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BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

T-E-C-H-N-O-L-O-G-Y

Palton-is-a-single-runtime-that-allows-developers-to-use-multiple-programming-languages-in-the-same-program,-the-same-file,-even-the-same-function.-Instead-of-a-different-runtime-for-each-language,-Palton-uses-loadable-language-definition-modules.-Users-can-modify-language-definitions-to-add-new-constructs,-such-as-operators-or-statements,-as-easily-as-they-define-new-functions-and-classes.-New-language-definitions-can-be-created-to-allow-Palton-to-run-programs-written-in-an-existing-language,-or-new-languages-can-be-designed-from-scratch.

Palton-is-a-unique-application-of-recent-research-into-parsing-theory,-developed-as-the-masterÕs-thesis-of-University-of-Bristol-student-Chris-Seaton.-A-paper-describing-the-theory-behind-Palton-has-been-submitted-for-publication-at-the-2007-Generative-Programming-and-Component-Engineering-conference.

MODEL

Using-Palton-lowers-development-costs:

• Only-one-runtime-needs-to-be-maintained-and-supported

• You-can-use-any-language-for-any-part-of-the-program

• Code-can-be-reused-between-different-languages

• Domain-specific-languages-can-be-developed-as-easily-as-writing-a-function-library

Palton-Consulting-is-the-business-that-will-be-established-to-use-this-technology-to-lower-development-and-maintenance-costs-to-businesses.-Palton-is-particularly-well-suited-to-solving-problems-involving:

• Legacy-systems-that-are-dependent-on-old-or-unsupported-runtimes,-or-that-donÕt-run-on-modern-hardware

• Programs-written-in-languages-where-developers-are-hard-to-find-or-expensive-to-hire

• Systems-that-are-written-in-domain-specific-or-obsolete-languages

The-Palton-technology-will-be-released-as-open-source-software-and-promoted-as-a-community-project-to-gain-exposure-to-developers.-We-will-encourage-users-to-form-a-community-to-share-language-definitions.-Palton-Consulting-will-sell-consulting-services-for-users-of-Palton,-and-for-general-software-systems-consulting-where-we-will-apply-Palton.

OPPORTUNITY

Palton-Consulting-needs-an-investment-of- £175,000 -to-support-operations-until-we-are-profitable,-which-is-anticipated-to-be-at-the-start-of-the-second-year.-£75,000-is-needed-to-continue-development-of-Palton-in-the-first-six-months-and-establish-the-business.-A-further- £100,000 -is-needed-in-the-sixth-month-as-we-start-to-hire-employees-and-take-on-our-first-clients.-Separate-investors-could-fund-at-each-stage,-each-receiving-a-share-in-the-company.

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T-e-c-h-n-o-l-o-g-y

Software-programs-are-written-as-source-code-text-in-a-programming-language.-The-program-source-code-has-to-be-translated-before-it-can-be-run.-Sometimes-the-developer-does-this,-when-the-tool-is-called-a-compiler,-or-the-user-does-it,-when-the-tool-is-called-an-interpreter.-I-use-the-informal-term-runtime-to-refer-to-compilers,-interpreters,-and-other-related-development-tools,-as-they-are-all-tools-to-run-a-program.

With-a-traditional-development-tools,-you-need-a-different-runtime-tool-for-each-language-that-you-use.-If-you-want-your-programs-to-work-together,-you-have-to-find-a-combination-of-runtimes-that-all-work-on-the-same-platform.-It-is-generally-very-hard-to-make-programs-written-in-different-languages-to-communicate-because-the-runtimes-are-all-designed-differently.-Generally-the-only-solution-is-to-set-up-IO-channels-to-pass-data-between-the-programs.

For-example,-if-a-business-is-using-the-FORTRAN-scientific-language,-and-the-Python-general-purpose-language,-they-have-to-install,-maintain-and-use-separate-runtimes-for-each.-It-is-very-hard-to-make-the-two-programs-written-in-different-languages-interoperate:

The-runtime-that-you-choose-further-restricts-other-choices.-The-Microsoft-Visual-Basic-runtime-is-only-available-for-Windows-platforms,-so-if-you-choose-to-develop-one-part-of-your-system-in-Visual-Basic-you-are-restricted-to-using-only-runtimes-that-are-available-for-Windows,-or-else-to-set-up-complicated-cross-platform-communication.

If-the-language-you-use-on-a-project-was-specially-developed-for-your-business,-the-runtime-that-you-have-is-the-only-one-available.-If-you-wanted-to-use-your-software-on-a-different-platform-such-as-a-different-type-of-computer,-you-would-have-to-bear-the-cost-of-porting-the-entire-runtime.

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Palton’s Technique

Traditional-runtimes-accept-a-fixed-language-according-to-a-data-structure-known-as-the-language-grammar.-In-Palton-the-grammar-is-a-mutable,-or-changeable,-data-structure.-The-grammar-can-be-modified-to-be-the-grammar-of-any-programming-language-that-you-want.-Modifications-to-the-grammar-are-stored-in-language-definition-modules,-which-are-written-very-much-like-traditional-function-libraries.-Palton-can-run-any-language-you-provide-a-definition-module-for.

