Bulgarian Software Industry

Bulgarian
Software Industry
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,
It is my pleasure to present this unique catalogue of Bulgarian’s Software Industry which is dedicated to
give a brief overview of the history, strong competitive advantages, state policy, and different collaboration
in our ICT sector.
Following the issue of the transformation towards knowledge-based economy and EU accession, the
Bulgarian government considers ICT as a major driver of competitiveness. Today when the globalization has
created more opportunities for development and cooperation, the global market is becoming more and
more sophisticated, looking for technologies and know-how which Bulgaria’s ICT industry can provide.
The Bulgarian software industry truly symbolizes Bulgaria’s strength in the knowledge based economy.
Highly skilled Bulgarian ICT specialists mark an important milestone which have transformed Bulgaria into
one of the best locations for software services and solutions sectors.
Bulgaria is a country of highly educated and motivated experts, acknowledged around the world. Here
high-tech investors find high quality, loyalty and trust, which draw leading global companies to Bulgaria
– leaders in the field of information technologies as partners of the Bulgarian high-tech companies.
When Bulgaria joins the European Union many more ICT market opportunities will open up. This will
be a huge step for Bulgaria and I think it will make the future of our country even brighter based on
numerous forms of collaboration in the ICT area.
We believe that the strong traditions in the ICT development and the high level of education are still
valid and that Bulgaria demonstrates a number of competitive advantages in the ICT sector. We all witness
a tendency towards increasing economic growth, based on implementation and development of ICT.
Sincerely,
Plamen Vatchkov
Charmain
State Agency for Information Technology and Communications
History
Bulgarian ICT industry today
Software industry in facts
and figures
History
John Atanasoff, the father of the computer, was a prominent American inventor who took
pride in his Bulgarian heritage.
The history of the Bulgarian computer industry probably begins with the invention of the first
computer. It is not wide–known fact that the father of the computer, John Atanasoff, has Bulgarian
origin. And also that for a long time he was not recognized for his accomplishment.
As all stories about discoveries this also contains series of events, leading to the initiation of
computer revolution which we witness nowadays. In addition it involves a long time of injustice
and a happy end.
John
Atanasoff
The essence of the story is that in December 1939, working with his graduate
student Clifford Berry, John Atanasoff developed and built the prototype of
the first electronic digital computer, which would be fully completed in 1942.
This prototype of the first computer included four significant and entirely novel
operating principles:
l the binary system
l regenerative data storage
l logic circuits as elements of a program
l electronic elements as data carrying media
„After the prototype had started working, we were convinced we could build a computer
capable of calculating whatever we would like to“, wrote Atanasoff.
In their history of the ENIAC computer, Alice R. Burks and Arthur W. Burks summarize Atanasoff
achievement as follows: “He invented a new type of a serial storage module, applicable to digital
electronic computing. He formulated, developed and proved the major principles involved
in electronic circuits for digital computing, principles that included arithmetical operations,
control, transition from one to another number base systems, transfer and storage of data, and
synchronized clocking of the operations. Having applied that data storage and those principles, he
constructed a well-balanced electronic computer with centralized architecture, including storage,
and arithmetically controlled input/output devices. He had invented the first-ever specialized
electronic computer with such a degree of multi-aspect applicability.”
Bulgarian computer industry during
communist times
Bulgarians may be proud to be half countrymen of Atanasoff, but there is no evidence that there
is any connection of this pride to the further development of the computer industry in Bulgaria.
There is another interesting issue in the history of Bulgarian ICT and particularly in Software
Industry which is worth mentioning. We can divide historically Bulgarian computer industry in
two stages: during the communist regime and after the change to free market. Although during
the communist ruling Bulgaria was not able to develop competitive information industry, it
had the good chance to develop traditions in the generations of computer professionals. The
reason behind this is the specialization in computer industry which Bulgaria had in the common
market (COMECOM) of all former socialist countries. This meant R&D infrastructure, manufacturing
facilities, and education. Of course this is a long story and we will not expand on it here, save
for the following facts as a proof:
l
l
As for export, Bulgaria has the leading position in COMECOM
In the research and development activities, Bulgaria had 4675 scientists
Total Bulgaria Hungary
GDR
Cuba
Poland
Romania
Czechoslovakia
Soviet
Union
Export, Mln RUB
3174
1653
245
472
14.6
404
36
197
153
In %
100
52
7.7
14.9
0.46
12.7
1.13
6.21
4.81
Bulgaria exported millions of computers from its Pravec line (8, 8C, 16) to the Soviet Union,
to former socialist countries from Central and East Europe, Asia and others. A member of the
Indian official delegation visiting Bulgaria in the beginning of 2006 said the Indian boom in IT
started with usage of Bulgarian Pravec computers.
The 8C had the same capabilities as the Apple IIc. Its
mainboard offered 64 KB of RAM expandable to 128 KB,
only 3 expansion slots, but had built-in 80-column card,
floppy drive controller, parallel printer port and, depending
on the mainboard version, RGB, RS232, Joystick interfaces,
and real time clock as well.
This computer was widely used by Bulgarian schools
and also by numerous teenagers who wrote and sent
to Western countries one of the first and famous Apple
II viruses, called Dark Avenger.
Bulgarian computer industry after
the transition to free market
The inception of democracy in Bulgaria was in 1989. Since then the computer industry has
passed a long path to modern days and has had its ups and dawns. However the main tendencies
have been almost identical to those undergone by the developed computer markets.
The first five years of the transformation were marked by the structuring of the computer industry
in the new conditions. In the beginning the hardware market underwent fast development because
the technological infrastructure of the state organizations and companies (almost 100% of the
economy) was far behind that of the developed countries. The state companies were privatized step
by step. Many new private Bulgarian and foreign companies were established and thus a strong
push was given to hardware sales. The PCs were mainly assembled locally or imported from the
Far East.
Sales of world leaders such as IBM, Compaq (before its acquisition by Hewlett-Packard) and HP also
went up, their products preferred mainly by State organizations and multinational corporations.
The software market has been developing step by step together with the decrease of the
software piracy, which was almost 100% in the beginning. The software market was led by
world leaders like Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk etc. The local market was led by the companies
selling accounting software. Then companies such as Oracle, Informix (now belonging to IBM),
and SAP started activities on the Bulgarian market establishing local representative offices and
partnerships with local distribution and development companies. The adoption of databases,
data warehouses, ERP applications, etc. also began.
Some head hunter companies also made a good business for a year but soon it became obvious
that there are more possibilities in outsourcing because of the lower salaries the companies
were able to pay. Naturally, at first, only the code was written in the country, but very soon big
projects started to come, generally to those companies which succeeded not only to hire good
programmers, but also to implement modern management of their companies including project
management, certifications under ISO and other standards. Case studies of successful projects
from all over the world are available later in this book.
Development of software companies was called forth also by local state and market requirements.
Along with the IT market, all other segments underwent privatization and the free market forced them
to implement high technologies to become competitive. State institutions also became a big client;
in fact between 1990–2004 the state was responsible for more than 50% of the total IT market.
The dotcom crisis, the development of the Internet, and the mobile revolution in the most
recent years did not have much different impact on Bulgarian market and society than in other
European countries, but still the penetration of the Internet and computer usage per capita are
lagging in Bulgaria. With the development of the economy and accession of Bulgaria in European
Union, the delay will be compensated for.
Bulgarian ICT industry today
The first figures here are some statistical data about Bulgaria. At the end of this book one
can find some more information about the country, its nature, history, and landmarks. Here we
present only the basic facts and then focus on the computer and communication industry with
more extensive review of Bulgarian software industry.
Bulgaria - Some Statistics
l Latest Population Estimate: 7,717,187 for 2006, according to www.world-gazeteer.com.
l Gross National Income per capita is US$ 2,740 (‘05) according to World Bank.
l Gross Domestic Product per capita on a purchasing power parity basis: US$ 9,000 (’05)
according to CIA – The World Factbook
l Country Size (Area): Bulgaria has 110,994 sq km - Population density is 70 persons per sq km.
l Internet Usage Statistics: above 2,400,000 Internet users at the end of 2006 or around 31%
of the population, according to e-Bulgaria report
l Access to the computers: 27.9% at the October 2005 according to e-Bulgaria report
After the transition to free market the first thing foreign companies noticed were the excellent skills
of Bulgarian computer specialists. Many former scientist, foreign traders, engineers, and programmers
established their own firms, became partners of worldwide IT companies and started competing in the
new environment. One by one the big IT corporations also started opening their own representative
offices – IBM, HP, Microsoft, SAP, Oracle, Cisco, 3COM, LG, Sony, Philips, Panasonic, etc. This way the
small Bulgarian market became very competitive and to the moment more than 1000 IT companies
are operating in the country.
Bulgarian IT Industry, 2006
l Over 1,100 small and medium sized IT enterprises
l Over 100 ICT companies certified under the ISO 9000
l 15 companies certified under the ISO 14000
l 80% of Bulgarian software companies’ revenues result from contracts with European and US
partners
l Bulgarian IT companies successfully complete EU projects in consortiums with European IT
companies
Bulgarian ICT market is a small market as the country itself. Еxpectations are it will reach
2,327,000,000 Euro in 2006 where the IT part is 389 million Euro (source EITO 2006). 554 million
Euro will be the IT market in 2010 according to а prediction of Datamonitor. But all sources give
very substantial growth, expressed by two digit number over almost the whole period, given in
the table (see page 9).
The Internet is also penetrating very quickly both in business and home. Home Internet access
is still not so wide-spread as in the developed countries, because of the still low buying capacity
Bulgaria ICT market value (2003-2007)
Bulgaria, ICT market value,
€ million (source EITO 2006)
Computer hardware
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
124
148
201
200
224
Office equipment
13
14
15
16
16
End-user communications
equipment
137
238
277
269
311
Datacom and network
equipment
196
211
224
238
253
Total ICT equipment
470
610
716
724
804
Software products
35
40
45
51
57
IT services
42
51
59
63
69
Carrier services
829
1,056
1,225
1,325
1,396
1,375
1,757
2,046
2,164
2,327
251
298
373
389
431
1,124
1,458
1,674
1,775
1,896
Total ICT
Total IT
Total telecommunications
YEAR
Internet Users
Population
% Pop.
2000
430,000
7,932,984
5.4 %
2004
1,545,100
7,521,066
20.3 %
2006
2,200,000
7,717,187
28.5 %
Broadband Market Dynamics
20
BG
EU
2004
2005
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2006F
2008F
of the population, but the Internet is widely used in the business in all its aspects.
Technologically it follows the trends of European markets and, as it is shown on the figure,
broadband has the same growth as in these markets. Still, the late start makes significant difference
when comparing to EU members.
Telecommunications are one of the fastest developing areas in Bulgaria, both from the
point of view of foreign investments and from the point of view of implementation of new
technologies and variety of services. Bulgaria is not falling behind anymore from the developed
countries. The privatization of the national fixed telephone network, owned by Bulgarian
Telecom Company (BTC), was an important part of the liberalization of the telecom market in
the country. This allows other operators to use the infrastructure of the privatized carrier and
to offer voice services, broadband DSL Internet access, etc. The regulations in the area also are
harmonized with the European frame. Forthcoming is a new law which will contain the term
“electronic messages” and in its essence will be the beginning of the convergence between
the telecommunications and information technologies and electronic media.
The telecommunication market was liberalized in 2004 with the privatization of Bulgarian
national carrier Bulgarian Telecommunication Company (BTC). Yet the first mobile operator was
established 10 years ago. The mobile revolution is a fact in Bulgaria as in the developed markets,
still limited by the low income of the population on one hand, and the economy lagging behind
the modern markets on the other.
Fixed Telecommunications Market
l Incumbent BTC privatized in June 2004
l 15 new operators of fixed voice service licensed
l Fixed segment already yields to the mobile one, volume of fixed voice services keeps on
falling down
l Broadband picking up
Optical infrastructure in Bulgaria
l „BULGARGAZ” has optical network with total length of 651 km (2003), which passes along the
gas-pipelines, delivering international connectivity with Romania and Turkey.
l „OVERGAZ” will invest 4 million BGNs in creating optical cable line to Greece with length of
223 km.
l NEK (NATIONAL ELECTRICAL COMPANY) plans to have 1000 km countrywide optical ring.
l BULGARIAN RAILWAYS has been working on a project for the building of high speed network
for data transmission with 1100 km length since 1998. It is still not clear when the project
will be completed.
l The Cable Operator „CableTel” together with Mobiltel have 1800 km optical cable
countrywide.
l Up to 2001 the Bulgarian Government has invested 50 million BGN in the building of National
ATM network for the State Administration. The project is not still finalized.
Despite the potential competitors coming into the market, BTC is still the company with the most
developed infrastructure. Bulgaria is lagging behind in the process of digitalization of phone lines in
comparison with the countries in the first wave of EU expansion. In the big cities the process is almost
finalized, but in the other areas the process is going slow. One of the reasons is that Bulgaria started
from very high density of analogue lines in comparison to Romania for example. But the expectations
are that the obligation of Bulgaria to reach 75-81% digitalization in 2007 will be fulfilled.
The low rate of digital phones penetration was one of the barriers to mass implementation of
ISDN in 2000-2005, and since 2004 to DSL technologies.
10
Digital Phones Penetration
90
Penetration of digital phones at the end of the year,%
80%
80
71%
70
60
55%
50
40
35%
30
20
27.26%
19.70%
15.12%
14.50%
10
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005F 2006F 2007F
Penetration of ISDN in Bulgaria
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
Basic Rate ISDN phone lines
1 146
4 932
8 514
13 400
17 360
27 600
Share of ISDN
0.04 %
0.19 %
0.32 %
0.47 %
0.62 %
1%
Source: National Statistical Institute
Fixed versus mobile phone lines in households
Mobile communications
Fixed communications
90
85.80
80
79.20
77.00
70
75.00
70.00
60
50
48.00
40
43.50
30
20
10
0
68.00 68.00
62.00
26.70
17.80
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Source: Vitosha Research. Data for 2005 is until February.
Base: National Study of the population above 15 years.
The licensed telecom operators of fixed phones grow from 5 in 2003 to 15 in 2006. About 240
enterprises in Bulgaria have general license for data transmission, but small part can be used for
offering fixed telephony access to the end user.
Mobile Telecommunications Market
l Third GSM operator launched service in 2005
l Two GSM operators (M-Tel and GloBul) have introduced GPRS
l All GSM operators provide MMS services
l Three operators were granted UMTS licenses, one of them has already started the service
11
Software Industry
The case of the software industry has often being cited as an industry offering a lot of
opportunities for latecomer countries. The availability of skilled human capital creates a solid
base for development of an IT industry by those countries. The software industry is, in principle,
low-capital but knowledge and skill-intensive industry, and the international market for software
is big and growing. The software industry also possesses a potential to generate growth and
economic development for the countries.
Statistics shows that the number of IT scientists and engineers in the countries of Central and
East Europe (CEE) is higher than the EU average, especially in Bulgaria. In the early 1990’s, when the
changes in the region started, it has been noticed that high potential exists for development of local
software industries in CEE, due to outstanding skills in fundamental research and mathematics.
Factors that foster the successful development of the software industries in the countries like
Bulgaria include the establishment of National Software-Related Infrastructure, comprising of
skilful human resources, technological base, finance, R&D, etc. The efforts need to go beyond
these, and to include development of a common national base. This involves development of a
national software industry on the base of parks, competition, and collaboration among companies,
which is based and backed up by national software policy, shared and supported both by the
government and the industry. Once the national base is established on the strength of these
three national elements, the success of the industry depends on its links with the international
markets and achieved credibility.
Governments in all three successful “I” countries (i.e. India, Ireland and Israel) have acted to
stimulate the supply of working and venture capital to software firms, and have used tax breaks,
marketing subsidies, grants, loans, legislative updates, and removed red tape by a combination
of both liberalization (less government) and promotional intervention (more government).
Establishment of high-tech incubators (Israel) and high-tech parks (India) have helped to boost
industry development. (More about Bulgarian government policy in the area of software industry
is available later in the book.)
But building capabilities is the milestone in developing a latecomer software industry. Capabilities
for software development are difficult to accumulate for two main reasons. First, accumulating
technological knowledge is a complex process, which requires not only acquisition of codified
knowledge, but also, and more so, development of tacit expertise, i.e. deeper understanding
about technologies. Second, in order to build capabilities to compete in international markets,
the latecomers need to develop expertise over an array of highly complex skills and abilities.
These are capabilities for: software design, software programming, high quality assurance, prompt
delivery, capabilities to develop specialized expertise in a particular domain and capabilities to
diversify the products and services offered.
Bulgarian software companies
Total
275
Offshoring
105
Solution providers of multinational packages for Bulgarian market
60
Solution providers on the base of own products for Bulgarian market
70
Companies offering own products abroad
15
Local R & D centres of foreign companies
25
12
As we said earlier Bulgaria was among the former socialist countries selected to develop an
ICT industry within their economical organization. The enrolment ratio in science and engineering
is above the EU and CEE average and Bulgaria ranked significantly higher than the international
average in the International Mathematics and Science Study. Bulgaria’s secondary education is
among the best in the world: 5th in the world in sciences, 11th in mathematics (World Bank and
The Economist rankings). Further, Bulgarian students regularly win Olympiads in Mathematics
and Bulgarians are among the top university students worldwide (2nd in the world in SAT scores).
These education potentials have been channeled into IT professional certificates. The Global IT
IQ Report in 2002 by Brainbench Inc. ranks Bulgaria (with 8,844 Certified Professionals) eighth in
a ranking of the top 10 countries based on number of certified IT professionals. Bulgaria ranks
third worldwide for the number of certified professionals as a percentage of the population.
Despite skills recognition of the Bulgarian computer engineers many years were needed for
Bulgaria to meet the challenges of building modern software industry.
In the domestic market the local software companies provide the whole range of software
activities, like system integration, computer system software, networking software, web-design,
application software, firmware. The high segment of domestic-oriented software activities involves
creation of ERP systems, B2B and B2C solutions, document flow and project management solutions,
GIS, CAD/CAM/CAE software, embedded software, intermediate telecommunications and wireless
development software, customized services, etc.
In the international markets the Bulgarian companies undertake also wide range of software
activities, including almost all above mentioned. The projects implemented by Bulgarian companies
all over the world include almost the whole spectrum of areas, such as e-government, e-learning,
manufacturing, services, trade, telecommunications, electronics, artificial intelligence, entertainment
(including some games famous all over the world) to mention the main ones. Even software for
the needs of Hollywood is created here. Geographically they span from Japan through Europe
to USA, and also go far north and far south.
Other segment of Bulgarian software industry is defined by the investments made by the
big multinationals and smaller software players on world market in R&D software centers. It is
not possible to count foreign companies with local software development branches, groups or
sometimes even individuals. We will describe the biggest ones such as SAP, Tumbleweed and
others but there are many more and statistics show that two to three software companies are
coming to Bulgaria monthly. Such centers are opened by companies as SAP, Joneson Controls,
AMI Semiconducturs, Nokia, Thumbleweed, Melexis and others. Siemens also outsource operations
in Bulgaria in its Graphical Software Center which designs building automation and has clients
in 12 countries. Hewlett-Packard opened the Global Delivery EMEA Center in Sofia in 2006 and
will have 1000 employees in a two-year period. Microsoft has also announced that the company
will open two centers in Bulgaria: call center and innovation center. Oracle, Google and Cisco are
also discussing options for Bulgaria.
The revenue of the software industry in Bulgaria reveals a stable increase. The expextations
are software market to reach 88 mln USD and IT services and 103 mln USD in 2009. All wellestablished software companies boast annual increase of 25 to 100%. Their business also forms
Revenue from software development (million EURO)
Year
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Revenue
26.00
36.00
34.00
40.00
47.00
57.00*
13
very good profit giving them the possibility to reinvest and open new services. This growth is
due to capabilities the companies have been able to master and to meet the requirements of the
international markets. Case studies illustrating the capabilities of Bulgarian software companies
are available in the next chapter.
The development of Bulgarian software Industry didn’t remain unnoticed by the market researching
and consulting companies. In 2006 for the first time Bulgaria was included in A.T. Kearney Global
Services Location Index, 2005 and was ranked on 15 place. The study included 40 countries
selected on the basis of corporate input, current remote services activity, and government
initiatives to promote the sector. The 40 countries that emerged as finalists were evaluated
against 40 measurements across three major categories: financial attractiveness, people and skills
availability, and business environment. The metrics used to evaluate location attractiveness were
determined from responses to A.T. Kearney and other industry surveys, and knowledge obtained
in client engagements over the past five years. In response to client questions over the past 12
months, in this year’s Index the following two metrics were added: Information security and
Labor flexibility.
Shown here are all metrics followed by the ranking itself together with the findings of A.T.
Kearney regarding Bulgaria as a location for global services.
Category
Sub-categories
Metrics
Financial
attractiveness
(40%)
Compensation costs
• Average wages • Median compensation costs for relevant
positions (call-center represent-atives, IT programmers and
local operations managers), as reported in the Mercer Human
Resource Consulting Global Pay Summary
• Rental costs • Commercial electricity rates • International
telecom costs • Travel to major customer destinations
• Relative tax burden • Costs of corruption • Currency
appreciation or depreciation
• Size of existing IT and BPO sectors • Contact center and IT
center quality certifications • Quality ratings of management
schools and IT training
• Total workforce • University-educated workforce • Workforce
flexibility
• Scores on standardized education and language tests
Infrastructure costs
People
skills and
availability
(30%)
Business
environment
(30%)
Tax and regulatory
costs
Remote services sector
experience and quality
ratings
Laborforce availability
Education and
language
Attrition risk
Country environment
Infrastructure
Cultural exposure
Security of intellectual
property(IP)
• Relative IT and BPO sector growth and unemployment rates
• Investor and analyst rating of overall business and political
environment • AT. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment Confidence
Index™ • Security risk • Regulatory burden and employment
rigidity • Government support for the information and
communications technology (ICT) sector
• Overall infrastructure quality • Quality of telecom, internet, and
electricity infrastructure
• Personal interaction score from A.T. Kearney/Foreign Policy
Globalization Index™
• Investor ratings of IP protection and ICT laws • Software piracy
rates • Information security certifications
Especially for this book A.T. Kearny were kind to provide closer look to Bulgaria and Bulgarian
ICT, which is available on page 52.
