Rationalisation (cont)
Application Suite will comprise all the components currently
branded as Developer, Linker, Executive and User. Genius Client is our key
initiative and will merge the Executive and User components to provide a single
module delivering all the data interrogation capabilities the end-user needs.
Genius Base will remain available as the runtime library for
deploying bespoke applications but in general Genius Client will be the
preferred route for adding seats to Genius.
We hope to introduce the new product configuration and price model
Development Update
Progress continues on migration to the OpenVMS Integrity (Itanium)
platform.
Porting the runtime system raised very few problems, and the
compiler codegenerator is on target for completion in 2007. The EPIC
architecture used by the Itanium processor is radically different from the RISC
(Alpha, Sun, PowerPC etc.) and has raised a number of technical challenges, but
with a little ingenuity we are managing to produce efficient and compact code
from our single-pass compiler.
Other plans include enhanced XML facilities (e.g. for
high-quality output from easyGenius reports), better SQL database integration,
and an improved GUI front-end.
Genius Support
Our Chief Technical Officer Richard Kirkman is currently
recuperating from major surgery and will not be back to full time involvement
in the immediate future.
Calls to our technical support number 020 8979 3070, may not
always be answered by Richard but you can however be assured of competent
technical advice.
You are reminded that the preferred method of support contact is
email via support@rapidgen.co.uk.
This route not only provides a record of the enquiry but is
accessible to all of our staff, wherever they are located.
during Q4 and in the meantime we would be happy to receive
feedback.
We can however assure our existing customers that fees for new
licences and maintenance & support will reflect the current pricing model.
Microsoft Windows Vista
Thanks to the benefits of our relationship with Microsoft we have
been able to demonstrate the performance of the Genius Solution in combination
with the public release of Microsoft Windows Vista.
This has been done on both x86 and x64 platforms, and in Vista
Business, Home Basic, Home Premium and Ultimate editions.
Genius in the Telecoms Sector
During its brief history, the mobile communications industry has
developed from a service aimed at a niche market to becoming one that is now
used by virtually every household in the UK.
The traditional consumer market is now at saturation point, and
as such customer retention is now one of the key drivers within the industry.
Secondly, revenue maximisation is paramount, with the industry constantly
looking for ways to diversify within their service offerings, providing new
ways for the customer to utilise their phone service over the current bearer
services and therefore maximising ARPU (Average Revenue per User)
The business (or enterprise) market is a rapidly expanding and
demanding market, with operators now offering high speed data access (HSDPA),
providing remote workers with connection speeds that are comparable to
broadband. The retention of existing customers and acquisition of new
accounts within the enterprise sector is as important as that within the
consumer sector, but with ARPU being much higher, the potential gains (and
losses) are much higher. Therefore, it is in the operators interests to
maintain the high level of service and flexibility that the enterprise
customers demand.
Genius is already very successfully used within the Telecoms
market in the UK, providing robust, reliable and performant systems. With
the low overall cost of ownership and rapid development capabilities, there is
no doubt why the Genius solution is such a desirable option.
Over the next few months, we will be working closely with the
market to produce enhanced functionality that is focussed on the Telecoms
Market. If you would like more information on this, then please contact
us.
An existing Genius release kit for Windows installs on Microsoft
Windows Vista, which is classed as an "NT" platform, like Windows 2000 and
Windows XP, for licensing purposes.
A new refresh of the release kit is available which identifies
the release version of Windows Vista.
New Team Members
RapidGen Software is committed to building customer confidence in
the future of Genius and during the early part of this year two more highly
qualified technical specialists have joined the Team.
Howard Rogers will be known to a number of our existing customers
as a member of the Rapid-Gen Systems technical team and his biography appears
above.
We also welcome Matthew Miles who has joined us from Vodafone UK.
Matthew will be developing our
business in the Telecoms Sector and extending our reach in this
major global marketplace.
Both new team members have many years experience of the Genius
Application Suite and enterprise IT development.
He developed early data mining tools and managed a large health
census project covering some 3.5 million patient/service events. His
first experience of the Genius products was as a user, providing an ad-hoc
query facility for the first NHS online in-patient records system.
He joined Rapid-Gen Systems Ltd. in 1984 as a technical
consultant and specialist in providing interface solutions with other IT
products. For several years he was responsible for the development and
maintenance of the Genius User tool set and created a number of Genius Linker
modules.
In the last 5 years, he has worked as a Project Manager for a
public transport information system company specialising in real time
applications for monitoring bus fleet locations and providing on-street
information.
Howard has recently re-joined the team at RapidGen Software to
spearhead development and brings with him extensive experience of merging the
multiple technologies of Open systems back office, real-time processing, GPS
tracking, GPRS telecoms and wireless communications.
Howard Rogers, Chief
Development Officer
Howard has over 30 years experience of information systems and
the computer industry.
After graduating with a degree in Statistics & Operational
Research, he worked in the National Health Service as a statistician and became
increasingly involved in the IT field.
We continue to ensure that the Genius runtime libraries are up to
date for the latest O/S releases of all the supported platforms. But we retain
the capability to support many legacy systems that the major vendors have long
since forgotten.
In recent months we have received a growing number of enquiries
from organisations with key installations scheduled for migration to new
hardware platforms. They have database applications built around data schemas
and reporting code modules that function flawlessly but are unrecognisable to
younger software engineers and programmers.
Filetab, originally developed for the ICL 1900 and an early
ancestor of Genius RPL is a typical example. We are currently repurposing
Filetab code for the Genius runtime on a contemporary hardware platform. This
is substantially reducing the time and development effort required to migrate a
business critical system for a leading IT Systems Provider.
We are now publishing the Newsletter twice
a year and much has happened since the December 2006 issue. We have expanded
our technical team and are developing a number of enhancements to our product
offering.
Rationalising the Genius Application Suite
From the moment RapidGen Software recovered The Genius
Application Suite it has been our intention to simplify the product offering
and focus on providing customers with a more effective and efficient solution
to information processing.
In future new customers will be offered a solution that comprises
just two products, the Genius Application Suite and the Genius Client. The
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