The-standard-library-will-include-definition-modules-for-many-popular-languages,-with-users-free-to-develop-and-share-new-modules.-Even-a-developer-untrained-in-language-development-should-be-able-to-write-a-module.

With-the-modules,-Palton-becomes-a-single-runtime-that-can-run-any-language.-With-all-your-programs-running-together,-they-can-easily-share-data.-For-example,-if-a-FORTRAN-program-defines-a-function,-your-Python-program-will-be-able-to-call-it-as-if-it-were-defined-in-Python-code.

As-language-definitions-are-data-structures-in-Palton,-they-can-be-manipulated-at-runtime.-Palton-can-compose-two-or-more-language-definitions-to-enable-you-to-use-more-than-one-language-in-the-same-program,-the-same-file,-even-the-function.

For-example,-if-the-business-in-the-example-on-the-previous-page-switched-to-Palton-they-would-use-only-the-Palton-runtime.-Palton-would-use-the-appropriate-language-definition-module-for-each-program.-If-the-business-wanted-to-use-both-FORTRAN-and-Python-in-a-single-program,-Palton-would-use-both-language-modules,-composing-them:

Developers-already-want-to-do-this:-SQL-statements-are-often-embedded-in-programs-written-in-other-languages-by-writing-them-in-string-constants.-In-Palton-you-can-compose-the-SQL-language-definition-with-the-language-that-you-are-using-and-use-SQL-statements-as-if-they-were-part-of-your-language.-Errors-such-as-SQL-injection,-or-poisoning,-attacks-are-eliminated-because-the-user-is-no-longer-clumsily-forming-SQL-query-strings-using-user-input.

Palton-is-developed-on-top-of-Novell-Mono,-an-open-source-implementation-of-the-Microsoft-.NET-platform.-It-is-developed-on-the-Mac-OS-X-and-Linux-operating-systems,-but-should-also-run-on

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Microsoft-Windows-and-could-very-easily-be-ported-to-run-to-on-top-of-the-Sun-Java-platform-or-a-platform-built-from-scratch.-With-these-three-ports-of-the-Palton-runtime-we-could-target-any-operating-system-or-device.

Current Progress

Palton-has-been-in-development-since-summer-2006.-Two-prototypes-were-developed-to-explore-how-the-theory-could-be-applied.-A-working-implementation-has-now-been-created-that-will-continue-to-be-developed-to-production-quality.-Palton-is-ready-to-be-demonstrated-to-a-technical-audience-today.

The-current-focus-of-development-is-error-handling,-optimising-performance-and-developing-language-definition-modules-for-existing-languages.-Proof-of-concept-language-definitions-for-FORTRAN-and-Python-are-part-of-the-Palton-standard-library.-We-hope-to-extend-this-to-include-Java,-COBOL,-Visual-Basic-and-other-such-languages-common-in-the-industry.

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Business-Strategy

Palton-Consulting-will-use-the-Palton-technology-to-provide-business-consulting-and-software-development-services.-As-the-Palton-technology-will-take-time-to-mature,-in-our-first-year-of-operation-we-will-take-on-general-clients-and-provide-solutions-using-traditional-development-tools.-By-the-second-year,-Palton-will-be-ready-for-production-use-in-clientsÕ-projects.

Almost-all-language-runtimes-are-freely-available,-with-the-developersÕ-business-model-being-to-sell-related-tools,-support-and-training.-Charging-for-licenses-for-Palton-would-therefore-be-counterproductive.-Palton-will-be-available-for-free-and-under-an-open-source-/-free-software-license.-It-is-our-strategy-to-encourage-a-community-of-users-to-use-Palton-on-their-own-and-to-share-language-modules.

As-Palton-becomes-better-known-in-the-industry-we-anticipate-users-coming-to-us-specifically-for-services-related-to-Palton-instead-of-general-consulting.-We-would-market-and-promote-Palton-to-businesses-and-developers-as-a-standard-general-purpose-development-tool.-Palton-Consulting-would-be-uniquely-placed-to-provide-this-support.

T-i-m-e-l-i-n-e

Business-strategy-timeline

Year-1

Year-2

• Continue-development-of-technology

• Based-in-SETSquared-Business-Accelerator,-Bristol-for-first-six-months

• Move-into-rented-business-premises-in-third-quarter

• Hire-two-developers,-community-and-business-managers

• Total-staff-of-five

• Establish-website-and-community

• Take-on-first-general-clients-in-third-quarter

• Revenue-£64,000

• Hire-four-more-developers,-another-business-manager,-receptionist

• Total-staff-of-ten-Ð-director,-six-developers,-community-manager-and-two-business-managers

• Take-on-more-general-clients

• Start-to-use-Katahdin-on-clientsÕ-projects

• Continue-development-of-technology

• Revenue-£792,000

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Year-3​•​Hire-two-more-developers,-another-business-manager

• Total-staff-of-thirteen-Ð-director,-eight-developers,-community-manager-and-three-business-managers

