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Ravago Americas LLC announced yesterday the acquisition of Polymer Technology & Services LLC (PTS; Murfreesboro, TN). PTS will become part of Ravago's Amco Polymers business, a North American distributor of commodity, engineering and specialty polymers.

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Award-winning mobile application, product and enterprise software development company with unique blend of UX/UI experts, world-class Architects and Developers.

10Pearls is a global leading product innovation and software development partner. We have a culture of innovation, uniquely designed to help businesses transform, digitalize and scale leveraging digital technology. We're recognized by top research firms, including Gartner and Forrester. The Washington Post has referred us to as a double-bottom line business, balancing human centric values and profits. 10Pearls offers a complete suite of application and software development services, and we would love to partner with you. Current partners in our portfolio include rapidly growing startups and established enterprises: AARP • Coca-Cola • Capital One • PayPal • Hughes • Adobe • Docker • Sprint Medstar Health • Corcentric • Discovery Education • Johnson & Johnson • Zubie • Blackboard • National Geographic • JK Moving • General Dynamics Our team blends high-value stateside product managers, UX/UI designers, architects, and security experts with our global development workforce to yield maximum returns for clients. At 10Pearls, we believe in harnessing the power of technology for social good. We’re firmly committed to contributing positively to society through business value creation and initiatives like our Empower Foundation. Awards & Industry Recognition: • 2021, 2020 & 2019 Inc. 5000 List of Fastest-Growing Private Companies in U.S. • 2022 Financial Times Recognition for Americas Fastest Growing Companies. • 2021 & 2020 Timmy Award winner for Best Tech Culture • Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2020, Mid-Atlantic Finalist (CEO) • Forrester: Top Partner for Custom Software Development • Forrester: Top Digital Transformation Service Provider • Forrester: Featured AI Consultancy • Gartner: Featured for Agile & DevOps Services • Gartner: Featured for Agile & DevOps Services • Gartner: AI Consulting & System Integration

10Pearls

Our life today is comfortable to a large extent due to smart devices. These are smartphones, smartwatches and fitness trackers, smart home appliances, and much, much more. These things are the world of the (IoT). Internet of things Literally and figuratively, they all connect with the Internet. Smart gadgets collect and analyze information, exchange it with other devices, and perform actions. All this happens almost autonomously, with minimal human intervention. IoT things are present only in our daily household needs but also in all areas of human activity - banking and finance, agriculture, industry, and tourism. Internet technologies gave rise to IoT development, and it, in turn, expands the capabilities of the Internet itself. IoT development companies offer various services in this area. They create IoT devices and fully integrated software for them. We offer you a list of IoT developers having an excellent reputation who can become your reliable partners. Integra Sources A custom hardware and software development company has vast expertise in providing mobile application development services for IoT projects. Integra Sources ensures a high level of security and reliability for all tailor-made IoT solutions. In the view of and , the team is among the top IoT developers in 2022. techreviewer GoodFirms IoT-related services provided by the company: App security consulting; Backend & API development; Data analytics application development; Voice-enabled IoT application development; Beacon & iBeacon app development; Bluetooth app development; IPS development. Sumatosoft The company is a reliable partner for businesses of all sizes. Since 2012, Sumatosoft has been applying the best IT innovations, including IoT. Using IoT software development technologies, the company focuses on product usability. IoT software is designed for building and increasing customer satisfaction. mentioned Sumatosoft in the rating of best 70+ IoT development companies in 2022. techreviewer IoT-related services provided by the company: Data analytics and development of custom IoT data visualization solutions; Consulting; Custom devices and sensor prototypes development; Building IoT ecosystem architectures to ensure efficient H2M/M2M communications; Setup of scalable cloud applications to aggregate IoT data and process it. HQSoftware A company is among the top IoT developers in 2022, according to . The HQSoftware has expertise in IoT development that can help enterprises to make informed choices based on actual analysis, to automate processes, to disclose new product or service potential. Connected devices, created by HQSoftware, are used in agriculture, healthcare, the urban environment, and many other spheres. GoodFirms IoT-related services provided by the company: UX/UI design; Web and mobile application development; Custom middleware for gateways development; Embedded software for the low-level control of devices development; Product prototyping. Alhena Technologies added Alhena Technologies to the list of 2022 trustworthy IoT developers. Alhena is an IoT division of Vates established to support companies in the deployment of their IoT platforms. The company provides innovative software solutions for the Internet of Things, helping organizations choose the right IoT technology stack to create data-rich software solutions for business development. Clutch IoT-related services provided by the company: Full-cycle development, from consulting to post-implementation assistance; UI and data visualization; Big data analytics; Web and mobile application development; Testing, support, and continual software maintenance. iQLance This -approved fast-growing software and mobile application development company has a crew of developers, designers, product testers who follow a flexible and effective Scrum development approach. iQlance is recognized as one of the best IoT application development companies that develop customized and unique IT solutions that meet the expectations of companies across the globe. GoodFirms IoT-related services provided by the company: Gateway development; Support, maintenance, and implementation procedures; Voice-enabled services; API integration and backend development; Application design and development. 10 Pearls A company with almost 20 years of experience in the IT industry and more than 5 years of experience in IoT offers a comprehensive set of application and software development services. Having a 5-star rating, 10 Pearls creates intuitive, user-friendly IoT applications to help enterprises and startups solve their business challenges. techreviewer IoT-related services provided by the company: Consulting; A full-cycle development from research to testing; Analytics and implementation of analytics solutions. TechAhead Top-rated by , this full-cycle development company has been creating new benchmarks for service efficiency for 13 years by developing mobile and web applications, as well as other digital products. A team of talented designers and programmers creates IoT solutions for a variety of industries: real estate, smart home, lighting, healthcare, logistics, and factories. Clutch IoT-related services provided by the company: Research and analysis; Design and prototype; Product strategy and process optimization development; Application development; Testing and debugging. Biz4Group With more than 15 years of experience, and combining technologies such as IoT, AI, and Blockchain, the company provides innovative mobile and web application development services, as well as other exclusive solutions for organizations of any size. IoT-related services provided by the company: Product consulting and design; Data ingestion and analysis; IoT cross-platform app development; Network and notification management; Application development for wearable devices. Yalantis The software development and IT consulting company is a trusted partner helping clients innovate, strengthen their teams, and improve existing systems to achieve maximum business value and sustainable growth. In addition to IoT, Yalantis has technical expertise in UI/UX design, cybersecurity, high load systems,  Cloud, and DevOps. IoT-related services provided by the company: Data analytics; Cloud IoT migration; Platform development for managing infostructures and handling data; Software development for powering the wearable devices; Smart home solution development; Industrial IoT development. Trigma Trigma is a leading IT company with a full-cycle development. Appreciated by Clutch, Upwork, and GoodFirms, the company provides custom software development and consultancy services to startups, small businesses, government agencies, and big enterprises. Trigma solutions are applied in healthcare, gaming and leisure, finance and insurance, education, real estate, and some other spheres. IoT-related services provided by the company: Providing solutions for Automotive; Smart home automation; Smart energy management- predictive energy optimization, remote energy equipment monitoring, etc.; Industrial IoT development; Home automation system development and more. Today, many companies offer services in the field of IoT. When choosing an IoT vendor partner, you need to give preference to organizations that provide solid web security and development. A good choice for partnership can be full-stack companies that may create a solution that manages hardware, mobile interface, and web interface in one project. IoT development companies that have proven themselves to be reliable partners and have high ratings from independent agencies and the media will surely benefit your business by creating high-quality products.

