OXIL Software Architects

Software Engineering

Mark Robertshaw, Systems Architect

At the heart of the OXIL offering is great software.  First class honours and Oxbridge degrees are abound with this talented software development team - if it can be done on a computer, OXIL can do it!

Clients have won awards for their own services using software developed by OXIL.  Many clients have entered into long-term contracts with OXIL working in collaboration for a number of years.  Mark Robertshaw, Software Architect, was selected as a System Developer of the year finalist for the British Computer Society awards in 2009.  Toby Mildon, Project Manager, BBC Future Media described OXIL as  “a fantastic supplier to engage on IT commissions/projects” (2011).

Using state-of-the-art object-oriented programming techniques, test-driven development, and project management, the OXIL team is able to deliver you high quality software, on time, and in budget.  With our unique mix of skills OXIL strives to provide you with a Total Solution; software engineering; graphical design; hardware procurement; hosting and network infrastructure, all finely tuned to present your software at its best.

You can rest assured, if your business software is developed and hosted by OXIL, your system will work.

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Support and Maintenance

OXIL’s most popular service is its Support and Maintenance package, an annual service agreement to provide you with help with any software developed.  There are two aspects to the service:

1. Help if you get into trouble.  This may be because of something you have done by mistake, for example, you may inadvertently delete a valuable record, or something unexpected could happen to your software system.  Although we takes steps to rigorously test all of our software, nothing exposes systems and software to the stresses and strains of real working conditions like the production environment and occasional bugs can creep into the best of systems.

In such circumstances, it is important that problems are rectified without delay to ensure business continuity.

OXIL offers good value Support and Maintenance packages to ensure that help is there when you need it.

2. Horizon scanning and maintenance (help with things before they become a problem).  Computers change, browsers change, security policies change, people come and go.  All of these things can have an impact on the smooth running of software systems and services.
OXIL’s maintenance services include standard features such as: backup; network monitoring; hardware upgrades and maintenance, but also horizon scanning.  We advise on changes to the environment that may have an impact on your business.  For example, what would happen to your system if you were to upgrade from Internet Explorer 8 to Internet Explorer 9?  Would it stop?  Do we need to make some changes?

Click here if you wish to find out more about OXIL’s Support and Maintenance services.

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Graphical Design

Software should be beautifully designed, without compromise.

OXIL has in-house “Mac Graphics” specialists who provide beautiful interfaces for you and your clients to operate your software.  It would be an anathema to OXIL to produce  software without high-quality graphical design. 

The best software systems are presented in a meaningful schema, with a carefully chosen colour palette and consistent fonts.  The metaphors should be meaningful to those who have to operate the software and the layout should follow a grid structure with space to let the system breath.

The designs should also be in harmony with your own brand, and OXIL have the necessary skills to develop a unique set of fonts, icons and buttons to suit your business.

Modern software and web systems are required to be more graphically-rich to meet the expectations of the modern internet user.  Skills in animation and automation are now a standard requisite.  OXIL has a broad range of graphical design skills, from classic Photoshop concept preparation to rich software integration, and dynamic image manipulation.

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Hosting

Your software system is only as good as its weakest link.  The best software can be rendered worthless if it is hosted on poor hardware with substandard networking capability.  The OXIL engineers have had their own experience of relying upon third-party hardware and network providers and needless to say, we now provide our own.

OXIL provides a number of hosting options to reduce the dependancy upon third party providers.

For internet services, OXIL has dedicated rack-servers with redundant Internet Service Provision connected directly to the internet backbone.  Our servers are located in a ultra-secure intensely managed environment.  We also have servers in other locations providing remote-backup and business continuity monitoring services.

For intranet (internal networking systems) OXIL can supply or recommend suitable hardware for your system and provide ongoing management for those internal system (see Support and Maintenance).

OXIL can recommend a number of low-cost server options and Open-Source software to operate your servers.  We have a number of models that we are familiar with that have provided us with dependable service over the years.

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Systems Architecture

Good software systems are about people, not 1’s and 0’s.  Systems Architecture is about understanding how people work, how their mundane tasks can be mechanised, and how valuable data can be better leveraged to improve knowledge building and communication. 

At OXIL, we do more than build you a software system.  We analyse your workflow and human processes.  We recommend improvements to your general workflow, and how your workflow may be rationalised using computer systems and automation.  Further, we aim to bring together your existing IT systems.  We can link to third party systems using software drivers and web services, we do not seek to re-build systems that you are happy with, systems that have already demanded your time and resources.

OXIL systems are strategic, they are designed to give you competitive advantage, to improve your income generation and reduce costs.

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