June 2009 Archives

What would you say if I told you Snowflake software had changed? by changing it's approach to business and customers!

I don't mean we sell different software now, we have changed our approach to business because we know what we are as a software vendor, a solutions provider in data exchange that makes a difference to it's customers!

Many of you who know Snowflake software, have been great supporters of what we do and have been watching the company grow for many years, some since it started in 2001. But it's true, we have changed because we realised that we don't just sell products, we sell solutions. We have become a "Data eXchange company" providing transformation solutions with GML/XML data into relational databases or publishing to the web to customer requirements. Its that simple.

At the GSDI conference in Rotterdam last week we launched our new market sectors and "The Data eXchange Company"as the company headline and it went down exceptionally well with the GI community. In fact we had more people talking to us from the GI world about the broader IT perspective of the technology of data exchange, than we had expected. So it was us who had to keep with level of knowledge and appreciation of data exchange because you are demanding it.

This wave of knowledge became very evident when Eddie Curtis our CTO gave a workshop at the conference on Monday regarding "data translation". We had over 80 people listening with some standing outside the door taking note of Eddie's presentation and talk. I would say that at least 50% present were from the commercial side of their businesses and not just technical people. At the end the session the level of questioning showed that indeed people there were looking into the issue of "data translation" as a business issue not just a GI technical issue, wanting business answers to their business problems.

With our new markets launched, a new Snowflake Software company look and feel now visable in the business world, plus on the web, where are we going to take our solutions? Well that's up to you our customers. We are developing a product development programme that all our customer who want too, can get involved in to help shape our products and their solutions. This is one of our Managing Director Ian Painters dream, to involve the customer at the heart of our solutions and push the boundaries of what we do. We know developing customer solutions never stops. We also know some corners of the market are not quite ready for us yet, but at least they are looking in our direction and asking the right questions of us. Watch this space for the "Product Development Programme" and future solution developments.

A big thanks to the GSDI organisers for a great conference this year and to all the people who dropped by the Snowflake stand or attended this years workshops. We had a great conference and time the Netherlands and met lots of new and interesting people and hope to see you all again soon.

For more information on our markets and enabling INSPIRE please check out our website.

As Administration Assistant you will work in a highly motivated Office Management team responsible for providing admin support across the entire business. Working with accounts,sales, marketing, training and the directors, your role will be to help ensure that the administration within the office runs smoothly and efficiently.

You will either have a minimum of 1 year relevant experience in an office environment, be qualified at college or university in business management or have other skills considered relevant for the role. Working directly to the Office Manager you will be a highly enthusiastic, organised and motivated individual. Alongside excellent written and verbal communication skills you will have the ability to manage multiple tasks and be capable of working unsupervised as well as in a team environment.

Since it was founded in 2001 in Southampton, Snowflake Software has grown consistently year on year, recently moving into the international arena. To meet increasing business demand and improve operational efficiency we are looking for an Administration Assistant to join our team.

We offer an excellent renumeration package with a competitive salary, annual bonus, 25 days annual leave, pension and qualification to a share options scheme.

To apply for the position please send your CV along with a cover letter stating the position you wish to apply for and highlighting the experience you bring to the position.

We look forward to hearing from you before the closing date of 1st July 2009.

Email your application to jobs@snowflakesoftware.com

or send a copy to:

Recruitment
Snowflake Software
Alleyn House
23-27 Carlton Crescent
Southampton
SO15 2EU

Or call on 023 8023 8232

All candidates must be eligible to live and work in the UK.

So we're nearly there and at this years GSDI11/INSPIRE Conference you will see a very different Snowflake.  After a huge effort behind the scenes we're using the show to launch a new company approach, a substantial website overhaul, two new major version of our products and GO Publisher Desktop Community Edition - a FREE, yes FREE, version of GO Publisher.

With GO Publisher Desktop Community Edition you can "get GO'ing" with INSPIRE, using this free offering to transform and validate your data to the INSPIRE themes.  With a one click deployment  to our enterprise options you can "keep GO'ing" with INSPIRE using GO Publisher Agent and WFS to deliver enterprise ready download and on-demand services. Check out our website from the 15th of  July for more details and to pre-register for Community Edition.

