News & Updates:
Sign up to receive valuable Absol updates and industry news.
05 March 2013 ::.
Absol gets a high profile mention in the media
Arthur Goldstuck posted on his Gadget web site "the website of the South African Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/), which is somewhat more complex than that of the Free State provincial Government, was built and maintained by Absol Internet Business Solutions"
Read "The real cost of SA’s most expensive website"
07 February 2013 ::.
Absol once again partners with Mining Indaba 2013
This is the 9th year in a row that the world's largest investment mining conference has entrusted their Information and Communications Technology requirements with Absol Internet Business Solutions
Read more
13 December 2012 ::.
Merry Christmas!
On behalf of everyone at Absol, we would like to wish you and your family a safe, peaceful, joyous festive season and a very prosperous New Year.
Read more
27 November 2012 ::.
AppleWeek networking provider
Absol is the proud networking provider to AppleWeek 2012 held in Sandton City, Johannesburg.
Read more
21 November 2012 ::.
Absol Year-End Function - Metallica!
As a special treat for its staff, Absol will be attending the Metallica concert in 2013.
This will serve as a year end function, even though the event date is only in April, but the staff are very excited!
Absol Timeline Quick-links:
Absol Timeline :.
Absol's history dates back to 1996 when it was founded by 4 dedicated individuals, each with their own unique areas of expertise, that identified on opportunity to provide a full suite of IT services to customers seeking a superior level of service.
Over a decade later, Absol has excelled through the peaks and troughs of the dotcom era and continues to stay true to the original goal of providing cost-effective, innovative solutions coupled with unparalleled service levels.
View our timeline to discover the events that helped shape the company.
|
| August 1996 |
| Absolute Solutions cc is founded by Mac Anamourlis, Richard Taylor and Robin Bulling with the mission of providing a holistic solution to companies requiring hardware, networking, software, accounting and internet services with a focus on personal service and cutting edge technology.
“For all your computer, network, accounting and internet solutions”
The company sets up its operations in Lauren’s 2-bedroom flat and hits the ground running by securing 4 customers, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals, The Clinix Hospital Group, Madison Advertising and The Look Guide. |
| |
| September 1996 |
| Formal offices are leased at 1st floor Patula Building in Lynnwood Glen, Pretoria. |
| |
| October 1996 |
| Our first internet software development solution is proposed, and subsequently ordered by international accounting firm; Deloitte & Touche, followed swiftly by an order from Magic Travel for a corporate web site. |
| |
| November 1996 |
| Absol acquires the franchise rights, infrastructure and customer base of the Pretoria branch of Le Club Internet (LIA). A total of 80 dial-up customers serviced by 8 modems are transferred and infrastructure is immediately upgraded to 16 modems in anticipation of an aggressive customer acquisition strategy. The ISP is later re-branded as Club Internet. |
| |
| December 1996 |
| First employee hired. |
|
|
| February 1997 |
| Club Internet Pretoria, a division of Absolute Solutions cc, becomes the first ISP in Gauteng to provide ISDN dial-up internet access. |
| |
| May 1997 |
| Absol is hired by Allied Bank to develop their on-line presence. The web site encompasses elements not previously seen on South African web sites; including JAVA based financial calculators and an interactive wizard guiding users through the site. |
| |
| June 1997 |
| Through a partnership with 3Com/USRobotics, Club Internet Pretoria, a division of Absolute Solutions cc, becomes the first ISP in Gauteng to provide 56k dial-up internet access. |
| |
| July 1997 |
| Absol relocate to bigger and better offices in Jacqueline Drive, Garsfontein. |
| |
| August 1997 |
| In a joint venture with Station Africa (An Inmarsat Service Provider), Absol begins marketing Africa’s first internet access service via VSAT portable satellite terminals. |
| |
| November 1997 |