14
A.T. Kearney Global Services Location Index, 2005
Rank Country
Financial
Structure
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
3.47
3.21
2.95
3.58
1.62
3.27
2.57
2.73
1.10
2.91
0.54
3.55
3.51
3.02
3.29
2.72
2.87
2.67
2.61
2.66
2.96
3.57
3.14
3.07
2.92
3.55
2.83
0.46
0.97
2.97
0.50
2.76
1.86
1.28
0.40
2.90
1.60
0.96
0.42
2.14
India
China
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Czech Republic
Chile
Canada
Brazil
United States
Egypt
Indonesia
Jordan
Bulgaria
Slovakia
Mexico
Poland
Hungary
United Arab Emirates
Costa Rica
Ghana
Argentina
Romania
Jamaica
Vietnam
Russia
United Kingdom
Australia
Tunisia
Germany
South Africa
Israel
New Zealand
France
Panama
Portugal
Spain
Ireland
Turkey
People
and skills
availability
2.14
1.76
1.12
1.16
1.44
0.94
1.12
0.97
2.03
1.36
2.74
0.95
1.06
0.91
0.86
0.96
1.16
1.06
0.88
0.61
0.79
0.58
0.93
0.92
1.01
0.69
1.31
2.12
1.66
0.69
2.10
0.81
1.22
1.19
2.24
0.65
0.88
1.50
1.41
0.91
Business
environment
Total score
1.26
1.17
2.00
1.05
2.67
1.51
1.90
1.87
2.40
1.23
2.22
0.98
0.89
0.43
0.11
0.55
0.19
0.44
0.63
0.85
0.34
0.93
0.98
1.05
1.10
0.76
0.85
2.41
2.29
1.20
2.23
1.24
1.67
2.28
2.05
1.10
1.80
1.67
2.25
0.92
6.87
6.14
6.07
5.78
5.73
5.72
5.58
5.58
5.52
5.50
5.49
5.47
5.47
5.35
5.27
5.24
5.22
5.16
5.13
5.12
5.09
5.08
5.05
5.03
5.03
5.00
4.99
4.99
4.91
4.86
4.84
4.81
4.75
4.74
4.69
4.65
4.28
4.12
4.07
3.97
Note: The weight distribution for the three categories is 40:30:30. The financial structure is rated on a scale of 0 to 4, and the categories for
people and skills availability, and business environment are on a scale of 0 to 3. Source: A. T. Kearney
15
Trends
The expectations, with certainty, are for further stable development of all aspects of Bulgarian
software industry. Bulgarian companies with own products and long term clients will get more and
more attractive in the global trend of acquisitions, mergers, and buying. Niche vendors could have
a good future. For example there are companies creating embedded software, software for handling
TV programs, for mobile services, etc. In hands of the appropriate company with big marketing
engine they can generate good business for themselves and for the foreign company, too.
There are also possibilities for mergers between Bulgarian companies which will give them better
positioning to compete on European market after accession of Bulgaria in European Union.
After some years of oblivion, the software industry and ICT as a whole are now a priority of the
Bulgarian government policy. Strong investments in IT education are already a reality. They include
equipment, LANs, fast Internet and educational programs for the schools. With the establishment
of a special authority, the State Agency for Information Technology and Communications, in 2005,
the political priority is turning in actions which will support the growth and recognition of the
Bulgarian software industry. The action plan includes establishment of public-private partnerships,
software parks, strengthening of the research activities even in areas such as nanotechnologies,
etc. (More information about the state policy is supplied further in the book.) The future of the
Bulgarian software industry will be as bright as it promises only if the problem with the limited
supply of IT cadres is resolved.
16
Advantages of the
Bulgarian software industry
17
Achievements of Bulgaria
Achievements of Bulgaria in the ICT sector could be summarized as follow:
• Bulgaria – one of the best locations for high-tech investments in Europe in R&D, software
development, telecom services
• Telecommunications sector – liberalized, modernized, competitive
• ICT industry – skilled and competitive
• All Bulgarian universities and institutes of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences are connected to
the Pan-European Research Network
• Constantly improved business environment
• Member of European Union from January 1, 2007.
These achievements are the factors leading to fast development of Bulgarian software Industry.
In fact its two digit growth is narrowed only by the limitation of the number of the software
specialists. The fast development of Bulgarian software companies and increased number of R&D
centers of the global and European players require more specialists than universities are able to
produce every year. This fact could lead to slowdown of the growth of the industry. To avoid such
development the Bulgarian Government and non-governmental organizations, as well as Bulgarian
companies, are undertaking many different approaches to solve the problem they already face. They
even think about an import of specialists mainly from Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania,
Ukraine, Russia, and even some African countries.
The achievements of Bulgarian software industry could be divided into three main groups:
• Investments by the foreign companies in local developing branches
• Bulgarian companies in the outsourcing sector – from code writing to most sophisticated
projects
• Bulgarian companies with own, internationally recognized products
Here we intentionally do not describe the big number of entirely local smaller players with
own products in different segments, developed and implemented only for the Bulgarian market,
because the goal of the book is to present Bulgarian software industry with its capabilities to serve
global market requirements. However many of these companies have capacity to be developed as
international players with appropriate investments and management.
In this part of the book we will present plenty of case studies which illustrate to great extend the
capabilities and capacity of the Bulgarian software industry in the above mentioned three aspects
and in the variety of industries and governmental projects. The distributors of software packages
and consulting and implementing companies of foreign solutions as ERP, CRM, PLM, CAD/CAM etc.,
are not a subject of this book.
Investments by the foreign companies
in local branches
The described developments of Bulgarian software industry in the previous part of the book
were noticed and investigated by many companies looking for skilled labor on smaller wages in
the offshoring and outsourcing segment. Many of them found a fertile ground for their activities
and started investing in the country, opening own branches and R&D centers. Maybe the flagship
of such investors is the company SAP.
18
Case studies
SAP Labs Bulgaria EOOD
Year of establishment: 2000
Number of employees: 315
SAP Labs represents a dynamic community
within SAP’s Global Research and Development
organization, sharing insights and promoting
creativity on a worldwide basis. The main
purpose of SAP Labs is to discover and
understand new technology trends around
the world. It integrates ideas and cutting-edge
technologies that address the needs of specific
industries and geographic regions. SAP Labs
have taken a trendsetting role in many areas,
especially concerning strategic topics like xApps,
voice technology, double-byte language, mobile
business, collaborative CRM, and Java skills.
SAP continuously evaluates more options for
extending the global research and development
network. In 2000 SAP increased its Java
competencies by setting up SAP Labs Bulgaria
in Sofia.
The company’s work is globally focused
– SAP Labs Bulgaria develops cutting-edge
technologies, which serve as a development basis
for a wide range of applications. Taking advantage
of the 30-year experience and the leading position
of SAP AG in the market for end-user solutions,
the Bulgarian branch aims at the establishment
of a rapidly developing and unexploited market
– the Java technologies market.
SAP Labs Bulgaria is focused on developing
key components of the SAP NetWeaver Platform
like SAP J2EE Engine – an integral part of SAP’s
application platform - SAP Web Application
Server, Enterprise Service Infrastructure - the
technology to service-enable SAP products,
Guided Procedures and Composite Application
Framework- the framework for building SAP
xApps.
The SAP J2EE Engine is an easy to use, to
configure, and to manage application server,
having a stable performance and a variety of
functions. SAP J2EE Engine is a unified, widely
applicable server platform, which entirely supports
the Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) standards from
Sun Microsystems.
Bulgaria is one of the key locations in the SAP
Labs network. By building the core of SAP NetWeaver,
the young, competent, and dedicated colleagues
in Sofia are laying the foundations for the success
of the SAP platform.
The success factors for foreign investment in
Bulgaria were the very well educated, talented, and
committed workforce and the talent pool available
in the country. Next followed the European culture
and the good English skills of the population. The
very competitive local cost structure was a key
point too.
In purely geographical respect - the short flight
times and the fact that there is almost no time
difference from Western Europe are an advantage.
EU-membership in 2007, guaranteeing the stability
of local economy makes the country even more
attractive to foreign investors.
SAP serves as reference for European and US
companies: the positive Mc Kinsey study on Bulgaria
was based on input from the company. The fact
that SAP has major customers in Bulgaria (Bulgarian
government, IBM, Alianz, Coca Cola, Metro, Vidima,
M-Tel, OMV, etc.) was a definite sign of the company’s
success. Moreover, SAP has not only been successful
in Bulgaria, but it has communicated its success in
the country in an open and public manner, thus
enabling other foreign investors to discover Bulgaria
as an attractive location for outsourcing.
Over six years of continuous growth, a team of
more than 300 employees was successfully built up
– the employee base consists of Java developers,
quality assurance specialists, information developers,
development support, and a training center. As the
company is expanding, it will retain its focus on the
Java technology. New highly qualified employees
are being hired continuously.
19
Melexis Bulgaria
Year of establishment: 2000
Number of employees: 180, to be doubled in 2008
Melexis is a Belgium company which for over a decade
has been designing and manufacturing products for the
automotive sector, for which it offers a multitude of sensor
ICs, ASSPs, and ASICs. Melexis devices reliably live up to
the highest standards of quality required in a demanding
automotive environment. Melexis’ customers are successful
businesses in many other areas than just automobiles as
in the consumer products, industrial, and wireless areas.
Technology development in RF and RFID components
has enabled Melexis’ customers to achieve their product
development goals on time, in budget, and with sustainable
profit margins. Integrated Hall effect fan drivers allow
Melexis’ customers to win business in the latest computer,
gaming, and entertainment systems worldwide. Cell phones,
handheld remote controls, battery charging controllers are
a few demanding mixed signal and sensing applications
currently benefiting from Melexis’ semiconductor expertise
and advanced manufacturing capabilities.
Melexis operates in business units each covering a
product line. The corporate headquarters are located in
Belgium. R&D centers are in Belgium, France, Germany,
Switzerland, Bulgaria, and Ukraine. In Bulgaria, the
company also has manufacturing facilities. It plans to
increase its capacity mainly in Sofia, Bulgaria. A lot of
specialized software is needed for the Melexis’ high-end
products and software engineers are one of the core
specialists in the Bulgarian branch of the company.
Here is part of a news report about Melexis’
investments in the country:
„08/10/2006. Melexis raises Bulgarian investment
Belgian automotive chip maker Melexis NV, has
increased its investment budget for its Bulgaria plant to
more than 30 million euro (about $38 million) from 22
million euro (about $28 million). The increased budget
has come as Melexis plans to open a second plant in
Sofia, Bulgaria.“
Nonetheless, Melexis sees Sofia production plants
as a driver of growth for the whole company. Melexis
Bulgaria, which currently employs about 200 people,
is now set to add another 150 to 200.
AMI Semiconductor Bulgaria
Year of establishment: 2004
Number of employees: 23
The Bulgarian Design Center of AMI Semiconductor is
a dynamic, young team with a fast growth and ambitious
projects. The level of education is very high, 5 PhD’s
and 18 Masters degrees with an average age of 31 year.
The development focus is on special systems for sensor
interface applications in the automotive, medical and
mobile electronics. The technical capability improvement
and the people satisfaction are main focuses of the Human
Resource Planning. With an average of 20 hours monthly
training, presentations on various conferences and internal
engineering forums, the engineers develop their talents and
satisfy their need for improvement and variation of work.
The teams have full Project Leading responsibility
and are in direct contact with our customers in Japan,
Korea, Germany and France. The laboratory is equipped
with state-of-the-art equipment and allows complex
technical evaluation of our products. Innovation,
variation and challenge in a supportive environment
is our philosophy.
Currently AMI Semiconductor Bulgaria has 10
active projects for Embedded system on a chip for
air-conditioning, motor drivers; sensor interfaces for
20
automotive and GPS; RF chip for remote information
transfer in medical area.
For its activities the company needs engineers in
electronics, microelectronics and computer science.
They work with Cadence, Mentor, C++, LabView.
On the question why Bulgaria, Anelia Pergoot,
Design Center Manager, AMIS Bulgaria is short:
“Availability of trained people on the low labor cost.”
On the opening of the Sofia Design Center she stated:
“The expansion of AMI Semiconductor’s mixed-signal
engineering capabilities further supports the growth
that we are experiencing in worldwide mixed-signal
ASIC and ASSP markets. The combination of existing
and proven local expertise, the excellent academic
facilities, and the strength of the Bulgarian economy,
made Sofia an ideal choice for further investment in
our global mixed-signal engineering capabilities.”
For some more than two years of existence the
design center looks as very successful unit by the
point of view of the mother company and it will
grow to 40 specialists in 2 years, involved in test
development, marketing and other.
21
Tumbleweed Communications Bulgaria
Year of establishment: 2003
Year of establishment: 140
The activity of the company is software engineering
- email security solutions and managed file transfer
solution.
Tumbleweed Communications Corp. was founded
in 1993. In 1999 the company went public.
Tumbleweed Communications is headquartered in
Redwood City, California and has offices in Australia,
Bulgaria, Singapore, UK, and throughout USA.
The Bulgarian office was established in 2003 with
29 employees. In 2006 the number of employees in
Sofia office exceeded 140.
Tumbleweed Communications is now the recognized
leader in providing secure Internet communication
solutions for enterprises and government customers
of all sizes. Tumbleweed provides security solutions for
email protection, file transfers, and identity validation
that allow organizations to safely conduct business
over the Internet.
Tumbleweed offers these security solutions in
three comprehensive product suites: MailGate,
SecureTransport and Valicert Validation Authority.
MailGate provides protection against spam, viruses
and attacks, and enables policy-based message
filtering, encryption and routing. SecureTransport
enables business to safely exchange large files and
transactions without proprietary software. Valicert
Validation Authority is the world-leading solution
for determining the validity of digital certificates.
The result: organizations using Tumbleweed security
solutions can safely and securely use the Internet for
business, significantly reducing their costs. Founded in
1993, Tumbleweed is trusted by over 1,000 customers,
including 8 of 10 top US banks, over 40% of Blue
Cross/Blue Shield organizations, and all four branches
of the US Armed Forces.
Tumbleweed’s patent portfolio includes 23 U.S.
utility patents and multiple pending U.S. patent
applications. Tumbleweed has licensed its patents
to 29 companies such as eBay, Enthrust, Kana
Software, CipherTrust, NetIQ, Ironport Systems,
and Yahoo!.
The Sofia office provides a full software
development life cycle of core Tumbleweed
products. This requires a blend of IT professionals
– system architects, software engineers with C++
or Java, Quality Assurance specialists, technical
writers, support engineers, IT engineers. With the
growth of the operations in Bulgaria sales and
marketing professionals joined the team.
Tumbleweed has chosen Bulgaria because it has
a pool of well educated and skilled IT specialists.
Software developers are far beyond just coders. They
are creative, innovative and capable to contribute
to architecture and algorithms development. The
cost of development in Bulgaria is relatively low,
but this is a temporary advantage. Much more
important is the high quality of the created
products. Bulgarian IT professionals are committed,
full of enthusiasm and look for continuous learning
and training. Bulgarian time zone is much more
convenient for US and EU companies in comparison
with some Asian destinations. It is not difficult to
find professionals speaking English and/or other
European languages.
The growth of Tumbleweed’s office in Sofia in the
last 3 years is a proof of a successful investment
of the company in Bulgaria. Tumbleweed plans to
continue the expansion of the Sofia operations.
The list of case studies of foreign investments is not complete. It could be extended
with companies such as Microsoft, which announced it will open a call center, as well as
an innovation center in Bulgaria, HP, which already opened it support center in Sofia with
planed employment of 1000 specialists, Jonson Controls, which has an R&D center with
400 employees developing automotive software in Sofia, Siemens, which announced it will
export its hi-tech manufacturing in Bulgaria, Nokia Enterprise Solutions Division with 36
developers and many smaller companies from USA, UK, France, Germany, Greece, etc.
22
Software Projects and Product
of Bulgarian companies
Many Bulgarian companies succeed to develop strong structure and capabilities for serving
the world market. They are not contracted anymore for the cheap labor cost but for their
professionalism, reliability and accuracy, proved in practice. Many of them are already part
of international groups and work on the global arena. They have implemented projects or
own product almost in every place on the world and in areas as government, education,
environment, healthcare, manufacturing, trade, services, etc. Others are domestically
oriented but they proved themselves in large projects for governmental and multinational
organizations and companies. Examples for such companies are also given.
Some of the Bulgarian companies succeeded to develop their own high level products wellreceived on the domestic market, as well as abroad. For example, the human resource and
payroll system HeRMeS developed by Technologica; B2C retail application and development
of billing and customer support solution for telecoms EyeBill Interactive by Sirma; INSIS Insurance information system by Fadata, ERP systems of LClass, KontoBenz, a software product
for complex service for gas-station activities by dWare, Caddie 10, architectural CAD Solution
by Interconsult Bulgaria, SANDRA, a Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) Designer
by Pointe L, Software Business Platform R5 by ORAK Engineering just to mention a few.
Case studies
Company: Name of the project: Place in the world: Field of industry: Year of implementation: Name of the client: Rila Solutions
ChatPC 3 is an embedded solution that has a
goal to substitute the natural speech of people
experiencing disability problems.
Key features:
• Client device (Pocket PC, Windows CE, ELF3
prototype board (CE.NET), Win32)
• Multi-platform (StrongARM, XScale, Bulverde,
MIPS, SH3, x86 processors)
• DecTalk text to speech API
• Microsoft Voices Speech API (SAPI)
• Hardware switch scanning
• Self-contained file system w/ compression and
encryption
• Prediction and completion dictionaries (both
dynamic and static)
• Synchronization over ActiveSync transport
• Desktop library editor
• Dictionary compiler
ChatPC3 is a set of software packages that make it
possible for people experiencing disability problems
to communicate naturally. The client that runs on a
Windows Mobile device consists of a page browser that
is used to navigate between different pages each one
of them consisting of a number of buttons. Buttons
are used to activate an action (such as navigate to
another page, record a sound etc) or to select a word, a
sentence or a part of a sentence to be spoken directly
or inserted into the speech display bar. Thus, users of
the software can compose their own sentences by
clicking on different buttons and then speak them
„ChatPC3“
USA, UK, Spain, Germany
Medical, Recreation, Mobile
2006
„Saltillo Corporation”
23
using the device. Internally the device
uses Phonix DecTalk ™ text-to-speech
to synthesize the speech. Two different
word prediction/completion dictionaries
are used to further speed up the entry
of individual texts. The static dictionary
is compiled from a given textual
corpus and cannot be changed while
the dynamic dictionary monitors the
individual speaking patterns of the user
and adapts to that style dynamically.
Libraries are used to store the pages,
buttons, pictures and other resources.
Company: Name of the project: Place in the world: Field of industry: Year of implementation: Company: Elections Canada is an independent, non-partisan
agency reporting directly to Canada’s Parliament. Its
ongoing concern is to fulfill its responsibility to ensure
Canadians can exercise their choices in elections and
referendums in an open and impartial process.
http://www.elections.ca
WorkLogic, a division of Sirma Group Corp.,
performed the Helpvision-ECSN project for Elections
Canada Support Network (ECSN). The HelpvisiionECSN system was used by Elections Canada during
Canadian Federal Elections in 2000 to manage
and track questions and requests from Returning
Officers, their staff, and the general public. Elections
Canada chose WorkLogic’s Helpvisiion (a Sirma Group
Company) product in favor of Remedy’s ARS, and
funded enhancements and development of custom
features.
The following services were provided:
• Business analysis, JAD sessions, requirements
specification, definition of project scope, effort
estimation, project plan and schedule, project
management.
• Data model, database schema creation and
migration scripts, implemented and tested
incremental deliveries.
• Functional test plan, automatic test suite,
24
Libraries can be transferred between
the mobile device and the desktop
client. The Library Editor is used to
create the master libraries and edit
them. Commonly a clinician is creating
the library files based on the individual
parameters of the person who will be
using the communication device such as
age, interests, level of disability etc.
ChatPC3 was built using Microsoft
Embedded Visual Tools 3 and 4,
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, DecTalk
SDK in Visual C++.
Sirma Group Corp.
Elections Canada Support Network (ECSN)
Canada
Government
ECSN1 – 2000; ECSN2 - 2004
Elections Canada
manual testing, load-testing plan and test
suite, performance optimization. WorkLogic
load tested the system to prove that it can
handle at least 500 concurrent users, 200 000
requests and 150 000 clients recorded in the
system, and 500 new requests per minute at
peak usage.
• Server sizing, installation, configuration and
deployment, user documentation.
• On-site support for 18h/d non-stop operation,
annual maintenance and support.
In 2000, the system was used by 350 concurrent
users at Elections Canada HQ to serve 4,000 staff
in electoral districts across Canada, as well as at
least 10,000 users from the general public.
Elections Canada funded further enhancement
project, named ECSN2 to implement features that
are especially useful in the federal election context.
The enhanced version of the system was used in
the 2004 federal elections to service 6,000 staff in
electoral offices across Canada, as well as 10,000
users from the general public.
Elections Canada continues to use the system
for post-election activities and reporting.
Technologies: IIS, Active Server Pages (VBScript),
WorkLogic’s Helpvisiion Product, Oracle 8.
Company: Name of the project: Place in the world: Field of industry: Year of implementation: dWare
Lukoil
Macedonia
Gas
2006
dWare Ltd. was established on November 10th
1989. dWare specializes in software development
and services - software applications for the
automation of financial and accounting procedures,
management of business procedures (ERP), integral
management of gas and petrol stations and
management of in-house tasks and procedures. The
software applications work in Bulgarian, English,
Serbian, Macedonian and other languages.
dWare is ISO 9001:2000 certified, member of
The Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and member
of The Bulgarian Association of Information
Technologies. The company has offices and
representatives in more than 15 cities across
Bulgaria, with more than 15,000 sold licenses.
dWare provides training for its customers and
24/7 technical support. The company is a member
of the Oracle partner network and Microsoft
registered partner.
Some of dWare’s customers are: The President’s
Administration, Ministry of Justice, Customs agency,
Information Services PLC, Bulgarian national television,
Bulgarian national radio, University for National
and World Economy, Technical University of Sofia,
American University in Bulgaria, Office 1 Superstore,
Filkab JSC, Militzer & Munh, Wavin Bulgaria, Saint
Gobain Weber, Lukoil, Opet/Aygaz, Rompetrol
Bulgaria, Mila Market Ltd. and many others.
Due to dWare’s good reputation and brand
recognition Lukoil Macedonia has recently chosen
it to be its partner. dWare’s system for full-scale
business management – Konto MS (Business
processor, BP) has been properly evaluated and
trusted to be implemented in all petrol stations of
Lukoil Macedonia. The first petrol station operating
with Konto MS (Business processor) started working
on September 2nd 2006.
BP is the system that provides complete
centralized control over all business events
happening in company. It generates all primary
document types and authorizes document mergers.
Its easy-to-use interface allows to obtain all the
necessary information as detailed and clear as
preferred. One can easily track the company’s
transactions and funds variable periods of time.
BP can manage business operations of various
types of units – shops, warehouses, restaurants,
25
petrol stations…
Real business operations require various types of
documents – some of which are quite specific and
are in use just in a particular business structure.
Commodities have different variables as well.
BP is the system that allows to specify: Documents
types; Documents contents; Documents sequence;
Documents templates; Documents status; Warehouses
related documents.
BP generates various reports presenting:
• detailed information for transactions
• detailed information for quantities and
movements in the warehouse
• detailed information for funds activity
There are reports tracking: transactions histories;
commodities histories.
Reports for transactions which are to be
completed – with all the mandatory documents.
Successful transactions require relevant
infrastructure, organization, warehouse, staff…
dWare offers software applications for all areas of
business.
Company: Name of Project: Place in the world: Name of Purchaser: Purchaser Address: Contract role: Year of Implementation: DATECS Ltd.
www.stadtplandienst.de (SPD) is one of the best
nationwide (worldwide) online mapping portals of
Germany. This service is giving a web-based access
to complex registers of more than 3.5 Mil. streets
with attributes and more than 20 Mil. addresses
with attributes and millions of cartographic maps of
Germany at different scales including aerial orthophoto images. The Information System has hierarchical
structure which supports more than 110 customers as
3-rd party integrators via XML and URL interfaces. More
than 30 of them have and maintain their own registers
of objects with attributes within www.stadtplandient.
de (SPD) database. The service has more than 600,000
requests per day by more than 100,000 unique users
per day currently.