10 Companies Building IoT Devices in 2022

Get to know the top software outsourcing company and 29 more runners-up in this latest market research by Explority. Last year, the global outsourcing market at 85.6 billion US dollars. A notable part of this market, outsourcing software development is not subsiding either. was valued at The reasons behind this upward trend are understandable: according to the , businesses turn to outsourcing as it brings cost optimization and makes them more agile, efficient, and effective. Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey 2018 With the growing popularity of outsourcing as a service, hundreds of IT companies started positioning it as one of their core capabilities and strengths. But do all of these firms prove to be so skilled in delivering outsourcing software development? To help you define who’s who in today’s outsourcing market, we have assembled the list of the most trustworthy vendors ready to handle software development, UI/UX design, and disruptive technologies. To make the list objective, we ranked the companies according to the following criteria: technological strength ability to ensure project security focus on innovation diversity and complexity of completed projects geographical flexibility Below, we present 30 outsourcing software development companies that have showed the highest scores in these criteria over the last 12 months. 1. Iflexion Founded in 1999, Iflexion houses 850+ experts in outsourcing software development, integration, business analysis, QA, and project management. Iflexion delivers such services as custom software development for end business users, product development, and DevOps enablement, among others. The company also provides dedicated development teams and is ready to boost their software solutions with emerging technologies like AI, AR, and big data, should the project require it. Iflexion has worked with such market giants as Philips, Expedia, Toyota, and adidas, with more than 1,500 completed projects for clients in 30+ countries overall. Location: Denver, CO Founded: 1999 Major Clients: Google, eBay, PayPal, Philips, Expedia, Toyota, adidas Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: IT, Hospitality, Retail, Media, Finance Website: https://www.iflexion.com/ 2. 10Pearls With more than 350 mobile developers, software developers, designers, and researchers worldwide, 10Pearls augments businesses’ capabilities with their technological expertise. 10Pearls creates applications driven by such emerging technologies as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and augmented reality. Location: Vienna, VA Founded: 2004 Major Clients: National Geographic, Johnson & Johnson, AARP, Nextel Number of Employees: 250-999 Industry Presence: Healthcare, Media, Finance, Transportation Website: https://10pearls.com/ 3. Orases Since 2000, Orases has been delivering strategy, branding, interface design, and full-stack outsourcing software development to more than 750 clients from ten countries all around the world. The company expertizes in building products to be integrated with other systems: ERP, CRM, EMR, and others. Orases also delivers branding services, including brand, communication and social media strategies. Location: Frederick, MD Founded: 2000 Major Clients: NFL, Johns Hopkins University, Frederick County Bank, Major League Baseball Number of Employees: 10-49 Industry Presence: Healthcare, Finance, Sports Website: https://orases.com/ 4. Trigent Software US-based Trigent Software has been providing outsourcing software development  since 1995. The company delivers consulting, design, and development across cloud, mobility, business intelligence, product engineering, and emerging tech domains. Over the years, the company have designed more than 400 products adopted in large and small enterprises alike. Location: Fayville, MA Founded: 1995 Major Clients: Navistar, NEPC, Honeywell, Hewlett-Packard, American Heart Association Number of Employees: 250-999 Industry Presence: Finance, Healthcare, IT, Education, Transportation Website: https://www.trigent.com/ 5. Spiria Spiria is a Canadian custom software development company that has been delivering outsourcing software development for more than 15 years. Spiria offers web, mobile and UX/UI design development. Spiria specializes in user-friendly and responsive websites, from ecommerce stores to secure intranets. The company also delivers embedded systems, IoT solutions, and M2M solutions. Location: Montreal, Canada Founded: 2003 Major Clients: Autodesk, Shutterstock, Disney, Paymi, DogWatch, Evenko Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: IT, Education, Manufacturing Website: https://www.spiria.com/ 6. Fingent With an active client base across four continents and 250+ specialists on board, Fingent remains a competitive outsourcing software development company for over 15 years. They offer enterprise software development, web application development, data analytics, and digital transformation consulting. Location: White Plains, NY Founded: 2003 Major Clients: Sony, Johnson & Johnson, University of North Carolina, PwC, CBN Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: Transportation, Real Estate, Finance Website: https://www.fingent.com/ 7. STX Next Poland-based STX Next has 170+ Python, React Native, JavaScript, Android, iOS, and full-stack developers ready to take up outsourcing software development. The company also offers product design and software testing. STX Next offers end-to-end development, team extension, and project takeover. It also works with startups, helping them enter the market and scale throughout product lifecycles. Location: Poznań, Poland Founded: 2005 Major Clients: Seerene, Verve, Pixomondo, Unity, Lamden Number of Employees: 250-999 Industry Presence: Finance, IT, Real Estate Website: https://stxnext.com/ 8. Praxent Operating for more than 20 years, Praxent has delivered more than 300 software solutions in the areas of mobile and web applications development, web portals, and legacy software modernization. Besides, Praxent offers human-centered design development, branding, and rapid prototyping. Location: Austin, TX Founded: 2000 Major Clients: Cisco, Kinder Morgan, Sysco, World Market, Flex, Keller Williams Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: Finance, Healthcare, IT Website: https://praxent.com/ 9. The Software