| New Frontiers expedition launched. Co-sponsored by Absolute Solutions, the expedition follows a group of 6 Land Rovers travelling from Johannesburg to Birmingham up the East Coast of Africa. The expedition leader, utilising a notebook and satellite terminal, posts daily reports on an interactive web site developed and maintained by Absol. |
| |
| December 1997 |
| An educational schools project is launched in tandem with the New Frontiers expedition, which sees Club Internet provide 100 schools nationwide with free internet facilities. The give-away is valued at over R 500,000.00 and marks the first such investment in education by an internet company in South Africa. |
|
|
| January 1998 |
| Absol, Club Internet and New Frontiers are profiled in the Sunday Times and on Radio 702 for their charitable donation and investment in education. |
| |
| January 1998 |
| The first of two primary rate ISDN connections is installed taking our dial-up connection capacity up to 50 modems. |
| |
| May 1998 |
| The National Intelligence Agency, Royal Dutch Embassy and Moneyweb join Absol’s customer base. |
| |
| June 1998 |
| Absol is awarded the contract to supply the prestigious private girls’ high school, St Mary’s DSG, with all their computer equipment and internet services. The school now provides its students with world class IT, Media and internet facilities, pioneering the path for other schools in Pretoria. |
| |
| August 1998 |
| An on-line interactive discussion forum is developed and hosted for Moneyweb, generating a high volume of traffic unique to the popular financial web site. |
| |
| November 1998 |
| The second primary rate ISDN connection is installed taking our dial-up connection capacity up to 80 modems. |
| |
| December 1998 |
| Following unprecedented growth, the 2-year old ISP division of Absolute Solutions registers its 1000th dial-up internet customer – a growth rate of 700% per annum. |
|
|
| January 1999 |
| Following a franchise head office decision, the consumer ISP division, Club Internet, is sold to ITI Online (who subsequently sell on to Storm Internet a year later) |
| |
| February 1999 |
| A strategic decision to invest the funds garnered by the sale of the ISP division into Absol’s internet software development division is approved and the ASPEN (Absolute Solutions Publishing Environment) content management system is conceived. Weeks later, the first version of AbsolStats goes live. |
| |
| March 1999 |
| The Embassy of the United States of America joins Absol’s customer base. |
| |
| April 1999 |
| Initially developed as a custom solution for Moneyweb, the AbsolBanners internet advertising delivery and campaign management service is launched. |
| |
| May 1999 |
| Absol secures the development contract to build the Cumulus corporate web site. A division of Denel, Cumulus markets weapons guidance systems and military technology to international markets. |
| |
| June 1999 |
| Moneyweb is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. |
| |
| August 1999 |
| Over 300 websites have registered and utilise the free internet audience measurement service: AbsolStats. |
| |
| September 1999 |
| Absol joins the Audit Bureau of Internet Standards (ABIS) |
| |
| October 1999 |
| A sub-site of the financial services portal run by the JSE listed company; E-Data, becomes the first ASPEN powered web site. |
| |
| November 1999 |
| Media Africa, led by internet doyen and leading journalist; Arthur Goldstuck, choose ASPEN for all their internet publishing and web site management needs. Gadget is launched. |
| |
| December 1999 |
| Absol deploy their first international server in Toronto Canada, providing a web hosting service to Moneyweb’s international Miningweb division. |
|
|
| January 2000 |
| Absol welcomes the new millennium (albeit a year premature) without any Y2K technical incidents. Absol has also successfully assisted over 50 customers in updating their systems in anticipation of the IT industry’s biggest challenge ever. |
| |
| February 2000 |
|
Cosmetics company Annique, awards a tender for the development of an ERP, CRM and Ecommerce enabled internet site to Absol.
Consumer internet service provider, Netactive Internet, contract Absol to develop a range of internal software solutions to improve their billing processes and integrate their bandwidth management systems. |
| |
| March 2000 |
|
Toyota South Africa commission Absol to develop the Toyota Press Web Site, an on-line repository of all media material issued by Toyota’s marketing department.