This Information System works in 3 locations:
1. Production and development level - database
servers and web farm based in DATECS Ltd. office in Sofia for the software development and
data production.
2. Public service (www.stadtplandienst.de) level
- database servers and web farm application
based in Berlin. Data and software are transferring here on regular basis from the production
and development level, Sofia.
3. Marketing level – restricted database servers and
web farm application for registered customers
and partners for the evaluation of new features
and 3rd party development. Located at Berlin.
The public service (www.stadtplandienst.de) have
hierarchical structure with 3 main user levels:
Level_0:Users_A – These users include the staff
from SPD and from DATECS which support all data
registers of streets, addresses, maps and basic
objects. They do:
• Operating system support;
• RDBMS support;
• Database content support;
• Monitoring and statistics;
• Customers support;
• Level_1:Users_C customers support;
Level_1:Users_A – This kind of users implement
the data and functionality from SPD using virtual
template customized for them and at the same
time they have a register of objects with attributes
within the SPD database.
Level_1:Users_B – This kind of users is
implementing the data and functionality from
SPD using virtual template customized for them
combined with objects data within their website.
Level_1:Users_C - This kind of users is collecting
the data for SPD and with the help from DATECS
is entering and support the information for
basic objects in the SPD
database. They have a
restrictive access only to
their part of objects.
Level_1:Users_D This kind of users is
collecting the data for
SPD and is responsible
for entering and support
the information for basic
objects in the SPD
database through web-
26
www.stadtplandienst.de
Germany
Euro-Cities AG
Bismarckallee 41, 14193 Berlin, Germany
Prime supplier
2001-2006
forms interface. They have a restrictive access only
to their part of objects.
Level_2:Users_A - This kind of users are all
Internet users. They use free www.stadtplandienst.de
and/or our customer’s web-sites. The detailed session
information for every user is recorded in the SPD
database during user activity. Users performs:
• Search of city, address or object;
• As a result they receive city, address or object with
detailed information located on the map;
• They can work interactively with many different
kinds of maps and view all database objects
separated in categories;
• They can print different layouts of visible information;
• They can find optimal route between different
locations;
• They can register for paid services (thus becoming Level_2:Users_B)
Level_2:Users_B – This kind of users are registered
Internet users for paid online services from SPD.
They have a personal profile in the SDP database.
In this profile SPD collects the general information
about each company or individual and a list of his
services. After his registration a personal contract
in PDF format is generated and sends to the user
via e-mail. After conformation for registration
he enters a procedure for payment of purchased
services. We implemented 4 different mechanisms
for payments:
• Online credit card payment
• Online phone payment
• Offline Wire transfer payment
• Offline Payment in cash
Special technical skills:
• Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Linux administration
and support;
• RDBMS MySQL / Microsoft SQL Server 2000: Installation and support; Backup and replication mechanism; Database design and programming; Remote
monitoring;
• Web farm ASP applications development, implementation and support;
• AJAX and XML technologies
• Microsoft COM Objects development for: Multilanguage support; Batch data entry and processing
in RDBMS; GIS and Mapping functionality; Optimal
routes finding;
• Development and support of customized web-based
templates library for 3rd party solutions
• Development and implementation of web-based
online purchase, contracting and payment functionality
• Development of desktop database utilities for data
production process
• Production and maintenance of register database
of streets records and city addresses records for
Germany
• Productions and support of high-quality raster database containing millions of maps for all Germany
Project team: project managers – 1; software
development project managers – 1; DB administrators
– 2; application developers – 5; technical writer – 1;
maps and registers database managers – 2; group
leaders – 6; data-entry and data maintenance operators
– from 36 to 82 during the projects; data quality
control staff – 4.
Company:
InterComponentWare SP Ltd.
Name of the project:
Field test for electronic health card
Place in the world:
Walldorf, Germany
Field of industry:
eHealth
Year of implementation: 2005
ICW is a leading international eHealth specialist with
locations in Germany, Bulgaria, Austria, Switzerland,
and the USA. Among other things, ICW develops
and markets software and hardware components
for the healthcare IT infrastructure of the electronic
health card, the personal health record LifeSensor,
and networking solutions for clinics and surgeries.
ICW has provided consulting services to the
German government for the implementation of
the electronic health card and is involved in the
Austrian eCard project.
(ICW)
Description of the project:
In 2003, the German federal government resolved to
introduce an electronic health card (eHC) in 2006. The
card and its healthcare IT infrastructure is to enable
the digital exchange of data between all health
professionals, to improve the quality of healthcare
while, at the same time, reducing costs.
Following the introduction of the eHC, paper-based
prescriptions will be reproduced electronically. This enables
an automatic drug interaction and contraindication check,
significantly increasing drug safety. In addition, every
27
citizen is to receive a
personal emergency
record and an electronic
health record, which
will store copies of
the person’s medical
data. Thus, treating
physicians are provided
with a detailed picture
of their patient’s state
of health and can adapt
their treatment to the
patient’s pre-existing
conditions and current therapies.
The introduction of the eHC in Germany is considered one
of the largest IT projects worldwide. Political differences
between the individual associations within German
healthcare have delayed the project, however, since
the foundation of a central operating company for the
introduction of the eHC (Gematik) the project is gradually
moving ahead. The start of eight official test regions, in
which approximately 10,000 citizens each are to receive
an eHC, is scheduled for the end of 2006. The tests and
the subsequent introduction of the card are to be effected
in several stages,
while the administrative functions and the electronic
prescription will be the first features to be introduced.
The medical functions of the card, i.e. emergency data,
drug history and the electronic health record are to
follow in further stages.
In anticipation of the official test regions,
InterComponentWare (ICW) started its own field test
for its eHC system as early as June 2005. In the small
town of Walldorf, all four pharmacies and four surgeries
have been fitted with the system. The health card system
used in Walldorf offers not only the basic administrative
functions but already offers the relevant features that are
considered to be the actual benefits of the card and its
infrastructure. Physicians and pharmacists can already
view data on their patients in their personal health
record LifeSensor and transfer their own information
to the record. An automatic drug interaction and
contraindication check is possible, which can also
include OTC drugs and dietary supplements.
ICW’s eHC system already integrates three pharmacy
information systems and a practice management
system. Thus, physicians and pharmacists can utilize
the functions of the new card from their usual software
and e.g. write ePrescriptions or copy data from the
electronic health record directly to their local system.
ICW has developed a software development kit (SDK)
to easily connect such primary medical systems.
The participating surgeries and pharmacies in
Walldorf were enabled for the eHC by means of the
ICW connector Medical NTBA. The
Medical NTBA ensures a highly secure,
comfortable and reliable connection
of the local systems to the healthcare
IT infrastructure. It controls the entire
confidential communication with the healthcare
network, the surgery or pharmacy software and the
card readers. It, for example, enables the electronic
mapping of the entire life cycle of a prescription. In
the Walldorf field test, the entire process - starting
with the physician issuing the prescription, the viewing
of the prescription at the patient terminal and the
filling of the prescription at the pharmacy through
to the transmission of the prescription to a pharmacy
computer center – proceeds fully electronically.
As early as 2006, ICW plans to extend the field test
from Walldorf to the so-called Rhine-Neckar metropolis
region. This region comprises cities such as Mannheim,
Ludwigshafen and Heidelberg with a total of approx.
2.3 million citizens, 70 hospitals, 1,200 physicians and
250 pharmacies. In the privately initiated healthcare
initiative the medical functions of the eHC, in particular,
are to be introduced and further improved on. After all,
it is only these functions that offer opportunities for a
sustained improvement of medical care, while at the
same time realising cost savings. And this was in fact
government’s intention behind introducing the eHC.
The components of ICW’s eHC system and its network
solutions are created for international use and can easily
be adapted to the standards of different countries.
Company: Name of Project: Place in the world: Year of Implementation: Technologica
BULCOD is developed for the Ministry of defense of
the Republic of Bulgaria by TechnoLogica Ltd. during
2004 and is in use since the beginning of 2005.
Main purpose of ‘National Codification Instrument’
information system is to automate National Codification
Bureau’s activity to the Ministry of Defense, which
includes:
• Description of the item according to the Codification System used in NATO and allocation of a
commodity number in NATO, both in information
28
BULCOD – National Codification Instrument
Armed forces of the Republic of Bulgaria
2005
and descriptive methods;
• Building of a .NET interface for Windows and a
web part for public access;
• Building of procedures for initial loading of data
and for periodical updates of data through updated files – TDP, received form NAMSA;
• Realization of a specialized application server of
the system;
• Realization of standard forms for data exchange
according to the ACodP1 NATO manual;
• Realization of statistical and periodical reports;
• System for access control;
• Means of control and generation of transactions
for international data exchange.
The system works in Intranet and Internet
environment with the use of MS Internet Information
Server.
TechnoLogica’s activities included: Business
analysis of the activities in “National Codification
Bureau” department of Ministry of Defense; Database
design and meta-description of the activities
and the operations in the department; Project
and implementation with the environment for
development of MS Visual Studio; Implementation;
Testing – working together with French, Spanish,
Check Republic and USA codification departments;
Training and maintenance of the system.
Functional Characteristics
The functions of BULCOD meet all the requirements
of ACodP-1 related with codification of items, as
well as with the international transactions of the
Codification Bureau. In addition, functions for
statistics of the activity of the Bureau are made as well
as a periodical actualization of data of NAMSA, US
NCB, translation into local language of the changes
in NATO Codification System and so on.
Item Codification
BULCOD enables the codifier to develop and
manage various codification actions:
• Classification and identification of items according all 7 types of identification (reference and
descriptive);
• Modification of items codification;
• Cancellation of codified items;
• Reinstatement of cancelled codified items;
• Process of validation and approval of codification actions;
• Management of internal request for codification.
Screening
The system gives to the user wide range of
capabilities to locate needed information trough
screening process: • Group and Classes Screening;
• Item Names Screening; • NCAGE Screening; • NSN
Screening; • NSN Screening by characteristics.
Communications
• Export & import of transmission in encapsulated
format;
• Support of transmission and transaction history.
System functions
• Periodical actualization of H2, H6, MRD through importing DB2 tables;
• Periodical actualization of H4 – data for manufacturers through importing data provided by NAMSA
(NMCRL);
• Support of basic tables with data from ACodP-1,
ACodP-2, ACodP-3, CodSP and so on in three languages – domestic, English and French;
• Statistics of the activity of the National Codification
Bureau.
System Characteristics
BULCOD is a three-tier application. Client and
Application tier are developed using Microsoft .NET
Framework. The database is Oracle 9i. The application is
made in two parts. An application with the full system
functionality is made with Windows Forms Interface.
For access to the database a specific Application Server
is developed. The server can be installed on one or
more machines. The Application Server is developed
as Windows Service.
For the needs of organizational units of the Ministry
of Defense a Web Application is developed. With this
application users perform searching (screening) for the
codified items by codes and characteristics, as well as
for the classes, groups, item names and manufacturers/
suppliers. The Web Application is hosted by Internet
Information Server.
BULCOD has a multi language user interface. The
user can switch between three languages: domestic,
English and French.
The certification of the Bulgarian high tech
product as a “NATO Compatible” was made by the
NATO Group of National Codification Directors and
NATO Agency for Maintenance and Supply (NAMSA).
Bulgarian codification system is sixth in the world
and an interest to it is already shown by Romania,
Macedonia and Albania. A further recognition for the
Bulgarian system is the fact that examples of it will
be included in the NATO reference book for building
codification systems.
Denis Lampron from NAMSA stated: “I and my
colleagues are impressed of Bulgarian codification
system, which has the full functionality, logical
connection and convenient interface. Congratulations
to Technologica for developing the product in recordbreaking time limits.”
Project started on: 23.12.2003
Project ended on: 23.11.2004
29
Company: Microinvest
Name of the project: Microinvest Warehouse Pro
Place in the world: Bulgaria
Field of industry: Retail and POS Systems
Year of implementation: 2005
Microinvest Warehouse Pro presents a system
for tracking of warehouse availabilities in unlimited
number of warehouses in real time. The program’s
architecture enables the processes definition and work
flexibility. All main principles of modern business are
grounded in the design of the application – remote
work, mobile working places, system for defining the
operators’ rights and data edition at each step. A visual
interface that could be adapted to each user and could
considerably expedite the work of the operators has
been built. The program offers a set of 6 document
styles and adaptive interface.
Product’s key characteristics:
• Work in client-server mode
• Maintenance of huge loading, nomenclatures and
operations
• Tree structures of all nomenclatures
• Possibility for graphic presentation of the information
• Allocated net technology, remote access and synchronization
• Global definition of the access control of each
user
• WEB interface and administration
• Data import from MS Excel as well as from other
products of Microinvest
• Connection to mobile Palm OS and Pocket PC devices
• Expedition of work and operations effectiveness
• Possibility for work with different databases types:
Access, Microsoft Desktop Engine, MySQL and Microsoft SQL.
Main modules of the system:
Sales. The sales are the most frequently used
operation. Each sale reduces the quantities of the
selected goods and transfers them to the partner.
The operation completes with issuing a document
for payment.
Deliveries. The deliveries present replenishing of
new quantities of goods in the warehouse. At each
delivery the quantity of the available goods in the
warehouse is increased and prices of the goods are
formed.
Transfer. The transfer presents moving of goods
from one warehouse to another.
Reject. This operation is used for discharging of the
quantities of unfit goods and reduces the quantities
30
of the selected goods in the relevant warehouse.
Discharge. The discharge is used for removing
goods from the warehouse for one’s own needs
without generating financial income for the
warehouse.
Invoicing. The invoicing is used for turning a
selected document into an invoice in line with the
Bulgarian legislation.
Cash-book. The cash-book presents a chronological
log of the company’s money. Through the cash-book
the user is able to track the cash flow and to see the
current state of the financial resources.
Consignments. The consignment is a process by
which a good is stricken off from the warehouse
and is put on the list of a selected partner.
When the partner sells the good he renders an
account through a “Consignment Report” and
the warehouse program increases the financial
incomes. If the partner returns the good then the
function “Consignment Restore” is used whereas the
liability of the partner is reduced and warehouse
availabilities are increased.
Tenders. The module “Tenders” is used for
creation of representative price list of selected goods
for a given partner. The tender can be automatically
turned into a Sale or Quotation.
Quotations. The module “Quotations” is used for
creation of exemplary sale of selected goods to a
given partner. In general the quotation precedes
the sale and it serves for precise determination of
the parameters of the business transaction – goods,
prices, quantities, amounts and bank accounts. The
quotations do not change the quantities of goods in
the warehouse. The quotation can be automatically
turned into a Sale or Tender.
Delivery Orders. The delivery order is a document
through which the company orders goods to the
suppliers. The delivery orders do not change the
quantities of goods in the warehouse. The delivery
note can be automatically turned into a Delivery.
Orders. The order is an operation through which
you receive a request from a client and note his
interest in your goods and products. The order
serves for planning future transaction with a client.
It helps as well in the analysis of the state of the
warehouse and gives information whether all goods
are available to the moment or not. The order can
be automatically turned into a Sale, Tender, Delivery
Note or Quotation.
Trade Project. The Trade Project presents
a highly specialized module. This module is
completely analogous to Sales but here there is
no requirement of filling data in the window in
details which hastens the work process. This is of
great importance for conveyor work (in a shop for
instance). The quantities of goods in the warehouse
are reduced whereas the financial incomes are
increased after each completed operation.
Trade Screen. The Trade Screen presents a
highly specialized module, operating without a
keyboard, mouse or any additional controls. All
operations are done through touching the screen
and are quite simplified. The module is analogous
to Sales but the work is expedited. This is of great
importance for conveyor work (in a shop for instance).
The quantities of goods in the warehouse are reduced
whereas the financial incomes are increased after each
completed operation.
Documents Transformation. The window Document
Transformation serves as a fast and easy transformation
of documents from one kind to another. A typical
example is when a client orders goods from your
company. You create an Order. To attract the client’s
attention you make a Tender. Instead of entering
the Tender once again through the Documents
Transformation the operator creates the Tender on the
basis of the already existing Order. If the client approves
the Tender on its basis the Quotation is created. When
the client pays, the Quotation is transformed into a
Sale. The peculiarity of the whole process is the fact
that the document has been entered only once.
Company: INTERCONSULT Bulgaria Ltd.
Name of the project: ENSIS, an Environmental Surveillance
and Information System
Place in the world: Norway, China
Field of industry: Government, Research, Environment
Year of implementation: 1997-2004
ENSIS is a modern environmental surveillance
and information system implementing an integrated
approach to environmental data analysis and the
implied action planning routines.
The ENSIS group, consisting of the Norwegian
Institute for Air Research, the Norwegian Institute
for Water Research and the IT companies Norgit
and INTERCONSULT Bulgaria, has developed
an Environmental Surveillance and Information
System (ENSIS). INTERCONSULT Bulgaria’s main
responsibility within the ENSIS project was the
development of the system, all major software
modules of ENSIS have been programmed by the
Bulgarian team of software engineers.
In 1998 INTERCONSULT Bulgaria received
the European ICT Prize for the development of
ENSIS (http://www.ist-prize.org/). The air quality
component of ENSIS was first demonstrated at the
Winter Olympic Games at Lillehammer in 1994. Since
then, the system has been further developed and
has now been installed in several cities in Norway
and Asia. ENSIS is used by several municipalities
in Norway: Fredrikstad, Sarpsborg, Oslo, and
Drammen. In China the system is implemented
for surveillance of the water quality in Songhua
river and for control of air and water quality in the
Shandung province. In 2002-2004 ENSIS system was
established at a national level as a standard system
for monitoring air and water quality in China.
The initial development of the system was done with
funding from the EU research programs in the period
1997-2002. The Norwegian Agency for Development
Cooperation (NORAD) has sponsored the adjustment
and implementation of ENSIS in China during 20022004.
ENSIS is a management and decision support system
for the environmental protection of water and air
resources. It exposes a special geographic information
system interface (GIS) for the integration, display and
monitoring water and air quality and for modeling
results. The system can be used as a management
tool for planners, an information tool for the public
and an expert system for specialists.
Development of technical monitors and telemetric
systems has made
environmental data
more readily available
to planners, authorities
and to the public. In
line with awareness and
the strong focus on our
environment, the modern
environmental monitoring
and surveillance systems
have also become
information systems that
31
can provide relevant information at different levels
about the state of the environment, quickly and
precisely.
Basic features of ENSIS are:
• Map based user interface (GIS)
• Storage, retrieval and presentation of air and water
quality data
• Automatic and manual collection and quality control
of monitoring data
• Statistical processing of data, and graphics for
presentation
• Air and water quality classification system and
map presentation of classified air and water
quality
• Domestic, industrial and agricultural pollution
sources inventory
• Models showing pollution levels to which the
public and the environment are exposed
• Inventory of water resources, including catchments, rivers, lakes and coastal areas
• Document handling system and Report generator
Company: Name of the project: Place in the world: Field of industry: Year of implementation: Haemimont Games AD
Glory of the Roman Empire is a city-builder
computer game, which puts the player in the position
of governor of an ancient Roman city during the Pax
Romana period. The player must build the city from
scratch managing its growing economy. In order to
achieve this, the player must choose how to setup
the layout of the city in the best possible way by
personally placing each individual building.
Each building in the game has a specific function
– houses provide living space for new citizens, farms
grow wheat, theaters entertain people, etc. The player
must carefully plan the city so that the homes of the
citizens are close to their work and close to the different
structures that provide food and recreation.
Each individual citizen in Glory of the Roman Empire
follows his/her own daily agenda – goes to work, visits
an altar, enjoys a drink at the local tavern and so on.
Citizens work in farms and businesses, thus generating
the resources necessary for the city’s economy. However,
they also have needs and desires. If satisfied, the citizens
are happy and will contribute more to the town’s
economy. If their needs are ignored for too long the
citizens become restless and even rebel.
As the player’s town grows, houses improve in
appearance as the desirability of the area they are
located increases. Citizens from better looking houses
work harder but also have more sophisticated needs.
The player must balance between better productivity
and complicated needs.
Glory of the Roman Empire allows players to build
a number of well known cities including Pompeii,
Syracuse, Lion, Marseille, and London. In addition it
allows players to test their city building skills through
a series of challenges where specific objectives have
to be achieved in the shortest possible time. The
player’s achievements are submitted online and
can be compared with those of the other players
around the world.
Our goal as a team was to create a game that
everyone would enjoy playing even if they have
no previous experience with computer games. We
wanted a theme that is widely familiar and we
wanted to make a game that follows the player’s
pace instead of forcing its own. We think there is
enough violence in the computer games today and
we wanted to make a peaceful game.
Starting with these objectives we chose Rome
during the Pax Romana period. Everyone has heard
of the political and architectural achievements of
the ancient Romans. During the Pax Romana the
empire had total control of the entire Mediterranean.
For 200 years most of the population in the empire
lived in peace, which is an extremely rare event in
human history. Both trade and crafts flourished and
a number of towns were established.
The project started with a small core team of
four people at the beginning - a producer, a lead
designer, a lead artist and a lead programmer. The
team gradually grew to over 40 people in the later
stages of the development. Many skilled artists,
animators, programmers and designers put a great
deal of effort in the game for almost two years.
In the later stages of the development a number
of people from our publishers around the world
joined the team and contributed as well. The game
features Latin language text and voices and we
had Latin translators and voice actors in addition
to German, French, Spanish and other language
translators and voice actors.
The marketing team organized a colorful event
32
„Glory of the Roman Empire“
Made in Bulgaria, distributed all over the world
Electronic Entertainment
Started April 2004, release date May, 2006
in Rome with a Gladiator fight and ancient Roman
dishes where journalists from all over Europe were
demonstrated a version of the game.
The final product is a game with excellent
graphics, very clean interface, which plays very
smoothly and is easy to enjoy. Glory of the Roman
Empire can be played using only the mouse and offers
both seasoned players and newcomers an enjoyable
experience watching and guiding the daily lives of
the ancient Romans. This is a product of over 2 years
of intense efforts and nearly 100 people from all over
the world contributed to its success.
Company: Name of the project: Place of the world: Field of industry: Acsior
UISCC is a supra-institutional automated
system for provision of information to the
judiciary, executive and legislative powers of
the Republic of Bulgaria along the line of
counteraction against crime. UISCC is developed
and operates in accordance with the Constitution
and laws of the country and in conformity with
all applicable Bulgarian and European regulations
and requirements.
The UISCC users who have legal functions on
the Penalty Code realization and are entitled to
exchange data are:
• Ministry of Interior
• Ministry of Defense (Military Police)
• Ministry of Finance (Customs Preliminary Investigations)
• Investigation services
• Prosecution Office
• Courts
• Ministry of Justice (Imprisonment, Investigation
and Probation Premises).
The users with controlling and management
functions are:
• The Parliament;
• The President of the Republic of Bulgaria;
• The Council of Ministers;
• Ministry of Justice;
• Supreme Judiciary Council.
