Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organization (CSIRO, Australia) and The Department of
Environment, Water and Natural Resources (DEWNR, South
Australian Govt.) are two large clients we have
serviced. In both cases, Perl programs for storage and
handling of huge data of national importance have been
our focus. Over the years we have helped thousands of
small and medium businesses in several countries.
WebGenie started in 1995 as a technology innovation
and transfer company to develop, grow and spin off new
technologies as independent entities. Towards the end of
1995 it became clear that, while there was a developing
market for Internet Consulting, an area of unlimited
potential was the development and support of electronic
commerce software tools. The focus was shifted in early
1996 and WebGenie Software Pty Ltd was registered
on 1 July, 1996.
An operational agreement was reached between WebGenie
and Luminis Pty Ltd - the technology transfer company of
The University of Adelaide - and this agreement remained
in place until 30 September, 1997.
WebGenie was one of the first companies accepted into
the Playford Centre, the South Australian Government's
vision for the future of Information Technology industry
in the state. WebGenie operated from the headquarters of
Playford Centre from 1 October, 1997 till March 24, 1999
before moving to the Commerce and Research Campus of The
University of Adelaide at Thebarton, South Australia,
and later to own offices in Adelaide, South Australia.
Recognition and Awards
WebGenie was among 10 Australian companies
selected for the inaugural Silicon Valley E-commerce
Mission sponsored by Australian Trade Commission and The
Australian Financial Review in October, 1998.
The founder of WebGenie Software Pty Ltd, Dr. Arapaut
Sivaprasad, was nominated for the coveted "Ernst and
Young's Entrepreneur of the Year" award in 2001 and also
recognised as a "Successful
Indian in Australia".
One of our products -
"RealMail by BoxSentry" - won the coveted
Consensus Software Award - jointly sponsored by
Microsoft and others - in 2006.
In 2005, RealMail by BoxSentry was the winner of
Secrets Of Australian IT innovation award by the
Commonwealth Government of Australia.
BoxSentry was selected in 2003 and 2004 to be part of
ANZATech - a forum showcasing the most innovative
Australian & NZ based technology companies.
In 2005 BoxSentry was selected for a Trade Mission -
led by the premier of South Australia - to India.
Products
and Services
"WebGenie Shopping Cart" was the first ever
commercial software that allowed Small to Medium
Businesses to create their online stores. This software
became the model for dozens of similar software that
arrived in the market later on. Interestingly, some
companies are advertising their software via Google
adwords as "WebGenie Alternative", "Considering
WebGenie?", "Why WebGenie?" and even blatantly as
"WebGenie Shopping Cart". This can be seen by a
Google Search for "WebGenie Shopping Cart"
WebGenie's "SiteSponsor", released in 1997, was the
first ever commercial affiliate tracking software that
worked in conjunction with online stores. This too
became the model for similar software in the years that
followed.
"WebGenie GuestBook" was the first ever commercial
software that allowed website owners to setup a facility
to collect and display feedback and comments from
visitors. This software which provided a 2-way web
interactivity was released in 1997, well before the term
"Web 2.0" was even coined in 2004.
SearchHound -
a WebGenie innovation released in 1998 - was a
pay-per-click search engine younger than only "goto.com"
in the world. The "child-safe" feature in this search
engine was the first among all search engines existed at
that time and many SEs adopted this feature later-on.
SearchHound was sold to a Canadian company in the year
2000 and it subsequently got listed in NASDAQ and Berlin
stock exchanges.
BoxSentry Pte Ltd. - the next
spin-off from WebGenie in 2003 - used the "challenge
response system" for anti-spam and was released shortly
after "spamarrest.com", even though BoxSentry and
SpamArrest were conceived and developed independently at
the same time. BoxSentry is now operating from its head
quarters in Singapore.
WebGenie had been working
in collaboration with
ConstructZero to generate revenue for funding an
ambitious project to improve the quality of life in the
developing world. The idea behind this project is to
create a non-profit research centre where scientists,
engineers and inventors can get together to plan and
create the designs for inexpensive devices (nick-named
Dirt-Cheap Decentralised Distribution Devices or DC3Ds)
that provide basic amenities - such as electricity,
clean water, etc. - in the developing world. The total
cost of an electricity generator, for example, to
satisfy the needs of a single household should not
exceed $5. The operating cost of the centre would be met
from profits generated by WebGenie and ConstructZero
Inc. through their respective products and services.
This vision is yet to be achieved.