Absol develops the PlanetPastel portal for Pastel South Africa utilising our ASPEN product. |
| |
| April 2000 |
| Pastel and JSE listed Softline acquire Absolute Solutions cc |
| |
| June 2000 |
| Computerweek and CRN web sites are launched and powered by ASPEN |
| |
| July 2000 |
| Liberty Life appoints Absol to develop a user-friendly web site management and design application to be issued to all 600 financial intermediaries who are allocated a web site within Liberty Life’s corporate internet presence. |
| |
| August 2000 |
| BDFM, publishers of the Business Day and Financial Mail join Absol’s customer base. |
| |
| September 2000 |
| Absol develop the 3-D virtual environment viewer for Virtual Tours, the application is utilised by the majority of Estate Agents web sites in South Africa. |
| |
| October 2000 |
| 1st Tier ISP, Worldonline, contract Absol to provide AbsolStats internet audience measurement services to its customer base. |
| |
| November 2000 |
| ASPEN version 3.0 is launched and re-branded as AbsolPublisher – the system is now a comprehensive content management system which competes with the best in the world. |
| |
| December 2000 |
| The Africa Business Direct portal is launched, running the AbsolPublisher CMS, the site indexes several hundred resources for import/export and logistics services. |
|
|
| January 2001 |
| Absol relocates to bigger offices in Persequor Technopark. |
| |
| March 2001 |
| Absol’s MD, Mac Anamourlis, is appointed to the executive committee of the Audit Bureau of Internet Standards (ABIS). |
| |
| April 2001 |
| The Edge-1 internet-focused division within Softline is formed. Absolute Solutions is renamed Edge-1 Solutions and positioned together with 2 other internet related businesses within the group. The name change and new division are short-lived, lasting only 8 months. |
| |
| May 2001 |
| Absol, together with 6 other Softline group companies exhibit their products and services at the annual Computer Faire. Softline wins the award for best stand in the mid-sized category. |
| |
| August 2001 |
|
Microsoft Certified Partner status is attained.
Internet Solutions and Absol formalise a relationship that will see IS representing the AbsolPublisher product to its corporate client base. |
| |
| September 2001 |
| Absolute Solutions develops a new web site for YFM Radio Station. The AbsolPublisher development attracts the attention of Microsoft who publish a case-study showcasing the technology. |
| |
| December 2001 |
Absol now employs 27 staff members. AbsolStats has over 10,000 registered web sites and AbsolBanners is delivering over 1 Million adverts per month.
|
|
|
| January 2002 |
| Absol temporarily moves into the offices of Softline sister company ATS in Centurion, synergies between the two companies are identified. |
| |
| March 2002 |
| Absol develops a corporate web site for BusinessVision, a software company based in Toronto, Canada. |
| |
| June 2002 |
| Absol deploys infrastructure in Sydney, Australia, providing internet hosting services to international mining companies: Durban Roodepoort Deep and Goldfields Limited. |
| |
| August 2002 |
| Absol is awarded the tender to develop an AbsolPublisher driven internet presence and web-based recruitment engine for leading Australian payroll and services company, MicrOpay. |
| |
| October 2002 |
| Masterskill outsource all development and technical support services to Absol. |
| |
| November 2002 |
| ATS successfully conclude a management buyout from Softline. |
| |
| December 2002 |
| Absol relocates to their original premises in Jacqueline Drive, Garsfontein. |
|
|
| January 2003 |
| Absol deploy their second international server in London, United Kingdom, providing a web hosting service to Moneyweb’s international divisions. |
| |
| February 2003 |
| Absol, together with BEE partner Erasibo are awarded the tender to develop the “Presidential International Advisory Council on ICT” portal by the Department of Communications, using the AbsolPublisher CMS. |
| |
| March 2003 |
| Softline announce their intention to de-list from the Johannesburg Securities Exchange. |
| |
| July 2003 |
| Accpac International dealer of the year, Lorge, commission Absol to develop their new internet presence using the AbsolPublisher content management system |
| |
| August 2003 |
| Absol develop another AbsolPublisher solution for the Department of Communications, this time the Language Portal is built for Nemisa as part of the SA Cultural development initiative. |
| |
| October 2003 |
| Absol deploy an AbsolPublisher solution for the Fertiliser Society of South Africa.
Absol launches a brand new version of the AbsolStats service, announcing that the free service is to be discontinued in favour of a purely commercial service. Over 17,000 web sites have been registered during the service’s history. |
| |
| November 2003 |
|
Intel invite Absol to join the Intel Product Integrator program.
Sage PLC, a FTSE-100 company acquires Softline Limited |
| |
| December 2003 |
| Australian accounting company, Sybiz, join the growing list of international companies making use of the AbsolPublisher content management system. |
|
|
| February 2004 |
|
Absol relaunch a refreshed YFM web site, the site makes use of the AbsolPublisher, AbsolBanners and AbsolStats products – all management and maintenance services for the radio station’s web hosting services are outsourced to Absol.