• Start-consulting-for-businesses-that-are-using-Palton-in-their-own-projects

• Continue-development-of-technology

• Revenue-£1,368,000

Year-4

Year-5

Long-Term

• Continue-growth-in-staff-and-clients

• Concentrate-on-supporting-Palton-and-marketing-it-to-the-whole-industry

• Continue-growth-in-staff-and-clients

• Start-to-consider-new-directions-in-language-and-systems-technology

• Continue-to-grow

• Continue-to-use-technology-to-gain-a-business-advantage-in-the-IT-industry

SOFTWARE CONSULTING SERVICES

Software-consulting-is-providing-skills-to-businesses-that-do-not-have-them-within-their-own-resources.-Advising-on-the-choice-of-systems,-their-installation-and-management-are-all-examples-of-software-consultancy-services.-Palton-is-a-unique-solution-to-the-problems-of:

• Systems-integration

• Unsupported-languages-and-runtimes

For-example-businesses-may-come-to-us-for-advice-on:

• How-to-integrate-old-applications-with-new

• How-to-run-old-systems-on-new-hardware-or-software-platforms

• How-to-update-unsupported-development-tools

When-Palton-is-ready-for-production-use-our-consulting-developers-will-help-businesses-use-Palton-to-solve-these-problems,-until-then-we-can-advise-on-the-use-of-traditional-development-tools.

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Bespoke-software-development-is-developing-a-software-system-specifically-for-one-businessÕs-purposes.-ClientÕs-requirements-are-established-by-a-systems-analyst,-in-our-case-the-consulting-developers.-Palton-would-make-us-competitive-in-software-development-for:

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• New-software-that-has-to-work-with-legacy-systems

• Domain-specific-languages

• General-purpose-application-development-on-the-desktop,-server-and-embedded-devices

We-would-particularly-focus-on-developing-domain-specific-languages,-which-are-heavily-used-by-many-industries-including:

• Hardware-development-and-testing-(for-example,-VHDL-and-Verilog-hardware-description-languages)

• Financial-systems-(for-example,-the-RISLA-interest-rate-language-used-by-bank-Fortis-MeesPierson)

• Graphics-software-(for-example,-the-MEL-scripting-language-built-into-the-Maya-modelling-tool)

Before-Palton-is-ready-for-production-use,-in-the-first-year-or-so,-we-will-provide-the-same-bespoke-software-development-services-using-traditional-development-tools.

SUPPORT

With-Palton-available-freely-from-our-website-and-a-community-of-users-providing-language-modules-and-informal-support,-businesses-will-be-able-to-experiment-with-Palton-on-their-own.-As-we-are-confident-in-the-power-and-value-of-the-software-to-businesses,-we-anticipate-that-they-will-start-to-use-Palton-in-their-systems.-At-this-point-Palton-Consulting-can-start-to-offer-support-to-Palton.-This-would-include:

• Advising-on-the-use-of-Palton

• Fixing-bugs-in-Palton

• Porting-Palton-to-new-platforms

• Preparing-Palton-for-certification-for-security-criteria-such-as-ISO-Common-Criteria,-as-required-by-some-businesses-and-government-users

INCOME STRATEGY 

£100-an-hour-is-the-minimum-that-would-be-charged-to-businesses-for-these-kind-services.-The-government-will-not-pay-more-than-about-£50-for-the-same-services.-All-consultants-charge-different-rates-depending-on-the-client-and-the-job-and-so-do-not-publish-fees,-and-instead-give-a-quote-after-meeting-with-the-client.

As-our-business-model-is-that-we-can-provide-the-same-technology-at-a-lower-cost-employing-our-technology,-our-fees-are-set-to-the-lower-end-of-the-range-that-we-could-charge.-Each-client-would-be-quoted-an-individually-determined-figure,-but-the-fee-used-in-the-financial-projections-is-an-average-of-£100-an-hour-in-the-first-year,-rising-to-£150-an-hour-in-the-second-year-and-third-years,-for-each-hour-of-consulting-developerÕs-time.-We-can-charge-a-higher-fee-as-we-become-larger-and-more-experienced,-and-have-businesses-specifically-requesting-our-services-when-Palton-becomes-well-known.

If-we-have-a-longer-contract-with-a-business,-the-fee-can-be-set-for-a-time-span-of-a-week,-a-month-or-other-time-period,-with-us-estimating-how-many-developer-hours-it-will-take-us-to-complete-the-project.

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The-security-of-such-engagements-means-that-we-can-charge-a-lower-hourly-rate.-Shorter-engagements-are-charged-at-a-higher-rate,-so-if-a-developer-were-required-literally-for-a-single-hour,-the-fee-would-be-well-above-£100.-The-hourly-rates-set-above-are-a-conservative-average-for-the-range-of-contracts.

S-t-a-f-f

Pearson-will-function-as-director-of-the-company,-concentrating-on-development-of-Palton-and-business-direction.-He-will-recruit-other-members-of-staff-for-the-first-couple-of-years.