Key Strategic New Achievements
The UISCC provides the following new information
possibilities in the counteraction against crime:
• Gathering original data from the institutions
coming from their daily work
• Analytical monitoring of the crime process as
a whole
• Automatic signal information generation towards the supervision institutions
• Information exchange based on the standards,
accepted by the institutions
• Efficient work of the system despite the different
level of the automation of the institutions.
Concept and Purpose of the Project
UISCC operates as a centralized database and user
services. Interaction among the institutions is based on
automated data exchange between UISCC and their
automated information systems via the government
network. UISCC can operate locally (in a decentralized
mode) in case an institution has not automated
institutional systems satisfying the standard requirements.
In this case a dedicated UISCC data entry module is placed
in that institution. It operates as the missing automated
system and interacts with the centralized UISCC. The
access to the system is secured.
Architecture
Collaboration with the institutions is as follows: AIS
of Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of
Finance, Ministry of Justice, General Prosecution office,
Investigation offices, Courts. The UISCC’s central and
communication components are developed as threelayer applications with powerful intermediate layer
of standardized services and processing (“middleware
framework”). The system provides a large set of
solutions for integration with the systems of the law
protecting and jurisdiction authorities – from automated
message exchange to distributed processing and use
of common components. Conceptually, architecturally
and functionally the UISCC is ready for realization
of distributed CORBA based effective services with
institutional AISs in a real time mode.
The system is Web based. The access to the system
resources and services is completely Intranet/Internet
based.
Part of the UISCC components form general
information and functional pool that presents ready
solutions for integration at future development of
institutional ISs.
Unified Information System
for Counteraction Against Crime (UISCC)
Bulgaria
Government
33
Technology
The UISCC realization is based on leading concepts
and technologies. Tools used are:
• Project development : Rational Unified Process (RUP)
implementation : Rational Suite;
• Analysis and design : UML : Rational Suite ; J2EE;
• Software development : Object oriented : Rational
Suite, J2EE, XML, Eclipse, IBM Web Sphere Studio
Application Developer), EJB;
• System interoperability : IBM MQSeries;
• Web security: TCP/IP based SSL, PKI.
• Database : Informix, MS SQL Server, Oracle
• OS : Unix (AIX).
Similar Information Projects Possible Usage
The UISCC provides new information possibilities
in the struggle with corruption. For the Penalty
Procedure’s institutions the system is providing:
• Transparency of the actions of the staff
• Binding information for the actions of the penalty
procedure’s institutions with information for the actions
of the previous and consecutive institutions;
• Monitoring and analysis of indications for eventual
corruption actions as per the penalty procedure;
• Follow-up and analysis of the penalty procedure
regarding corruption lawsuits.
The UISCC could be used as a frame for
many other supra-institutional systems: unified
information system in the struggle with corruption,
e-government, civil law applications, etc. By
the bid conditions it belongs to the Bulgarian
Government and it can be easily implemented
in other sectors of the State Management and
will need very low investments.
Current Status
The implementation of the system started 2004
due to lack of financing. The UISCC center was
built in the Ministry of Justice and supplied with
the necessary hardware and system software. The
central component of the system was launched
2005 and the first two institutions – Ministry
of Defence and Investivation Services - were
connected to it in February, 2006. Next institutions
in order of their readiness for connection are
Ministry of Interior, Prosecutions and Prisons. Until
end of 2007 UISCC should work as a complete
system with all crime institutions
Company: Name of the project: Place in the world: Field of industry: Year of implementation: Sciant
THE AIRLINE PORTAL is an Internet-based solution
which addresses the critical crew communication/
collaboration needs in an airline company.
It pays special attention to the needs of your crews
and provides them with instant access to all the
necessary information – stored in one place, accessible
from anywhere in the world. It is about just a click to
access information like Duty Plans, Notifications for
changes in the schedule, Flight Briefing documents,
access to company polices and documents.
Through integration with main products on the
market (like Lufthansa NetLine, SAP, etc.), the Airline
Portal will smoothly expand your current infrastructure
by preserving your investments and increasing the
flexibility and accuracy of your operations.
KEY BENEFITS
• Optimal environment for collaboration between
crews
• Facilitates crew operations
• Provides crew members with outstanding flexibility;
• Facilitates integration with other platforms and
solutions.
• Reduces airlines costs
FUNCTIONALITIES
1. CREW PLANNING
Duty Plan and Duty Plan Changes Notification
shows information as:
• Block hours for each of your duties, as well as
Total block hours for the month;
• Visualization of your duties according to different time formats;
• Instant access to Crew composition and personal information for any of the crew members;
• Printer-friendly versions, and export to your
pocket assistant or Excel.
Departure and Arrival Info allows your crew
members, ground operations, and even partners, to
track the movements of the other aircrafts of your
fleet. It is especially useful for remote/layover crews,
as they can effectively plan their time.
The Wishes functionality allows users to make
different types of wishes regarding their duties.
It includes processing of requested wishes and
integration of wishes with the base crew and flightplanning system.
34
Airline Portal
All over the world
Logistics, Airlines
2003 - 2006
Buddies - the Airline Portal allows users to choose
other users of Airline Portal as their buddies – thus
allowing them to access their personal duty plan.
2. FLIGHT-PLANNING
Flight Briefing - brings together in one
standardized form all the information necessary
for your crew to take off. This information gets
automatically transferred to your backup server.
Additional Flight Info (BFI) – for effective
exchange of additional information about flight,
aerodrome, or other specifics of particular aircraft
used in their duties.
3. COMMUNICATION
Messages - represents an internal secure
messaging system
News - facilitates the distribution of important
company-wide notifications and updates
Alerts - aids in informing Airline Portal users
about important events
Surveys - a complete solution for gathering and
analyzing feedback from your crews
Quick Links - a feature used to organize at one
place all external to the Airline Portal information.
4. DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT
This system allows an unlimited number of
categories and documents to be stored and
accessed from all around the world. This feature
allows users to create categories, publish documents
to the central repository and view documents
according to predefined permissions. Document
Management system supports a key search as well
as full text search.
5. SOLUTION MANAGEMENT & ADMINISTRATION
Users, Groups & Access permissions
A powerful administration interface which allows for
user’s authentication and authorization, management
of users & groups, management of feature permissions
– granting permissions to specific functionalities on
group levels, import of users and appropriate groups
from base crew and flight-planning systems.
Reports - a user-friendly custom report generator.
New reports can be easily build by using standard
SQL and extensions allowing customizable filtering,
ordering and grouping criteria.
Multi - Application Export (Including SAP) - a
functionality allowing data regarding duties/absences,
to be exported to external systems (like SAP, Excel, and
other common systems). Export features allow for smooth
integration with existing systems, protecting your IT
investments and enhancing system-wide collaboration.
System Notifications - monitoring and detailed logging
of all activities performed by the Airline Portal. Messages
can be sent directly by SMS to your administrator.
Usage statistics - measuring the actual usage of
the Airline Portal solution by your crew members. You
can check what the usage was by various periods and
filter the results for a particular group or user.
Multiple environments support
Airline Portal has a built-in support for multiple
environments, so you can have different instances
of your solution running on both a production and
staging environment.
CUSTOMERS: BELAIR AIRLINES, THOMAS COOK
AIRLINES
TEAM: 1 Project Manager • 4 Software Engineers • 1
Lead QA Manager • 1 QA Engineer • 1 Usability expert
TOOLS: Java, J2EE, Eclipse, Struts, Oracle; Airlinespecific planning and management systems
Company: Name of the project: Place in the world: Field of industry: Year of implementation: Bianor JSCo and All Telecoms JSCo
Do you often travel abroad? Do you feel confused
about how much your call may cost? Do you
wonder how much you already spent in roaming?
Do you wish to know what is happening to your
phone bill and why? We have all the answers of
those numerous questions you may ask. Roam-nRoll is the solution that you have been looking
for all this time!
What is Roam-n-Roll
Roam-n-Roll is a client/server based service,
installed on mobile phone. There are different
customizable versions depending on your mobile
device model, your home network carrier and the tariff
plan you are subscribed for. You will receive pricing
updates depending on the schedule predefined by you.
And most of all - Roam-n-Roll works as a standalone
application while in roaming and do not need any
GPRS or other connectivity to work properly. So we just
SAVE YOUR MONEY, making sure you always pay the
LOWEST POSSIBLE PRICE for each call! We will guide
you through the deep waters of telecommunication
showing you the right way EVERY TIME!
What can Roam-n-Roll do for you?
Roam-n-Roll will give you all the information you need
Roam n Roll
Europe
Mobile telecommunications
2006
35
about prices, time zones and some other little tricks
to optimize your roaming bill. For instance did you
know that calling back instead of receiving a call can
be actually cheaper? That some networks have twice or
more times higher prices than others? That you may be
charged only for trying to reach somebody (for example
if the number you dial is busy at the moment)? It is all
about the details. They make difference!
How does it work?
There are several features of the software that will
help you save money and plan your expenses while
traveling abroad: the traffic manager, the info section,
the callback manager, the live status, the call cost
calculator, the statistics, the network manager and
the simulation. With these little helpers you will be
more confident and more satisfied while carrying your
handset abroad with you.
Roam-n-Roll traffic manager – After you dial the
desired number or send an SMS, Roam-n-Roll will
automatically direct your traffic via the cheapest
available operator that you are allowed to use! (You are
allowed to use only those networks that have a roaming
agreement with your home network carrier)!
Roam-n-Roll info section – Roam-n-Roll will inform
you on your current call cost and time by showing
you an info box on your device screen while your call
is still in progress. Roam-n-Roll will also inform you if
there are any important rules or information related
to the network carrier you are currently using. The
information we provide will save your money!
Roam-n-Roll call back manager – Roam-n-Roll will
inform you for cheaper call back options if available.
Sometimes in roaming it is cheaper to make a call
then to accept it. If this is the case Roam-n-Roll will
suggest automatic call back option choosing the
network offering the lowest price.
Roam-n-Roll live status – In this section you will
find information about the currently used network,
its tariffs and time zones.
Roam-n-Roll call cost calculator – Here you may
calculate the cost of a call prior to make it by
entering the call details such as: visited country,
destination number, expected call duration, day and
time of call. So that it makes the calculation easier
for you, Roam-n-Roll will keep default statistical
or current values for all the entries except of the
desired destination number.
Roam-n-Roll statistics – This feature will allow
you to see statistical information about your calls
cost and savings achieved by using Roam-n-Roll.
You will be amazed how much you could pay
without us!
Roam-n-Roll networks manager – Here you may
find current information and other important details
about all the available networks that you may use
in the country you are at the moment.
Company: Name of the project: Place in the world: Field of industry: Year of implementation: Melon Technologies
With more than 6000 golf clubs, www.golffriends.
com is about to become the most significant golf
portal in the world. The web-portal belongs to the
Swiss company Hole 1 GmbH and is designed and
developed by the Bulgarian software company Melon
Technologies (www.melontech.com). With its extensive
functionality and content offering the site provides
various golf-related services to players, golf clubs,
professionals and companies alike.
The result of over a year development and design
work, www.golfriends.com is the first initiative of
this scale in Europe. It contains an unprecedented
level of detail about all European golf clubs (rest of
the world will be added beginning of 2007). Golf
clubs are introduced with a short description of their
history, location and terrain features, the facilities they
offer, detailed course parameters (Par, Holes, Length,
Slope, Admission conditions) as well as green fees and
equipment rental rates. Most golf club profiles offer
also driving directions and a photo gallery. Further,
if you are planning to visit a golf club for the first
time you can find out what other players thing
about it. The average rating of the golf club feature,
enable golfers to evaluate a golf club according to
various criteria such as gastronomy, logistics, proshop, practicing areas etc. Golf courses are rated
according to their demanding playing level, optical
condition and general condition. The rating results
are summarized in the form of graphs.
Users can print out the golf club profile and use
it as a travel and playing guide. The print golf club
and course profile functionality, formats the golf
club information in a print-friendly version.
By joining golfriends.com golf fans and
professionals have the unique chance of becoming
part of the European golf community. Members
36
www.golffriends.com
Europe
portals
2006
The partnership between Moeller
Electric Bulgaria and dWare
Situation
dWare is a software developer. Since it was founded in Sofia in 1989 it
has proven to be one of the most competitive and trusted companies in
the industry. dWare develops software applications for the automation of
financial and accounting procedures, management of business procedures
(ERP), integral management of gas and petrol stations, and management of
in-house tasks and procedures. The software applications work in Bulgarian
and English.
dWare is ISO 9001:2000 certified, member of The Bulgarian Chamber
of Commerce and member of The Bulgarian Association of Information
Technologies. The company has offices and representatives in more than
15 cities across Bulgaria, with more than 15,000 sold licences.
dWare provides training for its customers and 24/7 technical support.
The company is a member of the Oracle partner network and Microsoft
registered partner.
Some of dWare’s customers are: The President’s Administration, Ministry
of Justice, Customs agency, Information Services PLC, Bulgarian national
television, Bulgarian national radio, Sofia University “Kliment Ohridski”,
University for National and World Economy, Technical University of Sofia,
American University in Bulgaria, Office 1 Superstore, Filkab JSC, Militzer &
Munh, Wavin Bulgaria, Saint Gobain Weber, Lukoil, Opet/Aygaz, Rompetrol
Bulgaria, Mila Market Ltd.
The Moeller Group, which is based in Bonn, Germany, is one of the
leading, globally active suppliers of systems and components concerned
with power distribution and automation in industrial, infrastructure and
residential building applications.
Founded in 1899, the company has an efficient sales network in all
relevant target markets, being represented in over 90 countries of the world
by 31 national sales subsidiaries and over 350 sales offices and distribution
partners.
The Bulgarian branch of Moeller – Moeller Electric Bulgaria was
established in the beginning of 2006 in Sofia.
Issue
Prior to the creation of Moeller Electric Bulgaria Ltd. Moeller’s products
were sold in Bulgaria through a network of authorized resellers. The resellers
purchased the products directly from the Moeller Group. Initially the office
in Sofia provided only technical support for the resellers.
The aim of the management was to become the exclusive vendor in the
country, purchase the products from the factories across Europe, supply the
resellers and provide technical support and logistics.
Moeller was looking for an experienced partner who could provide
reliable advice and software for the management of sales and accounting
in Sofia. The software had to generate reports in line with the international
standards of the Moeller Group. On the other hand, the team in Sofia had
expectations regarding the functionality of the software, based on previous
experience.
dWare was one of several software companies invited to propose integrated
software solution for the needs of the office and the warehouse facility.
Moeller’s expectations regarding the functionality of the software
included:
• capability to change prices (standard price, average price, production
price, variable price), price lists, discounts for particular clients and
groups of clients
• invoicing – invoices, draft invoices, notification, automatic transformation
of invoices into other documents
•
•
•
•
report for correction of financial results
user and administrator accounts
cash-flow forecasts
possibility to track the physical location of inventory in the
warehouse
• reports and connectivity with SAP
• reliable database
• export and import from MS Excel and MS Word
• capability to develop a web-based application in order to track reports
from any physical location
• connectivity with barcode readers
• reports for arbitrary periods, possibility to change the report structure
and content
• automatic input of identical financial operations
• tax and accounting amortisation plans
The trick was to link Moeller’s specific working procedures and standards
with the architecture of the software. Moeller’s price list includes 37000
items each with several discount plans.
dWare provided
After diagnosing Moeller’s business needs and meeting the management
team dWare came up with a comprehensive solution including software
for full-scale management of business operations, dedicated support, and
timetable for implementation and training courses.
Result
The final agreement between Moeller and dWare included the
implementation of the software, training of the team and subscription
contract maintenance. dWare and Moeller implemented the software and
performed the training within a 4-week timetable.
Konto MS has enabled Moeller Electric Bulgaria to:
• manage the document turnover of orders, sales, inventories, assets,
warehouse reserves, negotiation and contracting procedures, requests
and applications;
• allocate flexible discount strategies for customers and groups of
customers;
• keep track of clients’ history, credit limits, different accountancy practices
and store unlimited amount of data;
• create hierarchical structure of services and commodities;
• perform document mergers;
• keep track of inventory in the warehouse;
• synchronize the business practices in the warehouse and the head
office;
• authorize the exchanges of nomenclatures, documents and transactions
between the work stations and summarize the results;
• fully automate accounting reports.
Currently Moeller Electric Bulgaria Ltd. communicates seamlessly with
the resellers across the country, provides information about availability of
products, manages orders and supplies the products on demand.
11, Panayot Volov Str.
1527 Sofia
Phone: (359 2) 946 15 40
www.dware.bg
Executive: Damian Ivanov
37
can find easily
information about
any European golf
club, exchange ideas
with other players or
book tee-times. The
basic membership to
this golf community
is free of charge.
Members could
look for golf clubs
anywhere in Europe
thanks to the
website’s advanced
search capabilities: interactive map and a multi-tier
search engine. On the interactive map visitors can
find golf clubs in any geographic region. Its zoomin feature, currently under development, displays
a detailed road-map of the area and suggests
possible approaches to the golf club. The search
engine allows users to find golf clubs by name,
country, state and tee times.
The golf portal offers visitors also information
about golf tournaments. They have the option to
make search for the forthcoming tournaments in a
given state or country for a specified time period.
Another important service of golffriends.com is
the online booking. Members can book tee-times
or pro-lessons at discounted rates directly through
the portal.
Within the website miles program players
accumulate points to be used as payment methods
for all services offered through the website. Members
can also take part in golffriends sweepstakes and
earn attractive discounts and prizes.
The member accounts functionality provide
members with information about the current
state of their account including the value of their
account, the value of the miles program, number of
invited and recruited members, number of personal
scorecards and number of booked tee-times.
Another benefit that Golffriends offers to members is
their personal mailbox so they can send or receive mails
from other members without leaving the portal.
A specialized news section informs visitors about
important events from the golf world as well as new services,
promotions and initiative offered by Golffriends.com. In
addition, members have the opportunity to subscribe to
the website’s weekly newsletter which features latest special
offers, sweepstakes and other relevant information.
To golf clubs golffriedns.com offers to the golf clubs
the opportunity to move their business online. Golf clubs
can create and update their profile, sell green fees, define
promotions and discounts, publish news and manage
their entire booking process. Special features such as the
tee time manager and tee time synchronizer connect to
the golf clubs in-house software and allow exchange of
tee time information in real time.
To golf professionals, the portal offers an easy to
use functionality that helps them manage their time
table and student information. The professionals can
also take advantage of work load and student statistics
presented in the form of easy to understand graphs
(e.g. the number of booked lessons for a specified
time period, number of sold lessons to students from
different countries).
The website is an ideal advertising place for any
company offering a golf related service or product.
The banner management system allows companies to
purchase advertising space online. Golffriends.com also
offers companies newsletter advertisement or e-mail
campaign opportunities.
The website’s flexible content management system
allows the continuous update of the existing database.
Currently it is only available in English, German and French
but there will be ten more languages coming soon.
Golffriends.com continues to improve and new
online services are soon to be released. Currently Melon
Technologies is developing a forum and a chat room that
will further enhance the interactivity of the golf portal.
Conclusion
The list of case studies given above is only an exemplary sample of Bulgarian products and
projects. It was constructed to show different areas and capabilities where the Bulgarian companies
can provide solutions and services. There are more Bulgarian companies, products and projects
deserving to be presented because of their excellent professionalism, know-how and accuracy.
One may look at the Versailles fountains or take his flight to Japan or check his mobile bill or
look at some maps or drive his car and so on and so on without knowing that Bulgarian products
or solutions are hidden behind. But this doesn’t matter if he is satisfied.
38
State policy and legislation
of Republic Bulgaria
in ICT sector
39
Bulgarian ICT Policy:
Perspectives and Challenges
The policy in the sector has three main aspects: global, regional and local.
Regional and global perspectives are driven mainly by the policy of European Union:
• to raise the ICT skills of European citizens and encourage the use of e-services
• to establish organized scientific community, which could be mobilized for execution of
big ICT projects
• to strength the co-operation among businesses and between businesses and public
research/higher education institutions by supporting the creation of trans-regional clusters
of excellence
• to develop joint infrastructure projects
• to create valuable e-content in all social spheres and help European countries to promote
their cultural diversity and scientific achievements.
The state policy is also focused on encouraging the regional role (Balkan Peninsula) of
the country in communication, software development, project implementation. For the
Bulgaria also are important the connection with USA ICT business and the co-operation
between Bulgarian and USA government could be seen in many mutual projects and
events. Asia is also an important destination. Especially strong is the co-operation with
Korea. Interest to Bulgaria show also Japan, India, and China.
The State sees perspectives for growth in the ICT sector in:
• Development of secure ICT infrastructure for wide access to public electronic services;
• Provision of integrated electronic services for the needs of citizens and industry;
• Improvement in the IT skills of civil servants and citizens;
• Promotion of investment in the ICT sector and development of R&D networks;
• Creation of a competitive export oriented software industry;
• Capitalisation on Bulgaria’s strong educational traditions;
• Encouragement the small and medium enterprises in the ICT sector;
• Encouragement young graduates to start their own business in Bulgaria;
• Protection of the citizens’ personal data from unauthorized access through observance of
their rights as provided by law.
Key factors for competitiveness of Bulgaria through ICT are:
• Stable and predictable business environment
40
• Productivity based on low cost and high quality of the labour force
• Well-developed ICT Industry
• Rapid and complete implementation of acquis in the Information Society area
• Effective use of the European Structural and Cohesion Funds in 2007-2013
• Active participation in the Community programs and initiatives
• Investment in ICT R&D and wider ICT take-up in the public and private sector
• Strengthening innovation in ICTs
• Better coordination and cooperation between more and less developed EU regions
• High quality educational system in electronics, telecommunications and computer sciences;
• A combination of software and hardware skills;
• Very competitive pricing for IT expert manpower;
• Long traditions and experience in the IT sector;
• Strategic manufacturing location – direct access to Eastern and Western European markets;
• Highly entrepreneurial environment.
Legal framework
The information technology and computing market is unregulated and is thriving on the basis
of experience acquired in computer technologies and production.
The legal framework in the field of telecommunications has evolved and is expected complete
implementation of the EU electronic communications regulatory framework 2002 till the end of 2006.
The transposition of the acquis in the Information Society area has been completed to a
great extent. With the adoption of Council of Ministers Decree No 165 of 14 July 2004 on the
organization and coordination of the exchange of information in the field of technical standards
and regulations for Information Society services, a full compliance with Directive 98/48/EC,
supplementing Directive 98/34/EC has been achieved.
The Law on Electronic Commerce has been adopted by the National Assembly on
June 9, 2006. The Law on Electronic Commerce fully transposes Directive 2000/31/EC on certain legal
aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market.
The basic requirements of Directive 98/84/EC on the legal protection of services based on or
consisting of conditional access have transposed with the Law on Ratification of the Council of
Europe Convention on the legal protection of services based on or consisting of conditional access
(State Gazette issue 55 of 17.06.2003). Adequate measures against the infringement activities
are included in the draft Law on Electronic Communications. The draft legal act provides for the
transposition of the remaining provisions of Directive 98/84/EC. The Law is envisaged to enter
into force on 1.01.2007.
Till the end of the 2006 the Draft Law for electronic governance will be voted by the
Parliament.