Absol is invited to collaborate with the Tshwane University of Technology, Department of Business Applications and IT Management. |
| |
| March 2004 |
| Absol deploys a wireless internet (WiFi) hotspot at the Zone in Rosebank on behalf of the YFM radio station. |
| |
| April 2004 |
| The management and staff of Absol Internet Business Solutions (Pty) Ltd successfully conclude a management buyout from Softline and Sage PLC. |
| |
| May 2004 |
|
Absol is accepted into the Microsoft Certified Business Solutions Partner program.
Absol’s MD is nominated to the advisory committee of the Tshwane University of Technology, Business Applications and IT Management department. |
| |
| July 2004 |
|
Absol’s new corporate image, branding and web site are launched.
ISP division is re-launched. Absol now provides 56k and ISDN dial-up internet access, as well as ADSL internet connectivity to the SME and corporate markets. |
| |
| August 2004 |
|
Absol was awarded Microsoft’s .NET Connected Logo certification for its online Internet audience measurement, tracking and analysis application, AbsolStats, which successfully passed Microsoft testing and verification in July 2004. |
| September 2004 |
|
Absol Internet Business Solutions (Pty) Ltd is very proud to announce that it has been selected as one of only 60 resellers nationally that have been awarded contracts to begin trading as a Sun Microsystems Volume Product Reseller. |
| October 2004 |
|
US based mining portal, Resource Investor, is developed and launched by Absol. |
| November 2004 |
|
AbsolPublisher is chosen as the ComputerWeek Strategist winner of the 2004/2005 "Best of Breed" Content Management System. |
|
| |
| May 2005 |
|
Together with long-time client, and business partner, Executive Business Brief, Absol exhibit at the 2005 Futurex Conference and Exhibition. South Africa's largest ICT trade faire. |
| |
| July 2005 |
| Cisco award Absol with the designation of Cisco SMB Select Partner |
| |
| August 2005 |
|
At the annual Sun Microsystems Volume Product Reseller awards evening, Absol were acknowledged as one of the top 5 resellers/partners in Southern Africa. |
| |
| September 2005 |
| Upgrades and feature additions were rolled out to all AbsolPublisher customers. Most significantly the Control Panel, Metrics System and Menu Component were added to the administration system. |
| |
| October 2005 |
|
New version of AbsolBanners is launched, now a fully .NET enabled application, the system is deployed on our South African servers and our servers in New York, USA. The new version provides several new features and is a much more scalable than before. Tight integration with AbsolPublisher improves the campaign management and reporting facilities. |
|
|
| January 2006 |
|
The management and staff of Absol Internet Business Solutions are looking forward to a fantastic 2006, in this, the 10th year of business for our company.
Look out for specials, promotions and events around August when we will be celebrating our 10th Anniversary |
| February 2006
Computer Reseller News launches their new website powered by the AbsolPublisher Content Management System |
| May 2006 |
|
Absol celebrates it's 10th birthday with over 200 guests for the exclusive premiere of Mission Impossible III, preceded by snacks and drinks and several lucky prize giveaways. http://www.absol.co.za/pebble.asp?relid=458 |
| July 2006 |
|
Three websites are launched for the National Productivity Institute, powered by the AbsolPublisher content management system. |
| August 2006 |
|
Absol awarded the tender to develop a comprehensive web site and management tool for the South African Management Development Institute (SAMDI) |
| September 2006 |
|
Absol launches the new International Investment Conferences web site, based in St Louis, Missouri in the USA, the team at IIC co-ordinate and manage all facets of their conferences via this site. The web site is hosted in our New York data centre and allows for full delegate registration, ecommerce and management for several worldwide conferences. www.iiconf.com |
| November 2006 |
|
Alex Shiells, development manager at Absol, and Mac Anamourlis, CEO, present a workshop at the 2nd Annual Intranets Conference held in Midrand, South Africa. |
|
|
| July 2007 |
|
Absol is proud to have developed CMS-driven sites, and provided hardware/networking and internet services to the following new customers: The Amazing Group, Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals, SimekaBSG, St Mary's DSG, The Association of Collective Investments (ACI), EC Logistics and Scuba Scene.
| November 2007 |
| Absol is awarded a government tender to supply a multi-million Rand Sun Microsystems Blade and Storage solution. Details of the transaction and client are confidential, but the equipment includes a Sun Blade 6000 solution with over 120 Processor Cores and 40 Terabytes of storage! | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
