Jacksonville Business Journal, February 2001

New software-to-software is for business-to-business use

Appx Software, a privately-held Jacksonville tech company, has released a new version of its software of the same name.

The software, which operates on different operating systems - Linux, Unix and Windows - is designed to help small businesses develop other software applications.

Appx, which is short for Application Excellence, is what the industry calls a "Rapid Application Development" tool. In short, it's software that lets you develop other software.

"It lets you create software much more quickly than other tools," said Appx President Steve Frizzell, a Jacksonville native. "You eliminate 90 percent of the coding [with Appx] and when you eliminate the coding, you eliminate the bugs."

Frizzell teamed with two other companies in 1998 to buy the rights to the Appx software from Richmond, Va.-based Tredegar Industries. The software was first developed under the brand name Speed One in 1979 by Tom Software of Seattle.

Prior to buying Appx, Frizzell owned C-side Systems, which sold and supported the Appx software produc line.

Appx has a package of development tools that can be used to write general ledger accounting software, software that handles accounts receivable and payable, as well as payroll, etc.

"The templates give you the basic functionality you need to run your business and our tools allow you to customize them to meet your requirements," Frizzell said.

Pricing for Appx begins at $500 for a one-user, one-developer copy and runs as high as $100,000 for multi-license copies. Overall, there are well over 20,000 users of Appx worldwide, including a number in Jacksonville.

Jacksonville-based users include Power and Pumps, Swisher and Florida Combined Life.

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