House With 129 specialists on board and 150+ successfully delivered projects, The Software House offers the following services in the niche of outsourcing software development: web and mobile development, digital product design, QA, and DevOps services. The Software House’s technological expertise includes React, Node.js, Angular, iOS, Android, and React Native. Location: Gliwice, Poland Founded: 2012 Major Clients: Smartum, Synerise, eSky Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: Finance, Manufacturing, Healthcare Website: https://tsh.io/ 10. AgileEngine Over the past nine years, AgileEngine has delivered more than 70 projects in outsourcing software development, including risk modeling and case management software, tracking platforms, and BI tools. Besides UI, web, mobile, and enterprise software development, AgileEngine provides QA services that include load, stress, performance, security, and usability testing. Location: McLean, VA Founded: 2010 Major Clients: Needles, Logi Analytics, Farmers Edge, LivingSocial Number of Employees: 250-999 Industry Presence: IT, Healthcare Website: https://agileengine.com/ 11. Highland Solutions Established in 1999, Highland Solutions is a Chicago-based custom software development company that engineers and integrates web and mobile applications, multi-tenant custom platforms, and CRM systems. Highland Solutions also offers development of OutSystems low-code platforms that automate time-consuming and monotonous manual tasks. Location: Chicago, IL Founded: 1999 Major Clients: Thrivent Financial, The Delta Institute, Morton Arboretum, Creative Group, Harvard University Health Services Number of Employees: 10-49 Industry Presence: Finance, Manufacturing, Education, Healthcare, IT Website: https://highlandsolutions.com/ 12. Merixstudio Since 1999, Merixstudio has provided outsourcing software development to more than 200 customers from a variety of market segments. The software development company specializes in web development, Python programming, frontend development, React Native mobile development, and UX/UI design. Location: Poznań, Poland Founded: 1999 Major Clients: Fox, The Independent, DFJ, Divio Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: Finance, Education, Real Estate, Sport Website: https://www.merixstudio.com/ 13. Caxy Interactive Serving outsourcing software development from its Chicago-based office, Caxy Interactive expertizes in Drupal, JavaScript, and Python development, ecommerce solutions, and machine learning. The software development company also offers strategy development and Agile consulting services. Besides, Caxy Interactive takes up UX and web design projects. Location: Chicago, IL Founded: 1999 Major Clients: International Code Council, The Field Museum, Rush University Medical Center, Uptake Technologies Number of Employees: 10-49 Industry Presence: Finance, Education, Manufacturing, IT Website: https://www.caxy.com/ 14. Boldare Founded in 2004, Boldare was formed after a merger of two software development companies, XSolve and Chilid. So far, the company’s team of 130+ technological experts have delivered 250+ projects. Boldare provides full-cycle outsourcing software development, prototyping, and design. It also offers digital transformation services. Location: Gliwice, Poland Founded: 2004 Major Clients: BlaBlaCar, Sonnen, Takamol, Holiday Taxis, Agnito Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: Energy, Media, Ecommerce, Healthcare Website: https://www.boldare.com/ 15. MojoTech US-located MojoTech outsourcing software development and engineering, UX/UI design, and digital transformation services. Besides, the company mentors their clients’ in-house IT teams. For more than 11 years of their market presence, MojoTech’s team of 65 delivered 150+ software development projects. Location: Providence, RI Founded: 2008 Major Clients: AccuWeather, Aetna, Groove, Blue Cross Blue Shield, United Way Number of Employees: 10-49 Industry Presence: Finance, Consumer Services, IT Website: https://www.mojotech.com/ 16. ClearSummit ClearSummit is a software development company offering mobile and web app development, frontend and backend development, and UI/UX design. The company also offers discovery and technical advisory consultations. Additionally, ClearSummit offers software maintenance and support services to help clients fix bugs and upgrade their systems. Location: Marina del Rey, CA Founded: 2014 Major Clients: Belkin, TuneRegistry, SCH Travel, Musea Number of Employees: 10-49 Industry Presence: Consumer Services, IT, Media, Real Estate Website: http://clearsumm.it 17. Future Processing Established in 2000, Future Processing have delivered 500 solutions to 150+ clients from all over the world. The company’s expertise in outsourcing software development includes software development and consulting using .NET, Java, React, Angular, and other programming languages. The software development company brings to its clients such emerging technologies as AI, blockchain, and big data analytics, and delivers software audit and business intelligence setup. Location: Gliwice, Poland Founded: 2000 Major Clients: Tenneco, Ista, Valeo, TechSoup, Thomas Miller Number of Employees: 250-999 Industry Presence: Finance, Healthcare, Transportation, Real Estate Website: https://www.future-processing.com/ 18. Moove It Being a leading outsourcing software development company, Moove It offers product discovery, web and mobile apps development, testing automation, as well as digital transformation services. Besides these, the company provides technological and Agile coaching. Location: Austin, TX Founded: 2006 Major Clients: Unilever, Verifone, Disney, Sierra Wireless Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: Consumer Services, Education, Finance, Healthcare, IT Website: https://moove-it.com/ 19. iTexico Since its inception in 2010, iTexico has been delivering UI/UX design, software engineering, QA, mobile and cloud development from its six US-based offices. To make their outsourcing software development as efficient as possible, iTexico follows Agile, DevOps, and Lean methodologies. Location: Austin, TX Founded: 2010 Major Clients: Undisclosed Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: IT, Healthcare, Manufacturing Website: https://www.itexico.com/ 20. Django Stars European company Django Stars has been delivering its software