Dear Friends,
___________ Welcome to the BandyWorks e-newsletter. Periodically we want to share with you some of the latest developments and trends in technology, particularly as they relate to your business or organization's current success and future growth. We also would like to tell you a bit about what's happening here at BandyWorks, as we have been experiencing rapid growth ever since we founded the business four years ago.

Last fall we relocated our U.S. operations to much larger quarters in Old Towne Petersburg, and we have been adding staff regularly in our owned, dedicated office in Bangalore, India. Together we now have more than 20 people in these offices, and despite the economy we are planning for additional growth for the balance of this year and in 2010.

Because we are a relatively new company in the area, I often am asked, “What is BandyWorks?” In a few words, we are software developers, and more specifically we focus on web-based applications for businesses, organizations and associations, educational institutions, and government and military entities. In more technical terms, we provide optimized business processes using the Internet to integrate legacy systems and new applications. Finally, we design and build most of our applications using various technologies from Microsoft, such as Visual Studio 2008 with its .NET Framework, Team Foundation Server, SQL Server and SQL Server Reports.

Our business revolves around your desire to operate in the most effective manner possible, increasing market share and revenues while constantly implementing measures to increase productivity and decrease costs. In today's world, that often involves designing and developing computer applications, solely for your use, that fully integrate your processes, that distribute information whenever, wherever and to whomever you want, and that run in a very reliable, intuitive and user-friendly way.

At BandyWorks, we provide high-quality business solutions at the best possible price, because unlike other companies who operate either here in U.S. or offshore, we offer a seamless team combining onshore and offshore professionals who share the same corporate framework, culture, management and other important resources. We are truly a team spanning the world, and we look forward to having the opportunity some day to work with you and your team.

Best Regards,
Tom Bandy
Owner and General Manager

Major technology association TechAmerica recently released a 3rd and 4th quarter breakdown of 2008 tech employment. Fourth quarter data show the tech industry's resilience compared to the U.S. economy as a whole, having sustained only a 0.6 percent drop in employment, or 38,000 jobs, in Q4 2008 when total private-sector employment declined by 1.3 percent.
The report shows that Virginia's tech industry grew by two percent, adding 5,300 jobs for a total of 276,100 in 2007, the most recent year for which state data are available. This is the fourth consecutive year of ranking among the top five states by tech job growth for Virginia. Virginia also continues to be the national leader in terms of high-tech employment concentration, with 9.2 percent of its private sector workforce in the tech industry. These jobs pay nearly twice as much as the average private sector job in Virginia.
"Virginia is the epitome of a high-tech success story--it is the fifth ranked cyberstate nationally, has the highest concentration of tech workers, grew for five consecutive years in 2007, and has consistently boasted one of the fastest growing high-tech employment populations in the country," said Phillip J. Bond, President of TechAmerica. "This all indicates that the tech industry here in Virginia is well positioned to weather the storm. We anticipate that - bolstered by technology investments outlined in the stimulus package - the tech industry in Virginia will be poised to lead our state's recovery efforts."
The state's largest high-tech sector is computer systems design and related services which employs 126,400 people, added 7,400 jobs in 2007, and was ranked 2nd nationwide, after California. The state also gained tech jobs in the software publishers services sector (+200 jobs) as well as the high tech manufacturing sectors (+400 jobs). Virginia shed jobs in communications services (-1,300 jobs), engineering services (-1,000 jobs) and R&D and testing labs (-300 jobs) in 2007.

For the last 10 years, the number of successful software development projects has not increased significantly. In fact, it has consistently run only at about the rate of 30%, with around 50% of projects labeled as challenged and 20% as failed. According to Microsoft, software quality errors cost U.S. businesses nearly $60 billion annually, and software bugs account for 55% of all downtime costs. That's not good project management.

At BandyWorks, we employ a key part of Microsoft's Visual Studio 2008, known as Team Foundation Server (TFS), for the above reasons as well as the following business software application challenges:

•  Business requirements not actively managed

•  Disparate tools and data

•  Testing not aligned with business objectives

•  Lack of defined process and guidance

•  Limited visibility into project status to make decisions

•  Communication issues between team members

TFS enables team-wide collaboration by providing a unified team server for all project artifacts and support for team communication, including work item tracking, reporting, version control and more. This sophisticated project management technology enables team-wide collaboration by providing a unified team server for all project artifacts and support for team communication, including work item tracking, reporting, version control and more. It also works to:

Drive Predictability: Integrated process templates help teams deliver predictable results, continuously improve and adapt, and effectively collaborate and communicate with team members and stakeholders. TFS also offers industry partner templates, or we can create our own.

Manage Team Workflow: All projects have detailed work plans. Work Item Tracking is a flexible, efficient way to manage the work assignments and status across all team members.

Ensure Quality: TFS enables development teams to deliver quality software by introducing quality early and often with a quality-centric toolset at all stages of the application lifecycle. From tracking requirements during planning, to load testing during quality assurance, TFS's comprehensive toolset enables quality to be a priority. What Defines Quality? We think it means how fast the application functions, how often the application is available, and how the application performs under load.

Work Integration: TFS provides a full-featured version control system, which supports continuous integration and scheduled builds, labeling, check-out on edit, and the ability to relate a work item to a check-in.

Real-Time Decisions : With a comprehensive business intelligence reporting system, we and our clients have all the real-time data we need at your fingertips, enabling critical decision making when it is most needed.

With TFS, our development teams can focus on delivering high quality software in any stage of the software development life cycle. It provides us and our clients with the best tools, processes, and guidance to help everyone on the team improve their skills and work more effectively together. And most important, it results in successful application development projects and programs, allowing our clients to generate a substantial return on their investment in improving their operations.

Source and Illustrations: Microsoft Corporation