Meeting with software industry "guru" John Cullinane in Belfast

John Cullinane (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cullinet and http://www.cullinaneentrepreneurship.com/) is one of the global software industry's pioneers.  He was the first person to develop a "software product business" large enough and successful enough to be listed on the US stock market.. in fact listed with a billion dollar valuation.

I've got to know John via Alpha Software, the business behind the software development platform which enables Start Software to build world-class web and mobile applications quickly and professionally.

Last Monday I went to Belfast to hear John deliver a fascinating lecture on the role of the economy in conflict resolution around the World.  John was appointed by Bill Clinton to lead a business/economic task force during the Northern Island peace process and is still heavily involved in that process today.  In fact, during the lecture he was thanked for his personal involvement in the Gasworks development in Belfast (which, co-incidentally, was where I had gone for my morning run).

John Cullinane lecturing at Riddell Hall

John delivered his lecture to an invited audience of the great and the good (and me!).  I was delighted that John picked up on the possibilities that mobile and web development has in a growing economy like NI's and was even more thrilled when he gave Start Software and me a name-check half-way through his talk.  He sees our business model here at Start as being one that could be replicated elsewhere and referred to the work that I'm doing personally in NI to help them in this area:

"Robin Bennett and Start Software would be outstanding models to emulate in Northern Ireland in my opinion. That's why I was so pleased that he was able to join us today. He confirms that it would be possible for NI to become a world leader in mobile application development using Alpha Software's new Alpha Anywhere platform and he is prepared to help them do it".

Thanks John for the mention - really appreciated it.

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Here's a press clipping about John's talk (at the bottom of the page):

Major asbestos consultancy REC receive their Alpha Tracker training

Asbestos consultancy REC have received their initial training in Alpha Tracker, our web-based system designed to increase efficiency and reduce admin within environmental consultancies.

The initial training covered the Alpha Tracker basics:

- client and contact management
- logging projects and surveys
- scheduling work in the in-built diary
- capturing data on site using Tracker Mobile
- lab data entry
- report production.


REC have offices across the UK and will be rolling out Alpha Tracker and Tracker Mobile over the coming months.

asbestos consultancy REC's web site - click to access

Tracker Web Server v1.5.418 SVN52 available

This is a maintenance release of Tracker Web Server, the web-based compliance management system for clients of environmental and health-and-safety consultancies.

If you would like this update (which fixes a number of minor bugs), please contact the office.

New version of Mobile Data Studio in beta test

We're testing the latest version of Mobile Data Studio, the software that powers our Tracker Mobile handheld asbestos surveying system as well as our other on-site data capture software.

The latest version, v7.2, has these improvements:

• better quality photo capture (which will improve the photos within asbestos reports)
• the option of keeping copies of data sent in on the handset for re-using or re-sending (which means that backups will not be needed any more on the handset) (see screenshot, below)
• more form design options (for better looking, easier-to-use data capture screens)
• improvement in the Data Window within the server software.

We are testing the beta release now and should be in a position to recommend upgrades to our Tracker and Alpha Tracker customers within the next month.

Encompassed receive their Alpha Tracker training

Chris Donne and his colleagues from asbestos surveying consultancy Encompassed (www.encompassed.co.uk) have received their Alpha Tracker training today at our training facility in Telford.

Encompassed's staff complete their Alpha Tracker training

Alpha Tracker is our state-of-the-art project management, scheduling, on-site data capture and automated asbestos reporting system which is the product of more than a decade of experience in asbestos software in the UK.

With his surveyors already familiar with Tracker Mobile after working with the system elsewhere in the industry, the training session was refreshing brief, only needing a half day session to become competent in use of the web-based administration system (Alpha Tracker runs "in the cloud") and on-site data capture and transmission.

Chris and his colleagues are using a mixture of iPhones, iPads, Android smartphones and Android tablets - flexibility which is a real strength of Tracker Mobile and unique in the asbestos surveying market.

Start Software trading results 2011-12

We've just had the final accounts through for our financial year 2011-12 (ending October).

Turnover was up 3% which was a respectable increase though only broadly in line with inflation.

Our investment in rebuilding and renewing our software line-up (including our fantastic new Alpha Tracker product for environmental and asbestos consultancies) hit profits but will stand us in good stead for years to come.

Tracker Dashboard v1.0.163 SVN37 released

This is an update to Tracker Dashboard containing cosmetic improvements to the emails generated:

• the font used in the emails is now Calibri rather than Verdana
• when the email shows notes (a description) at the top of the email below the heading, it is better spaced
• the main window caption is now Tracker Dashboard rather than Tracker Daily Dashboard.

Please note that the name of the EXE has also changed in this release from Tracker Daily Dashboard.exe to Tracker Dashboard.exe.

Please contact the office if you would like the update.

Tracker Dashboard is a part of the Tracker and Alpha Tracker product family, sending automated daily, weekly and monthly emails to staff containing action lists, data summaries and dashboards created from Tracker data.