solutions for almost 11 years. The company offers web and mobile app development, design, and QA. Django Stars also expertizes in data science, data architecture, intelligent chatbots, and big data analytics. The company’s core strength is in its Python development expertise: Django Stars promises to create any type of product using this programming language. Location: Kiev, Ukraine Founded: 2008 Major Clients: MoneyPark, Sindeo, Molo Finance, Clear Minds Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: Finance, Transportation, Healthcare, Real Estate, Hospitality Website: https://djangostars.com 21. Spire Digital US-based Spire Digital boasts 300+ products launched and 600+ clients served to an overall 98% satisfaction rate. The company delivers digital transformation, Agile process optimization, CX research, data science consulting, and lean product development. Besides all of these and expertise in AI, blockchain, and IoT, Spire Digital offers digital marketing strategy development. Location: Denver, CO Founded: 1998 Major Clients: TomTom, Lockheed Martin, US Navy, Helix, Western Union Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: Education, Finance, Healthcare, Ecommerce Website: https://www.spiredigital.com/ 22. KitelyTech Delivering to clients of all sizes, including startups and Fortune 500 companies, KitelyTech offers web and mobile app design, ecommerce solutions, data analytics consulting, QA, and more. The company offers SEO services as well. Among the emerging technologies that KitelyTech is offering, there are AI, blockchain, and AR. Location: Chicago, IL Founded: 2009 Major Clients: Karrot Health, Plastic Surgery Clinic of Chicago, Olympus, J.P. McMahon Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: Healthcare, IT, Transportation Website: https://kitelytech.com/ 23. Table XI US-based Table XI has been a trusted supplier of outsourcing software development for over 16 years. The company provides digital strategy and product design, along with mobile and custom web development. So far, the company have joined forces with at least 100 global clients. Location: Chicago, IL Founded: 2002 Major Clients: Dept. of Medicine of the Northwestern University, Journal for the American Medical Association, AccuWeather, Dickson Number of Employees: 10-49 Industry Presence: Healthcare, Manufacturing, Education Website: https://www.tablexi.com/ 24. Syberry Having a 94% client retention rate, Syberry serves at least 20 industries in the US alone. The company provides a whole range of services, including custom software development, QA, business analysis, and technology consulting. Syberry’s expertise also includes cloud, ERP, SaaS, big data, blockchain, and IoT. Location: Austin, TX Founded: 2014 Major Clients: Bombardier, PayPal, Disney, Shell, Livestream Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: Finance, Healthcare, Retail, Education, Energy, Transportation Website: https://www.syberry.com/ 25. Vincit California Vincit California is a 400+ employee company engineering mobile apps, web portals, and embedded systems. Besides, Vincit offers UX/UI design. The company has seven offices around the world, which makes it specifically fit for global software development outsourcing. Location: Irvine, CA Founded: 2007 Major Clients: Nokia, Logitech, Yamaha, Roadtrip Nation, Sigora, Fastems Number of Employees: 250-999 Industry Presence: IT, Finance, Telecommunications Website: https://www.vincit.com/ 26. Napoleon IT UK-located DCSL offers outsourcing software development, software and hardware integration, IT consulting, and ongoing system support. The company’s other services include team augmentation, data migration, legacy software modernization, and others. Location: Reston, VA Founded: 2011 Major Clients: Unilever, Severstal, Russian Railways, Yamaha Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: Retail, Ecommerce, Healthcare, Consumer Services Website: https://napoleonit.com/ 27. DCSL Software UK-located DCSL offers software development, software and hardware integration, IT consulting, and ongoing system support. The company’s other services include team augmentation, data migration, legacy software modernization, and others. Location: London, United Kingdom Founded: 1994 Major Clients: WaterAid, Mitsubishi, Hospify, Abbott, Lidl, Pearson Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: Healthcare, Education, Manufacturing, Real Estate, IT Website: https://www.dcslsoftware.com/ 28. DockYard Since 2010, DockYard has been delivering product strategy, UX, digital design, software development, software support, and maintenance services. DockYard also provides QA and testing, team augmentation, and business analysis. Location: Boston, MA Founded: 2010 Major Clients: Netflix, Apple, NASDAQ, Zipcar, Fidelity Investments, Harvard University Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: IT, Transportation, Education Website: https://dockyard.com 29. SoftwareMill SoftwareMill helps its clients tackle IT challenges with outsourcing software development, data science, system integration, and analytics. The company delivers enterprise solutions, UI/UX design, mobile and web applications, and DevOps integration. Location: Warsaw, Poland Founded: 2009 Major Clients: Tipser, Knip, Flexys Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: Finance, IT, Energy, Ecommerce Website: https://softwaremill.com/ 30. Tivix Specializing in Agile development of cloud-connected web and mobile applications, Tivix is a US-based company housing 65+ experienced developers across six offices worldwide. The company’s expertise in outsourcing software development includes API, database, Django, Angular, and React development. Location: San Francisco, CA Founded: 2008 Major Clients: Apple, Tesla, SolarCity, Zoetis, VMware Number of Employees: 50-249 Industry Presence: Finance, IT, Consumer Services, Healthcare What Does the Future Hold for Outsourcing Software Development Companies? As time passes and businesses start looking for new technologies such as cognitive computing and RPA, some of these vendors can start lagging or cease delivering outsourcing at all. To keep the listing current and help you keep tabs on in this ever-changing market, we’ll continue monitoring the best outsourcing software companies. Stay tuned. ) (Find out more about Explority and our ranking methodology, click here and here