With the amended legislative provisions in the Information Society area and the additional
measures undertaken, the full implementation of the EC requirements will be achieved until 1
January 2007.
41
State Agency for Information Technology and Communications
In order to implement the priority of ICT, which is one of the main sections of the programs of the two
political parties in the ruling coalition, the State Agency for Information Technology and Communications
was established to the Council of Ministers in September, 2005. It pursues the state policy in the field of
IT and communications aiming at of Information Society that will ensure enhanced social and economic
development of the country.
Chairman
Mr. Plamen Vatchkov
Doctor of Technical Sciences
Senior Scientific Associate
Member of the Scientific Board of the Institute of Technical Cybernetics and Robotics Member
of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, from 1985
Member of the Balkan Academy of Science and Culture
Deputy Chairman
Sector Information Society and
Information Technologies
Mr. Tosho Nedialkov
Master of Philosophy in Physics
Higher Degree in Physics
Vice-President of the European Quality
Organization –
the software group
Deputy Chairman
Sector Telecommunications and
Posts
Mr. Stoicho Stoikov
Engineer in Telecommunications
Technology
Specialist in Telegraph
Technology
Specialization in Digital
Commutation – Japan
Inspectorate
Information Security Officer
General Administration
• Administrative and Information Service,
and Human Resources Directorate
• Finance, Economic Activities, and Crises
Management Directorate
• Legal Directorate
Specialized Administration
• European Integration and International
Activities Directorate
• Communications Policy Directorate
• Information Society and Information
Technologies Directorate
• Innovations and Project Management
Directorate
Deputy Chairman
Sector International relations and
Radiocommunications
Mr. Dimitar Stanchev
Engineer in Telecommunications
Technology
Chief Secretary
Mr. Oleg Zlatarski
Engineer in Automation
and Tele-mechanics
Specialization in Automated
Postal Desks – Hanover
Specialization in radiocommunications – AT&T, USA
42
Gen. Joseph Gurko” Str № 6
Sofia 1000
Phone: +359 2 949 21 15
fax: +359 2 980 3810
info@daits.government.bg
Non-governmental organizations
in Bulgarian software industry
Bulgarian software industry – brand for
quality and innovations
Bulgaria is well known for the pool of talents,
innovative thinking, and proactive people.
Building an industry out of these sources,
however, is not a trivial task. Bulgarian software
companies did it. BASSCOM (www.basscom.
eu) member companies, currently 40, are well
positioned on international markets, having
more than 80% of their production for export.
Although the capacity of resources is not
unlimited, we compensate with a critical mass
of highly-qualified, well educated professionals.
They master both the practical understanding
of business process models and high level
theoretical and technical skills to deliver efficient,
costeffective international solutions. Our software
teams have proved their ability to deliver George Sharkov, Chairman of BASSCOM (Bulgarian Association
solutions where others faced dead-end. The of Software Companies), Director of ESI Center Bulgaria
projects vary from boutique type and short
time-to-market pilots to solid and complex architectures.
Company and project management are the key factors to efficiently utilize the technical skills and
creative capabilities. Bulgarian software companies have recognized the software process improvement as
a roadmap for their maturity and competitiveness. In addition to well implemented ISO standards, they are
committed to universally acknowledged methodologies and software engineering standards – CMM/CMM®I
(SEI), SPICE. Their company excellence is based on the following perspectives:
customer perspective – satisfied customers typically become long-term partners
financial aspect – yet cost/quality efficiency and value-added services work for us
stable organization – process quality is our main warranty for quality products
knowledge management - learning and innovations are basis for our continuous improvement, industrial
and service know-how and specialization
A driver to industry excellence is the established in 2004 regional Excellence center of the European
Software Institute (ESI Center Bulgaria – www.esicenter.bg ) as a public-private initiative between Bulgarian
Government, BASSCOM and ESI (Spain), supported by UNDP. The center supports ICT sector in Central and
43
Eastern European countries by promoting proven methodologies for establishing and improving adequate
work processes. Several companies in Bulgaria and the region are implementing CMMI and target appraisals
for next year. A tailored integrated model ITMark was introduced in 2005 and became a quality seal for
SMEs. The assessment is based on CMMI model, IT Security standards (ISO 17799) and Business Maturity
evaluation (10-squared).
Having quality and innovations as main competitive advantages, Bulgarian software companies are preferred
and trusted supplier and partner in sectors like automotive and aerospace industries, civil construction
and machine building, insurance and finances. The provocative innovations in mobile applications, learning
and edutainment, fancy graphics design complete the cheerful palette. BASSCOM companies also form
the basis of the regional brand of high-quality software hub.
Bulgarian Association of Software Companies - BASSCOM
The main goal of the Association is to establish the software industry as an essential part of the
Bulgarian economy. Its mission is to promote competitive advantages and long-term traditions in software
development and to encourage acquisition of best practices to raise company excellence.
BASSCOM is a non-profit industry association of 40 advanced Bulgarian software development companies
recognised for their high-quality services offering sophisticated information systems, IS reengineering,
IT consulting, complex B2B solutions, e-business, e-learning and wireless applications for industries incl.
Academics, Aerospace & Defence, CAD/CAM systems, Charity, Construction, Entertainment, Finance, Freight
Forwarding, Healthcare, Insurance, Telecommunications, Tourism, large track record and reliability as
professional business partners. They are well-organized with a focus on high morality of people involved,
customer satisfaction and good project management and offer high flexibility, short time-to-market and
professional development of complex and creative solutions, being the development of CMMI and ISO
standards their business philosophy.
Main activities:
- Company Excellence – raising software process excellence, project management and quality assurance
based on the newest quality standards. BASSCOM is cofounder of the regional excellence center of the
European Software Institute (Spain) in Bulgaria, which has been set up as a milestone for raising company
excellence and encourages companies to implement latest software engineering standards.
- Education, R&D and Innovation – BASSCOM Workgroup for Education, Research and Innovation
promotes an ongoing collaboration with government and academic institutions representatives to raise
the level of IT education and development.
- Marketing Software Business – BASSCOM works for branding of Bulgarian software & IT industry
and promoting Eastern Europe as high-quality software hub. Export Promotion Work Group was set up to
work for better exposure of the Bulgarian software industry abroad and establish Bulgaria as a recognized
presence in the global software development market. BASSCOM organizes the Bulgarian participation at
world expos & international fairs (as CeBIT, SYSTEMS, Outsource World).
- Business networking opportunities – BASSCOM organizes an International Annual Conference and
participates in the networking projects European IST and SEE-Innovation, it is also the Bulgarian partner
to the Best Practice IT initiative.
- National Strategy – BASSCOM is a key player in ICT Competitiveness Strategy for industry development
and raising the level of competitiveness of the sector, endorsed by the Bulgarian Government. It acts for
IT penetration in all industrial fields and building the information society in line with i2010 European
Strategy.
www.basscom.org
www.basscom.eu
44
The Bulgarian Association of Information
Technologies (BAIT)
Bulgaria definitely has many talented people in the
fields of Mathematics and Informatics. This is perhaps
due to the decades of state investments and attention
during the period of command market. Unfortunately,
in recent years such attention is not available anymore
and this is why we can already see a shortage of
cadres. However, universities do not admit more
students and therefore this shortage could further
increase. BAIT recognizes this problem and sees the
solution in the development of relationships between
business and universities and even specialized schools.
Actually, managers of software companies have already
realized that it is not possible to recruit well-grounded
programmers directly from college. Of course, students
should acquire the fundamental knowledge there but
universities are not able to train them on the latest
technologies and products. Therefore there is a need
for additional forms of education, which should find a
realization in near future. BAIT expects an increase in Ognian Trayanov, member of the board of directors
the investments in additional forms of education and of BAIT, responsible for the software industry.
opening of many training centers.
BAIT sees the interaction between business and universities in several aspects. First, businesses should
support universities in admitting more students in related disciplines. BAIT understands this support as the
development of accurate forecasts based on professional studies for the type and number of specialists the
business needs in short and long term. Also the business should send a clear message to the universities
what exactly it expects from the education and what it is ready to take as its responsibility.
Other forms of relationships with the universities include step-by-step breaching the wall, behind which
some old practices of education are still hiding. This wall is called university autonomy. BAIT sees this
breaching not through blaming the low level of some lecturers or outdated classes, but through donations.
What is meant here is not donations in the form of hardware and software, which are far from real needs
now, but donations in the form of training of instructors, master classes for more inspired students,
internships in certified companies. BAIT would also like to reach a point where the universities preparing
their programs will accept advice from the business based on the real technologies used by the software
companies and on the future trends.
All mentioned measures will help universities work on real business projects with interesting examples
in the lectures, interesting courses, up-to-date senior thesis and PhD projects.
For the development of the software industry, it is very important how companies work with the human
capital. This is why BAIT will organize events to educate Bulgarian companies in management practices
of IT Human Resources.
On the positive side, the software industry is growing fast and most software companies report two-digit
growth of about 25% and for the well-established companies it even reaches 100%. Also, the formation of
good profit gives software companies the possibility of reinvestment in new products and services. BAIT
sees the possibilities for further growth in the projects with public-private partnership, in the business
processes outsourcing, in developing niche products.
BAIT also works with the state authorities, persuading them to understand the importance of the software
industry and to undertake the proper steps for its further development. BAIT will continue to remind the
45
government how beneficial is the software industry for the country. This is the business without environmental
pollutions; it doesn’t require heavy resources, except human resources, or big capital investments.
BAIT also defines some of the future trends. The first is the aggressive and increasing demand by foreign
companies to purchase Bulgarian software companies. The companies of interest are the ones which
have products with established market or clients on subscription base, companies with easily convertible
knowledge and skills in implementation of some of the biggest software packages or with good niche
solutions. There are many such companies in Bulgaria and a combination of the big marketing engine of
some western investor with such a company will be beneficial for both the Bulgarian company and the
investor bringing it to international market.
Some other trends are the processes of acquisition, buying, shareholding, risk investments and BAIT will
make efforts to educate Bulgarian companies about interests, possibilities, and threats in these processes,
about what they can expect from so-called business angels, etc. In short, BAIT will try to broaden the
business culture of the entrepreneurs.
Our vision is that what will boost the name of Bulgarian software industry are companies that have
succeeded to develop commercial products, well-accepted by the international market, in which they have
implemented considerable know-how and have recieved references by their respected clients. They will
be the flagship of the Bulgarian software industry.
The Bulgarian Association of Information Technologies (BAIT) is the biggest non-governmental,
democratic organization, representing 210 members, which have the major share of the IT market. It
unifies information technology companies on a voluntarily, common-interest basis and thus works for the
development of a modern, democratic state with a real market economy, functioning on the principles
of free and loyal competition.
Mission: To define and defend the common interests of its members by winning a priority role for
the information technology sector in the development of the national economy.
Bearing in mind the tendencies in the development of the world economy, BAIT believes that Information
Technologies (IT) is the most advanced and prosperous branch, which should be developed with priority
in Bulgaria.
The association defends the interests of its members and aids the development of the sector as a
whole, using all legal and upright means: lobbying before the state and legislative organs, participating in
the activities of various Bulgarian and international organs and organizations devoted to IT development,
participating in the legislative processes related to IT, organizing exhibitions, public discussions and roundtables, using well-targeted media policy, etc.
This is why the main goal of BAIT is to constantly re-affirm its position of the most prestigious and
influential non-governmental organization of the IT branch. Some of the other goals (in short) are:
Improving the business climate in Bulgaria to create a market economy meeting European standards;
Stimulating the growth of the software industry; Improving the competitiveness of Bulgarian companies
in the field of information technologies; Effective cooperation with the state administration and the public
sector; Creating, developing, and preserving the human resource potential in Bulgaria
Partners of BAIT worldwide are:
• BITKOM
• World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA)
• World Congress on IT 2004
• EICTA
• European project ISIS
• Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency (KIPA)
• Union of Automatics and Informatics
• 3rd Greek - Turkish Information Society Forum
www.bait.bg
46
Bulgarian ICT Cluster
The Bulgarian ICT Cluster is organization of the Bulgarian ICT
business, a policy maker and a know-how transfer center. As
the information and communication technology companies in
Bulgaria increase in number and become more mature, so does
the nongovernmental sector that represents them and/or focuses
on the ICT issues. There are many business associations of ICT
sub sectors and ICT NGOs in Bulgaria, 15 of which have united
in an open business form called the ICT Cluster Society.
The fundamental mechanism for policy creation are the
working groups of the Bulgarian ICT cluster. They are flexible
organisms, that form at ICT Cluster Society decisions and address
a topic of current importance, usually in the realm of the four
main strategic directions pursuant to the National ICT Strategy.
As of September 2006 the active working groups are in the
following areas: e-government, e-education, e-justice and legal
framework, e-health, telecommunications and liberalization of
market, investments and strategic development, public-private
partnership, incubators and venture capital.
Peter Statev, chairman of the Board of Bulgarian
ICT Cluster
The steady growth in the figures in the sector will continue and so will the expertise of the professionals.
One important tendency not shown in the figures is the specialization of the companies in Bulgaria. Only
a few years ago teams were forming around tasks coming form the partners abroad, whereas the small
companies now are growing, specializing, managing their own portfolios and even looking beyond Bulgaria’s
borders for skilled labor, and for company growth. Not only have the managerial capabilities in the sector as
a whole grown, but a state of the art quality standards have been introduced, such as CMMI, IT Mark and
more from the European Software Institute – Regional Center in Bulgaria. The center’s location in Bulgaria is
a clear sign for the maturity of the software industry.
Two governments already have pointed out ICT as a priority sector. This has not materialized so far in
any concrete action on the government’s behalf, but at the same time the business community has really
acted as a true leader: self-organizing the national strategy for development, elaborating messages and
presenting Bulgarian ICT sector abroad, creating innovative organizations such as the ICT Cluster etc.
If we look at the direction for development that the Bulgarian ICT sector is having: from quickly
reformulating its ex-comecon status to a trusted partner for outsourced tasks, then from pure outsourcing
to more elaborate partnering and product development, and now to full-grown healthy market companies,
one might wonder what’s next…
What we see is more and more regional collaboration, which will continue and even intensify in the future,
hopefully unobstructed by Bulgaria’s EU entry. Another positive trend which will continue is the return of
well-educated Bulgarians, a.k.a. brain-gain. Infrastructure is improving, not at the initially foreseen speed,
but still the investment in broadband infrastructure for the schools and citizens is inevitable. Finally, on a
not-so-positive note, the labor market constraints will continue to present themselves, but as mentioned
before the business community is developing some possible remedies for this set of problems, again with
the leading participation of the software business community.
If we need to characterize the priorities for development in the ICT area with one phrase that would be:
Public-Private Partnership, PPP in all areas: from the qualitative dialogue during policy formation, through
the joint policy implementation in a true extended PPP to even simple collaboration in the presentation
of Bulgaria at international forums and events. PPP is not a simple task and although we’ve made some
progress, where is still a lot to do. It’s a long process that requires constant investment of time and effort
on behalf of the active members of the business community, but we believe that Bulgaria has firmly
stepped on that road and hope to continue with a good pace on it.
www.ictalent.bg
47
European Software Institute - Center Bulgaria
Solution for Industry Maturity in Eastern Europe
ESI Center Bulgaria is the excellence center of European Software Institute (ESI) for Eastern Europe.
Our mission is to implement leading strategic management and software engineering methodologies to
increase industry capacity and productivity in the region. Our aim is the continuous improvement of your
business and competitiveness. We support organizations to choose proper Software Process Improvement
(SPI) roadmap and to achieve better Return on Investment and Innovation, through awareness, analysis,
planning, training, implementation and certification.
ESI Center Bulgaria was established in 2003 by the European Software Institute, Spain (ESI), the Bulgarian
Association of Software Companies (BASSCOM) and the Bulgarian State Agency on ICT Development,
supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). ESI Center Bulgaria is a founder of ESI
Centers Alliance, integrating ESI Spain, ESI Center Brasilia, ESI Center Mexico and ESI Center Shanghai.
Current products and services: We provide services related to 5 leading methodologies:
• CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) - defines routine practices to empower creativity and
innovations in software and systems engineering. Offers the latest product and service development,
and maintenance models. Guarantees continuous process improvement. The world-recognized model
is developed by SEI at the Carnegie Mellon University.
• IT Mark - assesses and certifies the quality of SMEs in three areas: Business Management, Information
Security Management and Maturity of their IT Development Processes. The world-recognized models
are followed.
• BITS™ (Balanced IT Scorecard) - an effective communication mechanism to formulate, transmit and
agree on the strategy of an organization. Developed by European Software Institute Spain.
• PEPIT (Professional Engineering Process Improvement Training)- provides practicing software
engineers with methods and techniques to improve their skills. Grounded on a process framework.
• IT Card – system for certification of basic Information Technology (IT) skills, which accredits a person’s
knowledge and abilities in the use of computing tools and of the Internet
Achievements - in the region of Eastern Europe
• Awareness on CMMI training, consulting and implementation was built in Armenia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine;
• Eleven CMMI related courses were organized in the region of Eastern Europe;
• More than 80 software professionals from Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, and Hungary were trained
in “Introduction to CMMI” official course of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at the Carnegie
Mellon University;
• A number of companies in Armenia, Bulgaria and Romania are supported in CMMI implementation
and certification;
• A number of companies from Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania have conducted ITMark appraisals.
48
Applied Research and Communications Fund –
Organizational Profile
ARC Fund (www.arcfund.net) is a private non-profit organization established in Sofia in 1991. Today it
is one of the leading Bulgarian NGOs working in the areas of Information Society, knowledge economy,
innovation and transnational technology transfer.
ARC Fund’s projects and activities are aimed at:
• Assisting the formulation and implementation of public policies in the above areas by conducting
applied research and providing policy and industry analyses;
• Promoting public policy consensus by bringing together the key actors;
• Building capacity in professional groups by providing specialized training and facilitating the transfer
of knowledge and international best practice;
• Enhancing the capacity of Bulgarian enterprises to innovate by technology brokering and consulting.
INFORMATION SOCIETY
ARC Fund’s work in the area of Information Society (IS) touches on different aspects of the institutional
and policy frameworks for IS development on a national, regional and trans-border levels. ARC Fund regularly
monitors and assesses the penetration and usage of new information and communication technologies,
and their impact on Bulgarian society. This monitoring exercise is done by an inter-disciplinary IT Group
involving experts in sociology, economics, business administration and management, software engineering,
mass media, and law. The group’s main analytical product is the e-Bulgaria Report. This annual publication
provides a comprehensive assessment of Bulgaria’s state of preparedness for the information society and
covers such areas as e-infrastructure, e-society, e-education, e-business, e-government and e-policies.
Through its ICT policy analyses and studies ARC Fund informs and influences the national policy-making
in the area of information society. It has been a strong advocate for reforms in the regulatory framework
of telecommunications and information society by drafting legislation and organizing high-level forums.
ARC Fund has published a number of books, analytical reports, educational brochures, and newsletters.
Since 2001 ARC Fund also operates the national e-Bulgaria Information Society Promotion Office (ISPO)
which provides information, consulting and training services on the EU policies and research programs in
the field of IST to local businesses, public administrations, NGOs, academic institutions, and citizens.
INNOVATION AND TRANSNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
ARC Fund’s activities in the area of Innovation and Transnational Technology Transfer are focused on
developing the national innovation system on three levels: (i) at sectoral level, providing support to
companies and clusters through technology brokering, technology counseling and international technology
transfers; (ii) at meso-level, assisting the development of regional innovation strategies, institutions and
networks for Bulgaria’s regions; and (iii) at macro-level, applying foresight methodologies to shape future
national innovation policies.
Since 1997 ARC Fund hosts the Innovation Relay Center (IRC) in Bulgaria. Through this operation ARC
Fund provides technology brokering, innovation counseling, training and information services to over 3,000
companies and research organizations in various industrial sectors, including ICT.
Every year ARC Fund publishes a comprehensive review of the level of innovativeness of the Bulgarian
economy – i.e. the Innovation.Bg Report. ARC Fund also organizes a National Innovation Forum and
annual competition of the most innovative Bulgarian enterprises.
Over the years ARC Fund has build up a strong reputation of being a reliable partner to government
agencies, private businesses and associations, academic institutions and international development partners
(incl. the European Commission, World Bank, UNDP, USAID and others).
ARC Fund’s successful track record of EU projects spans programs such as FP4, 5 and 6; STRATA, INCO;
Leonardo; Safer Internet; PHARE, and others.
ARC Fund employs a team of young professionals with diverse backgrounds.
49
BULGARIAN WEB ASSOCIATION (BWA)
http://www.bwa.bg
Chairman:
Janet Naidenova
Members of the Board:
Justine Toms, Kiril Apostolov, Petko Karamochev,
Plamen Vushev, Venera Alexandrova
Business Secretary:
Evelina Zheleva
Bulgarian Web Association (BWA)
Bulgarian Web Association (BWA) was established
in 2004 as an independent, voluntary public
organization, representing the interests of the webprofessionals in Bulgaria. BWA is the only association
which activities are directed to the benefit and
defense of legal entities and natural bodies, working
on design, arrangement, organization, realization
and hosting of Internet sites, web-design and
Internet marketing. The Web Association is open
for everyone willing to become a member or to
co-operate with it. Together with the TV World
Foundation BWA organizes the International Media
Awards for Web – Albena (www.albena.bwa.bg).
Since 2004, BWA organizes the “Bulgarian Web Site
of the Year” Competition (www.bgsite.org).
Slogan
Discover New Opportunities
Aims
n To be part of legislative and national initiatives
in the field of web & Internet
n To work for establishing professional standards
among the members of the association for ethics,
service and quality
n To popularize Internet as communication channel
in Bulgaria and the web as a type of media
Mission
To participate in the development of the webtechnologies for ensuring a good environment
50
and standards for quality services and products. To
promote the advantages of web and Internet among
the business society, government and non-government
organizations, present and future collaborates in EC
and NATO.
Priorities
n Promoting Bulgaria as a market for creating innovative
and quality web-applications.
n Generating business for its members
n Presenting BWA at different international forums,
fairs, exhibitions
n Promoting competitive advantages and expertise
of member companies, BWA develops and keeps
ongoing relations with partners in Europe and in the
Balkan region.
n Conducting researches and other marketing activities
in the field of web development, Internet media and
Internet marketing
Activities
n Expresses and defends statements of BWA upon
normative documents and state decisions, related to
the members` activities
n Organizes business meetings, seminars, exhibitions,
courses and qualification workshops and other events
in the country and abroad
n Contacts and assists for equal in rights attitude
among members and regulatory bodies
Membership
There are full and associated members of the BWA.
More than 2300 specialists work for BWA members.
See who are the BWA members at: www.bwa.bg
Bulgarian Web Association is a member of Bulgarian
ICT Cluster Society.
Cadres, education and training in ICT
As it becomes clear in previous pages, Bulgaria has highly professional labor force in its software industry
but the fast growth of this industry already leads to shortage of specialists. The fight for specialists is lead
by foreign investors which provide the best salaries, following by Bulgarian software companies, corporate
business, SMEs and State administration. Big multinational companies are also looking for software engineers
in Bulgaria. For example at Microsoft Corp. in USA work more than 150 Bulgarians.
