It's always a real pleasure to be a part of someone else's success, particularly when it's someone you've known for so long. Lumison has been working with Connected Digital Media for more than nine years, ever since we were both trading a few doors down from each other.

Their company Otus Technologies Ltd, has just been nominated as finalists for the prestigious John Logie Baird Award for Innovation 2009-10 for their new 360° panoramic camera, VRstation, which is attracting international interest for mass production.

CDM has been providing software that transforms photographs into virtual tours for estate agents' websites since 2001, allowing prospective buyers to view properties online. Not willing to rest on their laurels, company directors Neil Tocher and Cameron Ure have developed VRstation, a unique camera that takes a 360° picture in a matter of seconds at the click of a button.  This effectively takes the need for a professional photographer out of the equation and allows the individual to take as many pictures as they want.

But Otus' business model is not just based on the sales of its hardware, it also provides the service to upload the images to websites for a monthly fee.

This is where we are very proud and pleased to say Lumison comes in.

The challenge for Otus is one of scale: with the VRstation camera yet to be mass produced, the company wanted a solution that could meet current customers expectations and one that will be able to meet the expected volume of subscribers. Uploading all this digital content demands reliable, fast bandwidth and secure data centres

Neil says: "Given our existing working relationship with Lumison we didn't look elsewhere for an ISP. All our distributor content and online ecommerce activity will continue to go through Lumison's servers, moreover their help in providing a scalable solution for the next five years has been an integral part of our business plan".

Keep an eye out for the results of the award, announced on the 12th of March 2010 at the Glasgow Science Centre.