Centova Technologies is seeking a small group of volunteers to test the upcoming version of Centova Cast in a hosted test environment.  Selected volunteers will receive free stream hosting for a limited time period in exchange for helping us test the latest edition of our flagship product.

Here's what the selected volunteers can expect...

What you'll get

A great stream hosting platform.  Specifically:

• a free reseller hosting account under Centova Cast v3.0 for the duration of the test period (up to 6 months)
• 6.5Mbps bandwidth (i.e., 50 x 128kbps slots, 100 x 64kbps slots, etc.) on Centova Technologies' North American (Canada+USA) hosting network for the duration of the test
• 20GB of disk space for hosted media (i.e., MP3s) for the autoDJ
• your choice of IceCast+icescc, ShoutCast v1+icescc, or ShoutCast v2+sc_trans2 (or all of the above)
• access to the Centova Cast developer forum to report bugs / issues for the duration of the test

The catch

We don't ask a lot in exchange, but be warned that we're going to have to nitpick the details!  Volunteers who don't maintain the eligibility requirements will need to be cut early -- sorry!

What we'll need from you:

• a regular presence on the developer forums, reporting bugs/issues throughout the test period
• ability to maintain a daily average peak listener count of at least 10 unique listeners for at least 2hr/day (must be "real" listeners, not bots/rippers/etc.) on a single stream
• use of the autoDJ for at least 4hr/day (i.e., no live-only or relay-only streams)
• tolerance of occasional downtime or service interruption -- remember: this is a test, not a production hosting environment; it will be frequently upgraded as bugs are fixed, and it won't have dedicated 24/7 support staff, but we'll try to give at least 12hr notice of any service-impacting upgrades

Why these requirements?  Because it's important that our testers actually interact with the software on a frequent basis to find bugs.  A stream without listeners, or a stream that just relays from another server, doesn't make use of Centova Cast's capabilities so it isn't a good test case.


If you're a heavyweight...

We're also looking for one or two higher-traffic streams (up to 50Mbps, i.e., 400 x 128kbps slots or equivalent) to test more intensive use of the software.  If you can provide this kind of traffic, please let us know and we'll try to hook you up.


What can I do with it?

You can use your test reseller account for just about any legal purpose, and create up to 5 stream hosting accounts for your friends/colleagues to test the product as well.  (They'll come out of your bandwidth / disk space quota, though, so choose your friends wisely!)

We just ask that you don't charge money for the hosting accounts you create on our test servers -- you're getting it for free, so your buddies should too!


What happens after 6mos?

If you're still with us at the conclusion of the test period, you'll be offered the option to switch to a paid service at that time.  Pricing is yet to be determined, but will be competitive with the market average, or possibly discounted if your testing services are particularly valuable.  We may even keep one or two folks on a free package permanently to test future updates before they go out as well.


Does this mean it'll be 6mos until the next release?

No.  We expect a public beta by the end of the summer, and a final release sometime after that depending on how testing goes.  But after a major public release we usually release frequent updates to make requested changes, fix newly-found bugs, etc., so those updates will go out to our test servers first.


The fine print

In a nutshell, Centova Technologies reserves the right to terminate any test account at any time, at its sole discretion, for any reason, or no reason at all, without notice (and without so much as even a thank-you note if we're feeling grumpy).

If that sounds evil, try reading it in a deep, mellow voice with a big, warm grin. And if that doesn't help, just bear in mind that we need your help, so we're not eager to cut anyone off for kicks!


Where do I sign up?

If you'd like to apply to volunteer, just open a ticket with the beta department and give us a little bit of information about how you'll be generating listener traffic (i.e., if you have an existing station you'll be moving over, or somesuch).

We'll evaluate all applications in the near future, pick out the best candidates, and get back to you when our test servers are deployed.  Please do NOT post follow-up tickets inquiring about your application status -- it will be some time (probably a few weeks) before we launch the test so you won't hear back from us right away.

Questions?  Post here!

Thanks!