KPIT Cummins Blog

Sumedh Vipradas, Solution Architect at SYSTIME, discusses a fascinating piece of SYSTIME history.

Photo: Riccardo Cuppini

Back in 1998, the world was client server and Y2K, and the web was synonymous with Java - unfortunately not in SYSTIME Open systems department (Now PTG) portfolio then.

Our area of expertise was ‘VB, VC++, client server’. In my desperate attempts to break into the web against all odds, I put up a poster of Java class diagrams on my desk and started exploring it, along with HTML, JavaScript, and ASP. Anything that closely resembled the web was dear.

I believed that a revolution was happening and wanted to be part of it. Finally, my then boss caved in and honored me with an assignment of developing the first ever SYSTIME.net website. Yes! Websites were developed by programmers and just a few companies had websites. With ASP being Microsoft we got the green and set sail on our expedition to explore the new world.

Later, an opportunity knocked at the door. Victor wanted to develop a finance portal, and approached SYSTIME. We were interviewed by Sandeepan, his technical person. Interesting personality! Long curly hair and a brilliant mathematician! We started working from a remotely located office in Borivali at client premises that was later moved to the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce near the Stock Exchange in Mumbai. The development team had me and Praveen for the portal and Vijay for the Database. Praveen was technically very sound and I learnt quite a few fundamentals from him. I was fortunate to work with him again at HP in Boise, Idaho, USA.

Vijay was a fanatic when following best practices with the database. In an evolving environment we had constant fights with him when requesting changes. I admired him for his SQL skills. Sometimes I wonder if it is a dying skill.

We started absorbing the requirements from Victor, who was now the customer as well as Subject Matter Expert in Personal Finance & Stock Exchange.

I was truly impressed with the amount of detail that Victor had put in. His research and documentation was comprehensive and exhaustive. We knew this had the potential to become sensational. His attention to detail was exceptional and he also had the patience to hold until the result was perfect.

It amazes me that while we are very critical about pointing out the missing ingredient in a dish, an incorrect stitch in an embroidery work, or a mistimed note by a classical singer, we have been setting low benchmarks for an acceptable finish from the software industry in the Indian market.

The ingenious architecture used cached JavaScript arrays to hold all financial reporting data, beating the low bandwidths of those days. It is interesting to look back and realize that conceptually we did AJAX and JSON. I was fortunate enough to get challenged many times during the project and lucky enough to come up with a groundbreaking innovation each time.

Mohit handled the marketing and brand promotion for Victor, and his achievements speak for themselves. There were others who were involved part time for creative design. When in Borivali, an important member was a young lad called Chotu, who used to prepare “Aaloo ki Sabji” for us. Every day! Kept it interesting though by making it in a few different ways! To break the “Aaloo” sequence, Victor used to treat us out in good restaurants. It was a truly stimulating experience to work with such amazing people. I still continue to take inspiration from the whole team. The portal was India’s first personal finance portal and almost immediately purchased by a leading media house for a fortune. Look around for champions and thought leaders. The present is history in the making, and realization is what matters.