Top 30 Outsourcing Software Development Companies in 2020

Top Custom Software Development Companies

Someday you’ll come along with an idea to create the next big app which will bring your name into repute or make you rich. First of all, you can start googling “who can I hire to build an app”. Because Google knows everyone and everything. Or, if you have a similar experience, you’ll search “outsourcing software development company”. But of course, choosing might take a few weeks to a few months before picking that one for all your development requirements. Here is the list of trusted IT Outsourcing Companies based on Quora and Appfutura research. VironIT VironIT is a custom software development company with a primary focus on delivering end-to-end software development services. Company’s core areas of expertise are development of mobile applications, web-oriented software products, business software solutions, software integration, updating, support and maintenance of developed applications. VironIT has successfully carried out over 500 successful projects to over 300 high-profile companies in eHealth, Sports, Banking, Retail, Marketing, Gaming and other industries. The company’s clients range from SMEs to Fortune 500 corporations based in Western Europe and North America. VironIT’s team consists of 100+ seasoned specialists: software developers, engineers, and scientists with expertise in different technical domains. All of the company’s members have bachelor’s or master’s degrees in sciences and rich experience in the software development field. Most of VironIT’s employees are senior or mid-level developers. Ciklum Ciklum is a software solutions company headquartered in Kyiv, Ukraine, with offices in the UK, Denmark, Spain, Belarus, and the U.S., and more. With about 3,000 employees, Ciklum not only specializes in software engineering but also provides e-commerce and mobile app development, application testing, IT strategy consulting, and staff augmentation. Their clients range from large multinational companies to fast-growing startups working toward an IPO. Ciklum was hired by an enterprise IT firm as the main development resource: backend and frontend developers, quality assurance specialists, and business analysts. Operating as part of the team on an ongoing basis, Ciklum developed an e-commerce platform for the IT firm’s client that resulted in $50,000,000 per year in sales. Eight Bit Studios Founded in 2008, Eight Bit Studios is based in Chicago, IL. They focus on mobile apps, customer software development, and UX/UI design. The team of 35+ employees helps key industries, including education and gaming burst business. Eight Bit Studios redeveloped a product for an augmented-reality gaming platform. They had to review the platform to learn how as operating and then piece the platform back together. They were able to ensure all code worked properly. PSL Corp. PSL Corp. is a software engineering company that was founded in 1986. With locations in New York; Medellín, Colombia; and Mexico City, PSL Corp. has more than 650 employees. They specialize in custom software development, big data consulting, cloud consulting, system integration, and web development. PSL Corp. supports mid-sized and enterprise clients across a range of industries. PSL Corp. built a marketing web application for a sales software firm. The client valued PSL Corp.’s ability to program flawless, bug-free code thanks to their high level of expertise in development. To support the client and maintain quality assurance, PSL Corp. continues to provide ongoing maintenance and support. Table XI Table XI is a mobile app and custom software developer based in Chicago, IL. Founded in 2004, they are 35 dedicated app and website builders with a flair for bespoke design and digital strategy. Table XI recreated the website of a global events company, building a video player and an iOS app to deliver content, all with no site downtime. After the migration, the app and site functioned seamlessly. The client recommended Table XI for their cost, clarity, and adherence to deadlines. Intellectsoft Founded in 2007, Intellectsoft is a full-service software partner, focusing on app development for web, mobile, and emerging technologies. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, their 200+ business strategists and tech specialists collaborate across seven global offices to create digital solutions for startups and enterprises alike. Intellectsoft created an e-commerce app with matching backend infrastructure, then integrated it into the client’s blockchain technology. Transforming the given creative demands into a satisfactory product under a strenuous deadline was deemed impressive, as were their communication skills and determination. iTechArt iTechArt is a top-tier, one-stop custom software development company. 73% of its clients come from referrals. With over 800 experienced engineers, iTechArt works with startups and other fast-growing companies to create the coolest, most innovative, and successful mobile and web applications. It also provides custom software development and QA & testing services in the industry. Itransition Founded in 1998 outside Denver, CO, Itransition now has an office in Austin, TX, as well as the UK and Belarus. They bring their 20 years experience and 1500+ person team to the table for custom software development, web development, and e-commerce development. Itransition was hired by another development firm to collaborate on a project for a tourism company. They migrated 44 websites into one e-commerce platform, Magento. 10Pearls Based in Vienna, VA, 10Pearls designs and maintains apps for various companies. The company and its nearly 350 employees have experience in cybersecurity, product development, and UX/UI design. A telemedicine company needed assistance with platform development and maintenance. 10Pearls helped the telemedicine company with all aspects of platform development, creating a website and mobile app and ensuring the website’s backend was admin-friendly. LOVATA LOVATA is an IT company headquartered in Minsk, Belarus. Founded in 2008, they provide services for web development and custom software development. They have about 24 employees that serve a range of clients in the healthcare, e-commerce, retail, and financial services sectors. LOVATA designed a website to increase a publishing company’s brand awareness. Revenue rose 400% as a result of more paid subscriptions and increased audience size. RubyGarage Development agency RubyGarage is located in Dnipro, Ukraine. Since it was founded in 2011, their team has evolved to about 100 employees. RubyGarages partners primarily with small businesses. Their services are centered on custom software, mobile app, and web development. RubyGarage provides digital marketing and development services for a software company. The client noted that the team’s development services were high quality. The marketing campaigns they executed improved traction and visibility during the entire length of the engagement. Belatrix Software Belatrix Software is an app development company headquartered in Argentina. The large team also has offices in Latin America, Florida, New York, and California. Founded in 2003, the agency is known as one of the top providers for software engineering services. Belatrix Software offered front-end development services to a financial group, helping the client’s existing development team build productivity-related tools. The client lacked the necessary development resources to process a backlog of work, so Belatrix Software’s development expertise complimented their in-house development team. The project is ongoing, and the client praised Belatrix Software’s work. Wizeline Headquartered in San Francisco, Wizeline is a product development company with offices in Guadalajara and Mexico City, Mexico, and Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. Since its founding in 2014, the team has grown to over 390 employees. Wizeline specializes in custom software, web, and mobile app development and UX/UI design. An entertainment company hired Wizeline to improve their website’s CMS. Based on the team’s initial success, they fostered a partnership that’s still ongoing. The agency’s skills made them stand out from comparable firms throughout the process. The client appreciates Wizeline’s collaborative spirit and excellent communication skills. Fingent Technologies Founded in 2003, Fingent is a web and mobile development company which has offices in the United States, India and the United Arab Emirates. Its global team of 230 employees has helped hundreds of mid and large size organizations implement software solutions that increase productivity and profits. Oxagile Oxagile provides end-to-end custom software development services to SMBs and enterprises, focusing on online video management, advertising, real-time communication, and data solutions. The company’s headquarters are located in New York, with an EMEA office in London and the development center in Belarus. Oxagile offers both Scrum and Waterfall methodologies. With Vodafone among their clients and Microsoft among the partners, Oxagile is one of the top custom software development companies for video solutions for SMBs and enterprises. SumatoSoft SumatoSoft offers full-cycle app development, starting from the zero, through consulting, developing and finishing custom software. They work for large enterprises, startup companies, create B2B and B2C e-commerce, automated chatbot and more. SumatoSoft’s collaboration with Toyota was one of the biggest projects of the company. Here, they introduced new and optimized existing processes of the business, supported their marketing system, ensured an effective functioning of their offices across the world, rearranged and recreated the entire Toyota’s IT system. Praxent Praxent is not a simple custom software IT company. They have the role of an IT assistant to businesses of all sizes. By introducing custom cloud solutions to a ticket broker TicketCity, Praxent liberated 98% of their inventory, resulting in expansion of the system capacity by the whole 6800%. Moreover, Praxent gained 12,000 subscribers for Plumb’s veterinary drugs within a short time period, making the veterinary handbook easily accessible online for veterinarians across the world. Orases Orases is a modern agency from the US with standard services on their menu, including mobile and web applications development, custom software services and flexible IT solutions. They list SMBs and Fortune 500 companies as only some of the businesses they work with it. This company was involved in two industries that not many custom software IT outsource companies cover — sports and farming. Namely, they created websites for Dairy Farmers of America, Homegrown Frederick and Prince George’s County, as well as MLB Pitch Hit & Run, and several apps for NFL. FrogSlayer FrogSlayer provides growing companies with the custom software tools they need to accelerate growth and become the technology or data leader in their industry. Since 2011, its team has helped over 60 clients become technology leaders in a variety of industries. It has made commercial buildings smarter, oil rigs safer, financial crime harder, education more accessible, healthcare more efficient, and much more. FrogSlayer’s clients have generated over $350M in ROI — an average of 23x payback in 2 years or less. N-iX N-iX is an Eastern European IT company with over 16 years of excellence as a reliable technology partner for innovative companies across North America, UK, and Europe. N-iX has over 800 experienced software engineers working within development centers in Lviv, Kyiv (Ukraine), Kraków (Poland), Minsk (Belarus) and representative offices in Malmö (Sweden) and St. Petersburg, FL (USA). Hope this list of notable outsourcing companies will help you to burst your business to the next level. If you have seen any company that should be added to this list, then leave a note in comments.

