Tools of the trade
We have been building products for more than 25 years, and
have seen platforms come and go.
These are our favorite tools right
now, but we are always flexible to help you
make the most of your existing investment and solve real problems.
Elixir
We prefer to use Elixir for new projects, as it provides a unique balance of ease-of-development, performance and flexibility to deal with the next generation of stateful real-time applications.
We find it an excellent match for the kinds of systems startups need which combine public web, mobile api, real time communication, admin back end and 3rd party integration. We replace the mess of web app servers, caches, background queues and web socket servers with a single powerful platform, saving in system complexity and easing development.
It's particularly great for bots, and is the standard solution for internet scale chat, used by WhatsApp to handle millions of connections per server.
Some examples of companies using Elixir and Erlang (the system behind Elixir) include:
We have been using Erlang for more than ten years, so we have a deep understanding of how to build Elixir applications the right way.
Ruby on Rails
We have been working with Ruby on Rails since before it hit 1.0 in 2005. It's extensive libraries mean that it's still the fastest way to write standard applications. It's showing it's age, though, and its fundamental architecture makes it hard to create next-generation systems.
Python
Python is the language of data science and machine learning, and we use it a lot for back end processing and utilities.
Front End
We use a modern stack with HTML5, CSS3, SASS, etc. We prefer Elm for dynamic JavaScript UIs. We like the new generation of CMS systems based on static site generation, as it scales like crazy and is completely secure.
Databases
We prefer Postgres, but use MySQL and Oracle when it makes sense. We like tools like Redis and Elasticsearch as well.
Cloud
We are cloud experts, with extensive experience building solutions for Amazon AWS, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure. We can convert your legacy application to a solid HIPAA compliant cloud architecture which is secure and scalable. We manage systems which handle a billion requests a day, and know how to keep costs under control using dedicated hardware and content delivery networks.
Mobile
We use Swift for iOS projects, Java on Android. We know mobile responsive design, but generally prefer native code for a better user experience. We often combine mobile apps with specialized hardware such as blood glucose monitors or use the mobile as the user interface to control embedded devices.
Embedded and Appliances
We have been building embedded Linux systems since before it was cool. Our secret weapon now is embedded Elixir. We are based in the hardware manufacturing center of the world, and can help you find and coordinate with hardware suppliers and manufacturers.
Anything goes
We are always happy to learn something new, just let us know what you need. And our "gray beards" have decades of experience in IT, so legacy systems are fine with us, too. Everything old is new again.