Top 6 eCommerce Platforms to Lighten Up Your Online Store

The major requirement in using an eCommerce framework is the flexibility to add functionalities according to business needs, strong content management system and security. Here, we have listed 6 eCommerce frameworks or platforms to enhance the development of your online store.

1. Hybris: The future of eCommerce, delight of your online business, Hybris is the simple solution for all your development needs. It is completely customizable, secure and Omni channel online store development platform. Hybris helps you target and engage your customers more effectively. Hybris eCommerce solution ranks among the top commerce software platforms worldwide. The main strengths of hybris are Omni-Channel offering, master data or product information management, order management, hybris marketing conversion tool, powerful search and merchandising. Know more:https://hybris.com/en/commerce

2. Magento: Magento has already benefitted many businesses and is often called as the king of open source framework for eCommerce website development. It is a very powerful eCommerce solution that includes almost all features set that can help you build the web store of your dreams. Magento has easy customizable feature set, secure tools, and offers flexiblity when it comes to integrating with third party tools.

3. BigCommerce: The ultimate framework for those who want to launch a web-store quickly and with little day to day maintenance for running the online business. BigCommerce is the best suited for small to mid size online business. The only difference between BigCommerce and above two eCommerce framework is that BigCommerce requires more time for configuration. The strength of this platform is its security, customer support, and beautiful free design templates that come inbuilt. These three features make BigComemrce a very good choice to setup shopping cart but with limited language support.

4. PrestaShop:  Another open source eCommerce platform, after Magento, it is the most adopted for online store development. PrestaShop comes with multiple integrated features, modules and templates that allow you to manage your online business in real-time. PrestaShop is mainly used for big size businesses and is the best program when looking for a one-stop shop. The way PrestaShop markets and supports their product is really impressive. Know more at prestashop.com.

5. Drupal Commerce: Drupal Commerce is an open source framework, built and integrated with Drupal, which makes it hard to beat when comparing it with dedicated eCommerce platforms such as Magento or Prestashop. It has awesome content management system, development time is less as compared to a two-platform system. Drupal Commerce gives a complete product administration system and ongoingmanagement and maintenance is much easier. Drupal commerce provides great customer and community support.

6. WooCommerce: An open source and very popular eCommerce framework that lets WordPress sites turn into online stores. This is used mainly for small businesses. Like WordPress, WooCommerce can be customized with different themes, extensions and plugins, giving you limitless options for your online store. Read more woothemes.com/woocommerce.

Conclusion: Each platform has its own strengths and which one you choose depends on your business requirements. If you are confused about which platform to opt for to expand your online business, just drop a message and our eCommerce consultant will resolve all your eCommerce store needs.

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6 Reasons to Choose Laravel PHP Framework for Web Development

Are you planning to start a new web development project on the PHP platform? Within the framework there are many platforms to chose from that have different features and functionalities. If you are a developer then you must have heard about Laravel, if not, this blog will give you useful insights and six strong reasons to adopt it for your development project.

What is Laravel?

As a PHP framework, Laravel is an open source web development platform. What sets it apart is the expressive and elegant syntax that has been designed to ease and speed up the web development process. The platform has a vibrant developers' community support and powerful features too. Described below are 6 Reasons to Choose Laravel PHP Framework for Web Development

1. Emerging Quickly: Many PHP development companies have adopted Laravel due to its dynamic capabilities to handle big web development projects. According to Google trends, Laravel is the most popular PHP framework among the developers. Check out these trends comparison among latest web development PHP frameworks.

2. Open Source: It is an open-source PHP web application framework, that makes it free and has easy process for building complex and large web applications with code maintainability.

3. Template engine: Laravel has lightweight templates with which you can create amazing layouts with dynamic content seeding. It has many widgets having JS and CSS code with solid structures. The templates of these frameworks are designed for simple webpage layout with different sections.

4. Modular: Laravel is built on more than 20 different libraries and is itself split up into individual modules. It has adopted modern PHP principles, which allows developers to build modular, responsive and user-friendly web apps.

5. MVC Architecture Support: It follows the MVC pattern, ensuring transparency between logic and presentation. This architecture improves performance, allows better documentation, and has multiple built-in functions.