The-business-manager-will-interface-with-clients-and-administrate-the-business.-They-should-have-the-experience-in-business-necessarily-to-present-a-professional-face-and-conduct-negotiations-for-the-business.-The-consulting-developers-will-work-as-systems-analysts-and-developers.-They-will-meet-with-clients-and-develop-solutions-for-their-needs.-Consulting-developers-work-on-projects-in-groups-of-varying-size,-depending-on-the-projects,-and-possibly-on-more-than-one-project-at-a-time.-Clients-are-charged-an-hourly-rate-for-each-consulting-developer-working-on-their-project.

The-community-manager-will-develop-the-web-site-and-head-the-effort-to-build-a-community.-They-will-also-deal-with-marketing.-The-receptionist-will-be-hired-when-we-have-permanent-office-space-and-are-dealing-with-clients-in-the-second-year.

Beyond-staff-salaries-and-national-insurance-contributions,-we-have-budgeted-a-further-£5,000-pa-for-each-member-of-staff-to-cover-other-expenses-such-as-recruitment,-training,-maternity-and-paternity-leave-and-so-on.

Staff-positions,-salaries-and-requirements

Director​•​Development-of-Palton

• Developer-training

• Business-direction

• £35,000-pa-(£20,000-pa-in-the-first-two-quarters)

Consulting

Developer

• Systems-analysis-and-development-of-clientsÕ-projects

• Development-of-Palton

• Training-of-junior-developers

• Should-be-graduates-or-developers-with-industry-experience

• £40,000-Ð-£45,000-pa-depending-on-experience-(financial-projections-based-on-average-of-£42,500)

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Community

Manager

• Web-site-development

• Community-relations

• Should-have-experience-of-the-open-source-community

• Should-have-experience-of-creating-and-administrating-a-website,-technical-writing,-basic-graphic-design-and-good-business-skills

R-e-c-r-u-i-t-m-e-n-t

Recruitment-efforts-will-initially-be-targeted-at-computer-science-or-other-technical-degree-graduates-at-local-universities.-As-we-become-established-we-will-hire-developers-experienced-in-consulting-for-industries-from-where-we-are-finding-business.-Our-developer-salary-is-very-competitive-and-we-hope-to-attract-energetic-graduates-excited-about-working-on-a-new-technology.-The-salary-for-developers-is-variable-so-that-we-can-spend-more-on-attracting-people-that-we-really-want.-With-our-relatively-large-team-of-developers-early-on-we-will-be-able-to-hire-developers-with-a-range-of-skills-who-can-work-together-to-build-a-technically-strong-team.

The-business-manager-needs-technical-as-well-as-business-skills-to-thoroughly-understand-what-our-company-does-but-should-have-some-kind-of-business-training-such-as-a-business-graduate-degree-or-genuine-experience-in-a-business-role.-The-community-manager-will-be-developing-a-website-and-so-will-also-need-technical-skills.

P-r-e-m-i-s-e-s

S-t-a-r-t-U-p-P-h-a-s-e

In-the-first-six-months-of-operation-where-the-director-is-the-only-employee,-we-hope-to-be-based-at-SETSquared-Business-Acceleration.-With-an-existing-relationship-to-the-University-of-Bristol-where-Chris-Seaton-is-finishing-his-masterÕs-degree,-SETSquared-is-designed-to-accommodate-businesses-in-their-start-up-phase,-providing-a-workstation-and-business-facilities-such-as-a-reception-and-telecommunications.-SETSquared-allows-a-business-to-present-a-professional-front,-which-would-be-essential-for-recruiting.

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Facilities-for-a-single-employee-in-SETSquared-are-charged-at-£100-a-month.-We-would-be-based-there-for-six-months-before-we-hire-the-first-developers-and-managers,-and-move-into-rented-office-space.

O-p-e-r-a-t-i-o-n-a-l-P-h-a-s-e

As-a-consulting-business,-Palton-Consulting-will-need-professional-premises-for-developers-to-work-and-meet-with-clients.-Hired-private-office-space-is-essential-for-meeting-with-clients-Ð-a-virtual-office,-developers-working-from-home,-or-space-in-a-shared-office-would-not-be-appropriate.-We-would-hire-a-receptionist-to-welcome-clients-and-always-be-available-to-answer-telephones.

L-o-c-a-t-i-o-n

Although-in-the-start-up-phase-the-business-would-be-based-in-Bristol-with-SETSquared,-it-would-be-possible-to-move-location-before-the-first-employees-are-hired.-Other-cities-to-consider-establishing-in-are-London,-the-capital-and-business-centre-of-the-country,-and-Oxford-and-Cambridge-with-their-large-and-varied-community-of-high-technology-businesses.

The-amounts-quoted-for-office-space-includes-utilities-such-as-water,-energy-and-cleaning.

