Award for Software from The Wall Street Journal.

The predecessor of TUNEin to READING, called Singing Coach, was originally produced as a consumer entertainment application written for Windows using the Microsoft Visual C++ programming language. Later, when ELP discovered the product’s educational potential, the company decided to adapt it for use in schools. However, many schools have limited IT resources, so the process of installing, configuring, and maintaining a single-user application on dozens to hundreds of computers is especially difficult. ELP recognized that it could greatly expand its market by transforming its product into a platform-independent client-server application. Additionally, to meet a key marketing deadline based on the school year, ELP needed to launch the new version of its product in only eight months — a huge challenge, considering that the original application had taken four years to develop.

" Using Java, we created our application in only eight months with a team of five developers. We could not have afforded the same project using Microsoft Visual C++ because it would have taken two-to-three times as many people and three-to-four times as long. "

— Ken Spiegel, President Chief Operating Officer, Electronic Learning Products

To address these challenges, ELP chose to rewrite its application using Java instead of Visual C++, adopting the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 (J2SE 5.0). “Our developers had to learn Java, redesign our product, and deploy a reliable, easy-to-maintain content database — all in eight months — and they did it!” says Ken Spiegel, Chief Operating Officer of ELP.

Now, Java Web Start technology in J2SE 5.0 allows ELP’s customers to automatically download and provision the new client application over the Internet, eliminating complicated installation and upgrade procedures. On the server side, ELP has deployed a mySQL database and an Apache Tomcat application server. (Tomcat follows Sun’s specifications for Java Servlet and JavaServer Pages technologies.) The client application still handles all digital signal processing (voice and pitch analysis) and presents a rich multimedia interface, while ELP servers provide periodic downloads of song content and software updates. This approach allows TUNEin to READING to work even on low-bandwidth networks that school systems commonly operate. “We were amazed by the new application’s performance,” adds Spiegel. “It’s actually more responsive, with better pitch-tracking and higher fidelity now that we’ve completely rewritten it in Java.”

Also, adopting J2SE 5.0 and its Java Web Start technology aligns with ELP’s business strategy to offer software as a service (SaaS), because charging ongoing subscription fees instead of a large one-time price can improve its cash flow. “Because Java Web Start supports incremental remote updates with zero deployment costs, SaaS is now a cost-effective option for us and our customers,” says Carlo Franzblau, President and Chief Executive Officer of ELP. “Subscriptions are now the core of our business model and the source of our renewable revenue.” He concludes, “The results of the project have been spectacular, and we couldn’t have done it without Java.”