Software Agency, the IT-department, of Technology Agency Oy, provides software production and network administration services of which a part using offshore services of software programming.

Software Agency's customers consist mainly of privately owned companies ranging from small and mid-sized companies up to very large enterprises. Each assignment is carried out as a separate project and the size of the programming tasks varies a lot. To be able to manage these projects cost-effectively and to ensure good quality of the software products Software Agency has developed a Software production process. In the offshore business it is important to have reliable contacts at the site where the actual programming is carried out.

Our experiences of the co-operation with Arcadia Inc. in st. Petersburg are very good. The company has a skilful and motivated staff with whom software projects have been successfully carried out. A highly developed project management ensures their effective and well-organised software production. An additional mark-up to the projects is gained by the innovative approach the Arcadia staff has to solve problems.

All assignments are started by making a detailed technical project plan that enables the calculation of needed resources for the project. These project plans are made together with Arcadia Inc. We have found the company to be very flexible in allocating resources needed for the projects. This is a very important characteristic in the software business where timetables often are tight. The fact that we can rely on promised due dates and that deadlines are kept even if sudden changes occur makes Arcadia Inc. a valuable partner in our off shore business.

Another important issue is the quality of the software products. High quality of the software products can be obtained at Arcadia Inc. because of appropriate testing and a highly developed documentation system. In our co-operation with the company testing activities with a common Bug Tracking System are used. In this system the bugs found in the software are reported to a common database using a secure channel on the Internet. The system makes not only fast corrections of the code possible but is used in the documentation process. The entire coding process with each change and correction is recorded to make a complete report of the assignment. When the software is ready and has passed all the testing it is handed over to the client together with the documentation material. The software produced by Arcadia Inc. has always been of high quality.

Our satisfied customers form the best indicator of our functioning collaboration. Working together with Arcadia Inc. has helped us to develop our business towards continuous business relationships. This is important for a company that measures its success by the success of the customers.

Technology Agency Oy is a project management company that links together various organisations in different research and development projects.

I have known Arcady Khotin since the spring of 1994 when he had three employees and have been very impressed to watch Arcadia develop over the past five years to its present size of over 70 employees. My obeservation of Arcadia has been via the internet and no less than five visits to St Petersburg where I have spent time at his head quarters and gotten to know some of his employees. A remarkable and dedicated crew. Mr Khotin is an excellent manager who, in partnership with Philip Schwartz of Gainsville Florida, has grown Arcadia to the point where it remains highly effective and productive and has become a very serious player in the off shore programming business. His ability to find and hang onto excellent managerial and technical talent is quite impressive. Having an American citizen as partner and business manager in Florida from the very beginning gives Arcadia a competitive leg up in access, and operational and fiscal stability. Last summer's fiscal upheaval seems to have affected him not at all. He has become a very good friend and since I view him as a person of the highest integrity I have no hesitation in putting my owen reputation on the line by endorsing him and his business. Let me make it clear that while I have no financial or other interest in his business he has done some excellent work on my web pages. I have a PhD in Russian history. Therefore I have some understanding about the importance of the success of his and other businesses for the future prosperity and stability of the Russian nation.