Bristol

• Office-space-£30-ft2-pa-(£81,000-2nd-year-total)

• Lots-of-big,-high-technology-companies

• Can-recruit-from-Bristol-and-Bath-universities,-including-university-graduates-the-director-already-knows

• Links-with-university-and-SETSquared

• DoesnÕt-require-moving-after-first-six-months

London

• Office-space-£60-ft2-pa-(£162,000-2nd-year-total)

• Highest-number-and-variety-of-clients

• Extremely-high-cost-of-living-Ð-will-have-to-pay-developers-more

• Can-recruit-from-whole-country-Ð-graduates-expect-to-move-to-London

• No-contacts-in-London

Cambridge

• Office-space-£20-ft2-pa-(£54,000-2nd-year-total)

• Can-recruit-from-Cambridge-and-Anglia-Ruskin-universities

• Lots-of-big,-high-technology-companies,-but-also-smaller-start-ups

• No-contacts-in-Cambridge

Oxford

• Office-space-£20-ft2-pa-(£54,000-2nd-year-total)

• Can-recruit-from-Oxford-university

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• Like-Cambridge,-lots-of-big,-high-technology-companies-but-also-smaller-start-ups

• No-contacts-in-Oxford

I-think-the-most-practical-option-is-to-base-the-company-in-Bristol-for-at-least-the-first-few-years.-Cambridge-and-Oxford-offer-similar-advantages-to-Bristol,-but-the-business-will-have-no-contacts-there.-London-has-an-extremely-high-cost-of-living-that-will-make-recruitment-harder-based-on-the-salaries-we-are-offering.

S-p-a-c-e

Estimates-for-the-amount-of-office-space-needed-run-as-follows:

• Office-space-for-each-employee-Ð-150ft2

• Meeting-room-suitable-for-10-people-Ð-300ft2

• Reception-space-Ð-300ft2

• Communal-space-for-staff-kitchen,-rest-areas-Ð-400ft2

• Space-for-servers-and-general-storage-Ð-200ft2

We-will-move-offices-every-year-as-our-developer-base-increases.-Although-moving-costs-time-and-energy,-renting-wasted-space-would-be-too-expensive-in-the-first-few-years.

Office-space-required-each-year

M-a-r-k-e-t-i-n-g

Palton-Consulting-will-approach-marketing-from-two-angles-Ð-a-community-of-Palton-users-built-around-a-website-and-advertising-in-industry-publications.

C-o-m-m-u-n-i-t-y-W-e-b-s-i-t-e

The-Palton-technology-community-website-will-be-distinct-from-the-Palton-Consulting-business-site.-The-website-will-fill-several-functions:

• Distribute-Palton-software

• Access-online-documentation

• Access-to-our-version-control-and-bug-tracking-systems

• A-SourceForge-style-system-for-developing-and-sharing-language-modules

• A-forum-and-mailing-list

• Links-to-Palton-ConsultingÕs-commercial-website

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This-separate-technology-community-and-business-website-is-similar-to-the-setup-used-by-companies-such-as-MySQL-AB,-Red-Hat-Inc.,-and-Novell.

A-d-v-e-r-t-i-s-i-n-g

The-community-website-makes-it-easy-for-people-interested-in-Palton-to-find-out-more,-download-the-software-and-contact-our-business.-To-reach-beyond-people-who-hear-about-us-from-Ôword-of-mouthÕ-methods-such-as-seeing-another-project-using-Palton,-messages-on-web-logs-and-so-on,-we-need-a-way-to-introduce-Palton-to-the-industry.

We-will-take-out-advertisements-in-industry-print-magazines-and-newspapers.

Advertising-rate-in-industry-publications

I-have-budgeted-£18,000-each-quarter-for-industry-publications-advertising.-This-could-be-spent-on-six-quarter-page-adverts-in-weekly-newspapers;-two-or-three-full-page-adverts-in-weekly-newspapers,-or-four-monthly-full-page-adverts-in-an-industry-magazine.-We-can-spread-the-budget-between-all-of-these-options-over-time,-perhaps-spending-some-of-it-on-recruitment-advertising.-The-community-manager-would-produce-the-advertising-copy-and-design.

    LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS

The-Palton-software-will-be-released-for-no-charge-under-a-Berkley-Software-Distribution-(BSD)-style-license,-as-used-by-the-University-of-California,-Berkeley-and-industry-leading-software-projects-such-as-Apache-and-PostgreSQL.

As-open-source-software,-Palton-will-attract-students-and-developers,-who-can-learn-to-use-Palton-without-any-financial-support.-Users-will-be-encouraged-to-participate-in-development-of-Palton-and-to-share-language-definitions-through-a-community-website.

Businesses-see-a-lower-total-cost-of-ownership-in-open-source-software:

• Zero-licensing-cost

• Time-saved-from-purchasing-licenses-and-checking-compliance

• No-dependence-on-a-single-vendor

There-are-many-other-reasons-why-an-open-source-license-is-appropriate-for-Palton:

• Most-industry-leading-development-tools-are-open-source,-such-as-the-GNU-Compiler-Collection,-Sun-Java-and-Python.