Top IT Outsourcing Companies

The metaverse is quite possibly the future of the internet. To help our readers learn more about it, we've started this metaverse interview series. These are the questions we've compiled to ask experts in blockchain, DAOs, NFTs, and game development, within the HackerNoon community. The series is intended for tech professionals to contribute their insights about the current state and the future of the metaverse. If you too would like to start contributing to Hacker Noon, you can do so here. If you also want to publish your thoughts about the metaverse, answer the template here. HackerNoon Prompt: So let’s start! First, tell us a bit about yourself. For example, name, profession, and personal interests. Daniel Jimenez, Engineer by profession, passionate about the crypto and blockchain ecosystem in general, especially about new trends such as metaverses, NFTs, GameFi, and TradFi. Please sum up what the metaverse is in 1 to two paragraphs. We could define a metaverse as a virtual space where each of us can create unique experiences parallel to our daily life, with the possibility of improving our fears, complexes and enhancing our vision of a better world. With metaverses, imagination is the limit and if you use blockchain technology as a tool, the power to the user of these metaverses is beautiful! Are you currently, directly or indirectly, working on building a metaverse? I have generated some content written for The Sandbox, a blockchain metaverse In your opinion, is the metaverse inevitable, or is it just another passing trending tech topic that'll lose hype? I believe that the population with the pandemic has felt the need to have new spaces with which to interact as a society. Although Metaverses have been around since the 1970s, it is only with the pandemic that this topic saw its use cases enhanced. From online games for social interaction to events like those that take place in Decentraland will be a great trend to mark inside and outside the blockchain ecosystem. Newzoo said in its most recent report on this topic, metaverses are the future and we’ll see a lot of development within the space in the next 10years. Large companies like Facebook are already on their way to exploiting it. Why is the metaverse such a revolutionary concept? The metaverse is not only a way of interacting socially, but a personalized lifestyle adjusted to the needs of each user that allows us to show our true selves without worrying about our complexes or social rejections. Personally, I believe that therein lies the revolution of this concept: the power that users have to freely show themselves to others without being exposed to social rejection. What can people build in the metaverse that we can't build on the Internet, or in virtual reality today? What limitations of our current technology does the metaverse free us from? In addition to social freedom, the metaverse has allowed us to express our creativity to the maximum: from virtual spaces to generate musical shows to the exploitation of virtual real estate with the power always being with the user/owner like we have never seen it before. While the internet allowed us the freedom to communicate and virtual reality allows us to enjoy its unique sensory aspects, metaverses add these two qualities and bring it closer to what we can do in real life like never before. How are the metaverse and blockchain related? Can we build a metaverse without blockchain technology? There have already been metaverses without blockchain, for example, Roblox, Second Life, etc. But the big difference between these metaverses and the new ones powered by blockchain technology such as The Sandbox, Decentraland, SOMNIUM Space, for example; is that the user has control at all times of their digital assets / virtual goods. That is, an owner of a LAND in any blockchain metaverse will obtain all the benefits of their virtual parcel without intermediaries in addition to being able to decide what to do with it within the metaverse without central authorities. Your creativity is rewarded fairly unlike traditional metaverses. How quickly do you think the metaverse will be developed? How much can we expect metaverse tech to grow in the next 5 to 10 years? We are already making great strides in metaverses. But as I said before, Newzoo foresees a horizon of 10 years for us to see this type of experience as something common, spreading among the population.
Now everything will depend on the fact that extraordinary conditions do not occur that accelerate this development and overcrowding, such as happened in the last two years with the COVID19 pandemic What is your hope for the metaverse? Do you have any worries or does the concept pose any threats? My hope is that we can have more blockchain metaverses that always guarantee the benefit with greater weight over the users and autonomous communities governed by the same users without central interference, something that is totally different from what we live in the real world and where blockchain technology has shown that it is possible to do. This is contrary, for example, to Facebook's proposal of its metaverse that seeks to continue controlling users and generating wealth at the expense of the data that is exposed on its platform. Thanks for your time! Any final words? I hope that some of my answers or articles serve to help the development of new and better metaverses!

The Metaverse Can Make You Less Anxious About Social Rejection 

Storyteller: Sutian Dong, Venture Partner, Female Founders Fund. Previously Partner at Female Founders Fund, First Mark Capital. NYU Stern Alum. Now, she is starting something new. Here are the topics we discussed in the episode along with the time in the video when it was mentioned. 1. Women in VC has been very instrumental in creating an inclusive community at a grass-root level, whether it is sharing deal flow, LP resources, VC socials or mentorship platform with Techstars. Tell me what was missing in women in VC community before that led you and Jessica to create such movement. Women in VC Community:  0:35m Preparation for VC Industry: 3:54m 2. VC is a very hard industry to prepare for. There is no MBA or coursework that prepares you for early stage or late stage investing. Tell me about your past experiences that helped you to be in emerging fund manager role. Market change and opportunities for new fund managers: 7:04m 3. As you are starting your new journey into fund of funds, tell us what you aspire to be as a fund manager. Can you elaborate about the new market opportunities for emerging fund managers who are creating their own funds like you? And how the market has changed in the last 5 years? Bias and prejudices in VC Industry for change catalyst: 12:48m 4. Venture Capital is one industry that has not been disrupted..  As we are seeing more people bringing movement into this industry how do you see biases and prejudices that played in the past come in effect for people like you who are catalyst for change. Liquidity as LP from fund of fund perspective: 18:27m 5. Venture Capital is one asset class which is also cyclical. The boom-bust cycle, appetite for high risk but it also has a lock up period for Limited Partners for as long as 7-10years unlike hedge funds where LPs can redeem their capital out of market panic. For many of us we look investment as permanent capital that protects from erratic market behavior and good investments need long term commitment. Liquidity has been an issue for LPs for a long time, as someone who is planning to start a fund of fund, how do you approach the liquidity position. Thinking Model and LP Resources: 22:56m 6. It is said that venture capital is all about identifying patterns in time. Yet some of the bigger ideas are unpredictable and sometimes those investment decisions can be non-consensus among Partners. To invest in such unpredictable big ideas one has to learn and see things differently, analyze markets that others are finding it non-sexy to invest. I think venture capital is not a job but it is a lifestyle. So how do you prepare yourself for such a lifestyle. What learning habits that you have or acquired ? How do you analyze various thinking models? What are the LP resources that you read and follow. Never have I ever said no to a startup investment run by a single founder - Short questions: Never Have I Ever: (related to previous investment decisions) Single founder myth Never have I ever said no to a startup because I loved the product and hated the founder - Founder market fit Never have I ever been in a board meeting and hated the outcome but did not say anything - Board discussions

