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In India  the web development Companies focus generally on software development, Information Technology Consultancy, Web design and development, Offshore Outsourcing, Business process outsourcing, Knowledge process outsourcing, Enterprise Resource Planning Development and Implementation, Multimedia and custom software applications.Expansion in global business has lead to a volume increase in the services requirement. Marketing challenges of the export houses need effective inventory management with quality. Software development companies in India possess expertise in the development of inventory based application and ERP solutions to implement the same for cost reduction, quality increase and profitability.Retail Industry today needs support in retaining customers and also in ensuring customers to repeat their business by staying competitive. Indian Software development companies have proven expertise and experience in development of transaction based web application and e-commerce sites and client server applications.Manufacturing sector and services sector is a major hub in the global business arena. Production Planning, automation of order to cash and procure to pay cycles play a significant role in global competitiveness and focused quality service. Software development companies in India excel in services offered in the areas of application development and Enterprise Resource Planning, development and Implementation.Wireless mobility and automation systems need handling of security issues with user friendly interface and faster access through latest technology adaptation. To stay in tune with the latest demand in product development, Indian Software development companies provide design and development of Embedded Systems, wireless product and application development for blue tooth, IRDA etc.Software development companies in India work as extended arms as offshore units to leading organizations to provide 24 X 7 development and support activities, cost effective resource management and flexible skilled manpower availability.Many Indian IT companies extend outsourcing services with core expertise in Business to business, Business to customer, Banking, Finance, Real Estate domains and verticals like Insurance, Oil & gas, GIS etc.Software development companies in India possess in depth core expertise in application development in .NET, Microsoft Technologies, Java based development, SAP, Oracle ERP and CRM solutions and various latest cutting edge technologies under different operating systems and platforms with options of multiple back end and database technologies. Development services are also offered in web application designing and redesigning, PHP, AJAX development, Ruby on Rails, content management solutions through Joomla and Drupal.Thus it seems that Indian software developing companies had blocked disclosing their transaction wins especially behind the reaction rise a several years before against outsourcing.

As we started the project of the electronic auction PoloMercantil.com, we knew that the proprietary software costs would be too high for our financial resources. Our only option then was to make use of Open Source Code softwares.

However, within the Open Source Code there are lots of softwares to choose from, and it´s up to the system analyst/programmer to pick the ones that best suit the project goals.

In our case, we picked Linux as our operating system. However we faced a big question: Which Linux distribution ? There are dozens of linux distributions, each one with specific advantages, sometimes with or without paid services.

We chose linux Slackware because we thought that it would suit better our needs, in terms of stability and reliability. Slackware is a conservative distribution, meaning that it only offers in its distribution package kernel versions and third party libraries, once it´s been proved to be stable and reliable. As a result, Slackware is one the most stable Linux operating system on the market. If the user wishes the most recent Linux kernel and libraries, we recommend to look for a different distribution.

Another reason for us picking Slackware, was because of its text interface, which at the beginning may become a bit difficult, in the long run however it offers a better understanding of the Linux environment. This way most of Slackware configurations are done thru text scripts.

Once it was set the operating system, we picked Apache as our web server. Apache is one of the most popular web server in the internet. For server programming language, we chose PHP. Also, a very popular programming language. Our experience with Apache/PHP proves that this setup is very reliable, working extremely well in our production environment. For workstation programming language, we chose javascript, which besides of having a simple syntax, it offers lots of resources.

Apache web server is really a complete web server. Also, it can become very complex with many configuration setups.

For our database, we picked Postgresql. This database has been made available to the public for more than 15 years, and besides of being well debugged, it offers so many resources that it has become one of the best database options from Open Source Code softwares. Extremely reliable, Postgresql has reported cases where there have been databases in production with over 4 terabytes. Besides all of that, Postresql is not the most popular Open Source Code database. A matter of marketing ? Probably.

