underground_8
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Times are a- changingYou can only animate people or expect their support if the company they have committed to has got soul. |
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In the beginningWe are writing in the year 2004. Summer is long over, and it won’t be long until fall turns to winter. At a time when nature is retreating, under the ground, things are beginning to simmer.Necessity is the mother of Invention Up until summer 2004, one of our founders was in America. He was the CTO of a company based in California, specializing in online credit card billing. As you can imagine, credit card bills are sensitive. There is no room for security issues in the system, because even the smallest error could result in dizzying amounts of damages. This meant the choice of the right IT security solution was a highly significant one. Having tried products by various other manufacturers, it became clear that no solution existed that was capable of meeting the company’s requirements and high expectations. The company therefore began to develop their own solution. Amazed by the speedy progress of the development division, the management was excited about the initial results. They were convincing. The results showed that in terms of function, reliability and performance, the homegrown solution could almost compete with well-established commercial solutions. And only a short time later, they found themselves in the technology fast lane. It became clear that what had started out as an internal project had actually become a potential product. |
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(R)EvolutionHaving just returned from America a few days previously, our founder’s experiences and impressions became infused with the passion for technology, and the desire to create. An explosive cocktail of ideas had been created. A vision was born - from the IT security experiences to start up a new company with a clearly defined goal:Develop new technology and integrate it into a manageable product range. Forge a simple tool for customers to eliminate their network problems. Use it like a hammer, but with functionality as versatile as a workshop. |
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The Time in the IncubatorMay 2005: The underground_8 office moved from the winter garden to the TechCenter. They had made it: Underground_8 had become part of the Tech2B project. And now the project was in full swing. They developed, researched, analyzed, integrated, discarded ideas, started over, improved them, screwed things together, dismantled them again. They lost all sense of time and space, days began with problems and ended with solutions. They got to know the night watchmen, and got pretty used to hearing “Hey, did you sleep here again?”June 2006: Finished! Break out the champagne! The Limes security appliances had been developed, and could now be produced as a product range. They had succeeded in doing everything required to build a wall to keep out intruders, viruses and worms from the Internet. It suddenly hit everyone that every Limes appliance installed allowed the wall to grow; and that each appliance brought the team a step closer to their goal. Back then, underground_8 had a force of more than 10 brave troops at its disposal. But now the party’s about to really get going – let’s rock and roll! |
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Onward, and upwards!November 2006: in the last few months, the team have really gotten a lot closer – quite literally. The office was just too small. But we were able to solve this problem quickly too – by moving to a new 300m2 office in Freistadterstrasse 313 in Linz.2004 - 2008 An idea grew into a vision, a vision grew to a project and the project grew to become a business. It’s now 2008. Since the start of our calendar, one or two things have changed. For just a second, we stop. The world stands still. For just this moment, we look back. Memories of good times come flooding back. Seconds later, when we come back down to earth, we’re all smiling. Good times. But now we have to get back to work. “Standstill is the enemy of change. And change is the harbinger of our future.” Frédéric Aubonney watch the u8 video |
