ALF goes to Asia

So apologies first: ALF has been on the road for the last two weeks in Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi and I am finally getting a little time now to update the blog from here in the UK. I'll be back in the US next week in time for EclipseCon.

We did 60 hours of meetings and presentations and stashed quite a few air-miles. Part of the reason for the trip to Asia was to spread the word about ALF but it was mostly about seeing if there were distinct differences between the needs of the Asian market and the Western market. As far as tool interoperability is concerned, and the problem that ALF solves, the customers uniformly welcomed the initiative and, like their Western counterparts, thought that this was an idea whose time had come.

Uniquely, in the Indian market, the major out-sourcers and off-shorers commented that one of their most common problems was as a result of having to adopt the client's infrastructure tool stack. Often these tools are point solutions and not well integrated which impedes their ability to deliver quality solutions in a timely manner. Often the client's infrastructure is incomplete and the out-sourcer has to provide complementary additional tools that plug into the clients'. Whenever these situations occur the integration effort can be extensive and complex. With so many contracts these days being fixed price any additional costs setting up the infrastructure eat significantly into the profits. So, for the out-sourcers, a nascent technology solution like ALF is a very interesting proposition.

Another interesting trend, that several Indian out-sourcers talked about, was the beginning of an independent software development industry, developing general tools to be sold on the open market. Like vendors everywhere the cost of entry, making your new tool integrate with all the leading technologies out there, can be significant and again these new vendors see ALF as a great way of leveling the playing-field.

Kevin