The educational system is still lagging behind and produces only about 3500 software engineers per
year. Many companies take young boys and girls with some skills directly from the school and train them
further. To produce more students the universities needs financing, buildings and more support from the
government and business. The universities are also lagging behind with their programs but for the last several
years some of them are very active in launching new modern disciplines. Here are some examples.
The Faculty of mathematics and informatics (FMI) of Sofia University is the main location for education
in Computer Science. This year the university launched two new programs for bachelors (Information
Systems and Software Engineering), meeting the international standards. More options this year are also
available in master level in programs of Informatics, Robotics and Information Security. FMI is also active in
co-operation with the business. The partnership includes establishment of laboratories and co-educational
programs. FMI works with Cisco, HP, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle and with Bulgarian software companies.
Plovdiv University works on transformation of the e-Commerce Laboratory in international interuniversity
center for e-learning and distant learning. German, UK and Ireland universities are partners of the project.
They will provide co-developed courses. Every course will have firstly English version which will be next
localized automatically. The course of Software engineering is already completed and it will be available
in 15 universities.
In 2006 the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG) celebrated its 15th anniversary. It is the best
technology-equipped university. This year AUBG adds also a new program - along with Computer Science
curriculum it provides courses in Management of Information Systems. The students of the university
have the possibility to work in R&D projects, such as SEEArchWeb (classification and 3D visualization of
archeological finds). Students are also very active and they helped in launching course in Robotics, as well
as a GRID project.
In 1997 in Technical University the R&D Laboratory “Technologies for education” was established. The
Laboratory is working on research and development of modern architectures for e-learning and distributed
environment for mobile users on the basis of open professional standards.
Since 2005 Bulgarian government started a program for equipment of Bulgarian schools with PCs,
servers, printers, scanners and Internet access. Already more than 27000 PCs and 3100 servers have been
delivered; many LANs were established, also broadband Internet access was provided. The program will
continue until all Bulgarian schools are equipped. It is complemented with training of the teachers and
creation of e-lessons. The program of Microsoft “Partners in the knowledge”, devoted to popularization
and promotion of usage of information technologies in the schools, is already available in Bulgaria. The
Microsoft initiative will be implemented in 5 years in Bulgarian schools.
Many companies established training centers where they provide education in up-to-date technologies
and products.
51
Bulgarian business outlook
In general Bulgaria looks good for doing business. Growth of 5 % per year,
inflation dropping, EU entry per 2008 seems secure, maybe even earlier.
Because of the EU ambitions the political direction is directed towards stability,
being cautious with debts and focus on reforms.
EU entry in theory means that Bulgaria will enter the overall consolidation
game. In each industry we see that at the end stage only a few big players
on a global level remain. Even in very local services you see with a delay the
same development. The negative view would be that ultimately all Bulgarian
companies will be bought, a development we already see in the bank sector.
The other view is that leading Bulgarian companies understand that they are
now in a temporary regional niche situation. They should use the current
‘interbellum’ to prepare. Now is the time for the companies to put the right
strategy in place to survive this merger endgame.
Jan van der Oord
Vice President
A.T. Kearney
A.T. Kearney has developed a database with 662.000 companies out of which we distilled the 600 top
performing niche players to learn from them. All of them started with a regional niche strategy, mostly
together combined with a product niche.
These TPNs grow faster than the average industry (e.g. US GDP) and even faster than the best large
corporations, analyzed in other growth studies (e.g. US).
They do not differ much by performance, size or strategy across industries and geographical regions. The
combinations of selected niches differ across industries along the endgame curve. Therefore we provide
industry specific strategy benchmarks to clients.
The identified TPNs indicate seven common key success factors across industries and countries.
Long-term strategy with focus on endgame niches:
1. Long-term commitment to industry
2. Combining product/regional niche strategies with other niche strategy options
3. Adapting the selected niche strategies according to the industry endgame curve.
Growth management skills which enable the sustainable implementation of selected niche strategies:
4. Balancing internal and external growth
5. Sustaining healthy financial structure
6. Sustaining asset productivity
7. Keeping pressure on organizational productivity
What does this mean for A.T. Kearney management consultants?
As management consultants, we see Bulgaria following the same pattern as other upcoming countries.
52
Employing consultants is first regarded as something vague or compared to counseling by individual greyhaired seniors or seen in a negative sense, as a weakness of the management. The market is crowded with
many local, small, specialized consultants.
At the moment the company ownership structures become clear and stable, companies have to stand on
their own feet, professional managers come in to grow the value of the company. These managers see the
value of consultants to help them put a sound strategy in place, help establish new ways of approaching
the market, launch new offerings, support the own organization to change more rapidly, introduce new
ways of working, change the organization to become more market oriented, support the business use of
IT systems, etc. This is the time when the demand for more international consultants increases.
The EU entry will increase competition, therefore companies want to understand what these competitors
are doing, how they operate, what they can learn from this new competition. In Bulgaria consultancy is
in the beginning stages, but the EU entry is speeding up the development. In short: good time for us to
establish ourselves. We are dedicated to establish contacts with the business and university community,
hire and train local consultants and grow our business base.
Zooming in on the IT industry
Let us have a look at the Information Systems industry. The industry is internationally already well
developed and entering what we defined as the Focus Phase.
In this Focus phase, the high volume commodity business is dominated by a few larger (European, or
even global) players with massive scale advantages, including the advantage of being the internationally
accepted standard. The margins have decreased rapidly, but with volume the profits are in absolute terms
very good. Larger companies are merging, like Oracle taking over PeopleSoft. The market is interested in
more value-added, specialized products. Being a first mover has an advantage, but only temporary before
the high volume players start commoditizing. Hence we see the companies in the IT industry using a
combination of Product Niche with Innovation or Speed as the most favored strategies.
53
What does the Merger Endgame concept mean for Bulgarian companies?
As we see in the picture below, Bulgaria is still very much, as we call it, a ‘simple’ grower, revenue is
increasing, but the value creation stays behind. Bulgarian companies, also IT companies, should use the
current momentum of highly skilled, but still cheap labor to enter the next stage of competition. Be quick
with developing new specialized products for the international market, keep the focus, find a controlled
exit strategy of the commodity business. Form alliances now to ensure a pipeline of new products and
solutions in the selected specialized areas. Now the negotiation position is still strong with the advantage
of having direct control of the developing market channels.
Another opportunity is to focus on the servicing the local market, supporting Bulgarian companies
with the growing need for implementing business solutions. Larger international companies need local
companies to implement.
Many opportunities. They all have one thing in common. They require conscious decision making and
consistent implementation. Riding with the wave will most probably lead into dependency on the actions
of larger, international competition. You cannot escape the global merger endgame, but it is our firm
believe that local companies that recognize the endgame will make the best decisions and ultimately will
generate the most value to all stakeholders: shareholders, workers, suppliers and the community.
More concrete, we recommend the following actions:
• Develop from regional strategy into an Endgame relevant niche strategy
• Spur revenue growth through focused sales push program
• Improve capital management, e.g. conduct an overall asset improvement program
• Establish continuous organizational optimization program, e.g. overhead cost reduction, sales force
efficiency
54
Bulgaria in short
History of Bulgaria will take you back dozens of centuries to Pliska, Preslav
and Veliko Tarnovo - the seats of the first Bulgarian khans, czars and kings; to
the stone carving of the Madara Horseman; to the Thracian Gold Treasure; to
the breathtaking murals of the Kazanlak Tomb and the church in Boyana; to the
quiet wisdom of the Rila Monastery and to the towns of Koprivshtitsa, Melnick
and Zheravna - Renaissance legends of wood, stone and color.
Traditions could be felt in the unique rhythm, melody and harmony of the
Bulgarian folk songs and chants; your heart will sense them in the merry and healthy
joyful and vivid atmosphere of the rituals and celebrations. You will discern them
in the everlasting beauty of the handicrafts, finely woven in the ceramic vignettes
and wood carvings, colorful rugs and hammered copper-ware. You will find them in
the refined taste of Bulgarian cuisine and in the fine aroma of Bulgarian wines.
Culture of Bulgaria one can find in the museums, including the world’s oldest
gold; with beautiful collections of works from self-taught old masters to modern
painters in the art galleries; with classical concerts and folklore song-and-dance
festivals.
Nature fascinates everybody with its fantastic creativity, squeezing so much
beauty onto such a tiny land - curious rock formations and mysterious caves; sunny
seashores with golden sands, quiet coves and romantic capes; majestic mountains
with fiery peaks, mirror lakes and shady woods full of scent.
Facts for Bulgaria
Location: Geographic coordinates: Population: Area:
Capital: Border Countries: International airports: Coastline: Visas: Currency: Climate: Winter time: Summer time: Terrain: Lowest point: Highest point: Electricity: Weights & measures: Tourism in Bulgaria: Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Romania and Turkey
43 00 N, 25 00 E
7.8 million
• total: 110,910 sq km
• water: 360 sq km
Sofia, 1,5 million citizens
Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkey
Sofia, Varna, Burgas
354 km
citizens of most European countries can stay 30 to 90 days without a visa.
Bulgarian Lev (approx. 0.51 EUR)
temperate; relatively cold winters; hot and dry summers
GMT +2 hours (October through March)
GMT +3 hours (April through September)
mostly mountains with lowlands in north and northeast
Black Sea - 0 m.
Musala peak at Rila mountain - 2,925 m.
220V, 50 Hz
Metric
8 million visitors per year
55
Bulgarian software companies
56
ACSIOR Ltd.
Year of establishment: 1991
Mission and brief description
Development and implementation of software by user requirements,
navigation software, mobile systems for data collection, data
acquisition by intelligent censors, GPS/GPRS communication. Systems
for Electronic data interchange (EDI) for retailers and suppliers.
Implementation of ERP systems.
Complex engineering services, design and development of computer
systems, networks, communications, computer security, antivirus
protection.
Development and production of specialized controllers (Embedded
Systems) and Real Time Systems managing software.
Competitive qualities: Long traditions and experience in design
and development of complex information systems, efficient project
management and complete system for control and guarantee of the
implemented products’ quality.
Quality certificates and awards: ISO 9001:2000
Main fields of activity
Governmental administration, trade and production companies, banks
and insurance companies, industrial systems for work in real time,
applications in the mobile navigation, collection and transmission
of telemetric data, etc.
Technologies
Object-oriented, 3-layer architecture,
WEB based applications and portals,
Rational Rose,
IBM WebSphere,
Lotus Domino,
JAVA, J2EE,EJB, XML/XSL, SOAP/WSDL,
MS.NET, MS Visual studio,
Embedded SW,
C,C++,VC++,
PiEOS
Windows CE
Symbian
GPS/GSM/GPRS
Successfully accomplished projects
Unified information system for counteraction against crime
(UISCAC).
National registry of the statistical units
Centralized information system for operative control over the sales
of lottery tickets.
Software for management of collection, processing and transmission
of telemetric data through GPS/GPRS communications.
Main clients of the company
l National statistical institute
l Ministry of justice
l Supreme administrative court
l Ministry of interior
l State Lottery
l Bulbank
l ZAPAD Allianz
l ASO PIRELI
l SARANTIS
l ОТОТОP
l Coca Cola Bulgaria
l Tandem
l Zagorka
Purpose of participating in this catalogue
Possibility for widest presentation of ACSIOR’s experience and potential
for providing software developments and integrated IT solutions.
Business characteristics of the company
Number of employees, April 2006: 55
Approximate turnover in 2005: 4.8 million BGN
Revenues by activities
61% software development
29% hardware delivery and system engineering services
Revenues by geographic location
92,2% Bulgaria
7,8% Western Europe
Address:
1504 Sofia, 8B Hristo Georgiev Str.
Tel.: +359 2 9438356
E-mail: info@acsior.com,
www.acsior.com
Manager and contact person:
PLamen Tchiripov – President
Dimitar Vassilev – Sales and
Service Manager
57
Crossroad Ltd.
Year of establishment: 2004
Mission and brief description
We help businesses to find the best way to optimize their information
management.
Crossroad Ltd. is specialized in offering a wide range of specialized
services that cover the complete process of implementing software
solutions – requirements analysis, specification of functionality,
selection of appropriate approach and technology, development,
deployment and training.
There are two types of software services offered by Crossroad Ltd.:
l Development consulting services for solution provider companies.
The most common services that we provide are:
Technology consulting services
Software audit and review services
Project management services
Software development services
l End user software solutions
Crossroad Ltd. offers custom business management solutions.
The expertise of the company is focused on Customer Relationship
Management and Case Management solutions.
l Own products
Crossroad Ltd. develops a warehouse management IT solution based on
mobile devices. The solution provides location management, inventory
management, orders and deliveries, integration with ERP solutions.
Competitive qualities: Crossroad Ltd. is a software development
and consulting company with unique expertise in Microsoft .NET
development platform. Our team has industry-recognized expertise in
the core Microsoft development platform and tools, including Visual
Studio, SQL Server and BizTalk Server. We always take advantage of the
latest technologies to create most effective and reliable solutions.
Crossroad Ltd. team maintains its deep technology and management
expertise with both formal trainings and hands-on experience in
complex software projects. All of our developers are Microsoft Certified
Professionals.
Quality certificates and awards: Cyrilla, developed by Crossroad, has
passed Microsoft Linguistic Evaluation and Microsoft Test kit.
Crossroad is a Microsoft Certified Partner with expertise in Custom
development solutions – Web Development Specialization
Main fields of activity: Bulgarian private sector companies
Technologies used by the company: Crossroad Ltd. is focused on
Microsoft technologies. The list below shows the main technology
areas of expertise:
l Microsoft SQL Server 2000/2005
l Web based application with ASP.NET
l Windows based applications with .NET Framework
Microsoft Visual Studio 2003/2005
Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004/2006
l Mobile devices based on Windows CE/Pocket PC
Successfully accomplished projects:
Cyrilla: Cyrilla is a product developed for BMG Ltd. It is a set of
Bulgarian proofing tools that integrate in Microsoft Office and provide
speller checker, grammar checker, thesaurus and hyphenation. All
these tools use contemporary dictionary and current grammar and
hyphenation rules approved from BAS. Crossroad Ltd. is responsible for
the complete software development and support of the product.
Speller check and Hyphenation tools are licensed to Microsoft by
BMG and are included in MS Office Bulgarian version.
Event Registration Management System: ERMS is a web based
registration tool for event registration. It is a solution for identification
and registration of participants before and during the event. ERMS
can handle both small-size events (<100 participants) and large scale
industry events (several thousand participants).
Barcodes are used to identify participants that are printed by the
participants which provides a cost-effective solution for the overall
registration process.
The solution was used in several big industry events for the last two
years – Microsoft Days 2006, several events organized by BMG Ltd. Adobe Creative Days 2005, Symantec Security Days, Autodesk Day.
Sales Specialist Guide for Microsoft resellers: Sales Specialist
Guide is a product made for Microsoft Bulgaria. It is designed to help
Microsoft resellers and distributors with information for the most
popular products, license schemes and additional resources on the
Internet. It consists of a Smart Tag application and an HTML help file.
The application integrates in MS Office and activates automatically
when the name of MS product is written and navigates the user to
the appropriate page in the help file or in the Internet.
Main clients: Bulgarian Association of Information Technologies;
BMG Ltd.; Microsoft Bulgaria.
Purpose of participating in this catalogue: Visibility to potential
clients
l
l
Business characteristics of the company
Number of employees, April 2006: 11
Approximate revenue for 2005: 484,000 BGN
Income from activity:
Software development and consulting: 66%; Software Sales: 34%
Income from geographical position: 100% from Bulgarian market
Structure of possession: 100% private Bulgarian company
Address:
36 Luben Karavelov Str., fl. 1, Sofia 1000, Bulgaria
Tel.: +359 (2) 9877236
E-mail: office@crossroad.bg
Manager and contact person
Vladimir Tchalkov – CEO
58
Global Consulting Ltd.
Year of establishment: 1995
l Programming technologies: .NET Technology, J2EE Technology,
Mission and brief description
We are determined to provide competitive and professional service to
Windows DNA, CORBA, ASP, .NET ASP
all our clients. Global Consulting’s goal is to secure it’s partners with the l RDBMS: Sybase Adaptive Server, Sybase Anywhere Server, Microsoft
latest achievements in the field of Information Technologies. We also
SQL Server
want to be your consultant in the sphere of Computer technologies
and finance matters. Global Consulting offers not only consultation Successfully accomplished projects
services, but also develops successful strategies considering your scope l BNB – Implementation of Nostro Reconsilation Project; Implementation
of activities.
of Trema Treasury System, Implementation of DMX 800;
l RBB – Multicash system for electronic payments;
l Cosmo Globul Group – Back up system based on CX 500;
Competitive qualities
Our concept is to supply the Bulgarian market with the latest innovations l Bank DSK OPT Group – Multicash system for electronic payments, EMC
in Software Products and Computer equipment. We are also working
Infrastructure Solution – Storage Area Network for Data Wаrehouse
on the development of these products in order to achieve functional
Syastem based on DMX 800;
l HVB Bank Biohim – Multicash system for electronic payments;
applications.
l National Electricity Company – Implementation of WEB Portal,
l ING Bank – Interface platform for settlement;
Quality certificates and awards
l BCCI – Information System
ISO-9001: 2000
l NSSI – Project “Pensions 2000”
NATO AQAP 160 Certified
Main fields of activity
Design, marketing, procurement, installation and support of information
systems and advanced solutions for banks, insurance companies,
governmental agencies and other commercial enterprises with high
volume distribution activities.
l Specialized in providing business critical solutions based on open
information systems, for organizations that operate in transaction
intensive environments.
l Internal and foreign trade activities with general commodities
l Hardware Supplier of full range of UNISYS and EMC products
l Software Supplier - Microsoft Certified Solution Provider, Informatica,
Sybase
l Communication Equipment: ISDN and X.25 equipment from EICON
TECHNOLOGY and CASE TECHNOLOGY
l Electronic Banking software from OMIKRON Gmbh and BankServ
Technologies
l Programming languages: C/C++, c#, JAVA, Java Script, DHTML,
Transact-SQL, Pascal, Ada, UML, XML/XSL/XSD
l Software tools: Microsoft Visual Studio.NET, JBuilder 8, Sybase
enterprise Application Studio, Microsoft Visio, PowerDesigner, Rational
Rose
Main clients
Bulgarian National Bank, Bank DSK OTP Group, Raiffeisenbank, ING Bank,
BNP Paribas, Texim Bank, Alpha Bank, HVB Bank Biohim, Piraeus Bank,
SG Expressbank, BAKB, BTC, NEC, MoI, MoD, MoF, BCCI, NSSI, e.t.c.
Business characteristics of the company
Number of employees, April 2006: 29
Approximate turnover in 2005: 2 455 000 BGN
Income from activity
Products – 1 577 000 BGN
Services – 874 000 BGN
Revenues by geographic location: Bulgaria
Address:
32 Parchevich str, ap.8,
Sofia 1000
7-9 Uzundjovska str, fl.2
Tel: + 359 2 9812 741
Fax: + 359 2 9862 376
www.globalcons.com
Manager and contact person:
Dimiter Djendov – Managing Director
59
Business Software Consult Jsc
Year of establishment: 1989, 2006
Mission and brief description of the main activities
Software products for management of human resources, labor and
salaries; warehouse management
Competitive qualities
Presence and experience on Bulgarian software market since 1989
Purpose of participating in this catalogue:
To present the company
Ownership structure: 100 % private
Business characteristics of the company
Number of employees working full-time, April 2006: 22
Main fields of activity
Software products and solutions
Approximate turnover in 2005: 550 000 BGN
Successfully accomplished projects
Software products:
Reflex – management of human resources, labor and salaries;
Global 2010 – warehouse management.
Revenues by activities
100 000 software
450 000 hardware and service
Revenues by geographic location: Bulgaria
Main clients of the company
More than 1000 Bulgarian enterprises
Address:
82a „Dondukov” blvd., Sofia
Tel.: +359 2 944 6097
ESRI Bulgaria Ltd.
Year of establishment: 1995
Mission and brief description: ESRI Bulgaria Ltd. is privately-owned
Software Company specialized in Software Design, Development,
Implementation, Training, Support, and Integration. The company is
major supplier of geodata for the territory of Bulgaria. The company is
experienced especially in GIS (Geospatial Information Systems) based
solutions. The company provides: Consultancy, Information Systems
design, development and implementation, Accredited Training,
Support, Geo data automation, Web geo services.
ESRI Bulgaria is sole representative for Bulgaria for: ESRI Inc.
– worldwide market and technology GIS leader, Leica Geosystems
– worldwide leader in the field of software for digital image processing,
Speedikon FM – software for facilities management, Telcordia
Technologies – world leader in the field of telecom systems
Competitive qualities: Starting 10 years ago as GIS pioneer in Bulgaria,
ESRI Bulgaria is the only Bulgarian company to develop and integrate the
GIS projects of national scope and importance. ESRI Bulgaria has a team
with unique for Bulgaria GIS and geodata experience and expertise.
Quality certificates and awards: ISO 9001:2000; Special Achievements
in GIS, Certificate of Recognition – AFCEA, Business Ethics Standard
Award – BBLF, Microsoft Gold Partner, Oracle Partner; Memberships:
BAIT, BASCOM, BIBA, AFCEA, BAPM, BBLF, BWA, BAGIS, and others.
60
Managers:
Marin Dilchev, Yuri Vitanov
www.bsc.bg, www.temasoft.bg
Main fields of activity: Geospatial Information Systems /GIS/ and
GIS applications in the fields of: Homeland Security, Environment,
Cadastre, Utility, Telecom, Transportation, Education Healthcare, Crisis
Management, and others.
Technologies: Our application software development team has
experience in a wide range of industries and is backed by degree
and postgraduate qualifications in both the GIS and computer science
domain. The team has experience of developing GIS applications using
both ESRI technologies and other industry-standard development
environments. In undertaking any development projects ESRI Bulgaria
follows the guidelines specified in our Quality Management System,
which is based on best practice within the IT industry.
ESRI Bulgaria’s Internet GIS solutions satisfy requirements in all areas of public
and private sector business to communicate geographically on-line.
Successfully accomplished projects: Ministry of Defense, Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Environment and Water, Ministry of
Regional Development and Public Works, Cadastre Agency, Ministry of
Health, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Education,
National Statistical Institute, Executive Agencies, Sofia, Plovdiv, Bourgas,
and many other municipalities, Bulgarian Telecom, MTel, Globul, NEC,
Sofiyska Voda, and many other utility enterprises, Airports
Number of employees, April 2006: 35
Address:
35 Nikola Vaptzarov Blvd, Sofia 1407
Tel: +359 2 962 6366
Email: info@esribulgaria.com
Web site: www.esribulgaria.com
Manager and contact person
Evgenia Karadjova
Bianor
Year of establishment: 1998
Mission and brief description: To employ technology with passion,
integrity, and excellence for the benefit of people. We provide
professional software services in the area of telecommunications. Our
services encapsulates the whole software development cycle: project
management; business process analysis; requirements development;
software design and development; software quality assurance; system
integration; system support.
Competitive qualities
Advanced CMMI-based software processes leading to excellent
predictability of operations. Professional project management which
takes full care of project implementation details. Usage of state-of-theart technologies. High quality of delivered products. ISO 17799-based
information security policies. High business integrity. Strict observation
of IP rights. Excellent business-cultural compatibility with USA and
Western Europe.