If you're coming to the show you will find lots of information and very interesting workshops to build your knowledge of INSPIRE. We have a new INSPIRE brochure to help explain how we see INSPIRE developing and how best we can help provide you with a complete solution using you existing infrastructure. On our stand (No 12) will be demonstrating INSPIRE data exchange with the production releases of GO Loader V1.6 and GO Publisher V1.4.  We also have new Training website pages detailing our training solutions in each of the markets, so be sure to check those out and see what training we can provide you with.

On Monday afternoon Eddie is taking a  workshop on our experiences with GO Publisher during INSPIRE testing, during the week we also have a white paper on "Data Model transformation for INSPIRE" and as usual Eddie will explain the why, the how and what to do.

We look forward to seeing you at the GSDI 11 show or at the new Snowflake website www.snowflakesoftware.com

Snowflake Software is announcing its “Get GO’ing Keep GO’ing” initiative with the launch of its INSPIRE ready GO Loader and GO Publisher product at the GSDI11 World Conference in Rotterdam next week.

In order to attain INSPIRE compliance, organisations need to share their data with the wider EU community in accordance with the INSPIRE implementing rules. The rules define formats and services which facilitate the accessibility and interoperability of spatial data across EU member states. As a company specialising in Data Exchange, Snowflake has further developed its products to enable customers to begin the journey towards INSPIRE compliance using proven and industrial strength software.

GO Publisher is a market leading product that enables organisations to publish their existing database infrastructure in the Geography Markup Language (GML) without the need for expensive investment or specialist engineering. An ISO standard, GML is at the heart of the INSPIRE directive and is mandated as the sole means of data exchange between INSPIRE participants.

In its fourth major release, GO Publisher has been enhanced to support the latest version of GML (3.2.1) which the INSPIRE directive is based on. This latest enhancement has been thoroughly tested during the recent EC’s Joint Research Centre INSPIRE testing initiative, where GO Publisher was successfully used by leading organisations across Europe to produce GML 3.2.1 datasets compliant to the Annex 1 Themes. Whilst INSPIRE support is a key feature of this release, GO Publisher has also been enhanced to support the publication of data to Google Earth and Google Maps, enabling organisations to take a more innovated approach to the way it shares data.

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As part of its “Get GO’ing, Keep GO’ing” initiative, Snowflake is releasing a FREE Community Edition of its GO Publisher Desktop product. GO Publisher Desktop Community Edition will enable organisations to ‘Get GO’ing’ with INSPIRE by allowing users to create sample datasets to the INSPIRE themes. Customers can then ‘Keep GO’ing’ with a one click deployment to Snowflake’s INSPIRE data services, enabling Enterprise data sharing via Web Features Services and Download Services. Released in July, organisations can pre-register for a copy of GO Publisher Desktop Community Edition on our website from the 15th July.

GO Loader is a generic GML loading tool for Oracle relational databases. A key enabler for data exchange and used widely throughout Europe, this latest release GO Loader has been enhanced to support the latest version of GML (3.2.1) and tested against the INSPIRE Annex 1 data themes. Customers using GO Loader can reap the benefits of data sharing by loading and managing INSPIRE ready datasets from across the EU into one centralised spatial database. Furthermore, users of GO Loader need very little knowledge of spatial databases as the point and click interface deskills the process of loading INSPIRE ready data, enabling organisations to be up and running within hours without investment in expensive IT engineering resource.

Eddie Curtis CTO of Snowflake Software says:

For those organisations requiring additional support in understanding the complexities of the legislation, Snowflake has a dedicated INSPIRE section to its website in order to help client’s bridge the gap between initiative and implementation.

The INSPIRE ready versions of GO Loader and GO Publisher will be available for download on the 15^th June 2009 from our website. Existing customers with a valid maintenance and support contract can obtain these new versions at no additional cost through the Snowflake Support Centre. Organisations new to Snowflake’s products can obtain a fully supported 30 day evaluation by registering on the website. Furthermore, attendees at the GSDI conference in Rotterdam can see demonstrations and presentations of the new releases on Snowflake’s exhibition stand (No 12).