• Many-leading-development-tools-that-arenÕt-open-source-are-available-free-of-charge,-such-as

Microsoft-Visual-Studio

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• Palton-ConsultingÕs-asset-is-our-expertise-with-the-Palton-software,-not-the-software-itself

• Palton-has-been-developed-using-other-open-source-software

• Proprietary-software-is-pirated-despite-restrictive-licenses,-even-by-businesses

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Market-Evaluation

The-UK-IT-consulting-industry-is-worth-almost-a-billion-poundsiii-each-year.-As-every-medium-or-large-organisation-now-depends-on-IT-for-normal-operation,-the-clients-of-the-consulting-industry-include-organisations-from-every-part-of-the-public-and-private-sectors.

IT-consulting-is-often-integrated-with-management-consulting-and-general-business-and-professional-services.-The-largest-consulting-firms-operating-in-the-UK,-including-LogicaCMG-and-PricewaterhouseCoopers,-all-offer-some-form-of-IT-services.-Other-firms-focused-on-IT-offer-off-the-shelf-business-software-and-consult-for-its-use-in-the-business-and-customisation,-a-form-of-bespoke-software-development.-Examples-of-these-businesses-include-SAP-and-Oracle.

Almost-all-mainstream-language-runtimes-are-freely-available.-The-GNU-Compiler-Collection,-Sun-Java-and-Microsoft-Visual-Studioiv-and-Python-are-all-freely-available-and-cover-a-lot-of-general-purpose-development-needs.-All-of-those-are-also-open-source-/-free-software,-apart-from-Visual-Studio.

Some-more-specific-runtimes-are-charged-for.-For-example,-the-Intel-FORTRAN-compiler-starts-at-$699-(£353).-It-promises-higher-performance-on-Intel-hardware,-as-they-understand-the-platform-better-than-anyone-else.-The-Intel-compiler-would-only-be-used-by-businesses-with-very-specific-requirements-for-performance.

As-our-technology-is-a-general-purpose-runtime,-Palton-Consulting-will-fit-into-the-market-with-the-same-approach-as-Sun-and-Microsoft-Ð-producing-a-developer-tool-that-we-will-release-for-free,-and-using-it-to-supply-other-business-services.

Businesses-with-freely-available-developer-tools-and-their-business-models

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St-rengths,-W-eakn-e-ss-es-,-Oppo-rt-unitie-s-and-Thre-ats

Summary-of-strengths,-weaknesses,-opportunities-and-threats

S-t-r-e-n-g-t-h-s

Palton-Consulting-can- target-clients-using-any-combination-of-languages-and-platforms.-We-aim-to-build-a-library-of-language-modules,-and-where-a-new-language-is-required-for-a-clientÕs-project-it-is-an-investment-for-us-to-develop-the-new-module.

Palton-uses-a-modular-language-definition-technology,-so-we- can-adapt-very-quickly-to-any-new - language-developments.-For-example,-version-1.5-of- Sun-Java -included-a-new- for-each -construct.-If-developers-wanted-to-use-it-they-had-to-get-their-system-administrators-had-to-upgrade-the-installed-Java-compilers-and-runtimes.-With-Palton,-the-feature-could-be-implemented-in-a-new-module-and-distributed-to-users-to-include-in-their-libraries,-with-no-update-of-the-Palton-runtime.-Where-language-developments-are-published-before-software-release,-as-with-Java,-we-can-release-our-modules-at-the-same-time-or-before-the-original-vendor.

Katahdin-is-a-unique-application-of-recent-and-very-active-research.-There-are-no-other-products-that-give-you-the-same-power-as-Palton.-The-only-comparable-technologies-are-static-systems,-intended-as-developer-tools-for-creating-new-languages-that-are-then-shipped-as-yet-another-stand-alone-runtime.-The-dynamic-language-runtime-from-Microsoft,-described-below,-could-threaten-this.

O-p-p-o-r-t-u-n-i-t-i-e-s

The-software-development-industry-is-generally-shifting-towards-managed-runtimes.-That-is,-runtimes-which-are-halfway-between-an-interpreter-and-a-compiler,-executing-an-intermediate-form-of-the-program.-This-is-as-opposed-to-unmanaged-runtimes-such-as-C-compilers-where-the-program-is-translated-to-lowest-level-machine-instructions-for-execution-by-the-hardware.-Palton-is-a-managed-runtime-and-before-the-very-widespread-adoption-of-Java-and-.NET-this-would-have-been-a-barrier-due-to-perceptions-about-suitability-for-enterprise-and-production-software.

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There-is-an-increase-in-mobile-and-embedded-devices-that-use-hardware-different-from-that-used-in-servers-and-desktops,-and-will-require-language-runtimes-to-be-ported.-The-typical-solution-to-this-problem-is-to-write-software-from-scratch-in-a-language-such-as-C-or-Java,-languages-which-are-generally-available-on-these-devices.-Palton-would-allow-developers-to-use-any-language-that-they-would-on-the-desktop,-in-their-embedded-device.-Palton-Consulting-can-make-a-service-of-porting-the-Palton-runtime-for-new-hardware-platforms.

