Unosquare is a bi-national corporation providing software development, testing, and support for a set of highly valued customers. We serve North American clients from offices in Oregon and our Nearshore delivery center in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Want to Know the Best Way to Work with Unosquare?

This week I'm back in Guadalajara.  It's the middle of December and the skies are blue and the temp is around 70 degrees during the day and 55 in the evening.  Perfect.

I'm here with 2 clients... one a publicly traded pharma company that is building a new software application to better drive the quality of patient care and cost models. The other a privately held technology consulting firm that needed additional Java resources to augment their US based delivery teams. Both sent down senior technical and product leaders to work with Unosquare engineers in our office.

I have to say here... this is the right way to do Nearshore.  The amount of information covered in our conference room is one thing. It is what we do all day long when clients come to visit. Besides, you would agree that debating the approach taken with technical requirements and clarifying business requirements face to face is invaluable to any project. 

But drinking margaritas and getting to know each other in the evening is where the magic happens.  Teamwork, as a concept, only delivers its best result when friendships are formed.  That's my view anyway.

So, to clients and projects alike, I ask you to consider the wisdom of coming to Guadalajara to work with your team during the day and enjoy the festive life of Mexico in the evening.  Yes, you will be pleased with the business results. But even more you will be thrilled with new friendships.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Mario DiVece Goes to Vallarta

Did Mario DiVece go to enjoy the beach and the sunshine this month? Not really. He was there as a special guest presenter for the Festival de Software Libre, or Open Source Software Festival. DiVece was invited to speak at the request of Microsoft Mexico and the University of Guadalajara. Unosquare is a Microsoft partner, and the go to partner in Mexico for migrating and running open source applications on the Microsoft Cloud (Azure). 

DiVece, Co-founder and CTO at Unosquare, presented on moving and managing PHP applications on the Microsoft Cloud (Azure).  Unosquare has built a solid reputation in North America based on his work in this area.

Mario was in good company.  He was presenting with other notable leaders like Jon Maddog Hall, president of Linux International and Senator Francisco Javiar Castellon Fonseca, from the State of Nayarit just north of Puerto Vallarta.  If you want to see his slides on the topic, join the Unosquare Facebook site and send us a note.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Unosquare Helps Launch the Nearshore Executive Alliance

Unosquare co-founder and CEO, Mike Barrett, has been instrumental in the formation of a new industry association of Nearshore executives. The Nearshore Executive Alliance is a formalized group of industry leaders from across the Americas. CEO's and Vice Presidents from companies like Softtek, Neoris, CapGemini, and CI&T all have a stake in the new alliance.

The goals of the organization include collaboration around best practices, ethical standards for business, anti-corruption efforts, and recruiting guidelines that will help make nearshoring a long term, sustainable solution for North American client companies.

The Unosquare CEO presented the idea to form such a group during the Nearshore Nexus conference in New York City last April. Since then, nearly 50 executives from over 35 different companies have enlisted. For more information, visit www.nearshoreleaders.com or email our CEO from the contact page on our website.

Friday, July 15, 2011

WebCore: Unosquare’s PHP Framework goes Open Source

We believe that almost every software company out there has benefited from open source software. We also believe in returning the favor to the community. For this reason, we have decided to make the WebCore PHP Framework an open source project.

About 10 years ago, when PHP was transitioning from version 3 to version 4, the first version of WebCore was created by its main author, Mario Di Vece. It was only a few hundred lines of code and it was built to quickly re-implement a dated extranet for one of Di Vece’s customers. WebCore 1.0 was used in more than 10 small projects and it proved very handy.

Pretty much the same story repeated for the second version of the WebCore framework – WebCore 2.0 was nothing more than a handy library to create grids and forms with some basic scaffolding functionality. But when Di Vece teamed up with Geo Perez and Luis Gonzalez at Unosquare, they started cooking what would come to be the third version of the framework. They envisioned a framework that had automatic creation of an object model based on a database schema, lambda-like object queries, top of the line scaffolding, a clean templating mechanism, great-looking controls, support for custom renderers, and a plethora of other features that would make writing a PHP application fast, maintainable, and above all an enjoyable experience.