6. Libraries and configuration: It supports many development environments and adjusts itself based on the appropriate platform where app is running. All this is possible because of the authorization libraries integrated inside. Laravel libraries are supported by auto complete features which are not found in other popular PHP frameworks.

If you are a developer and want to learn more about this framework then visit and join Laravel developers community. Don’t miss a chance to impress clients with your work using the latest PHP development technology - Laravel! SA specializes in responsive website development based on PHP. Get in touch for your next project.

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Silent but Exciting Features in new iOS Swift 2 language by Apple

A few weeks back, Apple announced Swift 2 at WWDC 2015. This is the latest version of its programming language for iOS. Apple designed Swift 2 to get the fastest and the most efficient performance from its devices. It consists the all-new Whole Module Optimization technology. “Swift brings back the excitement of something new to take technology industry ahead”.

 

Take a look at some of the silent but exciting features and improvements in new Swift 2 announced by Apple:

 

. Open Source: The biggest news from Apple is that Swift 2 is going to be open-source. Yes, developers will be able to look into the program, code and, potentially can extend it. Getting open source doesn’t mean you can run your iOS app on Windows Phone or Android.

. Tools for Linux: Apple is going to release developer tools for Linux, which indicates, writing apps for Apple platform will no longer require owning an Apple device.

. Error Handling Model: There are new routines to throw, catch and manage errors in Swift. These enable your code to deal with recoverable errors like "file-not-found" or network timeouts.

. Syntax improvements and Language: Swift has syntax features that let you write more expressive code. Apple claims this will improve consistency across the language.

. Availability: Using the latest SDKs ensures you get access to new features and information about platform changes. Swift 2 will be used to write or create apps for Mac OS X and iOS devices. Swift source code will be released under an OSI-approved permissive license.

. Protocol Extensions: Swift is very focused on protocol. You can now add methods and properties to any class that conforms to a particular protocol. This will enable developers to reuse more code.

. SDK and Integration: Integrated development environment that contains a suite of software development tools for OS X and iOS. Swift 2 has new features that will enable developers to write even better code. It works even better with the Apple SDKs. 

 

Swift 2 will be released before the end of the year, while iOS 9 will be a public beta starting in July. This is just an overview of what’s new in Swift 2. Learn more about the new Swift Programming”https://developer.apple.com/swift/

 

If in case you are looking for iOS Swift application development, don’t forget to drop a message. Solution Analysts can provide you best solutions based on latest technology.

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Top 5 Enterprise Mobility Trends & Capabilities To Watch from 2015 Onwards

It’s June and we have already crossed half of 2015. Enterprise mobility is a trending topic and banner year for every enterprise app development company across the world. Enterprise mobility is changing the way business operates. It comprises mobile, social, cloud, security, analytics among other services. All enterprise giants step ahead to transform mobile need into innovative digital business.

In this blog post, we have put together some of the most exciting enterprise mobility trends and capabilities to look forward to in this year. This will give you an idea of how important enterprise apps for businesses are.

1. Bring your own device- (BYOD): Long ago, Technology Research Gartner  summarized the concept of BYOD “Employees are bringing their own devices, downloading their own applications and creating their own IT”. BYOD and the adoption of IT have changed all the rules of enterprise management and operations. As a result, business IT developers are being asked to develop enterprise mobile solutions and strategy to improve workflows, seamless connectivity, increase productivity and differentiate themselves from market competitors.

2. Big investment on Enterprise Mobile Cloud: Business are moving away from legacy technology towards the mobile cloud, this will drive some of the biggest enterprise IT expenditure ever witnessed. Enterprise mobility is a part of Internet of Things. According Cloudtweaks infographic, IoT will be top technology investment. Corporate giants need to get serious about spending big in enterprise mobility to stay in line with top competitors

3. Mobile Backend as Service Capabilities: Recent trends reflect mobile backend as services as a standalone category in enterprise mobility. It offers richer connectivity to the enterprise. Enterprise app developers need to do more than just application development. For developers here is the guide to develop next generation enterprise applications. It is essential to develop and leverage multichannel mobile backend process that encompasses app management, device and content management, app distribution and other security services.