There-is-an-increase-in-offshore-software-development,-where-development-is-outsourced-to-countries-such-as-China,-Russia-and-India.-These-offshore-companies-have-to-deal-with-lots-of-different-languages-as-all-programs-that-they-work-on-are-sent-from-other-businesses.-Palton-makes-it-easier-to-develop-a-system-in-multiple-languages-so-an-offshore-developer-could-easily-work-on-projects-designed-to-run-on-any-runtime-or-system-without-worrying-about-managing-lots-of-different-software,-reducing-their-costs.-With-this-opportunity,-we-have-to-potential-to-take-Palton-Consulting-to-the-rest-of-the-world.

W-e-a-k-n-e-s-s-e-s

Although-working-and-demonstrable,-the-Palton-technology-is-not-ready-for-enterprise-or-production-use-yet.-It-will-take-another-six-months-before-the-technology-could-be-used-use-in-a-production-system-and-it-will-take-more-time-for-a-large-library-of-language-modules-to-be-developed.-We-approach-this-problem-by-starting-to-take-on-clients,-producing-solutions-for-them-using-traditional-development-tools-until-Palton-is-ready.

As-the- Palton -software-will-be-freely-available,-any-consulting-business-could-use-it-as-we-are.-This-would-reduce-our-advantage-in-bespoke-software-development.-Other-consultants-could-also-provide-bug-fixing,-porting-and-support-services-for-Palton.-We-are-not-worried-about-these-two-weaknesses-in-our-model-because-we-have-intricate-knowledge-of-the-software-and-will-always-be-able-to-offer-an-authority-on-its-use.-If-Palton-becomes-very-popular-it-is-possible-that-people-will-offer-their-own-support-services,-as-are-available-for-the-GNU-Compiler-Collection,-but-within-a-five-year-timeframe-we-canÕt-see-this-weakness-being-realised.

A-lot-of-consultants-are-experienced-in-the-industry-and-part-of-their-service-is-employing-this-experience-for-your-business.-As-a-new-business-with-new-technology,-lead-by-a-graduate-director,-we-will-be-seen-as-inexperienced.-Some-potential-clients-may-dismiss-us-because-of-our-unproven-technology-and-no-projects-in-our-portfolio-in-the-first-year.-We-will-challenge-this-by-hiring-a-proportion-of-more-experienced-developers.-The-IT-industry-is-used-to-new-face-and-we-donÕt-think-this-weakness-will-affect-us-after-we-become-an-established-business.

T-h-r-e-a-t-s

We-would-be-unable-to-write-definition-modules-for-languages-where-the-design,-or-the-only-reasonable-implementation,-has-been-patented.-Most-general-purpose-programming-languages-are-open-standards.-Widely-used-languages-including-C,-C++,-FORTRAN-and-COBOL-are-all-covered-by-ANSI-or-ISO-standards.-Even-modern-languages-developed-by-a-single-vendor-such-as-Java-and-C♯-are-documented-by-freely-available-and-royalty-free-standards.-This-is-a-low-threat,-but-could-prevent-us-from-implementing-some-very-specific,-little-used-languages.

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The- Java -and- .NET -runtime-systems-have-an-increasing-number-of-compilers-that-target-them.-These-are-traditional,-static-compilers-and-not-language-modules-that-can-be-extended,-composed-or-modified.-However,-they-do-allow-you-to-write-a-library-in-one-language-that-is-to-be-consumed-by-a-separately-written-program.-For-example,-it-is-already-possible-to-use-Java,-FORTRAN-and-Python-all-running-on-the-.NET-platform.-The-current-problem-is-that-these-compilers-are-often-seed-as-second-class-citizens-of-the-runtime-and-are-unattractive-to-users-who-want-to-opt-for-the-mainstream-language-of-the-platform.-This-is-a-medium-threat-to-us-for-users-of-some-combinations-of-languages,-but-could-be-seen-as-advantage-as-users-will-already-be-used-to-the-idea-of-using-multiple-languages-and-our-technology-can-realise-that-better-than-the-existing-runtimes.

Microsoft-has-recently-released-a-dynamic-language-runtime-(DLR)-for-their- .NET -platform.-This-will-run-several-scripting-languages-that-can-share-the-same-data.-However,-language-modules-are-still-nothing-more-than-traditional-compilers-with-a-common-runtime-layer.-Languages-cannot-be-extended,-composed-or-modified-by-a-developer-who-isnÕt-skilled.-The-system-is-targeted-at-small-scripts-and-isnÕt-designed-for-enterprise-or-systems-programming.-This-is-a-medium-threat-if-we-wanted-to-target-scripting-languages-specifically-on-the-.NET-platform.

These-are-all-minor-threats-to-the-widespread-adoption-of-our-technology-by-the-industry.-If-they-are-realised-we-would-still-be-able-to-build-a-business-applying-Palton-in-our-consulting-and-software-development-services.

