iThawt is an online web application that helps small companies manage general business functions and utilizes a subscription based model. The original application was a year long proof of concept within our own business written exclusively in Codeigniter (PHP) running on a MySQL database. Once we believed there was something to this app we sped up development and brought on another developer to help complete the project.

The current version still runs on MySQL as a persistence layer but now runs a Java backed-end for handling the logic. I created the new interface application and communicate via a web service in the form of custom XML structures. This gave us a lot more flexibility and have since found much greater return speed. The database was also redesigned and now includes a much stronger structure for handling large data.

This is without a doubt the biggest and most rewarding project I have ever worked on and have invested a lot of time and energy into making this something special. Currently in a Beta style release the general sign-up rate is higher than expected with a total of 16 customers trying it out within the first few weeks. A lot of work still needs to be done but this is a ever evolving application that from a methodological point of view will never be complete.

My contribution was the entire front-end concept and development using a lot of AJAX calls to achieve a more application like feel. I also developed the application view framework as well as the communicator layer for communicating with the Java services. The design style is consistent and robust. All request are very quick and served back to the browser in quick succession. It runs in an Amazon cloud utilizing Amazon EC2 and S3 storage.

I also created the website to accompany the release.

To check it out signup at www.ithawt.com