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This Issue:
Risetime Celebrates 25th Anniversary
Industry Buzz: SharePoint Designer is Now Free
Success Story: Wheels, Inc.
New Risetime Publications: Business and Technical Silverlight White Papers
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Marking our twenty fifth year in business, Risetime has ushered in 2009 by contemplating our past while looking confidently towards the future. The technology industry and the world has changed vastly since Risetime began operations back in 1984, and Risetime has changed and evolved right along with it. Click here to view the Risetime History Timeline.
In an interview with Steven Bunes, founder and President of Risetime, we take a look backat the past twenty five years of Risetime, marked with achievements, many clients, and some interesting events along the way.
Why did you select the name Risetime? What does it mean?
Risetime first began as an electronic design firm. The word “risetime” is an engineering term referring to the time required for a signal to change from its low value to its high value. The name had significant meaning in the early days of Risetime, and we've kept it as a reminder of where we began.
What was Risetime's first project?
The very first Risetime project, strange as it may sound, was the production and assembly
of a electronic 'pest repeller'. The device was designed to use high pitched sound waves to help keep rodents away from restaurants and warehouses.
How has the rapid advancement of technology changed Risetime's business direction and goals?
Over the years we have responded to many new and changing technologies and, in fact, have worked hard to stay ahead of the curve. As an example, Risetime developed Job Web in 1995, and it was one of the first job boards available on the internet. Job Web was well received, but ahead of the curve of the vast potential and popularity of internet job sites.
Risetime has worked with countless clients over the past twenty-five years, which projects stand out to you the most?
We have worked with such a wide variety of businesses... from Fortune 500 clients, to
privately held firms, and government entities. The projects that have been the most fulfilling
to me personally were centered on education. Risetime has been involved with Chicago
Public Schools (CPS) for many years in a variety of capacities. Knowing that these projects not only helped the business at CPS but may bring increased value to a child's education is an amazing ancillary benefit for me.
What changes have surprised you related to technology – what couldn't you have predicted?
I don’t think many people could have seen the impact that overwhelming connectivity could have on our lives. The ability to connect a person to a person or a computer to a person from anywhere on the planet to anywhere else has created major shifts in the way we live our lives. Think about the web, skype, instant messaging, webcasts, podcasts, streaming media, twitter, facebook, amazon, ebay, ecommerce, Wikipedia, digital everything: music, movies, cameras, cellphones – these effect the virtual quality of our lives. I recently looked at a refrigerator that connected to the internet. Some of these may seem crazy, but they all ‘ride’ on connectivity. Connectivity is vast, fast, and cheap. I remember working with 300 baud modems as late as the early 80’s – my how far we’ve come… |
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What is SharePoint Designer?
SharePoint Designer allows users to design SharePoint sites, build workflows, create reporting and tracking applications, and much more.
What if I already purchased SharePoint Designer?
If you are currently using SharePoint Designer and have Microsoft Software Assurance benefits, you will get upgrade rights to Expression Web.
Why is Microsoft doing this?
SharePoint Designer 2007 is now available for free in order to enable more users in your organization to create customizations that increase the value of your investments in SharePoint products and technologies now and in the future. Additionally, Microsoft has recognized that in the current economic climate many organizations are looking to condense their systems into a leaner and more centralized environment.
Download SharePoint Designer 2007:
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Established in 1939, Wheels, Inc. has grown to one of the leading automotive fleet management companies in the U.S. by providing full service fleet leasing and management while focusing on increasing driver productivity and reducing costs.
Wheels turned to Risetime to provide a team that would focus on mid-size IT projects (1,000 to 2,000 man hours) and increase the benefits IT provided to the business. The strategic business goals of the mid-size projects include:
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Improve efficiency in the company’s financial systems and business operations
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Address vendor and client needs
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Help meet critical deadlines
Based on the outstanding results that Risetime had previously produced for their company, Wheels knew that Risetime had the ability, technical competence and knowledgeable staff required to reach these goals.
Risetime has successfully completed more than 16 different mid-sized projects for Wheels and continues to help Wheels by providing project management and technical services.
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Risetime recently joined the Microsoft Silverlight Partner Program, and we are excited to be able to deliver this technology and the resulting business value it provides to our clients. To that end, Risetime consultants have produced two informative Silverlight white papers. One paper is technically focused while the other discusses the business benefits of Silverlight. Click on the links below to download the papers:
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