The City of Houston Does More with Less

Houston, TX partnered with Swagit to offload all video storage and streaming tasks to alleviate the strain on their staff and network.

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The City of Houston, with a population of over 2 million, is the fourth largest city in the United States. Houston hosts both a diverse population and diverse economy, a stable job market and is right behind New York City in the number Fortune 500 companies headquartering in the City. With a population of this size, the City of Houston’s communication with its citizens is essential and information must be provided in a timely manner.

Location

Houston, TX, United States

Population

2.4 million

Products

Swagit Video

Modules

24/7 Hands-Free Video Streaming

Houston, TX Swagit Case Study Graphics (1)

The Need

“The support of streaming and hosting video on the city’s network was overwhelming for the city to facilitate,” said Dwight Williams, Houston TV Division Manager. “We would have had to hire additional employees to
maintain the traffic, at the level we estimated, for this type of streaming
video project.”

The city’s focus, delegated to HTV, is to provide programming to residents through the PEG channel and other television outlets. “My staff is busy producing content and broadcasting meetings; being responsible to maintain a streaming video system would affect their everyday duties.”

The Solution

The city of Houston utilizes Swagit’s EASE™ solution to offload all storage and streaming tasks to Swagit.

By utilizing Swagit’s Extensible Automated Streaming Engine (EASE™), the City of Houston offloaded all storage and streaming tasks to Swagit – causing no internal strain on their internal or external networks. Swagit provides monitoring, response and ongoing 24/7 technical support which allows HTV to rely on Swagit’s support team. In addition, Swagit’s solution eliminates the need for HTV to maintain a video streaming system and relieves HTV of any additional support responsibilities. Houston’s staff is able to focus on their weekly production processes and duties.

The Benefit

Houston received a customized video streaming solution, tailor-made to their needs in serving their community.

”The relationship between the City of Houston and Swagit makes business sense for both parties,” said David Owusu, Swagit’s Director of Streaming Media. “The city has to be flexible in what they provide to their citizens; given their diversity, tourism and economy. In choosing Swagit as their streaming vendor, Houston in turn employs a company that is flexible in providing customized video streaming solutions that are tailor-made for their city and can change to effectively communicate to the public.”

Houston’s programming can be viewed on the City’s municipal channel or from any device that is connected to the internet.

Watch now at: http://houstontx.city.swagit.com/

About Swagit by Rock Solid Technology

In a world where local government staff is stretched thin, trying to accomplish a never-ending list of responsibilities, an increasing number of municipalities are offloading infrequent, but highly technical tasks to trusted partners.

Swagit hands-free video streaming takes the production work of sharing public meetings and events off of your plate, and places it in the hands of professionals.

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Case Study Houston, TX Does More With Less Learn how the city of Houston, Texas effectively streams their public meetings and improved transparency with their citizens by integrating Swagit's EASE™ solution.