The OPTIMUS development philosophy has been introduced to provide you - our customer - with high quality and state of the art software solutions that positively impact your business processes.
Web-Based
OPTIMUS works with a range of leading-edge technologies in both the Microsoft and Java development environments. Products use J2EE, Apache Tomcat and AXIS for both browsers-based and web service implementations. They also use IIS for web service implementations, and XML is used for inter-process communication, configuration and information linkages to other systems. Linkages to other systems include data layout and key value information.
Database Backend
Products use an RDBMS for high volume data storage, and our engineers are experienced with both Oracle and SQL Server schema design and implementations. Data volumes are on the order of terabytes.
Languages and Tools
Applications are written mostly in C#/.NET and Java, with some low level, high performance C++ code. Specialized libraries for PDF manipulation and AES encryption are built into the product. Open Source libraries, including log4net and log4j, are leveraged throughout the product line, while still protecting key intellectual property. Development tools include Eclipse (Java IDE), Visual Studio (C# IDE), InstallShield (installation packaging), Perforce (configuration management), CruiseControl and CruiseControl.NET (automated builds), Ant and Nant (builds), and Junit and Nunit for unit testing.
Technical Specialties
Key challenges that were specifically addressed:
- High performance for extremely large volumes of data and document processing.
- Scalability from a small, single server installation to an enterprise-wide, multi-system installation with full disaster recovery (DR) capability.
- Automated, lights-out processing via Windows services.
- User interaction and GUI design for both web (HTML, CSS, Struts, AJAX) and stand-alone interfaces.
- User satisfaction and customization across a wide range of use scenarios.
Software Development Practices
OPTIMUS uses an iteractive development approach incorporating aspects of RUP and Agile methodologies. This approach allows a continuous focus on customer needs, with on-going adaptation of requirements. It also fosters a high quality approach by finding and addressing problems early in the process. Customer centered design techniques are used in the user interface design.
High Quality
The OPTIMUS team is focused on high quality development practices. Separate development and QA teams allow a dedicated focus on quality. Both automated and interactive testing are performed regularly. Test tools for performance and load measurements are available.
Our next challenges
- Configurable user interface display and configurable database access to adapt to multiple applications.
- Offline, compressed database access.
- SOA (Services Oriented Architecture) to supplement the current web services, particularly of the application process data interchanges.
