Applegate is the UK's best known and longest established B2B internet directory for industry, manufacturing and technology in the UK and Ireland. As part of their expansion into new markets, Applegate approached Softwire to develop a consumer-facing business listings website covering the whole of the UK.
Softwire initially provided some up-front consultancy to help scope out the requirements of the project and to produce a detailed specification for the software to be developed. We then implemented and tested the software before effecting a handover back to Applegate’s internal team for deployment and rollout.
The solution itself provides a sophisticated geographical search facility to allow users to find, rate and review local businesses in their own area. The software also supports a pay-per-click advertising and payment system and provides a comprehensive back office interface through which Applegate can manage the user-generated content efficiently and effectively (for example, by batch-approval of user reviews). Business owners may manage their own listings directly and configure special offers or enhanced listings to assist in attracting customers.
The solution is based upon a Java / J2EE platform using the Spring framework, and is backed by an Oracle database holding well over two million UK business listings. Web servers are clustered to provide improved performance and scalability, and data is intelligently synchronised across application servers using JBossCache to minimise database load.
Although a significant and complex development project, the software was delivered by Softwire on time and to budget.
Customer testimonial
"We have been extremely satisfied with the service provided by Softwire. They took on board all of our requirements and ensured that these requirements were included in our project. The final project was delivered on time and as a fully working, accurate piece of software. We have no reservation in recommending them and look forward to working with them again in the future."
Andrew Tweedie, Managing Director, Applegate Directory.
