Achieved Profitability and Microsoft Gold Partner Status

Build better apps—faster. IdeaBlade’s application server and development framework accelerate the development of Microsoft .NET enterprise applications—enabling developers to focus on delivering business value while shortening their development cycles by more than half. Founded in 2001, IdeaBlade has delivered .NET Framework development solutions to thousands of independent software vendors and enterprises in a range of industries—helping them reduce time-to-market, risk of failure, and lifecycle costs.

According to Albert Wang, IdeaBlade’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer, “Early on, we saw the need for a rich client-side experience, yet still having a centrally hosted and deployed enterprise application. One that could go disconnected, one that had a great user interface, and one that would bridge the world between desktop applications and Internet applications. Going forward there will be one model, that of an Internet application that has the functionality of a desktop application. We provide all the infrastructure necessary to build these rich Internet enterprise applications.”

The Microsoft Connection?

IdeaBlade had an early connection to Microsoft; its technology has even been called “.NET on rails.” Explains Wang, “We actually tried to do this earlier in Java, but .NET turns out to be the only platform for which we could actually develop this kind of technology. Java didn’t have the right deployment characteristics, or client-side security characteristics. Microsoft is more focused on the desktop side because Microsoft has a strong position on the desktop (Windows, Office, etc.) so they put a lot more of the client side executing (rich client side experience) into .NET.”

Wang says the company has benefited tremendously from its association with Microsoft, not just in North America but also throughout the world. Through the Emerging Business Team, IdeaBlade has made contacts with many independent business groups within Microsoft, such as the NXT Program, responsible for migrating legacy or competitive technology onto the .NET Framework. And as part of the Microsoft Technology Adoption Program (TAP) for its upcoming release of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, IdeaBlade says they have had access to early roadmaps and software architects.

Says Wang, “Our CTO had a several-hour conversation with some of the key .NET 3.5 and Entity Framework architects just this morning. Getting that kind of access, information, and feedback from Microsoft has been invaluable. We believe we have helped influence the Microsoft roadmap and have gained a better understanding of what that roadmap is—all are critical to our product execution.”

Where Are They Now?

In June 2007, IdeaBlade attained Gold Certified Partner status in the Microsoft Partner Program with a competency in ISV/Software solutions, one of the first .NET Framework rapid application development (RAD) and object- relational mapping (ORM) tools vendors to achieve this designation.

Now profitable, IdeaBlade’s revenue has grown two to three-fold year over year, according to Wang, who says, “This is a huge achievement for us. There are now tens of thousands of developers using our product. We have a very passionate, vibrant community of developers and consultants who really like to use our product, evangelize it, and are getting huge value out of it.”

From single-person developer shops all the way to the Fortune 500, the company claims to be a leader in its market space. And for 2008, it plans to enterprise-enable key technologies from Microsoft such as LINQ and Silverlight, and help .NET become the dominant platform for delivering on-demand enterprise applications.

For more information, visit IdeaBlade online, or read the Microsoft startup success story, .NET on Rails: IdeaBlade.