Portfolio

In March 2008 EDF Energy asked us to help with performance tuning their production database. We were able to identify where in the code the poor performing queries were defined, and to develop more efficient versions of them using the Oracle plan tables (explain plan) to reduce overall cost, physical I/O and ultimately time taken to execute.

Geode was asked to set up the web site for a new Resourcing company called Captura Resourcing. This was done using the Drupal 6 Content Management System. Using Drupal meant we were able to create the web site in a matter of just a few hours.

Each job posting can be tagged with existing or new tags, allowing "featured" jobs to appear in their own black in the sidebar as well as regional tagging, such as South-West. Users can also use the built-in search functionality to search for key words. When users find one job they might be interested in, they can easily navigate using the tags to other related jobs, either by skill or area.

During autumn 2007 we were involved in ASP training for the Lodestar framework. Many aspects of the ASP framework were covered, with best practices, including stored queries, dictionaries, custom screens, tabs, dropdown actions, XML data, XSLT transforms, debugging and more!

End clients are keen to make use of the Lodestar applications, and see the flexibility the software provides. Custom ASP work should "fit in" with the framework, and we have successfully trained staff in the best way to go about developing for Lodestar.

Harrier LLC provide mail-order photo processing and online digital printing. The company has recently begun supplying photo gifts such as mugs, calendars and photo books though the online Truprint site as well as fulfilling these gift orders for numerous partners. Their current I.T. system tracks orders as they progress through the production process, but it is increasingly difficult to maintain. The project requirement was to create a new system based on new technology to take over the process. Geode was asked to plan the project and in the initial part of the project, to design the database.

Geode Software has been working for Oracle Utilities on a number of projects in the UK and now supplies a number of ASP developers to work on site. We worked to extend their web application to provide a detailed breakdown of all the costs involved in a gas supply contract. The web pages were written in Javascript ASP, linked to an Oracle (10g) database and the Lodestar framework. XML technologies were used heavily to manipulate the data for display.

LODESTAR's PricingExpert was customised in order to satisfy the requirements of a large energy company. Geode Software was invited to join it in order to extend their web application by providing additional screens and database functionality. The web pages were written in Javascript, linked to an Oracle (9i) database and the LODESTAR COM object framework.

The Geode Website was upgraded from a series of dynamic PHP pages over the first few weeks of 2006. The content was preserved, but the engine that now serves the pages has been completely scrapped in favour of a full Content Management System (CMS).

The existing Truprint EPOS (Electronic Point Of Sale) system was enhanced by moving from multiple MS Access databases to a single SQL Server 2000 database. We implemented a VPN to link each shop to Head Office and used "merge replication" to synchronise the databases. Next we integrated the EPOS system with Harrier's ERP/ERM system (Microsoft Navision) to make it easy for them to add new products, set the selling prices and so on.

The RDL was developed by Geode in 2004 for a specific customer, although the development effort was funded by Geode. We retain the rights on the electronic hardware, firmware and software. This product is no longer available because more design work is needed to update the product to meet the ROHS regulations. Consequently, the complete design is now offered for sale. If you are interested, please contact us.

Designed and developed a browser-based interface to display real-world data using dynamic (SVG) graphics. The browser page was updated using live streaming technology, now superseded by other technologies such as AJAX. Plant machinery could also be controlled using the browser.

This project was to design and develop a graphical configuration tool for Windows to be sold and used by HVAC plant engineers to configure the programmable controllers. The design made use of Visio for the GUI, and was easy to learn and use. We created the software as COM components, allowing the work to be easily built on in future products.

In 2000 we developed a software copy protection system to prevent licensed software from being used on more than one machine at the same time.

Both hardware and firmware for the router were designed and developed as part of a new product range. The new product range was required to interface to a third party system using the BACnet point to point protocol. The router was designed as a gateway and routing device to translate between the BACnet protocol and the company's proprietary field bus protocols. The router needed to support ARCNET and LON plug-in cards as well as three serial ports.

The company required a communications protocol to be designed to link field-bus devices on a peer-peer network. We designed this, which was used on 9600 baud RS-485, encapsulated in ARCNET over RS-485, and ecapsulated in LON packets. This allowed the company to offer the three communications options for the same products, and therefore to offer a differential pricing structure, depending on the network chosen by the customer.

This project was a cost-cutting exercise to reduce the cost of a product while keeping the same functionality.