Quality certificates and awards: ISO 9001:2000 certified by Lloyd’s
Register, IT Mark certified by European Software Institute, ISO 17799
appraisal for information security, CMMI Level 2 appraisal of software
processes, We implement CMMI level 2 and 3 practices and Balanced
Scorecard
Main fields of activity: Telecommunications
Technologies: Core expertise: Java and C/C++ application development.
Extended experience with enterprise-scale J2EE-based applications and
SOA. Technology partnerships with Sun, IBM, and Oracle. Certified Java
developers, database administrators, Unix OS administrators, Object
oriented analysts and designers, software testers
Successfully accomplished projects: Service management platform
for telecom operators. The system is divided into two major modules,
each of them dealing with different aspect of the telecom infrastructure:
Module for centralized VLAN management, traffic accounting, billing and
SLA system for IP-based services. The module is designed for large-scale
Cisco-based networks and is used to provide reliable wide-bandwidth
VLAN connectivity to multiple customers with multiple end-points.
VoIP module – this module features automatic call distribution, voice
mail, call recording/forwarding, conference server, IVR, advanced billing,
bandwidth and traffic shaping, security module with 128+ bit voice
stream encoder/decoder, spam calls blocker, etc. The module supports
H323 and SIP protocols.
Main clients: The main clients of our company are located in North
America, Japan, Europe and Israel.
Business characteristics of the company
Ownership structure: Holding company
Number of employees, April 2006: 80
Approximate turnover in 2005 < 2M Euro
Revenues by activities: 100% from software development and
consultancy
Revenues by geographic location: 58% North America, 30% Europe,
12% others
Address:
39 Kn.Klementina Street. Sofia 1618, Bulgaria
Switchboard: +359 2 955-7300
US Toll Free: +1 866 978-5156
Fax: +359 2 955-5686
http://www.bianor.com
Manager and contact person: Kostadin Jordanov, CEO
Nadia Ropleva, VP Business Development
Bioteam Software Ltd.
Year of establishment: 1992
Mission and brief description: Bioteam is a private software
development company established in 1992. Since 1994 the company
has provided outsourcing and onsite services for a number of European
companies. In 1997 due to the business growing up process the
company structure and name were changed to Bioteam Software.
In the same year Bioteam established a new company Spectrum Net
to provide Internet services on the Bulgarian market. Since 1999
Bioteam Software has been certified by Dasa-Zert Certification-Body
of Bureau Veritas Quality International (Deutschland) GmbH to EN ISO
9001:2000-12 standard. Since 2000 Bioteam Software has been situated
in its own building in the middle of Sofia city centre, Sofia airport
and Vitosha mountain, which has room for 150 working places.
Quality certificates and awards: EN ISO 9001:2000-12 (AC 0603-04 /
17.03.2006) - Software design, development, test and service provision
in the field of industrial and office information systems, e-commerce
systems, entertainment systems and web publishing systems.
Consulting, education, system design, system integration, qality
assurance, system maintenance and project management in the field
of the information technologies.
Main fields of activity: Process automation systems – monitoring,
statistics, archiving, presentation. Large scale distributed information
systems. Internet/Intranet applications and complete solutions.
eCommerce, CRM systems for Internet Service Providers. Internet
sport games based on simulation methods. Consulting, training,
support (hot-line, remote, onsite).
Technologies
Platforms: MS Windows, Sun Solaris, Linux, Open VMS, QNX.
Databases: Oracle, MS SQL Server, DB2, MS Access, MaxDB, MySQL.
Languages: C/C++, VB, Java, (J2ME, J2SE, J2EE), XML, Perl, TCL, PHP,
JavaScript, ASP. Tools: MS Development Studio, JBuilder, Eclipse,
Oracle Development Suit. Web: Apache Tomcat, Borland AppServer,
JBoss, MS IIS. Design: UML, Rational Rose, Borland Together, MS
Visio, ErWin.
Main clients of the company
• The Bulgarian Ministry of Industry.
• The Bulgarian National Securities Commission.
• Siemens AG, Germany.
• Net Info, Bulgaria.
• Spectrum Net, Bulgaria.
Number of employees, April 2006 – 25
Address:
1797 Sofia, Bulgaria, 36 G.M.Dimitrov Blvd.
Phone: + 359 2 489 0504
Fax: + 359 2 489 0505
Web Page: http://www.bioteam.com
e-mail: info@bioteam.com
Manager and contact person: Plamen Topalov
61
InterComponentWare Bulgaria Ltd.
Year of establishment: 2000
Mission and brief description
InterComponentWare AG (ICW) is a leading international eHealth
specialist with locations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the USA,
and Bulgaria.
Its solutions for networking the various participants in the health
care system achieve a sustained improvement in process-oriented
communication and data integrity – and thus the quality of medical
care. Among other things, ICW develops and markets software and
hardware components for the healthcare IT infrastructure for the
electronic health card, the personal health record LifeSensor, and
network solutions for clinics and physicians in private practice. As part
of the bIT4health consortium, ICW has provided important consulting
services for the deployment of the electronic health card in Germany
and is also involved in the Austrian eCard project.
Quality certificates and awards
April 2002 – Award for outstanding achievements in the promotion
of public welfare and the elimination of bureaucratic barriers.
(Deutschprachiges Kommunitariernetz e. V.: German speaking
communitarian network, registered association)
March 2001 - LifeSensor belongs to awarded TOP 10 best e-Business
models at CyberOne competition, Germany
The InterComponentWare AG in barrier village, distinguished with
the certificate, let its on-line product www.lifesensor.de certify after
the Internet privacy standards to audit (i.e. to examine) and thus the
InterComponentWare AG subjected, on the one hand the adherence
to data security-legal regulations to highest requirements guarantees
themselves and current safety precautions after the state of the art contains
(the criteria are observable under www.datenschutz_nord.de.)
Main fields of activity
InterComponentWare (ICW) is a leader in the international e-health
market, focusing on the development of healthcare data information
exchange platforms with solutions that connect physicians, hospitals,
payers, and patients through tools that enable the streamlined, secure
sharing of information.
Address:
ICW Bulgaria Ltd.
1202 Sofia, 11 Industiralna Str., 2 Fl.
Phone: (+359 2) 917 85 80
Fax:
(+359 2) 917 85 88
Web Page:
www.icw-global.com
Manager and contact perso:
Executive: Ivaylo Radev
Contact person: Emilia Velinova
62
Partners
ProSyst Software AG, Germany - Development Partner
GMD GmbH, Germany - Development Partner
IAS- Institute for Work and Social Hygiene, Germany- Partner
Yellow Map AG, Germany - Cooperation Partner
SAP AG, Germany - Development Partner
Lintec Information Technologies AG Germany- Distribution Partner
PricewaterhouseCoopersUnternehmensberatung, Germany Implementation Partner
MD Medicus Gesellschaft fuer Medizinischer Service, Germany Partner
DOCexpert Computer GmbH, Germany - Partner Interfaces
Tyco Healthcare Deutschland GmbH, Germany - Development Partner
(Devices)
boso Bosch+Sohn GmbH, Germany - Development Partner
(Devices)
Bayer AG Germany- Development Partner (Devices)
Membershisp
Co-founder and member of BASSCOM (Bulgarian Association of
Software Companies)
Purpose of participating in this catalogue
l To get Bulgarian market acquainted with the huge opportunities
and the experience of ICW.
l Finding Partners for joined activities within eHealth Bulgaria.
Business characteristics of the company
Number of employees, April 2006
ICW Bulgaria is a rapidly growing company with more than
45 employees in its office in Sofia, Bulgaria
Revenues by activities 900 000 EUR
Revenues by geographic location 900 000 EUR
Offices in Bulgaria
and abroad:
InterComponentWare GmbH
Millennium Tower
Handelskai 94-96, Etage 23
1200 Vienna, Austria
Tel +43 (0) 12 40 274 45
Fax +43 (0) 12 40 274 47
www.icw-global.com
ICW AG,
Otto-Hahn-Straße 3
D-69190 Walldorf, Germany
Tel.: +49 (6227) 385-0
Fax: +49 (6227) 385-199
ICW Inc.
1840 Gateway Dr Suite 228
San Mateo, CA, USA94404
Tel.: +1 (866) 429-8111
Fax: +1 (650) 378-1490
INTERCONSULT Bulgaria Ltd.
Year of establishment: 1996
Mission and brief description: Interconsult Bulgaria, Ltd. (ICB) is a
leading Bulgarian software development and consulting company,
founded in 1996. Since 2003, ICB has become a member of the COWI
group (www.cowi.com), a renowned consulting and engineering
company with more than 3 400 employees worldwide. The company
is Microsoft Certified Partner and partner of IDS Scheer (Germany)
for the Bulgarian market.
and research insitutes, and several regions in China. Awarded with
1998 European ICT Prize.
EASY SAFE – A system for automated processing of bank cash deposits
developed for the Scandinavian consulting group Rosengrens Clausen.
EasySafe holds a market share of 75% in Norway.
CADDIE – A system for professional automated design in architecture,
construction, machine engineering and other engineering areas.
The system has over 14000 users in the UK, Sought Africa and
Competitive advantages:
Bulgaria.
l Well established processes based on the international standards
PLEXUS – A Web-based system for management of intellectual
and best industrial practices.
assets into business networks, developed within the EU research
l A team of innovative and qualified software engineers and expeprogram.
rienced project managers.
Automated Timekeeping System for time and attendance
l 10 years of tradition in providing software services on the intermanagement developed for Unitime Systems, US. The system provides
national market.
options for exchange of employee and labor information with payroll,
l Strong technology focus.
HR, and other systems.
Quality certificates and awards: ISO 9001:2000 certificate, Awarded Main clients of the company: The major clients of the company are
with European ICT Prize, Nominated for European eHealth Award
located in Norway, Denmark, UK, USA, Austria and Bulgaria:
l Kongsberg, Norway www.kongsberg.com
Main fields of activity: ICB is specialized in the development of l Rosengrens Clausen, Norway www.rosengrens.no
complete software solutions for complex business problems. The l COWI, Norway www.norgit.no
company develops custom software for a variety of economic sectors: l Advanced Computer Solutions, UK www.caddie.co.uk
Central and local government, Banking and finance, Gas distribution, l Backbone Entertainment, USA www.backboneentertainment.com
l Unitime Systems, USA www.unitime.com
Health, Education, Environment, Industry, etc.
l CafePress, USA www.cafepress.com
l Ministries of finance, education and science, and justice in
Technologies
l Business analysis & design: UML, ARIS Process Platform, IBM Rational
Bulgaria
l National Health Insurance Fund www.nhif.bg and others
Suite, Enterprise Architect
l Database design and management: MS SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL,
MS Access
Purpose of participating in this catalogue: We are looking for
l Programming languages and IDE: .NET Framework, C#, C++, VB,
international IT companies that would like to establish long-term
Delphi
partnerships for software products development.
l Internet / Intranet: ASP.NET, XML, XSL, HTML, ASP, Macromedia
Director, Macromedia Flash MX
Structure of possession: COWI (www.cowi.com) 50%, Bulgarian
partners 50%
Successfull projects
CAMMS – A software system for condition assessment of railroad Business characteristics of the company
bridges and management of maintenance work, implemented by
Number of employees, April 2006: 65
the Norwegian State Railroads.
ENSIS – An environmental surveylance and information system for
monitoring of water/air quality and polution effects prediction. The system Revenues by geographic location: The software development for
clients abroad forms more than 80 % of the ICB’s turnover.
has been implemented by Norwegian environmental authorities
Address:
7, Indzhe Voivoda Str.
1309 Sofia, Bulgaria
Phone: +359 2 920 1120
Fax: +359 2 920 0552
www.icb.bg
Manager and contact person:
Stoian Boev (Mr.), Managing Director
Pavlina Kozarova (Mrs.), Marketing & Sales Manager
63
Information Services Plc
Year of establishment: 1970
Mission and brief description
l To provide value added services to our customers in the areas of
business analysis, system integration, software development, hardware
maintenance and outsourcing of information processes;
l To become a strategic partner to our customers in the process of
establishment, integration and maintenance of Information Systems.
The main activities are:
System Integration of nationwide information systems; Software
development, implementation and maintenance; E-government
projects; Building and maintenance of national and regional registers;
Outsourcing of IT services; Project management services; Providing
Qualified Certificate Services (PKI) and applications; E-commerce,
web design and Internet based solutions; Management of public IT
infrastructures; Web solutions and Internet technologies; IT Consulting
services; Training and education services.
Competitive qualities: The company has regional branches, service
and training centers, PKI registration authorities and info-offices
situated in all 26 regional centers and have built an advanced
network for customer support. The company employs more than
500 qualified and certified IT professionals. This team is the driving
force for the progress of Information Services Plc towards its mission
of enhancing its position as the leader on the Bulgarian Information
Technologies market.
Quality certificates and awards
The company is ISO 9001:2000 certified – since 2003.
Awards: IT Project 2004 – BICIS, Gold medal winner in the 59th
International Technical Fair - Plovdiv fall 2003, Three first awards for
institutional site, Web Fest – Albena 2003 and Albena 2004, First
award in the Justice and Law category, BGSITE 2004, First award in
the E-Government category, Web Fest – Albena 2006,
Main fields of activity: Government and local administrations, Bulgarian
court system, Banks and insurance companies, Utilities Companies
Successfully accomplished projects: Bulgarian Integrated Customs
Information System (BICIS) - provides information, technological
and software tools for support and optimization of the all customs
activities management.
l processing of customs manifests and control of regimes and
obligations;
l internal regulatory organization;
l aggregation of data in different types of reports;
l smart cards and digital signature authentication;
l integration with external government systems.
InetDEC e-Service - online service for submitting tax declarations
over the Internet:
improves capacity of the National Revenue Agency (NRA);
NRA clients can send various tax forms over the Internet, signed
by means of government approved digital signatures:
l Corporate tax declaration (B2G),
l Income tax declaration (C2G)
l Family taxation declaration (C2G)
l Request for digital communication forms
l Interfaces to the National Tax Register (BULSTAT) and the National
citizen database (ESGRAON system).
Government Election Information System (GEIS) was developed for
the Central Election Commission and supports all kinds of elections,
defined in the Bulgarian election laws.
DELFI - national corporate trade register system. It was developed
at the beginning of 1989.
Communication network of the Ministry of Finance – provides data
and voice transfer within the country and comprising more than 300
subdivisions of the Ministry of Finance (МF).
Public key infrastructure (PKI):
l StampIT - Digital Certificates services provider – since 2001;
l First Bulgarian accredited certification authority;
l Qualified personnel and protected infrastructure;
l Protection software, based on smart cards and advanced electronic
signature usage;
l More than 30 Registration Authorities over the country;
l PKI based applications development.
Main clients: Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of
Defense, Healthcare Ministry, Ministry of Education, State Commission
on Information Security, Tax administration, Customs Agency, Bulgarian
court system, Central Elections Commission, Number of Municipalities
across the country, Bulgarian National Bank, DSK Bank and Trade banks,
Insurance companies, Bulgarian State Railways, Utilities companies
Purpose of participating in this catalogue: Partnership and cooperation
in the fields of software development and systems integration, outsourcing
of IT services, and distribution and maintenance of IT solutions.
l
l
Business characteristics of the company
Ownership structure: Information Services Plc is a joint stock
company. Major shareholder is Bulgarian Government, represented
by the Ministry of Finance. Number of employees, April 2006 – 802
Approximate turnover in 2005: The 2005’s company IT services
revenue is 13.1 million Euros.
Revenues by activities: System integration – 50%, Outscoring of IT
services – 24 %, Software Application development – 15 %, Training
and education – 3%, Hardware support - 4%, Others – 4%
Revenues by geographic location: Bulgarian ICT market.
Address: 2 Panaiot Volov Str., 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria
Offices in Bulgaria and abroad: Regional branches with information, technical and
training centres are situated in all 26 district centers of Bulgaria.
Manager and contact person:
Alexander Vitanov – Chief Executive Officer
Tel.: +359 2 9420 340
Fax: +359 2 943 6607
e-mail: office@is-bg.net
http://www.is-bg.net
64
Mag Studio LTD
Year of establishment: 1998
Mission and brief description: Database design, Installation and
maintenance, e-commerce and e-payment, B2B and B2C applications
design, Security and data encryptment, E-Marketing and Search
Engine Optimization (SEO), Online advertising, Modern systems
for Dynamic Database Driven websites management, Macromedia
Flash and Dynamic Database Driven websites and applications,
Virtual games and promotional web sites, Interactive multimedia
presentations and Dynamic Database Driven product catalogues,
distributed on CD/DVD
Competitive qualities: Creativity, innovation, fast and quality
service
Quality certificates and awards: The programmers in Mag Studio
have excellent certified skills in .NET technology
l “Best website of 2006” in the category “Cultural institutions”
(www.institutfrance.bg) - Web Festival, Albena 2006
l “Best website of 2006” in the category “Copywriting” (www.
zachistabulgaria.info) – Web Festival, Albena 2006
l “Best website of 2006” in the category “Information and services in
real estate and furnishing” (www.homeforyou.bg ) - Web Festival,
Albena 2006
l “Best website of 2006” in the category “Radio”(www.retroradio.bg)
– Web Festival, Albena 2006
l “Best website of 2006” in the category “Campaigns” (www.
zachistabulgaria.info) - Web Festival Albena 2006
l “Best website of 2006” in the category “Sport events, news and
services” (www.airtracks.de) - Web Festival, Albena 2006
l “Best Brand website of 2005’’ (www.spetema.com) – awarded by
the Bulgarian Marketing Association
l “Best website of 2004 ‘’ in the category “Arts” (www.bulgarianvoices.
com) – Bulgarian Web Association.
l “ Best corporate website of 2003 г.’’ (www.aroma.bg) – BG Site 2003 г. Main fields of activity: Internet, Marketing, Advertising, Information
Technologies, Software
Technologies
Plaforms:
l Operation systems: Linux and Microsoft Windows NT/2000/XP
l Web servers: IIS, Apache, Tomcat
l Data base: Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL
Programming languages
l Server: ASP.NET (VB.NET, C#), XML, PHP, ASP, JSP, Cold Fusion, SQL
l Client: HTML, DHTML, WAP, XML, JavaScript, CSS, FLASH Action
Script
l Desktop applications: .NET Platform, Visual C++
Graphic design: Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Indesign,
Macromedia FLASH, 3D Studio, Corel Draw
Successfully accomplished projects:
l 2 be – www.2be.bg
l Adis - www.adis.bg
l Address – www.address.bg
l Balkan Tourist Development Services Ltd - www.balkantourist.bg
l Bayer - www.erekcia.com
l Borovets - www.borovets-bg.com
l Bulgarian – American Credit Bank - www.bacb.bg
l Bulgarian Telecommunication Company – www.btc.bg
l British Council
l Coca Cola
l Colliers International
l DGVN (United Nations Associations of Gernamy)
l Euroline – www.euroline.bg
l Forem Consulting – www.foremconsulting.com
l Home For You - www.homeforyou.bg
l J&B Nightology - www.nightology-bg.com
l Manager magazine – www.manager.bg
l SMC (Swiss Management Center) – www.swissmc.ch
l Standart news – www.standartnews.com
l Vivatel – www.vivatel.bg
Main clients of the company: 2 be, Adis, Address, Balkan Tourist
Development Services Ltd, Bulgarian Telecommunication Company,
Bulgarian Tourism Authority, Bulgarian American Credit Bank,
Forem Consulting, Home For You, Manager magazine, SMC (Swiss
Management Center), Standart news, Vivatel
Purpose of participating in this catalogue: Establishing new contacts
and business relationships for long-term cooperation in projects
and/or parts of projects
Business characteristics of the company
Ownership structure: LTD., person in charge: Kiril Apostolov
Number of employees, April 2006: 40
Address:
1000 Sofia, 30 William Gladstone Str., fl. 2
GSM: + 359 888 68 83 98
Tel:
+ 359 2 981 87 42
Fax:
+ 359 2 981 87 48
Web site: www.magstudio.bg
Manager and contact person:
Kiril Apostolov
Offices abroad:
13 – 17
34 avenue No16
Long Island City
NY, 11106 US
65
Microinvest Ltd
Year of establishment: 1995
l
l
Mission and brief description
Software Development
Quality certificates and awards
3 Gold Medals – International Fair, Plovdiv 1997, 2000, 2001, ISO
9001 Certified
Main fields of activity
Accounting Software, Warehouse software
Technologies: Visual Studio .NET
Successfully accomplished projects
Microinvest Warehouse Pro
Microinvest Warehouse Pro presents a system for tracking of warehouse
availabilities in unlimited number of warehouses in real time. The
program’s architecture enables the processes definition and work
flexibility. All main principles of modern business are grounded in
the design of the application – remote work, mobile working places,
system for defining the operators’ rights and data edition at each
step. A visual interface that could be adapted to each user and cound
considerably expedites the work of the operators has been built. The
program offers a set of 6 document styles and adaptive interface.
Product’s key characteristics:
l Work in client-server mode
l Maintenance of huge loading, nomenclatures and operations
l Tree structures of all nomenclatures
l Possibility for graphic presentation of the information
l Allocated net technology, remote access and synchronization
l Global definition of the access control of each user
l WEB interface and administration
l Data import from MS Excel as well as from other products of
Microinvest
l Connection to mobile Palm OS and Pocket PC devices
l Expedition of work and operations effectiveness
l Possibility for work with different databases types: Access, Microsoft
Desktop Engine, MySQL and Microsoft SQL.
Operations supported in Microinvest Warehouse Pro:
l Sales
l Deliveries
l Transfer
l Rejects
l
l
l
Discharge
Consignment
Delivery Orders
Quotations
Tenders
Ideology of work in Microinvest Warehouse Pro:
The ideology of work in this product copies the good business
practice and it includes the processes of contracting, price-formation
and goods realization before the existing and potential partners.
In the spirit of the new technologies a mechanism for documents
transformation, tracking of payments by partners, documents and dates
is implemented. At the same time functions for business additional
value – electronic document turnover, operative tracking of quantities
and control of the personnel have been built in as well.
The advantages of the system are as follows:
l Monolithic structure that follows the product’s purpose;
l Architecture of a system from a highest class;
l Integration with all contemporary products;
l Lowest total cost of ownership (TCO).
l Microinvest Delta
Main clients of the company:
25 000 small and middle companies in Bulgaria
Purpose of participating in this catalogue: New contacts + New
projects + Reselers
Ownership structure: Private company
Manager and contact person: Victor Pavlov
Business characteristics of the company
Number of employees, April 2006: 42
Approximate turnover in 2005: 970 000 BGN
Income from activity: 40 000 BGN
Address:
1618 Sofia,
215 Tzar Boris III Blvd, 12 floor
Tel.: +359 2 9555515; 9557226; 9555334
Fax: +359 2 955 4046
www.microinvest.net
66
8000 Burgas,
34 Gurko str.
5000 Veliko Tarnovo,
29 Nezavisimost Str
TechnoLogica Ltd.
Year of establishment: 1990
Mission and brief description
Our mission is to meet and exceed our clients’ expectations by
significantly improving their work through the implementation of
leading information technology solutions.
