ISCieNT is an information technology consultancy specializing in Linux/Open Source. Its principal and founder, Peter Giorgilli, has over 15 years' experience in the IT industry as a software developer/systems engineer.

What we do:

• Custom Perl programming
• Web development, including Interchange
• Systems administration: Linux, DNS, Mail, Web, Samba
• Web Hosting, including Interchange
• Windows/Mac-Linux integration

History

When we started back in '95, our focus was web development. Over the next few years we developed sites for a range of Australian businesses including Australian air Express and Education Credit Union, often working in conjunction with graphic design agencies.

At around this time most web sites were hosted on UNIX servers, and most CGI-programs were written in Perl. Web development was therefore centred on UNIX. The ready availability of a free ("as in speech") UNIX-like operating system and the myriad free and open source packages available made it possible, in terms of affordability as much as anything else, to develop web sites on a near identical platform to the target host's. This was the historical accident that got us started; but it wasn't long before we, like millions of others, realised the potential of the platform, i.e., Linux/Open Source, as a whole.

By late '98, the web development business had become overcrowded and extremely price sensitive. It seemed "every man and his dog" was into it and people didn't necessarily appreciate what went into making a good web site and what one might expect to pay for one. For this reason, we decided to take time out from web development and instead target more "traditional" IT work.

It's almost a straight line from then to now -- from late April '99 to early April '06, we were engaged on what turned out to be a long-term contract for John Fairfax Holdings, publisher of The Age newspaper here in Melbourne, to help develop an electronic commerce application that enables advertisers to place print (newspaper) ads via the web. Our main contribution to the project was in 2 main areas: software development (mainly Perl) and UNIX (Linux) system administration.

Briefly returning to web development, in March '01 we completed work on a web site for a Japanese company. The site features an online catalog of the company's product range and includes a secure order facility. To cater for both domestic (Japanese) and overseas customers, the site operates in a dual language/currency mode. We continue to maintain as well as host the site from our own co-located server here in Melbourne.

References

Index, complete with external link(s) where applicable, of terms previously referred to:

• Perl - http://www.perl.org
• Interchange - http://www.icdevgroup.org
• Linux, or to be more correct, GNU/Linux - Perhaps try Wikipedia to start with
• DNS (Domain Name System) - Specializing in BIND
• Electronic Mail - Specializing in The Postfix MTA
• Web - Specializing in The Apache web server
• Samba - http://www.samba.org
• "free, as in speech" - http://www.fsf.org
• Japanese web site - http://www.armsangyo.co.jp

Interested?

Please refer your enquiry to Peter Giorgilli.

Something Else

The "something else", unrelated to the work we do, that may be of interest to readers -- hello! you out there -- of this page: Book reviews. The reason for my including a link to the reviews linked-to hereunder is shameless self-promotion. Not my own, mind you. The author of the reviews is my brother. Without further ado...

Book Reviews