Archive for April, 2006

3G on a Bus

This post is being written from a bus travelling between JHB international airport and Sun City. We (Rob and I) are on our way to the Annual RE/MAX of Southern Africa convention and thought it would be a great chance to test out the new Vodacom 3G/HSDPA card. It seems to be doing a great job – travelling at 100 kmph and we haven’t been dropped once in about 45 mins.

We both battled to install the card initially – it wasn’t picking it up in the “Vodafone Mobile Connect” package. I fixed it by adding a second “3G Preffered” connection. It picked the network up on the new connection immediately.

April 19, 2006 | 0 comments | View Post

PHP is fast & cheap

According to Owen Byrne of Digg.com:

“It turns out that it really is fast and cheap to develop applications in PHP. Most scaling and performance challenges are almost always related to the data layer, and are common across all language platforms. Even as a self-proclaimed PHP evangelist, I was very startled to find out that all of the theories I was subscribing to were true. There is simply no truth to the idea that Java is better than scripting languages at writing scalable web applications. I won’t go as far as to say that PHP is better than Java, because it is never that simple. However it just isn’t true to say that PHP doesn’t scale, and with the rise of Web 2.0, sites like Digg, Flickr, and even Jobby are proving that large scale applications can be rapidly built and maintained on-the-cheap, by one or two developers.”

Read the full article at onlamp.com

April 15, 2006 | 0 comments | View Post

Who is flying the Agile flag at CeBIT?

On the flight over to Hanover (which was badly delayed due to a British Airways screw up) I listened to various podcasts about Agile development methods. I became increasingly excited listening to Mary Poppendieck, Scott Ambler, Ken Schwaber, Cliff Berg and Micheal Mahemoff and reading blog entries by Martin Fowler and others each giving their particular focus and input in on the subject.

April 15, 2006 | 0 comments | View Post

AJAX Requires a Complete Overhaul

Moving over to an AJAX approach is not something to be taken lightly and certainly not something to jump into without good planning. That being said, this new approach is something many people, and I include myself in that, are extremely optimistic about and the difficult change required is, in my estimation, worth the risk and difficulties associated. In this entry I discuss our journey at White Wall Web and a log of some of the questions that we have needed to ask. We are currently crystallizing the components of our approach, but I hope this discussion will be helpful nonetheless.

April 15, 2006 | 0 comments | View Post

March 2006

I haven’t written for a while as we have been very, very busy on various fronts.

Needless to say, things are going well with swift progress on all our current projects and significant growth in various areas.

Currently I am writing this from CeBIT in Hanover, Germany (struggling with a German format keyboard). Read more about my CeBIT experience on www.flynn.za.net and www.techblog.co.za (in short, it is logistically incredible and extremely interesting).

We have also been learning a great deal about Agile approaches and are putting together a White Wall Web framework (or at least our own approach incorporating various technologies) which enable us to roll out Web 2.0 applications, that not only blow the end user away, but provide all the ‘ilities’ needed for best business solutions.

April 13, 2006 | 0 comments | View Post

October 2005: Making a joyful noise

White Wall Web’s achievements have gone slightly unnoticed these past few months, so in an attempt to make a bit of noise about our achievements, we have recently become members of CITI and SAVANT. Windows magazine is preparing an article on White Wall Web’s RE/MAX New Zealand roll out of the RE/MAX Family of Systems. The article is due for publishing in the December issue of the magazine, so keep an eye out. Read the full press release on this blog and on BizCommunity

Our financial systems project, Finassets is steadily progressing. Finassets is a joint venture between an Asset Manager, Sharenet and White Wall Web and is set to make a powerful impact for SME Asset Management companies who need to effectively manage their portfolios and funds.

The Louis Group project is in phase 2. The White Wall Web team are currently rolling out an instance of the system for LGI in the Isle of Mann.

Our design studio remains hard at work redesigning interfaces for RE/MAX Tricolor, RE/MAX Southern Africa, RE/MAX of New Zealand and Key Recruitment

RE/MAX streaming products rolled out recently include RE/MAX Active

October sees the addition of a Soft Services division to White Wall Web collaborate. The division has been created to deal with ICT PR, ICT Training, Stakeholder Experience, End-User Management, Change Management and Testing Cycle Management internally and externally.

The aim of WWW Soft Services is to provide solutions to achieve service excellence and ensure a high level of quality and positive experience for all stakeholders of the systems that we create.

April 13, 2006 | 0 comments | View Post

September 2005: The Bold and the Busy

It’s been a while, I know, but it’s an indication of just how busy we’ve been in the passed while.

Thrilled with the product and service we deliver to their South African counterparts, Remax New Zealand has purchased the RE/MAX Family of Systems as developed by White Wall Web.

I spent some time in New Zealand in September consulting on business logic and the differences between Southern Africa and the New Zealand regions.

The White Wall Web Team remains hard at work on the Louis Group project which has entered phase 2. Now that the core is in place and has been implemented on the live server, we can focus on expanding the functionality of the application.

Also on the financial systems side, the project called TAMS is well underway. TAMS is a joint venture between Trinity Holdings, Sharenet and White Wall Web.

The new Born Again Singles website is now live – so get signed up and find your life partner!\

Other WebStream sites that have gone live since the last communiqué include Akhona Properties, Precision Press and The Bay community church. A new monthly payment solution has been added to the New Property Developments website.

RE/MAX Streaming products rolled out recently include RE/MAX Winelands and RE/MAX Active. Barry Meyer is also the first RE/MAX Agent to use our AgentStream product.

April 13, 2006 | 0 comments | View Post

May 2005: Beginnings and Endings

May ended with some powerful beginnings and endings. Our big six month project to create an asset management system for Louis Group Investments International has been completed and we are about to move into Transition and then the warranty period.

As this asset management project comes to an end, our new project begins – a joint venture between Trinity Holdings and Sharenet, we have been contracted as the development partner to create a powerful new management tool.

On the streaming product side, we are proud to announce that we have signed RE/MAX Property Associates on board with our OfficeStream product.

Other newly published WebStream sites include, Imbongi Communications, Blueprint Group and AHBEASA.

Our new Newsletter product has been created enabling us to track newsletters sent out by us – number sent, opened, the number of times opened, links clicked on, the number of times per link (all per addressee).

Our Search Engine Optimization service has also been taken up by two clients, namely, 270 Kloof Clifton, provider of luxury accommodation in Cape Town and Affordable Adventures who offer team building in Cape Town. RE/MAX of Southern Africa is currently number 3 on Google for the key phrase “Property in South Africa.”

I am off to the UK to investigate our approach to rolling out White Wall Web’s products and services with the help of Damo Cross.

April 13, 2006 | 0 comments | View Post