4. Integrating context in apps: While defining the enterprise mobile strategy, one will need to understand the user’s context like what they want, when they want and how they want the context. By factoring together all of this data, enterprise app developers can create compelling and contextually aware app experiences for users. We, as an enterprise development company, think carefully about context, consider user behavior, their location, time of day and provide mobility solutions accordingly.

5. Adoption of IoT and Wearable’s in Enterprise Mobility: As the adoption of IoT and wearable technology took place in Enterprise mobility, the consumer space is also increased accordingly. Frost and Sullivanreported enterprises will embrace wearables at a much faster rate in next couple of years. To take advantage of IoT in mobility, enterprises need to understand the importance of making standalone mobile system strategy and deployment method that connect and remotely monitor real time data processing.

Whether you are an early startup or a successful corporate giant, you will need enterprise mobility solutions. Solution Analysts can help you to stay ahead of your market competitors by providing latest enterprise solutions. Contact us today to start the conversation.

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How Everyone's Life is Influenced by IoT - 8 Real Life Examples

Internet is wielding a great influence in every aspect of our day to day lives and has become the primary communication medium that connects people with one another and the future. Internet of Things (IoT) is a rising new wave in automation that will influence us in our business, resource management, and lifestyles with smart homes.

IoT is a network of multiple physical and electronic devices that communicate with another without any human interference. In the course of the communication, the devices have the capacity to make their own decisions and take pertinent actions. Hence, the name, Internet (connectivity) of Things (Devices).

Let’s check out some common examples where IoT is influencing everyone's life:

Health: with IoT, the communication device will automatically push notifications for blood pressure, sugar level monitoring, reminders for medication etc. these activities can also be remotely monitored by the doctor.

Wearable: Pebble, the wearable device, device for monitoring workout sessions, sleep patterns, hearing aids, etc are dominating the wearable technology and the complete potential is yet untapped. Check out our Wearable Application Development offerings.

Smart Electricity: High-energy consuming household appliances will automatically adjust at optimal settings based on the daily usage to lower electricity bills.  Electronic devices at home will be able to sense when nobody is in the room and turn off automatically, reducing costs and saving energy resources.

Life saving notifications: Synchronizing the latest technology with environment as focus led to creation of advanced detection systems for earthquakes, fires and even systems for silent infiltrations such as pollution. People can get early notifications that play an important role in saving life. 

Smart Cities: Many developed countries has already implemented this concept and used IoT for executing the operations and functions. Government have installed roadside sensors that gather traffic data which analyzes traffic patterns, dynamically adjusting the traffic light operations to minimize and reduce traffic congestion. 

Spaceship Automation:  When you fly, most of the trip is administrated by the plane’s auto pilot (device) and not the human pilot. NASA sent so many robots (Again a device) to other planets to explore what is hidden in the universe.  These are the space automation examples which are part of “Internet of Things. 

Monitoring your children or pets: Through Smartphone’s, parents can monitor their children's activities, like whether they reached school, class attendance, their current location etc. Children can send notification to parents when there is something abnormal or unsafe. In the same way pet monitoring systems will allow you to monitor your pet's activity and behavior from afar.

Retail Store: Automation in retail stores by enabling iBeacons application, gives customers a new way of searching their items and availing special offers. Stores owners also benefit by having push reminders to add items if any items are out of stock. The store manager can analyze customer’s choices, trends, their interest by having the specific data driven by the customers. iBeacon Applications is also an example of emerging “Internet of Things”. We have already applied this technology and have developed projects based on BLE check out: Smart Health Watch.

All the above examples show how everyone's life is already influenced by “Internet of Things” in a very positive way. 

If you need more information and want to get IoT services you can visit our Internet of Things Servicesofferings.

Do you have an example of how the Internet of Things is influencing your life in positive way? Let us hear about it, drop a comment or contact us. We would love to hear from you and share your thoughts.

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Let’s get closer to iBeacon: An example of the emerging Internet of Things

Do you know we are already using Beacons? Your mobile itself is a Beacon. Surprised? Yes it is. “Let’s get closer to iBeacon: An example of the emerging Internet of Things”

iBeacon- A new way to experience your surroundings, enabling physical experience using Digital Network.Apple has figured out the technology to use Bluetooth low energy (BLE) naming it iBeacon creating a buzz and getting credit as well. It was first introduced with iOS7. Many technology giants work on BLE but Apple now introduced “A way to connect with real life world”; digitally, based on proximity.

