If Agnostic Media has its way, digital media companies will never need to scramble to find particulars on a music track or photograph. All of the information they need will be as close as the nearest computer, packaged in a simple, easy-to-use format.

Using a combination of self-authored programs, SQL technology and customer solutions, Agnostic Media (Seattle, Wash.) develops customized applications to make digital file management easy and accessible to non-technical thinkers who never even have to open a SQL database to access or input data.

Simple, transparent solutions

Kirk Marple, Agnostic Media's chief software architect, co-founded the company four years ago. His background is in multi-media, where he saw the need to streamline the workflow process. The company addresses all facets of the digital media community: audio, video and photography. Since Agnostic's applications are used by non-technical people, it's important that they are easy to understand and use.

"Our solutions are totally transparent," says Marple. "We create web-based solutions and our customers don't even have to open SQL to enter data. All of the technical SQL-based functions are handled at our end, and data management can be as easy as dragging and dropping files."

Agnostic Media assesses the customer's needs and creates solutions for inputting, archiving and displaying data that can be fully independent or work with the customer's existing hardware and software infrastructure.

The company's business revolves around five principal services:

• digital content acquisition
• management of asset information such as album, artist and recording label for a specific recording
• transcoding the data from a raw file into the final format such as QuickTime, .avi or .mp3
• digital distribution
• rights management.

Packaging for non-DBAs

Agnostic Media uses six internal SQL servers for testing and development. Each server normally runs multiple applications and houses two databases. One database is for data persistence and the other stores all of the customer and asset information.

Agnostic Media doesn't employ a certified DBA, nor do any of its clients. So, not only does the database need to work the way it is supposed to, it needs to be easy to install and use. Marple's solution is Red Gate Software's SQL Packager, a simple program for packaging and deploying new or updated databases.

SQL Packager guides users through selecting schema and data for the new database, scripts schema and data to preserve dependencies, and packages the database as an executable or .NET project, creating a utility for easy installation.

Prior to implementing SQL Packager, Marple would generate code by hand to clean the database. He would run the backup/restore function on a template database and write scripts that would clean data from the tables. After the clean scripts ran, the database was tested. Often new features of the database were overlooked and the clean databases would contain incorrect data.

"It became a maintenance headache to have all of these utilities available, then have to create admin scripts to clean out the database," says Marple. "With all the back and forth, the process took an hour or more."

Marple now creates clean versions of existing databases as needed and uses SQL Packager to produce a final executable version. The process takes 10 minutes. When running Packager, Marple selects only the database structure and static data that creates "if/then" scenarios to carry over to the new database. Without this data, several aspects of the database would not work.

The final executable is FTPed to the client's host server, where it is run and test data is entered to ensure that all of the static data is in place. The new database links to Agnostic Media's custom input solution for the client, and it is ready to go.

Burn CDs while coffee perks

Partnerships with Microsoft and computer vendors have led to a nationwide adoption of Agnostic Media's technology in music stations at select coffee houses in the western United States.

Agnostic Media's specialized solution archives and delivers music choices from across all genres. The user interface allows customers to easily browse artist and song lists, select music and burn their own CDs. In addition to the extensive catalog of songs, users can select from exclusive content, including live performances from many well-known and emerging artists. The coffee house chain is now developing a nationwide rollout plan based on the positive customer response.

Beyond the music business, Agnostic Media recently used its SQL-based technology expertise to create an image archive solution for a major television network. The network wanted to update its CD archival method for more than 100,000 promotional images.

"Our solution enabled them to organize the images and even create an archival tool for photographers on location to save current work," Marple says. "Having tools such as SQL Packager in our arsenal helps us meet and exceed customer expectations."

Marple is looking to expand Agnostic Media's business further into the digital media arena with work for video post-production houses. The company is even looking to provide its service platform to other companies as a customizable solution for their customers.

"We've met some skepticism about our services in the past," says Marple. "Now we're seeing more corporate funds allocated for asset management and media services, and the solutions we've created are becoming more critical to the digital media industry."

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Erin Hatfield (info@cramco.com) is a writer for Cramblitt & Company, a marketing communications company serving the computer graphics, IT and electronics industries.