Software Development

Web Site Development

• New Web Sites: large or small

  We can build full-blown high traffic commercial sites as well as small sites. For complete information about our full set of services for building large commercial applications, please see the list of services at right. For smaller sites, skim through our site and contact us with your questions.

• Web Site Remakes: complete or partial

  We can remake your entire web site or parts of it. We are very good at understanding existing systems and injecting new life in them. Use the links at right to learn more about our services.

• Site Enhancements: new features, changes

  Need to add some new features, pages or change some existing pages on your current site? Or maybe spruce up the graphics, layout or navigation in some places? Contact us for a quote.

• Site Maintenance: ongoing maintenance

  Most web sites require ongoing maintenance: administrative tasks, server and database management, content management, etc. We can handle those for you, regardless of whether your site is large or small. We are essentially the "technology arm" for many of our customers.

• Interface Changes: smooth out existing processes

  Often the internal code of an existing web site is rock solid, but the interface, navigation or workflow is in need of a makeover. We are very good at putting a new face on a site that is showing it's age and reworking the flow of things to make life easier for your users.

Database Development

• New Databases: design from scratch

  Good database design sets the groundwork for a speedy, maintainable, growable system. Poor design wastes resources, time, money, and can lead to frustration or costly rebuilds. We have experience making long-lived enterprise level databases as well as simple databases for simple, but critical, purposes.

• Extending Databases: working new tables into exiting system

  Adding new features to a system often means adding new data to the databases that underpin it. We are very good at understanding existing databases and figuring out the best way to add new fields or tables to them, without breaking existing functionality.

• Performance Tuning: query and index reviews, load testing/analysis

  Does your database need more speed or need to use less CPU and RAM on your server? If so, we can run it under a heavy load, analyze the queries it runs and locate the most relevant bottlenecks. We can then safely make changes to queries, indexes or processor-intensive stored procedures to get more speed for your users and less overhead on your server.

• Data Migration and Conversion: scripts and applications

  Data migration: moving data from one datasource to another and converting it along the way, is something we are very familiar with. We can create SQL scripts or utility programs for database upgrades, data import/export, scheduled batch jobs, import/export, etc. Through experience, we have learned efficient migration practices, allowing us to write speedy, reliable data migration code.

• Consultation/Review: assist with your database modifications

  If you are planning on modifying your database and want someone to help with the process, advise on changes and alert you to potential pitfalls, we can help. We are comfortable working as trusted advisors to your staff.

• Documentation: creation of complete database docs for existing systems

  We can create comprehensive visual and written documentation of your existing database. This document can be used as a reference for troubleshooting as well as a starting point for discussion about future changes or enhancements.

Interface Design

• Rich Internet Apps (RIA's): AJAX, Javascript, Flash

  RIA's make for a better user experience. We use AJAX, Javascript and Flash to create web applications that are more responsive and easier to use than typical web applications. We consider these technologies vital to the implementation of great web user interfaces. Contact us to find out more.

• Interface Overhauls: info architecture, navigation, form/page layout

  We can design a new navigation scheme and information architecture for your site. We are also very good at designing nice looking forms and smooth looking pages that load variable data from databases.

• Graphic Design: interface elements, logos, icons, imagery, etc.

  We partner with some very experienced graphic design firms: companies that we know to be reliable and do great work. They are also used to working with us, so communication is strong, which saves you time and money. If you're interested in finding out more about graphic design services we offer, please contact us.

• CSS/XHMTL/XSLT/XML

  We can use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and standards based XHTML to create your web interface or create new looks or themes for your existing CSS/XHTML based site. We can use XSLT and XML where appropriate to dynamically generate web-based forms for data-driven applications.

Web Services

• Consume External Web Services: add web services to your system

  Web services allow very powerful features, offered by 3rd-party service providers (such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft and thousands of other companies), to be implemented in your software. Used as building blocks, web services can also be combined to create potent, fresh new applications. If there are some web services that you would like to consume for your web site, or you have some exciting ideas on how to combine web services into a new product or site, please contact us.

• API Design: provide access to key components of your system

  Extend your system and give your data more value. More than ever before, businesses are proving that exposing their data through an API so that other people can develop applications that use that data expands the usefulness and value of that data. A good API and valuable data becomes a way of turning a key database into a "center" for all kinds of unexpected applications. We can help you figure out the right kind of API to build, build it for you and work with you to expand any ideas you might have for how 3rd party applications might use your data.

• Web Service Architecture: to ease maintenance, provide security

  We can help you design a web service architecture that can handle large and unpredictable loads, while providing a high level of security appropriate to the tasks being performed.

Backend Processing Applications

• Heavy duty data import/export applications

  We have extensive experience building heavy duty data import and export applications and scripts, suitable for use as one-off migration scripts, scheduled routines or manually launched batch routines. Our extensive knowledge of SQL, combined with years of experience building data migration scripts in a number of programming languages, and the experience we have learned firsthand about testing these kinds of applications, allows us to create well designed, speedy, reliable, low-overhead import/export data migration applications and scripts.

• Asynchronous backend web programs

  Occasionally a web site will need to fire a long running backend process when someone performs an action via the web site. We are experienced at building these kinds of applications so that they do not tie up the web server and can handle thousands of concurrent users.

• Console apps/utilities

  In many businesses, there are applications that face the public and applications that don't. The ones that don't are usually console applications (ie, that run from the command line) and utilities that perform either critical or tedious jobs that are usually launched by a system administrator or someone in a similar role. We can create these types of applications for you.

Networking

• Hosting implementations: Windows 2003, Linux

  We are a development and hosting company, with over 10 years hosting experience. Most of our development customers host with us. We provide a variety of hosting services, from simple shared-server hosting on up to web-farms consisting of multiple load-balanced servers (aka dedicated systems). For information about dedicated hosting services, please contact us. For information about our basic hosting services, click here.

• Network infrastructure: system architecture, maintenance

  We have designed many networks, for both web hosting and internal infrastructures. We can architect a network for you, implement it and maintain it, or consult with you on any aspect of your network. We can also create custom utility applications for you to use to maintain your network.

Technologies

We use a myriad of technologies, but these are the ones we use most often.

• Windows 2008, Windows 2003 and Linux application servers
• Microsoft .NET: ASP.NET, C#, WCF, VB.NET
• ObjectiveC
• Javascript, AJAX, PHP, Perl
• Macromedia Cold Fusion: 9, 8, 7, 6.x, 5.0
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000/2005/2008, MySQL and SQLite databases
• HTML, XHTML, CSS, Flash, and Air Development
• XML, XSLT, XPath