Potenti-al-Cl-i-ents

As-every-business-of-any-size-uses-IT-to-support-their-day-to-day-enterprise-critical-operations,-they-are-all-potential-clients.-We-hope-with-our-marketing-we-will-get-a-range-of-clients-from-different-industries-coming-to-us-so-that-our-client-base-is-wide-and-stable.-There-are-areas-that-will-particularly-target.-In-the-first-and-second-years:

• Medium-sized-businesses-needing-custom-enterprise-resource-planning-software-(stock-control,-payroll-and-so-on)

• Point-of-sale-systems-for-retailers

• Businesses-conducting-e-commerce-who-want-to-integrate-old-business-software-into-languages-running-web-frameworks

• Scientific-and-engineering-organisations-with-legacy-systems-such-as-FORTRAN-that-they-want-to-port

As-Palton-matures-we-will-start-to-target:

• Hardware-developers-who-use-custom-languages-for-hardware-description

• Software-developers-who-use-domain-specific-languages

• Software-developers-for-mobile-and-embedded-devices

• Business-users-of-Palton

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Financial-Projections

S-u-m-m-a-r-y

End-of-year-financial-projection-summary

Assumpt-ions

O-f-f-i-c-e-S-p-a-c-e

Figures-for-office-space-include-utilities-such-as-water,-energy-and-cleaning.

E-q-u-i-p-m-e-n-t

A-desktop-computer-system-costs-around-£750-including-the-base-unit,-a-monitor,-keyboard-and-mouse.-A-server-computer-system-suitable-for-about-10-clients-running-applications-such-as-file-storage,-version-control,-compilation-and-testing-costs-around-£1,000.-Other-office-appliances-such-as-a-phone-and-shared-faxes,-printers-and-so-on,-cost-around-£150-per-person.

A-d-v-e-r-t-i-s-i-n-g

Placing-a-full-page-advert-in-a-magazine-or-industry-newspaper-costs-around-£6,000.

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W-e-b-H-o-s-t-i-n-g-a-n-d-E-m-a-i-l

Professional-web-hosting-and-email-services-including-domain-name,-sufficient-disk-space-and-network-transfer,-email-and-developer-access-costs-around-£20-a-month.

D-e-v-e-l-o-p-e-r-Ti-m-e

Each-consulting-developer-cannot-be-gainfully-employed-on-a-clientÕs-project-all-of-the-time.-There-are-several-reasons-why-a-developer-would-not-be-working-billable-hours:

• Lack-of-work

• Time-being-trained-by-senior-developers

• Time-training-junior-developers

• Time-developing-the-Katahdin-technology

• Time-at-conferences-and-trade-shows

• Sick-leave-and-other-unforeseen-circumstances

My-financial-projections-are-based-on-the-assumption-that-each-developer-will-only-be-working-billable-hours-a-third-of-the-time-in-the-first-year-and-half-of-the-time-in-the-second-and-third-years.-These-are-conservative,-worst-case-estimates.

T-a-x

Employers-pay-a-National-Insurance-Contribution.-All-of-our-employees-fall-into-Class-1-above-the-Earning-Threshold-so-our-contribution-is-12.8%-of-their-gross-pay.

Corporation-Tax-is-levied-at-20%-for-net-profit-up-to-£300,000-and-30%-for-net-profit-above-£1,500,000.-Profit-between-those-bands-is-taxed-on-a-scale-between-20%-and-30%.-Only-one-band-is-applied-Ð-it-is-not-20%-of-the-first-£300,000,-but-20%-if-the-entire-profit-is-up-to-that-figure.-Corporation-Tax-is-paid-at-the-end-of-the-financial-year-in-reality,-but-has-been-taken-quarterly-in-my-projections.

M-a-r-gi-n-s-a-n-d-C-o-n-t-i-n-g-e-n-c-y

A-large-float-is-needed-to-allow-for-unexpected-expenses,-late-payment-of-fees-and-so-on.-This-is-accommodated-by-always-allowing-for-a-large-positive-sum-in-the-bank-balance.-In-my-projections-the-bank-balance-does-not-fall-below-£10,000.

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22

R-e-f-e-r-e-n-c-e-s

i RedHat,-Inc.-Corporate-Facts

ii CNET-report,-April-2006

iii Management-Consultancies-Association,-UK-Consulting-Industry-Reports

iv Microsoft-gives-away-Visual-Studio-for-C++,-Visual-Basic-and-C♯-as-an-ÔExpressÕ-version-that-includes-the-full-compilers-and-SDKs.-Businesses-can-use-these-versions-for-commercial-development.

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ProÞt-and-Loss-Projection,-Years-1-and-2

1 Staff-expenses-and-total-payroll-NI-contribution-excludes-developer-payroll

2-Pre-corporation-tax

24

ProÞt-and-Loss-Projection,-Year-3

1 Staff-expenses-and-total-payroll-NI-contribution-excludes-developer-payroll

2-Pre-corporation-tax

25

Revenue-Projection

Net-Profit-Projection

Cash-Flow-Projection,-Years-1-and-2

1 Calculated-quarterly-in-this-projection-but-paid-at-the-end-of-each-tax-year-in-reality

28

Cash-Flow-Projection,-Year-3

1 Calculated-quarterly-in-this-projection-but-paid-at-the-end-of-each-tax-year-in-reality

Copyright ©American College of the Middle East, 2021

Copyright ©American College of the Middle East, 2021

Copyright ©American College of the Middle East, 2021