Company Description
Cysive is a leading software engineering firm that designs and builds
complex, highly customized architectures and systems necessary to support large
scale eBusinesses. eBusinesses are companies that conduct a significant portion
of their business electronically through front-end customer interfaces which are
integrated with back-end systems, such as accounting, billing, manufacturing and
inventory control. Since commencing operations in 1994, we have built
business-critical architectures using core Internet technologies. These
architectures automate business processes and provide the technology
infrastructure necessary for the high levels of customer interactivity, 24-hour
and seven-day, or 24/7, reliability and significant scalability required by
large scale eBusinesses. Due to the customized design criteria and sophisticated
integration requirements of our projects, we employ software engineers with
extensive technology expertise. Our software engineers, who have an average of
10 years experience applying leading-edge technologies to solve
business-critical problems, utilize a disciplined methodology to deliver robust
and secure systems on a timely basis.
Given our technology expertise, we target corporate customers who require
highly complex systems to meet the scale and growth demanded by their
differentiated eBusiness strategies. For example, Cysive built Cisco Systems,
Inc.'s Internetworking Product Center, which is the core of Cisco's electronic
commerce site and accounted for approximately 60% of Cisco's fiscal 1999 total
revenues of $12.2 billion. In addition to Cisco, we have built systems for
customers such as Classified Ventures, Inc./Cars.com, DaimlerChrysler
Corporation, Equifax Secure, Inc., First Union Corporation, Sylvan Prometric and
UUNet Technologies, Inc.
OUR MARKET OPPORTUNITY
In the mid-1990s, a first wave of commercial Internet usage achieved
widespread adoption. At this time, the immediate objective for most companies
was to establish a Web site, which was typically maintained separately from the
enterprise systems at the core of the business. Today, we believe a second wave
is beginning, spearheaded by the companies whose use of the Internet has evolved
from a marketing orientation to a business, or transactional, orientation. These
companies are building their information technology infrastructures to transact
directly, seamlessly and instantaneously with customers, suppliers, partners and
distributors around the world. To truly automate all of the functions associated
with an eBusiness transaction, companies cannot simply link Internet customers
directly to their existing internal systems, which were built for a defined
number of specifically trained employees. An advanced technology approach is
necessary in which business logic, or all of the business procedures and rules,
is built into a core architecture that bridges these existing systems with the
Internet. A successful eBusiness architecture must present business functions to
customers in a simple format, yet provide comprehensive access to all of the
information and transactional capabilities the business has to offer.
Advantages achieved by eBusinesses that were the first to implement
Internet strategies will be lost if their transactional systems are not
scalable, secure and reliable. Therefore, we believe a greater portion of future
corporate Internet spending will be in the implementation and integration of
advanced Internet systems. Companies like Cysive that have the Internet
technology expertise, a defined, repeatable and rigorous process and a strong,
proven track record in building eBusiness architectures will drive business on
the Internet.
OUR SOLUTION
Cysive engineers and deploys next generation systems that enable business
leaders to execute their eBusiness strategies. To build the reliable, robust,
secure and scalable eBusiness systems demanded by our customers, we emphasize
the following key elements:
ADVANCED EBUSINESS ARCHITECTURES. We focus on architecting and building
complex, highly customized Internet technology-based systems rather than broadly
providing strategy, consulting and design services. Our expertise lies in
building the systems driving large scale eBusinesses, which we believe is a key
point of differentiation in our market.
HIGHLY EXPERIENCED SOFTWARE ENGINEERS. The complexity of the systems we
build requires us to employ software engineers with proven technology expertise
and many years of experience. As evidence, our software engineers have on
average 10 years of experience. This significant level of experience enhances
our teams' productivity and enables us to maximize our utilization rates by
making our software engineers interchangeable across varying projects regardless
of the technologies employed.
"SWAT TEAM" APPROACH. The high productivity of our experienced software
engineers enables us to build extensive eBusiness systems with lean and
efficient SWAT teams. For example, we built Cisco's system with a team of only
six software engineers. By using our SWAT teams, we shorten the delivery time of
a project and increase the likelihood of success, thereby reducing the overall
project cost to the customer. Through this approach, we are able to focus our
customers on the total value of the project, rather than on hourly billing
rates. As a result of our high levels of productivity, we consistently generate
revenues per software engineer in excess of $300,000.
RIGOROUS DEVELOPMENT PROCESS. For every project undertaken, our software
engineers strictly adhere to the Cysive development process. Having an
institutionalized methodology helps to mitigate risk and ensure consistent
quality, and enables us to build robust and cost-effective systems more rapidly.
SOPHISTICATED KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT. We have spent considerable resources
building our internal knowledge management which comprises: (1) a technology
group, which continually evaluates new products to identify best-of-breed
technologies and is also responsible for on-going proficiency training; and (2)
a centralized knowledge base, which is an extensive intranet database that
captures the intellectual capital gained with each Cysive project.
STRICT QUALITY ASSURANCE PROCESS. We adhere to a strict quality assurance
process to identify and manage risk. In addition to risk management, our quality
assurance approach facilitates the sharing of ideas and technologies among
project managers, enables us to scale our business while maintaining high levels
of quality and allows us to make objective, value-added recommendations to our
customers during the course of a project.
OUR GROWTH STRATEGY. Our objective is to strengthen our position as a
leading eBusiness engineering firm. The key elements of our growth strategy are
to:
- expand existing and establish new customer relationships;
- continue to build and deploy leading-edge technologies;
- attract and retain highly experienced software engineers;
- enhance our geographic presence; and
- expand Cysive's brand recognition.
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