WebMatrix

Case Study

Situation

Merit Mile, an interactive marketing agency based in Boca Raton, Florida, was asked to build and host a “module” within Microsoft Hosting University dedicated to communicating the business value of WebMatrix to Microsoft’s worldwide network of SPLA Resellers. As a point of reference, WebMatrix is a suite of web development tools that allow you to build, customize and deploy web sites from scratch using the Microsoft Web Platform.

Logically, our goal was to develop this new module utilizing the WebMatrix platform and tools, in an effort to put the newly announced framework to the test.

Solution

Merit Mile’s development team downloaded and installed WebMatrix. From the start, the download provided the team with all the needed tools to effectively develop, test and deploy a web site such as the Hosting University WebMatrix module. Impressively, also included as part of WebMatrix are IIS Express, ASP.NET, and SQL Server Compact – whoa!

Since WebMatrix streamlines Web site development and makes it easy to start Web sites from popular open-source apps, Merit Mile elected to build the WebMatrix module using WordPress as the CMS platform. Microsoft’s Web Platform Installer enabled Merit Mile to download WebMatrix and WordPress to development PCs, and configuring WordPress was simple. Within a few moments, the CMS framework was setup and ready for customization using the built-in code-editor. And once the design, development and testing of the WebMatrix module was complete, we were able to easily migrate the Web site to our production Windows Hosting servers using WebMatrix’s built-in publishing support for FTP, FTPS, and WebDeploy.

“We suspected that installing and using Microsoft WebMatrix was going to be quick and painless, but the true business value was the fact that the solution has also proven robust enough for our internal and external requirements. What’s more, the open source interoperability has provided us the freedom of choice creative and interactive professionals demand. For the community of development professionals, service providers, and worldwide Microsoft Partners that have been hungry for robust, yet simple web infrastructure; it has arrived.”

Mark Reino President, Merit Mile Communications

Results

Utilizing WebMatrix, Merit Mile was able to quickly and easily develop and deploy a new Hosting University web module designed to educate SPLA Partners. By adopting WebMatrix as an internal development tool, Merit Mile was also able to streamline our standard development processes, and integrate this web module efficiently into our ecosystem of Hosting University portals and web properties.