Where did we start?
As a startup, Virgo developed software distinctly unrelated to the web and the internet. The breakthrough came with developing and operating wiw.hu, the predecessor of iWiW. Our web oriented activities launched with that, expanding into a division in its own right, now the foundation – or flagship – of the company.
What are we standing for?
In the beginning, a company could make a stand in the market just by churning out whatever the customer asked for. This is not enough any more. We are proud that our partners and customers can think of us as a solution provider.
The solution provider role has its downsides too. One has to learn guiding customers, assisting them in finding the best – talking straight: optimum – solution, even if something else would be in our better interest. It was not easy, but we did it.
Why the web?
Because this is the future. Says who? Well, everyone. A shoe store could chuck contact info on the web and make do with it. No more. They are in a handicapped position from the start, unless they publish the whole product range, available sizes for each model, prices or even stock details.
And then come today’s users. They are not content with consuming the web any more. They want to pitch in, be a part of something bigger. Mankind has never been such an exhibitionist before – it would be utterly wrong not to capitalize it. Let us also keep in mind that the web escaped desktop computers: it crept into the phones in our pockets, spread to the information board of railway stations, TV sets in living rooms, fridges – and the list goes on without an end.
What are we capable of?
On the web? Just about anything. With customer needs and web trends in mind we keep learning, so even when we don’t have a ready answer to a question, we’d at least know where to look for it.
We like and dare to dream big with our customers, yet always keeping in touch with the firm ground of reality, lest the dream end in a nightmare.
What technologies do we use?
Our selection of technologies evolved along with our customers’ expectations and needs. Currently, our web-based solutions employ Java (J2EE), .NET and Ruby (Ruby on Rails) technologies. Unless the customer has a preferred or prescribed choice, we take the following aspects into consideration when choosing the appropriate technology:
- complexity of the project as a whole
- security criteria
- applied engineering methodology
- expected load
- IT background of related systems
- available hardware and software components
- customer’s internal IT expectations and regulations
In general, we can say that for high load, mission critical systems we prefer Java and .NET technologies, while Ruby on Rails is our most efficient tool in agile software development.
When engineering software for the web, we use the following primary technologies, applications:
- Oracle, Microsoft SQL, MySQL, PostgreSql
- Lucene
- Tomcat, Sun Java System Web Server, Glassfish, Microsoft Internet Information Services
- JRuby
- Lucene
- IBM MQ Series, Apache ActiveMQ
- JPA (Hibernate, Toplink)
- ASP.NET, JSP, JSF, WPF
What related services do we offer?
While Virgo is a software house, with co-operation from a pool of established specialist partners we can cover a complete software development cycle from every angle. Thus, on top of consultancy, development, testing and operator tasks we offer such specialist services outside our core activities as design, SEO, marketing, hardware procurement and others. Long standing partnerships facilitate project progress and spare our customers rounds of unproductive finger-pointing.