LINUXFORCE SERVICE: LinuxForce Web Application Development

ORGANIZATION: The Franklin Institute Science Museum and U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission

DESCRIPTION: The Franklin Institute Online was selected by the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission to build the Web application tools to power the 2003 Flight Forecast program. The program challenges students to predict the weather conditions at Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, on December 17, 2003. On that day, the world will watch as humans attempt to re-create the first flight with the most accurate reproduction of the 1903 flyer ever built. For more than 176 years, The Franklin Institute Science Museum has been as much a part of the Philadelphia landscape as the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. As the custodian of the Wright Aeronautical Engineering Collection, The Franklin Institute has a long history of preserving and celebrating the legacy of Orville and Wilbur Wright.

BUSINESS CHALLENGE: LinuxForce was tasked with building a robust and secure software application to address the needs of teachers and students with respect to the 2003 Flight Forecast program. The software needs to be capable of storing potentially thousands of registrations, hundreds of thousands of submissions, and to assist the staff in processing the data so they can administer the program.

LINUXFORCE SOLUTION: LinuxForce developed an online information management system, registration tools and database application using Mason, the Perl-based web application development platform, and PostgreSQL which is now handling the national 2003 Flight Forecast competitive program.

RESULTS: LinuxForce has successfully created the necessary software application for the 2003 Flight Forecast program, and, as such, on September 26, 2003, the national program registration phase of the initiative commenced. The contest is continuing through December 17, 2003, and LinuxForce will continue to monitor, maintain and manage the software application throughout the entire process, thus enabling The Franklin Institute Online and the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission to achieve their complementary educational missions.

NOTABLE QUOTABLE: "We are proud that the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission chose The Franklin Institute Online to develop the national 2003 Flight Forecast program. Our longstanding technical partnership with LinuxForce gave me the confidence I needed to know that the online information management would be a success," stated Karen Elinich, Director of Educational Technology Programs for The Franklin Institute Science Museum. "We chose LinuxForce for this critical project because they have the expertise to conceive, develop, and implement the online information management, registration tools, and database solution that we needed to meet our goals," continued Elinich.