ASAP WebSoft is a technology consultancy specializing in rapid web software engineering and technology integration for the business and professional communities. We engineer and implement solutions to your business problems using state-of-the-art technologies and processes that can dramatically cut time-to-market without sacrificing quality or maintainability. We can feasibly do this thanks to: - Recent market-disruptive advances in open systems technologies such as Linux, Ruby on Rails, and Web Services;
- Integration with existing client-owned front- and back-office facilities, if present;
- Assembly of unique solutions by integration of a variety of pre-written and -tested generic software components, where applicable (no sense in "reinventing the wheel"), with custom "glue" software; and
- The cumulative experience of an established network of cream-of-the-crop (top 10%) technical and creative talent, seasoned with some solid business sense.
We do much more than code to some static and therefore unrealistic specification: we focus on delivering what you actually need by analyzing your requirements, asking appropriate questions, soliciting regular feedback and adjusting our output accordingly. In other words, we bring deep systems-level communications and analytic skills to bear on the engineering of your applications. Following is a brief summary of our service offerings: - Web-to-database software engineering, including intranets and extranets
- Integration of existing and new technologies and components into smoothly flowing business processes
- Related web site design, and content management framework installation/configuration so you can easily maintain the result yourself
- All related business/systems analysis and process engineering
- A variety of related (internet-based and otherwise) software architecture and engineering services, including systems architectural assessment, graphic design, information architecture and design, and systems and network administration.
Please contact us if you have any questions about what we do and how we do it!
Following are some observations representing wisdom accumulated from decades of professional and life experience. Click on any Rule that happens to be a link (this is a work in progress) to read further: - Rule 1 - Nobody is stupid for the mere fact that their expertise lies in a different domain than yours [or mine].
- Rule 2 - Avoid duplication of effort: Don't make work with unnecessary layers of abstraction. Or...make it as simple as possible, but no simpler.
- Corollary 2a - Java: The poster child for unnecessary complication.
- Corollary 2b - .NET: Java's imitative cousin.
- Rule 3 - Some technologies are better than others for a given purpose or at a given time, but no technology is the One True Religion.
- Rule 4 - Synergy is Good: sometimes you can kill many birds with one stone.
- Rule 5 - Don't re-invent the wheel (unless you get a genuine market advantage, but then it's not really a wheel anymore).
- Rule 6 - Some specialization is good, but too much is bad: modern technologies don't exist in a vacuum; they have (business and technical) context, typically including other applications, technologies, and stakeholders.
- Rule 7 - On average, the best programmers produce software at a pace several times faster than mediocre ones, and of a quality the mediocre will never achieve even with all the time in the world; this means that paying a good programmer an hourly rate 3 times that of the mediocre is well worth it if the productivity advantage is better than a multiple of 3.
- Rule 8 - Common Stuff [usually] goes in a Common Place. This is the "Don't Repeat Yourself" principle of software design.
- Rule 9 - Technology is about business. Business is about people.
- Corollary 9a - People are always what it's about.
- Rule 10 - Don't assault people (users, clients, etc.) with too much information at once, and don't let your sites or applications do it either.
- Rule 11 - The businesses that will succeed in our increasingly energy- and resource-starved world will be those that learn to do more with less: environmentally-conscious business practices are an investment, not an expense.
- Rule 12 - The businesses that will succeed in our ever-smaller world, where diverse people rub shoulders in the workplace and marketplace, will be those which embrace that diversity and turn it into an advantage: we each have our own strengths and weaknesses, and the trick is to combine the strengths and cancel the weaknesses as much as possible.
Successfully completed projects include: - Medical image processing, routing and workflow
- Automated HTML data extraction (Ruby)
Current projects include: - Comprehensive integrated corporate software architecture and implementation atop the Ruby on Rails platform in the cybercrime prevention industry
- Complex dynamic web site (Ruby on Rails with extensive AJAX and JavaScript) in the hospitality industry
- GIS (Geographic Information Systems) web services application (advanced pure Ruby, Ruby on Rails, C) in the insurance and various natural resource industries
- IT outsourcing services (Linux, Windows, network administration, etc) for two of the above clients
ASAP WebSoft focuses on engineering dynamic web sites and applications on an open systems stack anchored with Ruby on Rails. Though we are strong believers in avoiding over-specialization, we simply cannot be all things to all people. As a result, we are constantly on the lookout for complementary service providers who can do a better job at other aspects of IT.
Morph Labs, Inc. has created the first Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) for Ruby on Rails that provides an enterprise quality environment to deploy, deliver and manage web applications. Based upon industry standards and open source technologies, each Morph AppSpace subscription offers a highly available, fault tolerant environment for Rails applications that is able to seamlessly scale on-demand.
This Platform-as-a-Service pre-configures the end-to-end environment so that developers don't have to spend resources downloading, installing, configuring and managing the infrastructure. In addition, the subscription includes managed services such as 24/7 monitoring, OS patching & updating, managed data backups, auto-repair capabilities, expert recommendations & ongoing notifications. Subscriptions are priced based upon environment size and can scale on demand allowing organizations to pay as they grow.
Technology Assurance, LLC provides IT Project Management, Risk Analysis, Business Process Analysis, Disaster Preparedness, Technical Support and consulting services to small- and medium-sized membership organizations and the people who run them. Its founder, Ron Comfort, is a true star among IT generalists. I have known and worked with him, on and off, for well over a decade. He is one of those rare souls who bridge the technical and business realms with aplomb. He can explain the most complex technical concepts in such a way that the man on the street really gets it. I have lately called on him to optimize a network for one of my key clients, after which throughput improved by an order of magnitude. Technology Assurance also provides personal technology consulting for discerning individuals and families who, confronted with a bewildering array of consumer electronics and home automation technology, want to streamline their home lives but don't know where to start.
Kevin Weller
President and Principal Consultant
Kevin is a veteran software architect and web developer with more than 20 years of professional experience in many different information technologies and roles. He has spent well over a decade focused primarily on database-driven web application engineering in Java, C, C++, 4GL, Perl, and Ruby on Rails. Key roles and accomplishments include: - Senior Engineer, Private Networks - Implemented one of the very first database-driven private internet sites (extranets) in 1995 (arguably one of the internet's pioneering years in terms of mass-market popularity).
- Program Architect, BEA Systems - Designed the common architecture and infrastructure for BEA's public web portals on the J2EE stack and the WebLogic product suite.
- CTO, X-Ray Analysis & Distribution - Architected and built a sophisticated tele-radiology solution involving DICOM image processing, 3-D bone structure modeling, and secure data transmission over the internet.
Since Summer 2006, he has devoted the vast majority of his time building web solutions for his clients using Ruby on Rails, with a little C#/.NET web service application maintenance on the side.
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