I-LogiK: Conversation with Simon Turner

Simon Turner is the Technical Director for I-Logik Software, a software development company based in Birmingham, UK. Simon has a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Nottingham and now specializes in the development of unique powerful tools to dramatically improve network efficiency and data management.

Geetesh: Tell us more about I-Logik and the PackITSuite.

Simon: I-Logik Software is a software development company committed to building innovative software solutions to a wide variety of industries and enterprises worldwide.

With expertise in both data compression and image optimisation, I-Logik continues to work hand in hand with large segments such as higher education, healthcare and local and central government, addressing the current unmet problems of the management, communication and storage of digital data.

The growth of digital data is only going to escalate over time. Since it is impossible to know what data is needed in the future and what data is important and still relevant, many companies keep all files indefinitely on disk. Consequently the amount of data being stored is spiraling out of control and storage management has become an ever-increasing challenge.

Simply adding more hardware to alleviate the problem is no longer a practical solution. Escalating storage management costs, increased back-up windows and decreasing system performance are creating major corporate problems worldwide.

Here at I-Logik, we believe file optimisation is the answer. The I-Logik PackITSuite is a collection of sophisticated file optimisation libraries that allow common everyday file formats to be reduced to a fraction of their original size. File formats supported are:

• Microsoft PowerPoint presentations (.ppt)
• Microsoft Word documents (.doc)
• Various image file formats including jpeg.
  

The file format is completely unchanged post compression. Therefore there is no zip/unzip process and no proprietary software is required to view the optimised files. For example a PowerPoint presentation (.ppt) is still a PowerPoint presentation (.ppt) after compression. It can be opened and edited in exactly the same way without the need for additional software.

Geetesh: How can the PackITSuite help everyday users of Microsoft PowerPoint and Word -- and will they have to do something to make the whole thing perform?

Simon: The PackITSuite is available in two editions, PackITSuite Server Edition and PackITSuite Workstation Edition.

The beauty of the PackITSuite Server Edition is that it is a centrally managed application and staff need no education or training in order to receive its benefits. In actual fact, users of PowerPoint and Word will have to do nothing at all.

The PackITSuite Server Edition works by giving network administrators the ability to optimise files stored centrally on a file server. File formats supported are:

• Microsoft PowerPoint presentations (.ppt)
• Microsoft Word documents (.doc)
• Various image file formats including jpeg.
  

As I mentioned previously the file format is completely unchanged post optimisation. Therefore users are completely unaware of the change, the only thing they will notice is that their files are dramatically smaller in size.

This has significant benefits to both the infrastructure of the company and the users themselves. Our website has a detailed breakdown of these benefits and these can be seen by clicking on this link...

A Flash movie of the application in action can be seen by clicking on this link...

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