The business case
Our client set up a UK subsidiary to promote its successful software products locally. They had a very successful niche-market product in the financial services sector in their base market. As their client base was of international conglomerate, it appeared likely that the product would be readily accepted in the UK, increasing our client's Worldwide revenue and profits.

The application was written in Visual Basic. Market research indicated that the target UK clients wanted the product sourced in Java.

The technical case
A straightforward program re-coding. The project would be judged complete when test data processed through the Java code produced the same result as when processed via the VB system.

Our input
We produced Java code to a high professional standard using automated build and test scripts, as would any competent software house. The added value to the client of using NT/e was twofold, viz:-

We recognised at an early stage that the IPR's of the program were vitally important to the client. We recommended that the original specification be amended to incorporate best practice obfuscation and encryption techniques to help protect these. The client readily agreed, and

During coding and testing it became evident that the client's algorithms were not always producing the expected results in the Java re-coding. Our wide experience enabled us to identify that the problem lay in errors in the original Visual Basic code which had been amended substantially and on a piecemeal basis over time. Rather than simply reproduce the symptoms in the Java version, we worked closely with our client to document the issues and produce Java code sourced on the correct, underlying algorithms.

Results/benefits
Our client has a saleable product and NT/e has the reasonable expectation of further business.