As for the programming language PHP, we had to use an object oriented application structure. There are many PHP application structures being offered with Open Source Code license. Object oriented application is very important, because it makes programming very easy and scalable up to the point where the system may grow without many problems. Also, it helps to keep PHP code separated from HTML, with the help of some specific libraries, such as Smarty. We make use of Smarty library and we believe that it is a very important resource, which can even make web pages faster thru the use of its cache functions.

Also a very important set of libraries worth mentioning for PHP systems, is the PEAR libraries. In PEAR web site, among the many libraries being offered, there are the database interface DB and the MAIL_QUEUE, which sends emails thru the use of database.

As we came to the end of the project PoloMercantil, we had to use some sort of real time database replication. For that we chose the DRBD and Heartbeat libraries. The use of database replication is very important and should not be postponed. Just after 3 months our system got into production, our server hard disk became bad. Thru the use of DRBD/Heartbeat we were able to put the system back into production within seconds, without loosing any data. DRBD/Heartbeat replication is done thru the use of a lan network between the server and slave nodes.

Our project also makes use of ImageMagick (enlarge and reduce images), Iptables (firewall), Tsearch2(text search in portgresql) and Mon (linux monitoring tasks).

Also a very important library worth mentioning is the pseudo APC compiler for PHP. Speed is always a critical factor for internet sites.

PoloMercantil is already in production and based upon our experience we can say that the Open Source Code softwares we picked, proved to be extremely reliable and stable. Open Source Code softwares can certainly be an excellent option for developing web sites.

Roberto Sedycias

IT Consultant for PoloMercantil

This article is under GNU FDL license and can be distributed without any previous authorization from the author. However the author´s name and all the URL´s (links) mentioned in the article & biography must be kept.

It seems that open source software (customization) is really coming of age now. It’s making its mark in the commercial world, it’s rewriting all the rules, and it’s impossible to ignore it. When it comes to open source customization, Jooma is a great option. Through Joomla, you can build an attractive and innovative website, and Joomla’s various development solutions are bound to make you happy. So what is Joomla then? It’s a free open source CMS (Content Management System) which makes your site look much, much better. There are many Joomla developers around, with many years of experience, who will be able to give you exactly what you need. You can use Joomla, or any other Open Source CMS, for that matter, to get great features like Directory, Picture / Photo Gallery, Help Desk, Support Desk, Google Map, Real Estate Property Rental, E-commerce, Showcase / Catalogue, and Recruitment / Job Portal, besides many others. In fact, an Open Source CMS can even give you Newsflash scrolling and a Chat room!

Open source customization is always guaranteed to give you wonderful results. At the end of the day, it boils down to you choosing the right application, and getting it properly implemented with the help of suitable expertise. Open source customization can help you build a highly interactive and innovative website (a modular one that gives you options to upgrade), with a website design that is both stylish and affordable. You should go for an Open Source CMS that gives you options like Printable Versions, Page Caching, RSS Feeds, blogs, etc. If you go for Joomla in Open Source CMS, then you must consider services like Joomla Module Installation, Joomla Custom Design Templates, Joomla Design Integration, Joomla Custom Modules Development, Maintenance Work for Joomla Portals, Joomla Custom Components Development, and Joomla Custom Modification and Customization.

When it comes to you, nothing is too good for your website. That’s exactly why you should choose a good form of Open source customization, and a good Open Source CMS, to make sure that your website looks flawless, and runs flawlessly too. There are loads of companies out there who will take the responsibility of such a task for you – go for one that is effective and efficient in its administration, one that gives you high-level server security, responsive services, complete e-commerce solution (permanent and fast storefront access), etc. Open source customization can give you an E-commerce solution that not only supports multiple languages, but is also SEO-friendly. It is essential to put your company’s business online, and to do that, you need a website. That is why a great looking website is always important, and for that, you need proper Open source customization and Open Source CMS. Magento in particular is highly recommended, because it is good at customizing your content, looks, and templates, as well as functionality, of the website. With Magento, you get many customer-friendly features, and you can localize your content as well. Yes, a good website is essential, that’s where Open source customization and Open Source CMS is important.