The Rise of Women VC Emerging Fund Managers: Episode 1 

Update: Parts and of this post can be found and . #1 #3 here here Who is the Customer? As mentioned in the , along with the thousands of comments and readers we had to the ‘ ’ blog post, a corporate partner reached out to work with us to build Varuna. The first red flag, as we started discussions with this partner, was the long list of features they requested. The company wanted to measure every single water pollutant out there and we’d have ended up with a bloated and terribly expensive product. We cut the feature list to a 1/4th of what the corporate partner was requesting. Why? Because a product with that long a set of features has moved well beyond just being a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). announcement blog post empathy in connected home products I’ll discuss our MVP in more detail in this post with the focus being that your initial product must ease the core pain that your customers feel. Some of the responses we got ended up being the most critical for what we are now focusing on. Even though he was being snarky, one of the most useful respondents kept us honest by asking ‘ ’. what do you mean by quality? It could mean anything with water! Simple as that statement was, it helped us filter. We researched the most critical water issues and, partly due to the recent spate of horrible incidents in Flint MI and St Joseph’s LA, lead poisoning rose to the top of the list. The lead poisoning issue is one that will continue to be important in the US due to an insidious campaign by the lead industry, in the early 1900s, which targeted the construction industry and convinced them to make lead a critical part of the water infrastructure in the US. Until all of this infrastructure is ripped out and replaced, something that will take at least 10years and $25bn at the rate we are going, we have to track lead leakage in our drinking water. It became clear that this would be the main functionality of the device. Particles in water also showed up as an issue and, while hardness also showed up, we decided to stick with two quality measures; . As it turns out there are simple off the shelf sensors to test for these. The image below shows ongoing work as we build this out. lead and particle inclusions The next step is to get some prototypes out into the hands of those customers that we are building this for. We strongly believe that no one should unknowingly drink or use dangerous water and that we now have smart technology that prevents that from happening. With the dropping price of sensors (image below) that enables the early warning system (Varuna) this is a matter of ‘ ’ not ‘ ’… when if Image courtesy of Quartz.com/GE So who’s building Varuna? Who’s On The Team Writing is actually not my day job. It’s just something I love to do. And it’s what has brought me to building Varuna. In writing the , I believed deeply that we needed to be more considerate of the average consumer. What I didn’t know was that, we would end up with a product that has resonated more than anything else I’ve done in my life. We’re looking for more people to join us in building this product . Who would you be working with to build a product (and eventually a platform) that prevents anyone from ever drinking or using dangerous water? Time for me to tell you a story.. original blog post on empathy in connected home products so please sign up here I moved to Austin TX in the summer of 2015. We decided we wanted to be closer to my wife’s family and we wanted to live in a place where our then 2 yr old son could run around outside all year round. I knew very few people in Austin. I’d spent the 8yrs prior in Chicago attending business school at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, building/selling a startup called Power2Switch and building my personal brand as the ‘ . While in Chicago, I met — who by some stroke of fate worked on a hardware product for the last few months - at a startup event in Chicago. We’ve been great friends since. Apart from the fact he’s the best sales guy I’ve ever worked with, he’s also got a great energy about him that is attractive to everyone. He probably picked that up in his time as a backup QB at Vanderbilt and then at Kellogg Business School at Northwestern University. His time leading a sales region also probably helped. You would think I hadn’t moved from Chicago considering how much Jamail and I keep in touch and we’ve been brainstorming and working on a few things for the last 3 years. innovation in the utilities industry guy’ Jamail Carter A friend/Kyle introduced me to a couple of his contacts and when I met , who’s working on the electronics of Varuna, I knew I had to work with him on something. Waz is a tinkerer (some of the things we’ve brainstormed and he’s built below) but in a past life he was a commodities trader at Goldman Sachs with an MBA from Columbia. Not having many contacts in Austin and truly enjoying his brain, Waz and I would sit and discuss renewable energy ideas for hours. I’d sketch a business model and Waz would hack something together. We continued doing this as I got to meet more people in Austin. To increase my network, I decided to sign up for a co-working space close to home. I ended up at Gravityspace. Waziri Garuba is a small co-working space in Round Rock Texas owned by , the industrial designer crafting the form factor for Varuna and the founder of . He’s an introverted designer with a great portfolio. Dan has worked on product design campaigns for Dell, Snap-On, Microsoft etc but from talking to him you wouldn’t know it. I approached Dan with the idea for a connected bath mat that measures weight and vital signs for older people with health issues. Dan didn’t like it ( ) but decided to brainstorm some ideas within the constraints of the connected home. Dan came up with a list of 30ish ideas and we whittled it down to the 3 that I thought were the most empathetic and could be valuable to the mass market. Of the 3, Varuna resonated the most. GravitySpace Dan Phipps Axis Design I still think it’s a great idea! And now we are building it. We possess the right combination of expertise in materials engineering (my engineering degree), process and sales (Jamail), product design (Dan) and development (Waz), marketing and brand building (my avocation) and a shared belief. We believe strongly that no one should unknowingly drink or use dangerous water and that we now have smart technology that prevents that from happening. The first step to that optimal product is Varuna and I share more about the product below. Why Didn’t You Work With A Big Company? As mentioned above, the initial response to Varuna was not just from end use customers. We got inbound inquiries from several large companies and we were pretty excited! Large companies have the resources and talent to build this product and (as I mentioned above) we need the help. One question we kept asking ourselves was ‘ ? The correspondence with them quickly answered our questions So why aren’t these companies building this themselves ; product conversations and calls were set a full week in advance. When we eventually jumped on the calls, it was to outline a long drawn out plan to build get the product to market in an unbelievably long time frame. Why? Because large companies feel they have time. On the opposite end, small companies have everything but time. This works to the small company advantage. Large companies move slowly : to sell 100k units of Varuna would barely nudge the revenues of these large companies. That number, to us, will prevent 100k homes from drinking poisoned or dangerous water. And a 100k units sold would change the game for our small collective. Large companies need the numbers to be large when we eventually got the list of product features that this public company wanted, it read like a grocery list. The product had to measure every single quality measure that is out there. To build a product like that would cost a lot of money (making it prohibitive for the average consumer) and take forever to build (refer to my point about time above). The product list also contained no indication of what actually matters to customers. We, the Varuna team, decided to take a different approach. As indicated here, we got a few hundred prospective customer responses that already highlighted some of the important (and even critical) features. We also reached out to the customers so that the feature set would be less about what the business wants and all about what the customer wants. The concept of an MVP is still foreign to most large companies: Innovation happens slowly in large companies not because the employees are bad or not talented. Innovation is stifled in large companies because it’s hard to innovate when you have the baggage of ‘ ’ holding you down. It’s like a ginormous anchor that hasn’t been pulled in as you try to leave the dock; it keeps you where you are. this is how it’s always been and we have a business model to protect Why, Again? It just so happens that I’m also a customer of this product; my son’s skin is pretty sensitive to water impurities and we’ve had to spend a fair bit of money to get a top of the line water purifier and filters on the taps. So I know a little bit of the pain. Though not even remotely close to how much pain folk in places like Flint and St Joseph’s feel. And it’s those people we are building the product for. We strongly believe that no one should unknowingly drink or use dangerous water and that we now have smart technology that prevents that from happening. The first step to that optimal product is Varuna, a smart water quality meter. or . Thanks! Donate here to help our work sign up to lend your expertise You can help by . Donating here if you’d like to see this product exist in the world. No amount is too small Donating your time if you have the skills required to bring this product out to the world. You can email me at seyi at asha-labsdotcom. We need your help! If you cannot do #1 or #2 above please share this post. Donate here Please tap that heart below if you liked the article. It helps other people see the story, and it helps me know you’d like to see me write more (we all need some validation :)).