It gives context to users based on precise proximity to the things in the physical world. This is how iBeacon connects “Physical to Digital”. We can say that iBeacon is an example of the emerging Internet of Things (IoT), with this more physical things can be represented digitally.

To understand the functionality of iBeacon technology we need to be aware of few common terminologies:

Proximity (UUID Universal Unique Identifier):

We always talk about proximity but what is it?

“It is the distance between the device and a found iBeacon it uses for the far, near, and immediate values to describe the distance.” We can say this distinguishes your beacon from other Beacon.

Accuracy:

When two or more beacons are placed at the same distance from the device, or if they have the same proximity value, then the accuracy will be determined by the closest one. Its value represents the distance in meters.

Received Signal Strength (RSSI):

It’s the strength of the Bluetooth signal. It depends on two values:

• Major: Used to specify a particular beacon within group
• Minor: Used to identify specific beacon

iBeacon platform support and compatibility:  To use Beacons, everyone should have appropriate hardware and software.

• Android.
• Its own creation iOS.
• Forbes points out, Internet of Things Apple iBeacon is already in almost 200 million iOS devices, and that number is rising quickly as people are stepping out for new ones.

We are sure you must be eager to learn “How iBeacon Works”

We have streamlined things to understand the process and functionality of iBeacons

Step 1: Beacon transmits signal to app

Step 2: App traces the beacon signal and sends data to server

Step 3: Server traces app signal, checks beacon DB

Step 4: Server checks content DB

Step 5: Server sends information to mobile device which will be visible as push notification in Apps.

iBeacon is created to enable your phone to do things when you are close to specific location or things, for instance, alerts, notifications etc. Now phones and tablets can see what they are close to.

Where iBeacon can be implemented and use? Check out:

Watches, Tags, Detectors, Automations, Retail Stores, Parks, etc. 

Few examples to see how iBeacon app can be used and implemented: 

Retail store:

• Interact with customers virtually
• Give offers in new surprising way
• Greet customers when they enter and exit store
• Digital Payments

Sports + Entertainments Parks:

If people pass from sports venue they will get notification about upcoming events, opening day, ongoing events etc.

Automation:

Automatic payment if car passes from toll booth.

Hospitality:

Restaurant that offer ordering and pickup could improve customer experience by notifying guest services automatically and vice versa.

Hotels:

When a user is close or steps in - within a defined distance - the door unlocks.

Hope you understand Apples iBeacon. Now let’s enter into “The World of iBeacon Apps”

So far we have explained how iBeacon apps can change your real life experiences. If you are technology or enterprise giant or a “Creative Thinker” you can get in touch any time with our iBeacon development team.

If you are a developer and wish to learn more, please go ahead and search for more info in the Apple’s official documentation: https://developer.apple.com/ibeacon/. Let’s enter in to the world of “ Internet of Things”.

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Responsive Web Design (RWD) Vs Adaptive Web Design (AWD): Similarities and Differences

The Hot topic for web developers and website owners is the way that websites can now automatically respond and adapt to any device with any screen size. There is huge dilemma in proposing best web design method for Mobile responsive project to clients. There we are to help you.

RWD vs AWD

Lets discuss in detail about these two options for web design:

A) Responsive Web Design (RWD) 

B) Adaptive Web Design (AWD)

Here seems to be some confusion about these terms, and some may refer to “Responsive design” is a subset of “Adaptive design”. Understanding the key differences between Responsive design and Adaptive design will try to keep everyone on the same page and help you select the best approach for your project.

Responsive Web Design (RWD):

Responsive design is fluid, using CSS3 media queries to respond to any screen sizes. With the use of this CSS3 module, you can create flexible grids that use percentages to create a flexible foundation. Where text can wrap and images can shrink to adjust along with your browser.

Responsive design is client-side which means the page is sent to the device browser, and the browser then modifies the appearance of the page in relation to the size of the browser window.

The definition of a responsive website is that it will fluidly change and respond to fit any screen or device size.