We are not anticipating that we’ll get a lot of attention, but if you’re interested feel free to download the source code and documentation at: CodePlex

Thursday, June 23, 2011

The Definition of Nearshore

(Excerpted from the book, Nearshoring to Latin America - An Executive Guide
There is enough x-sourcing and x-shoring terminology floating around to build a paper ark big enough to hold the high dollar consultants who invent the terms.  So, to establish a common ground, we need to apply a reasonable definition to the term nearshoring - one which can better frame the rest of this discussion. 
We all agree nearshoring should be just that… near.  It should be reasonably close to your primary base of operation, but not within your national boundary.  The suffix used, shore, clearly indicates another country is involved, although a body of water might not be crossed.  A broader view, at least for U.S. customers, asserts that nearshoring is the provision of professional services from places like Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, and other North and Central American locations.  Aside from the Asia-Pacific regions, the Latin American geographies are the number one area for new IT services expansion for the Global 2000.  These locations are within a few hours of major U.S. hub airport and fall within U.S. time zones. 
South American locations are also within U.S. time zones and therefore argue hard for a nearshore designation, but they are not as easily reached within a few hours.   Remember the default requirement of being “near”?   
I have a different approach to the debate. Here is how I chose to answer the question of what is and is not defined as nearshore; a nearshore location should provide its customers with the ability to fly in for a delivery team meeting and return home within a day or two without inflicting jetlag or more than one connecting flight on your travelling executive. Put another way, if I have to take three flights each way or stay longer than three days to get anything done… it’s not nearshore.
That’s just my opinion.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Global Delivery Report Features Unosquare

Well, I'm not sure we qualify as a "scrappy startup" anymore... but this article is flattering nontheless. Mentioned in the same story with Dell and the leading edge video game developers is also a plus.  The writer of this story did get the DNA of Guadalajara correct.  It is a city passionate about business and technology and full of new ideas and startups.

At 40+ employees we're getting beyond the startup phase now... but I hope we never lose the entrepreneurial fire that got us all started in this business.  I'd like to have that zeal when we have 400 people.

Saludos!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Unosquare Publishes New Book on Nearshoring

The first book ever written and published on the topic of Nearshoring to Latin America is available now on Amazon.com.  Nearshoring to Latin America.  The book was written by Unosquare CEO Mike Barrett along with contributions and feedback from industry thought leaders. 
Chapters include:
  • Who are the Players?
  • Price Comparisons
  • Your Biggest Mistakes in Nearshoring
  • What are the Risks?
Most industry analysts play it too safe and most company white papers are too self serving. This book is different.  Plus, your direct feedback on the book can end up in future editions.  Enjoy!

What readers say about the book

"Mike brings to light all of the issues we need to discuss about Nearshoring with an emphasis on the truth, not the hype. A quick read that demonstrates the amazing advantages of Nearshore as well as discussing where countries like Mexico can continue to improve."
-- Dawn Evans, CEO, Sourcing Interest Group

"The practice of Nearshore outsourcing has matured rapidly in the last few years, but there is still a strong need for reasoned, well-balanced analysis of this fast-evolving marketplace. This book succeeds in summarizing the Nearshore ‘opportunity’ by identifying not just where the value is in this market, but also where to go find it."
-- Kirk Laughlin, Founder, Nearshore Americas

"Mike Barrett’s book on “Nearshoring” was both an informative and enjoyable read. In this time of increased global competitiveness in a slowly recovering economy an executive team must examine every conceivable way to manage cost out of their business without sacrificing time to market objectives around new product development."
-- Mark Reed, President, High Ground Partners, LLC

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

The New Office Rocks!

We finally got moved into our new digs and we all "love it".  We are just down the street from the old office but still across the street from the MacStore, Applebees, and most important... Starbucks.  





As always, clients and prospects and partners are always welcome to visit.  We hope to see you in sunny Guadalajara soon!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Unosquare Page on Facebook

Unosquare has setup a facebook page for those wanting to see a little more behind the scenes.  As you can imagine, we've posted photos and videos and general news items. Feel free to join the discussion here

Friday, January 28, 2011

Unosquare gets mentioned in Nearshore Americas

Unosquare and our CEO, Mike Barrett, found their way into another positive story about the Guadalajara region.  The story ran in Nearshore America's, the premier source for all things IT and outsourcing in the Americas.  Essentially, the article claims the labor pool is solid and the violence that gets so much attention lately is not a factor in the state of Jalisco.  We would agree.  The story also hilights the education system and how companies and government agencies collaborate with engineering schools to keep the labor pool relevant to the IT industry needs.

About Unosquare

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Portland, OR, United States
Unosquare provides US based IT consulting and Mexico based software development and testing.