Doing Work That Matters: The Who and The What.

The Story-book of Science by Jean-Henri Fabre, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . MOTHER-OF-PEARL AND PEARLS CHAPTER LXXII. MOTHER-OF-PEARL AND PEARLS “SOME of the shells you have just shown us,” said Jules, “shine inside like the handle of that pretty penknife you bought me the day of the fair—you know?—that four-bladed penknife with the mother-of-pearl handle.” “That is plain enough. Mother-of-pearl, that pretty substance that shines with all the colors of the rainbow, comes from certain shells. We use for delicate ornamentation what was once the dwelling of a glairy animal, near relation to the oyster. Truly, this dwelling is a veritable palace in richness. It shines with all imaginable tints, as if the rainbow had deposited its colors there. “This is the shell that furnishes the most beautiful mother-of-pearl. It is called the meleagrina margaritifera. Outside it is wrinkled and blackish-green; inside it is smoother than polished marble, richer in color than the rainbow. All tints are found there, bright, but soft and changeable, according to the point of view.” “That superb shell is the house of a miserable, slimy animal! In fairy tales the fairies themselves have none to equal it. Oh! how beautiful, how beautiful it is!” “Every one has his portion in this world. The slimy animal has for his a splendid palace of mother-of-pearl.” “Where does the meleagrina live?” “In the seas that wash the shores of Arabia.” Meleagrina (avicula) margaritifera “Is Arabia very far away?” inquired Emile. “Very far, my dear. Why do you ask?” “Because I should like to pick up a lot of these beautiful shells.” “Don’t dream of such a thing. It is too far away, and, besides, they are not to be gathered by every one that wants them. To get the meleagrina men have to dive to the bottom of the sea, and some of them never come up again.” “And there are people who dare to dive to the bottom of the sea just to get shells?” asked Claire. “Plenty. So profitable, too, is the trade that we should be badly received by the first-comers if we took a notion to go and fish with them.” “Then those shells are very precious?” “You shall judge for yourself. First the inner layer of the shell, sawed into sheets and tablets, is the mother-of-pearl that we use for fine ornamentation. Jules’ penknife-handle is covered with a sheet of mother-of-pearl that was part of the inside of a pearl-shell. But that is the least part of what the precious shell produces. There are pearls as well.” “But pearls are not very dear. With a few sous I bought a whole boxful, to embroider you a purse.” “Let us make a distinction: there are pearls and pearls. The pearls you mention are little pieces of colored glass pierced with a hole. Their price is very moderate. The pearls of the meleagrina are globules of the richest and finest mother-of-pearl. If they are unusually large, they attain the fabulous price of the diamond, up to hundreds of thousands and millions of francs. “I don’t know those pearls.” Oyster Shell “God keep you from ever knowing them, for in becoming interested in pearls one sometimes loses common sense and honor. It is well, though, to know how they are produced. “Between the two parts of the shell lives an animal like the oyster. It is a mass of slime in which you would find it difficult to recognize an animal. It digests, however, and breathes, and is sensitive to pain, so sensitive that a grain of dust, a mere nothing, renders existence painful to it. What does the animal do when it feels itself tickled by some foreign substance? It begins to sweat mother-of-pearl around the place that itches. This mother-of-pearl piles up in a little smooth ball, and there you have a pearl made by the sick, slimy animal. If it is of any considerable size, it will cost a fine bag of crowns, and the person who wears it around her neck will be very proud of it. “But before getting to the neck, it must be fished for. The fishermen are in a boat. They descend into the sea, one after another, with the aid of a rope to which is tied a large stone that drags them rapidly to the bottom. The man about to dive seizes the weighted rope with his right hand and the toes of his right foot; with his left hand he closes his nostrils; to his left foot is fastened a bag-shaped net. The stone is thrown into the sea. The man sinks like lead. Hastily he fills the net with shells, and then pulls the rope to give the signal for ascent. Those in the boat pull him up. Half-suffocated, the diver reaches the surface with his fishing. The efforts he has made to suspend respiration are so painful that sometimes blood gushes from his mouth and nose. Sometimes, the diver comes up with a leg gone; sometimes he never comes up. A shark has swallowed him. Shark “Some of those pearls that shine in a jeweler’s windows cost much more than a fine bag of crowns: they may have cost a man’s life.” “If Arabia were at the end of the village, I would not go pearl-fishing,” declared Emile. “To open the shells, they are exposed to the sun until the animals are dead. Then men rummage in the pile, which smells horribly, and get the pearls. There is nothing more to do except pierce them with a hole.” “One day,” said Jules, “when they were cleaning the big mill-race I found some shells that shone inside like mother-of-pearl.” “We have in our streams and ditches shells in two parts of a greenish black. They are called fresh-water mussels. Their inside is mother-of-pearl. Some, very large and living by preference in mountain streams, even produce pearls. But these pearls are far from having the luster and consequently the price of those of the meleagrina.” About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Jean-Henri Fabre (2018). The Story-book of Science. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/56795/pg56795-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html.

10PEARLS

10pearls.com

1K-5K employees

Since 2004

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10PEARLS

10pearls.com

1K-5K employees

Since 2004

COMPANY RANKING

10PEARLS

EVERGREEN INDEX #806

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