Why You Need A Responsive Website?

• Growing Demand for Smartphones
• Multiple Screen Sizes and Mobile Browsers
• Wide Usage of Internet in mobile devices
• Permits wider browser support
• Compulsory for Getting Good Business

Adaptive Web Design (AWD):

Adaptive web design uses predefined layouts that have been carefully constructed for a variety of screen sizes. A particular layout is activated when the screen size of the device viewing the website is detected and matched with a style sheet.

Adaptive design is predominantly server side. This means that the web server does all of the work of detecting the various devices and loading the correct style sheet depending on the attributes of the device.

The major drawback of AWD is to create multiple layouts hence the maintenance and updation are also costly and time consuming.

Similarities and Differences:

The biggest similarity between the two methods is that they both allow websites to be viewed in mobile devices and various screen sizes. They also provide visitors with an enhanced mobile-friendly user experience.

They are different in the way that they deliver the responsive / adaptive design to the user. RWD is dependent on fluid grids and AWD is relying on predefined size layouts. 

Another major difference is usage of client side or server side is another way in which they differ. 

The visible difference is that responsive design will fluidly alter its layout while you resize your browser window whilst adaptive design will load a specific layout for the device you're viewing the site on. 

Contact Us for more details or inquiries on web design or mobile responsive web designs.

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JAVA 8: Release and Features

Finally, Java 8 arrives on March 18, 2014. This release has been announced at EclipseCon 2014. It is the first major release in Java after two years of time. Java 8 comes with lot of new features which are new to the Java programming itself. From today you can download Java 8 and use it in your project.

Java 8

Lambdas Expressions

Provide a means to pass functions as data. With implicit casting to Single Abstract Method types (such as Runnable) it will dramatically simplify code that needs to pass filters and other predicates as data. (Note that the reason they are called lambdas is that Java has had closures in the form of inner classes since Java 1.1; what some incorrectly refer to as closures are really talking lambdas.) An example of a lambda is x -> x +1.

Stream API

Classes in the new java.util.stream package provide a Stream API to support functional-style operations on streams of elements. The Stream API is integrated into the Collections API, which enables bulk operations on collections, such as sequential or parallel map-reduce transformations.

Extension Methods or Defender Methods

We all are aware of the fact that the interfaces don’t contain any implementation for the methods. To provide support for new APIs which support the use of closures and also which can run on Multi core platforms there has to be some way to add these APIs to existing classes. For example, methods like for Each, map, reduce, filter which act on a collection can be added to the Collection class directly or create a new interface and let all the collection API implement them or leave it to the user of the API to implement the new interface. The first 2 approaches would lead to breaking lots of existing code because of the lack of implementation of these new methods in the interface. The last approach is possible, but it doesn’t enhance the collection API out of the box.

The team which handles JSR-335 thought of a way to add default implementation to the interfaces, which gives an option for the implementor to override the method or to leave it as is. This way new APIs can be added to the Collection class without breaking the existing code and yet provide the full support of the closures to the existing code.

JSR 310

This section adds new Date and Time API to Java for avoiding any problems arise out of the existing java.util.Data classes.

Method References

Method references provide easy-to-read lambda expressions for methods that already have a name.

Other Changes

Removal of PermGen
JDK 8 includes Java Mission Control 5.3
Default Methods in the Java Programming Language are supported by the byte code instructions for method invocation.
Classes and interfaces have been added to the java.util.concurrent package.
JDBC 4.2 introduces new features.
Nashorn Javascript Engine
Repeating Annotations provide the ability to apply the same annotation type more than once to the same declaration or type use.
Apart from the above changes, there are ton of new features and changes introduced as part of the Java 8 release.

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Software Development Company India

Solution Analysts is an IT Software development company with years of experience in mobile and web application development. Our professional team has in-depth expertise in such key technologies as Java, Liferay, Alfresco, J2EE, J2ME, spring, PHP, Open Source, Joomla, Drupal, Magento as well as profound knowledge of iPhone, iPad, iOS, Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry development tools.

Solution Analysts is founded by a person who wants to build an organization that strives to collaborate with clients to bring creativity and innovation to all aspects of the organization.
Company's ultimate goal is to build a successful organization by remaining strong and relevant leader in Content Management, eCommerce and Mobile Application Development. Open source technologies are the primary technology focus area.

