About us

Upfront Systems was founded in 1997. At that time we provided IT infrastructure to a management consultancy. In 1999 we struck out on our own.

Upfront Systems creates custom open source software by using Zope and Plone. We build software that makes it easier for individuals and businesses to use and handle large volumes of information. The company uses familiar user interfaces and procedures when programming.

In 2006 Upfront Systems became a member of the Zea Partners business partner network for companies building Zope and Plone systems. The partnership with Zea is focused on growing open source business by pooling resources for collective action.

The Upfront Systems team shares a mutual vision: To maintain the company's independence by writing programmes that outperform any alternatives. We aim to learn and explore when we do programming and to write programmes that provide functionality and aesthetic pleasure.

 

Open source software

We firmly support the paradigms of free software as well as open source software. The latter refers to software of which the source code is freely available, permitting users to change, improve and share the software. Open source software is all about freedom: The open source philosophy promotes the creation of a knowledge pool to which everyone can have access.

Unlike the proprietary software model, whereby a software product is owned by a single company and users pay license fees to use it, open source software gives users a freedom that no proprietary software can offer by making the source code available. This creates fantastic opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs around the world, especially in developing countries such as South Africa.

Upfront Systems values the contribution of the free software movement to the empowerment of both developers and users.