Henry's Web Log

Many folks have asked how ACI, my custom software development company, is doing, and whether the recession and my deployment have affected us.

Certainly the economy and a deployed owner affects the company and interrupts our rhythm. But ACI has an outstanding team of dedicated professionals, and I'm very proud of several great initiatives they have cooking. We continue to make very good progress on the web-based refrigeration control and energy management for supermarkets that I was talking about last year.

We have a couple of developers serving with Kronos Federal Systems in Blacksburg, and SAIC has grown in Blacksburg. I helped a good friend become part of their management team recently, and prior to deployment, ACI worked on 2 separate web-based software development proposals with the SAIC professionals.

With me gone, our advisory board has done a fantastic job, and now Jim Wyers is on our team as Interim President. He has been a good friend since working with him at Virginia Tech Army ROTC, and in 2005, he became an ACI employee working on our Army software contract. He was delighted to come back, and is overseeing daily operations as well as business development.

The MatWeb material property database and search engine continues to thrive with steady growth and continued improvements to both the search engine and underlying data. Dale, Nils and Rob have recently added new premium features and are ramping up for summer engineering internships.

PC Drafter is about to launch its 10th year, and our new Fantasy Draft Software comparison matrix shows pretty clearly that we've got one of the best packages, yet very reasonably priced.

The bottom line remains strong. We have observed that customers are taking longer to commit, and some projects are on hold, but by and large, our team is fully engaged, and business is on the uptick. And when our team is not working on our projects, they are often undertaking education and self-improvement. We've also been brainstorming some new applicaitons and have a few exciting things cooking!

Personally, I've gone from about 90 hours a week to something around 75 and feel like life is suddenly much better! I've started an application for Systems Engineering certification through INCOSE, and am working on an improved security clearance. Both items should help our marketability after I return.