Company fosters an environment for an employee that encourages thinking outside the box, honest communications, productive team interactions and personal growth.

Current strength of the company is 30+ extraordinary engineers that can deal with customer independently. They are engineers who can deal with challenges on technologies like Java/J2EE, various PHP frameworks (Drupal, Joomla, Codeigniter, WordPress, Magento) and Android/iPhone SDKs. They are also expert in enterprise level open source content management systems like Liferay, Alfresco and Magnolia-CMS.
Company has already worked with 30 customers on small to mid size projects in financial year 2011. It is exciting to say that most of the existing customers are repeat customers and associated with us since inception. Company also keeps adding average 2-3 new customers every month.

408, Maurya Atria,
Above Reliance Fresh, Bodakdev,
Ahmedabad - 380060
Gujarat, India
sales@solutionanalysts.com
www.solutionanalysts.com

Author:
Ashish Shah has served Software industry for 16 years as an engineer as well as senior management professional to a product and service driven organization in areas of product life cycle management, project and people management.

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Java Application Development

JAVA has succeeded remarkably in providing an exciting technology for enterprises. Ever since JAVA first came on the scene, it brought with it a freshness of approach for the multi-tiered applications, interoperable features and above all, comprehensive security of the applications.

Built solidly on the JAVA Platform, Java adds the capabilities that provide a complete, stable, secure, and fast JAVA platform for the enterprise.Today, the challenge is to create business-oriented Java development solutions to meet the ever increasing and dynamic demands of the rapidly growing software industry. Hence, there is a strong need for solutions that are flexible, efficient and can be customized to suit the cross-platform requirements. Java is the platform that provides innumerable range of features to meet the requisite demands. It does offer compatibility with various other technologies that the developer can capitalize on.

The Skill-set Of Our JAVA Developers Involves:

• Component: J2EE, J2ME, Beans, EJB, Struts, Spring, Hibernate, EJB, Web Services, JSTL, JSF
• Services: SOAP, XML, WSDL
• Servers: Tomcat, IBM Web-sphere, Oracle Application Server, JBoss, Apache, Weblogic
• Open Source Tools: Life ray, Alfresco, Compiere
• Java Frameworks: Spring, Struts, Tapestry
• Solutions: JAVA Software Development, JAVA Development, Web Application Development, Desktop Application Development, System Programming Solution, JAVA Embedded Technology solutions.components,class utility

For more information visit: http://www.solutionanalysts.com/services/java-application-development

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PHP Application Development

PHP oriented offshore and outsourcing development projects in various parts of the world. Solution Analysts consists of professionals who are dedicated to PHP web development. The team adheres to the time frame set by the client, and makes it a point to deliver and deploy the applications developed well before the deadline. Since the technology keeps on changing continually, it’s important to keep on updating the revisions, and our PHP team is an expert in the process. The offshore PHP development team also supports maintenance procedures, whatever the nature and the location of the client’s business may be. The team members ensure smooth functioning while coordinating with the clients, understanding the intricacies of the business model, and eventually delivering the finished system.

Our Custom PHP Development Solutions:
Right from simple websites and portals to multi tired and complex internet applications, Solution Analysts – PHP Development Company helps the clients in harnessing the power offered by the internet by using the most advanced technologies and techniques. The PHP team at Solution Analysts has enough experience, and utilizes a wide range of resources comprising of latest state-of-the-art infrastructure and methodologies to build real time applications that will help boost up your business through custom PHP development.

Some of The PHP Website Development By Our PHP Team Is:

•  eCommerce web development
•  Inventory management system
•  Search engine friendly shopping cart
•  Search engine friendly Content Management System (CMS)
•  MySQL database driven calendar application
•  AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) based PHP web application development
•  Custom webmasters tools and script development
•  PHP and MySQL web site design and development
•  WYSIWYG Editor Application Development
•  Social Networking application
•  Custom development based on client requirement
•  Customization for open source environment like Joomla, Drupal, OScommerce, Magento, Wordpress etc.

For more information visit: http://www.solutionanalysts.com/services/php

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