We achieve this with our team of highly qualified professionals in a
broad range of leading technologies. Some of the most experienced
employees came from scientific institutes. We are among the first who
developed and worked with RDBMS (Relational Database Management
Systems), CAD systems and Business Management Systems among the
Central and East European countries. Our IT staff includes qualified
Engineers and Masters in Computer Science, Computer Engineering
and Mathematics. There are also specialists in the area of Economics,
Finance, Production Management and Marketing, six of us have
acquired Ph. D. and seven of us with diplomas, issued by Western
institutes. We have also are Certified Professionals in ORACLE, Microsoft,
HP-UX System Administration, Certified IS auditors.
Business lines
l Software Development
l Consulting and transfer of know-how
l Business Software
l Services Outsourcing in the area of Human Resources Management
l Training and transfer of know-how
l System Integration, Engineering Labor Automation – CAD/CAM
l Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Competitive qualities
l Proven experience in achieving success on huge projects in the
dynamically changing Bulgarian business environment
l Company software tools
l Rich portfolio of software technologies
l Significant experience in the whole life cycle of the software
– development, integration, training, support
l Dedication to the client’s success
l Recognized name which is a guarantee for quality and
correctness
Quality certificates
The National Codification Instrument developed by TechnoLogica
for the Ministry of Defense was certified as compatible with NATO
in 2004.
The Human Resources Management System HeRMeS was awarded a
Gold Medal at the Plovdiv International Technical Fair in 1996.
ISO 9001:2000
Products
Human Resource Management Systems
The HR/Payroll System - HeRMeS®, a TechnoLogica product, is a de
facto standard on the Bulgarian corporate market. The system is
unique for the Bulgarian market and has functionality comparable to
the leading HR/Payroll systems in addition to a web version, English
language version and a high-class ERP systems integration option
(SAP, ORACLE Applications, BAAN).
Technologies: Oracle, .NET, etc. from MS, J2EE, CASE, XML, UML, HTLM
DB, Data Warehousing and OLAP, Spatial Data& GIS integration
Successfully accomplished projects
l National Codification Instrument – MoD
l Management Information System – NHIF
l National Budget Management Information System – BNB
l ING Pension Insurance Association Information System
l Central Credit Register – BNB
l IS Registers at the Financial Supervision Commission
l Information System for Leasing Companies – Hebros Leasing
l Object Monitoring and Control System – GPS Bulgaria
l Human Resources Management System Integration for Multiple
Corporate Clients
Main clients of the company
Industry, State Administration
Banking and financial sector
Trade and Services
Business characteristics of the company
Ownership structure: LTD.
Number of employees working full-time, number of other
employees as of April 2006: 100
Address:
46 Chervena stena Str.,
Sofia 1421
24 Braita Miladnovi Str., office 31,
Varna 9000
3 Sofiisko pole Street,
Sofia 1756,
13 Tzar Asen Str.,
Plovdiv 4000
Tel.: +359 2 91 91 2
www.technologica.com
Manager and contact person:
Ognian Trajanov
67
FRONTSTEP Bulgaria
Year of establishment: 1997
Mission and brief description: FRONTSTEP Bulgaria is one of the
first Bulgarian IT companies, which activities include development of
business software, implementation of ERP systems and management
consulting.
Since 1998 FRONTSTEP Bulgaria has been business partner of US ERP
vendor Symix Inc. Now our company is Channel Partner of Infor Inc.
– the third business software provider in the world. One of the major
products of Infor is SyteLine ERP.
In Bulgaria was established SyteLine competence and development center
for Europe. The FRONTSTEP Bulgaria team develops modifications and
new modules for SyteLine ERP for Infor offices and partners in Europe.
Competitive qualities: FRONTSTEP Bulgaria has more than 10 years in
development, localization and implementation of business software and
especially ERP systems. The FRONTSTEP Bulgaria team includes APICS
certified CPIM specialists. Long and successful partnership with partners,
customers, and suppliers in Bulgaria, Europe and USA.
Quality certificates and awards: IT project of the year 2004 in category
“Successful implementation” for Optimizing of the manufacturing and
logistic processes in Schneider Electric plant in Bulgaria.
Main fields of activity: FRONTSTEP Bulgaria offer wide range of products
and services for the following industries:
Paperwork, wood processing and furniture, packaging and printing;
Address:
blvd. Maria Luiza 91B,
Sofia 1202, Bulgaria
Tel.: +359 2 931 1908
metalwork, machine building, electronics, electric work, defense and
aerospace, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, distribution, system
integration, engineering services and many others.
Technologies: Microsoft SQL, Microsoft .Net, Visual Basic for Application,
Progress RDBS, Progress 4GL
Successfully accomplished project: FRONTSTEP Bulgaria have more
than 20 realized projects in Bulgaria, Germany, Finland, France, Hungary,
Russia, Turkey and United Kingdom.
Major projects: SyteLine ERP localization and development of Bulgarian
Country Pack; Implementation of SyteLine ERP and Workflow Automation
in Smartcom Bulgaria; Implementation of SyteLine ERP in Festo Production;
Implementation of SyteLine ERP, Quality Control Solution and Data
Collection in WATTS-MTB; Implementatio and upgrade of SyteLine ERP
and Quality Control Solution в Schneider Electric Bulgaria;
Implementation of SyteLine ERP and Product Configuration in Sprint
- Maxcom; Development of Product Configuration for SCM Solutions
Gmbh; Development of SyteLine Kitting for Omniconsulting - Finland;
Development of SyteLine modul for Deferred Checks for EKIP MAPICS
– Turkey;
Business characteristics of the company
Ownership structure: 100% private, Bulgarian
Number of employees, April 2006: 9
Approximate turnover in 2005: 411 000 BGN
Revenues by activities: 62%, Consulting Services: 38%
Revenues by geographic location: 72%, EU – 25%, Non EU – 3%
Manager and contact person:
Alexander Kenderov
www.frontstep.bg
IBS Bulgaria LTD
Year of establishment: 2003
Mission and brief description: IBS is a leading Bulgarian IT company
and a successful IBM Premier Business Partner. At IBS we provide a
combination of IT services, hardware & software technologies, and
expertise that ally together to advance the enterprises to new levels of
efficiency, responsiveness and productivity.
As a technology and business solutions provider we work closely with
clients to ensure we fully understand their particular business requirements.
Our technology services include IT consulting, systems design, custom
application development, system integration, hardware provisioning,
training and education. We work hard to develop solutions that help
companies better manage their revenue stream and resources through
improved productivity and cost-effective, scaleable business solutions.
Competitive qualities: High Technology products and quality
maintenance services
Quality certificates and awards: ISSO 9001, IBM On Demand Business
Partner, Best IBM Business Partner – 2005
Main fields of activity: Software - Our turn-key software integration
systems are built with best-of-breed IBM application development
programs. We provide quality driven comprehensive workplace solutions
for private companies as well as government bodies.
Infrastructure – We have strong experience in IBM Personal Computing,
IBM eServer products family, IBM Totoal Storage Solutions and specialized
IBM Retail Store Solutions.
IT Consulting – We provide our customers with consultancy and assistance
in building and implementation of their strategies based on our deep
IT expertise, analytical and business process skills.
Education – IBS is an Education Centre for IBM Software.
Technologies: J2EE, Java, Lotus Script, Php, IBM WebSphere, Lotus
Domino, DB2UDB
Major projects: Central Bus Station Sofia, Arena Cinema, BNB Balance
of Payments Statistics
Main clients of the company: Mtel, БTC, Public Administration,
Alexandra Group, BNB, etc.
Business characteristics of the company
Ownership structure: private property
Number of employees, April 2006: 37
Approximate turnover in 2005: 9 245 000 BGN
Revenues by activities: hardware provisioning and system integration
– 70%, Software Solutions – 20%, IT Consulting and Education – 10%
Revenues by geographic location: 100% - Bulgaria
Address:
1172 Sofia, 4 Pimen Zografski Str
Tel.: 070011444
+ 359 2 961 5455
www. ibs.bg
68
Varna 9009
Business Park Varna,
Sgrada 1, Parter
Tel.: +359 52 699444
Manager and
contact person:
Goran Vladimirov Angelov
Company Presentation
as they are. There is absolutely nothing they cannot do and do to the
highest standards.
I have been using Mirchev Ideas on an ongoing basis over the past
2.5 years and am happy to say that it is evident I have settled with a
technology partner that I am truly confident in.
My web site receives over 1 million visitors on a daily basis and the
Over the years the work process within the company has been programming provided by Mirchev Ideas keeps moving without slowing
repeatedly challenged and fine-tuned, thus making us a software down. This is a testament in itself.”
Khaled Abdulla, UK
service provider which stands up to the highest and toughest demands
of customers. We guarantee successful delivery and high performance
“I have been working with Mirchev Ideas for more than a year now, and
of every requested solution by providing:
l prompt and reliable customer service via email, phone, IM and I can only say the best about them. I have been outsourcing previously,
Skype conference in fluent English and German languages (Monday but Mirchev Ideas has become my preferred source for this. They are
responsive, responsible, and can be trusted to both produce great solutions,
to Friday, 12 am – 8 pm EET)
l well-organized staff of professional developers, web designers and architecture and code alike, as well as work directly with my clients. “
Mark Kerzner, USA
test specialists
l efficient time management in terms of performance and schedule
“I can honestly say without any hesitation that the quality, professionalism,
of project’s tasks
l commitment to completing projects in deadline requested
customer relations and stability, not to even mention the extreme savings
in development costs that I have experienced with the Mirchev team has
We are pleased to present the company by the words of its been way beyond my expectations.
They are currently working on a solution for us that once completed
customers:
will be launched on a National scale in UK and their coding practice is
“As for Mirchev Ideas, I rate them very highly. Since 1999, I have not certainly one that I have no concerns about whether the code will be
come across a team as talented and committed to doing good work ‘up to the job’. “
Stuart Bond, UK
Mirchev Ideas is an established software service company with a
background of over 100 custom solutions developed for entrepreneurs
and corporate organizations from all over the world. The company
delivers a wide array of custom systems, which are industry specific
and highly specialized to the client company operations.
Mirchev Ideas Ltd
Year of establishment: 2003
Mission and brief description
Mirchev Ideas provides IT solutions of highest quality that perfectly
match customers’ business practices.
Services: Software Development, Website Design, E-commerce site,
AdWords API development, X-Cart customizations, Intranet site, Internet
marketing and advertising
Products: MI PHP Framework, InventoryWords, PHP AdWords API Lib
Competitive qualities: Talanted team of developers and web designers,
reliable customer service, efficient time management, reasonable prices,
detailed and informative business quotes, ongoing after-deployment
support, currently in the process of adopting ISO 9001:2000
Main fields of activity: Web Development, Web Design, AdWords
API development, X-Cart customizations, PHP programming, Java and
JavaScript programming, .Net programming, C and C++ programming,
XML programming, Flash development
Technologies: Web Technologies: HTML, XHTML, XML, AJAX, DOM,
CSS, XSLT
Platforms: MS Windows, Unix (Linux)
Programming languages: PHP, Java, .Net, PERL, C/C++, JavaScript, VB
J2EE Application Servers: Oracle AS, BEA Weblogic, Jboss
Databases: Oracle, MySQL, MS SQL Server, MS Access, ODBC, JDBC,
XML Datafile
Successfully accomplished projects: 100+
Main clients of the company: Pinestream Communications Inc (USA),
Softronics Inc (USA), SHM Soft (USA), Advanced Navigation (USA), DPS
Telecom (USA), Norris Enterprises (USA), Treasure House Support (USA),
Microchannel Technologies (UK), Offtek (UK), Procedis (UK), Business
Computer Projects (UK), MJA Impressions (Canada), East-West Gift
Centre (Canada), Columbus Group Ltd (Spain), Cassia Consultants
(Italy), Fairrank GmbH (Germany), Bindesysteme Schoenherr (Germany),
American International School (Austria)
Business characteristics of the company
Number of employees, April 2006: 13
Revenues by activities: 80% of revenues come from software
development, 20% from other services
Address:
113 A, Tzarigradsko Shosse Blvd.,
IPK “Rodina”, floor 3
Phone: +359 2 975 2424
Website: www.mirchevideas.com
e-mail: contact@mirchevideas.com
Skype: mirchevideas
Director: Georgi Mirchev
Contact Person: Viktoria Dimitrova
69
Rila Solutions EAD
Year of establishment: 1998
Mission and brief description: Rila Solutions provides consulting
services and advanced IT solutions. Rila has successfully completed a lot
of complex information solutions and projects for more than 80 clients
in the US, Europe and Bulgaria.
The company focuses on: Professional consulting services, ERP
solutions implementation, Telecom solutions, Mobile and wireless
solutions, Finance solutions.
Competitive qualities: Rila`s approach is bringing together the people,
processes and technology expertise, which is critical for successful
projects. Rila’s management is committed to corporate development
and progress through quality. This commitment is demonstrated in
implementation of a formal quality policy and Quality Management
System, based on the following principles: Client trust, Clearly
defined requirements, Forward planning to minimize risk, Proactive
identification and prevention of problematic issues, Adherence to
clearly defined Quality Management System
Quality certificates and awards: ISO 9001:2000 certified process
and methodology.
Technologies: Platforms (OS): Linux, UNIX, MS Windows, MacOS;
Languages and Technologies: ASSEMBLER, C/C++, Perl, PHP, Java, J2EE,
.Net, SQL, HTML, DHTML, Javascript, XML, Ajax, Cold Fusion
Databases: Oracle, MS SQL Server, IBM DB2, MySQL, Sybase.
Successfully accomplished projects: Bella Bulgaria – Automatic
system for planning and managing of resources.
l Bulgarian Army Pilot Logistics System
l Development of Data Warehouse solution for the faults and requests
in the Operation Support System of BTC.
l Procurement Form Editor for Public Procurement Agency - USAID
l Public Procurement Register for Public Procurement Agency - USAID
l National Electricity Company (NEC)
l Saltillo ChatPC3
Main clients: Bulgarian Public Procurement Agency, Bulgarian
Telecommunication Company, Bulgarian National Bank, BULBANK,
Ministry of Defense, National Electricity Company, USAID Bulgaria,
Open Society Institute – USA, Synxis Corporation – USA, Comms
factory – UK, Microsoft – USA, ICOSR – UK, FrenchToast.com – USA,
Saltillo Corporation USA, Unisys _Germany, ets.
Purpose of participating in this catalogue: Rila`s management
aims to show the technology and business practices we use hoping
that this will lead to significant new market opportunities in the
nearest future.
Business characteristics of the company
Number of employees working full-time, April 2006: 71
Approximate revenue for 2005: 2 M Euro
Address: Bulgaria, 1113 Sofia, Acad.
G. Bonchev Str., building 27
Tel.: +359 2 970 96100
www.rila.com
Sirma Group Corp.
Year of establishment: 1992
Mission and brief description: Sirma Group transforms the innovative
ideas and dedicated work of talented people into successful knowledge
enterprises. Through continuous technological and market innovations,
each Sirma business has excellent prospects for great return of
investment and stable, profitable growth in the future.
Competitive qualities: Sirma’s business units apply business strategies
that enable them to deliver significantly more added value to their
customers in new ways. This is achieved not only through the
application of advanced technologies, but also through innovative
marketing strategies and tactics that redefine markets, create new
market segments and render existing competition obsolete.
Quality certificates and awards: European Information Technology
Prize (EngView division), GTEC (Government in Technology) product
innovation award (WorkLogic division, Canada), EuroWard for
promising start-up (EyeBill joint venture), Bulgarian IT innovation
award (Vulcan C4I system), ISO 9001:2000 certified.
Main fields of activity: Banking and insurance, Education,
Telecommunications, Government
Technologies: MS.NET, C#, VB.NET, ASP.NET, J2EE, JSP, EJB, Tomcat,
IIS, ASP, VBScript, Jscript, J2ME, J2SE, PHP, Perl, Apache, Mysql
Windows 98, 2000, XP, 2003, Linux (RedHat, SuSE), IBM AS/400, RPG
ILE, Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, SQL, Rational Rose, AllFusion Erwin,
Address:
135, Tsarigradsko shosse Blvd.,
Sofia 1784, Bulgaria
Tel.: +359-2-976-8310
info@sirma.bg, www.sirma.bg
70
Manager and contact person:
Miroslav Iliev – CEO
IBM Eclipse, J2ME, USSD, SIM Toolkit, Oracle Collab Suite, IBM DB2
Content Manager, IBM WebSphere Portal, IBM Business Integration
Svr, IBM AlphaBlox OLAP, IBM WorkPlace, IBM Lotus.
Successfully accomplished projects:
l Foodscape portal, Instill Purchase Web, IPW Connect, USA
l VULCAN artillery fire control system, Ministry of Defense,Bulgaria
l Modules for desktop search product, X1 Technologies,USA
l Subsystem implementation (SWIFT, card products, BISERA, BORIKA),
UniCredito Bulbank,Bulgaria
l Helpdesk management system, Elections Canada, Canada
l Grants and contributions management system, HRDC (Human Res
Dev Canada), Canada
l NIPIES inter-departmental Intellectual Property system Patent Office,
Customs Agency, Bulgaria
l Request Management system, Library of Parliament, Canada
Purpose of participating in this catalogue: Visibility, Finding new
clients and partners
Ownership structure: 100% Private, Bulgarian
Business characteristics of the company
Number of employees, April 2006 130
Approximate turnover in 2005: 3 000 000 EUR
Revenues by activities: Software Development– 40 %, IT Consulting and
System Integration Services– 40%, Hardware and software supply – 20%
Revenues by geographic location Bulgarian market – 50%
Export services - 50%
Sirma International Corp.
438 Isabey Street, Suite 103
Montreal, Quebec
Canada H4T 1V3
Tel.:+1-514-448-4649
Manager and contact
person:
Tsvetan Alexiev, CEO
Sciant, EOOD
Successfully accomplished projects: All are successful, we currently
are managing 20 separate projects and have well over 50 projects
completed
Main clients of the company: Actional Corporation, Akonix, Aonix
APIS, AppTran, ASTEC Global Consultancy, Beijer Automotive, Belair
Airlines, Blue Martini, Cerado, Inc, Certus, Credit Suisse, EPIQ, Fogbreak
Software, FWB Software, Global Securities, HestiaSoftware, IntelliCo,
JPS, KIM Systemhaus GmbH, Lockheed Martin, Market Metrix, Mercury
Interactive, Metapath Software International/Marconi, Nortel Networks,
Orbitel, Pi Group, Privasphere,SAP AG, ScaleTools, SeeSaw Networks
Seonix, Siemens Business Services, Slam Dunk Networks, TechniData,
Thomas Cook Airlines, BE, Tumbleweed Communications, UPAQ,
VMWare, Websense, WyNpro Solutions
Purpose of participating in this catalogue: Exposure, awareness
Year of establishment: 1996
Mission and brief description
Outsourcing professional specializing in providing expert software
development for small to medium enterprises worldwide.
Competitive qualities: Size, breadth of technical expertise,
communications model
Quality certificates and awards: ISO certified
Main fields of activity: Software Development
Technologies: Hardware Platforms and Technologies, PC, Sun, HP
Palm, PocketPC, Operating Systems and Platforms, Windows, Linux,
UNIX, HP-UX, Solaris, Programming Languages, Java, JavaScript, C++,
C#, SQL, Python, Perl, Visual Basic, VBScript, ASP, ASP.NET, HTML, XML,
XSL, SAS, PowerBuilder, 4GL, UML, Development Methodologies and
Processes, Rational Unified Process, UML, OOA, OOD, OOP, Prototyping,
Eclipse, Swing, Database, Oracle, Informix, SyBase, MySQL, Microsoft
SQL Server, Microsoft Access, Technologies, J2EE, J2ME, JavaBeans,
JSP, ODBC, JDBC, DAO, ADO, ADO.NET, Web Services/SOAP, .NET,
ActiveX, COM+, CGI, RPC, CORBA, Struts Framework, Custom ModelView-Controller (MVC2)
Business characteristics of the company
Number of employees, October 2006: 170+
Ownership structure: Private
Address: 9 Chamkoria Str.
Sofia 1504, Bulgaria
Phone: +359 2 943 3331
Fax: +359 2 943 3337
Offices in:
l Zug, Switzerland
l Sofia, Bulgaria
l
l
Manager and contact person: Dudley Blossom
Marketing & Sales Director
Varna, Bulgaria
Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam
Year of establishment: 1995
Mission: Developing of ideas and innovations on the basis of strategic
co-operation with the clients for servicing their business goals. Creating
of conditions and stimulus for continuous increase of qualification of the
employees, certifications and acquiring of new knowledge. Individual
approach to every customer.
Solutions and services
l System Integration. Complex network solutions: network design;
network infrastructure protection.
Data processing and storage solutions: building of data processing
centers.
Monitoring and management of IT infrastructures.
System software solutions: implementation and development of system
software of leading vendors; creating specialized software modules for
different systems’ integration; design and implementation of active
directory; design and implementation of teamwork systems; planning
and installation of antivirus and antispam systems.
Specialized software solutions – IP telephony; Call centers; Help Desk;
automated installation of workstations and servers.
l Building management systems and structured cable systems.
l Service and Support
Competitive qualities: Highly professional specialists with experience
in the implementation of complete solutions on the basis of the most
Address:
Sofia 1421, 52-54 Dimitar Hadjikotzev str.
Tel.: 960 42 00, Fax: 960 42 18
e-mail: office@paraflow.bg, www.paraflow.bg
modern technologies.
l Successful co-operation with leading IT vendors
l Good knowledge about business processes in the financial sector,
corporate management and public administration
l Complex services for complete building and support of information
systems
Quality certificates: ISO 9001:2000 in range of design, accomplishment,
system integration, 24-hours support, service and trade with IT products
and solutions. Hewlett-Packard - Preferred Partner, Cisco Systems - Silver
Certified Partner, Microsoft - Gold Certified Partner, Intel - Certified Processor
Integrator, 3Com - Gold Partner, Citrix - Solutions Provider, Symantec Enterprise Solutions Partner, Oracle - Partner Network, Reichle & De-Massari
– Certified Installer & Planner, AMP - Certified Installer, Panduit - Certified
Installer, Siemens – Certified System Integrator.
Main fields of activity: Fianance, Public administration, Industry, Education
Ownership structure: 100% Bulgarian
Number of employees, April 2006: 72
Approximate turnover in 2005: 15,650 BGN
Revenues by activities: Hardware for system integration: 6,778
Mln BGN, Software for system integration: 2,471 Mln BGN,
Telecommunication solutions as a part of system integration: 5,137
Mln BGN, IT services: 1,261 Mln BGN
Revenues by geographic location: Bulgarian market
Burgas 8000, 8 Uspenski str., office 13
tel./fax: 056 840 197
Varna 9010, jk Chaika, bl. 128
Tel./fax: 052 32 19 97
Stara Zagora 6000,
45 Slavianski blvd., floor 3
Tel./fax: 042 60 53 50
Manager and contact person:
Nikolai Avramov
71
System Integration
Paraflow Communications Ltd.
Published for Bulgarian State Agency
for Information Technology and Communications
by Saga Technology Ltd.
72