EVOLUTION, a Quick Background

 

Ten years with Property Book

Evolution started out its ten-year old history with the Army’s Property Book Accountability Effort as Microbase.  Back in 1992, our company entered a 12-player competition for the privilege of supplying SPBS-R with the multi-user DOS compatible Operating System platform that was to complete the migration away from the TACCS multi-user configurations into a new generation of COTS systems.  After a long period of evaluation and testing, VirtuOS came out the winner of the group and the original VirtuOS/SPBS-R fielding started in 1993.

Evolution versus Revolution

Since then our work with SPBS-R has shifted from central procurement through the former DCL (Ft. Lee-VA) to direct sole source contracting by over two hundred various customers ranging from Army Major Commands, to the Reserve Component, to individual National Guard Units.  The reason for our sustained success: Solutions based on EVOLUTIONARY principles, rather than REVOLUTIONARY ones.  Many audacious proposals have not met with success or endured the test of time as much as our solutions have.

Evolution over Generations

With the success of the first generation, Evolution kept on driving to deliver better performance and increased reliability and productivity with every new generation of upgrade systems.  In 1998, all new EVOLUTION systems shipped were fully integrated into the SPBS-R unit’s Windows/TCP-IP LANs.  The architecture was simple.  Only the SPBS-R server was hardware specifically dedicated to SPBS-R.  The terminals became logical entities accessing the server through local WindowsÒ Software at the standard-issue WindowsÒ LAN workstations as determined by the PBO.  This way, a PBO or Hand-Receipt Holder could, with a simple piece of software in their WindowsÒ 98/NT/2000 desktop computers and with the granting of proper security IDs and passwords, access and run SPBS-R as though sitting at one of the original SPBS-R dumb terminals. Even though this looked and felt like the solution fielded by DCL in the early 90’s it was, in fact, a system that evolved significantly, incorporating gradual changes all of which suggested and/or recommended by the SPBS-R and PBO user community. This involvement of the user in the evolution process again guaranteed acceptance and success in the field.