USeeWildLife.

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USeeWildLife

Owner: Matt Taylor

Address: P.O. Box 924, Cabot

Phone: (501) 843-1069

Startup: December

E-mail: malvin@useewildlife.com

Web site: www.useewildlife.com

Somewhere in the Ozarks mountain range lies a lush reserve, overflowing with flora and fauna. The owner of this property recognized its beauty and wanted to share it. The result is USeeWildLife, a kind of virtual safari that broadcasts video footage of the reserve 24 hours a day.

Realizing the unusual nature of his idea, the property owner brought in Malvin Mize to work out its technical and economic kinks. Mize, 42, had been working on technical teams at Acxiom for nine years and had experience in marketing, product management and engineering when he learned of the owner's project.

The goal was capturing the full effect of the local wildlife by installing remote cameras in strategic locations and then streaming the footage directly onto a Web site. To preserve the atmosphere, no camera operators would be present at the reserve. Mize initially was met with incredulity. "We were told 'It can't be done' by so many people I lost count," Mize said. "We worked with around 10 content-delivery networks to help us work out the details. No one could."

Eventually, however, Mize set up the system in a way that, he thinks, has never been done. "We couldn't put a computer by the camera," Mize said. "It sounds really easy, but the technology is just not there."

The reserve features about 12 camera towers, with eight high-end solar-powered cameras. Each camera can pan 360 degrees, and discreet microphones record every squawk, growl and rustle of the woodland. Camera operators can control the cameras from their homes across Arkansas.

Bobcats, coyotes, black bears, bald eagles and golden eagles are just some of the wildlife that live, in complete candidness, in front of the cameras. With the current yearly subscription fee of $20, Web surfers can view any or all of the eight cameras. The Web site always displays a free video stream that periodically switches between cameras.

More obstacles for the program have arisen after resolving the initial technological problems, particularly from an advertising aspect. "It's a fairly difficult concept to grasp for many people," Mize said. "That's a challenge from a marketing perspective. It really takes people seeing it, and then telling them, 'That's live.' Then their jaws drop."

One marketing solution has come from trade shows. The company's display features four or five monitors highlighting the kinds of wildlife in the reserve, with one live monitor. Mize has found this to be an effective draw. "People would walk by and be amazed, mesmerized," he said.

Mize said that business had been good so far and that the response had been incredible. "We have members and viewers from 69 countries, including Germany, Australia, Scotland. Every state is represented," he said. "Several teachers have signed up. We had one principal who ordered 21 accounts for the entire school." Mize plans eventually to install camera locations all over the globe.

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