Bureau 14’s services are based on two key areas of expertise:
It is always difficult to categorize the technical services we are likely to offer. If you would like to ask us about a project that is not completely covered by one of these descriptions, please do not hesitate to contact us!
This category covers all the skills used to design complete systems required to interact with many other programs, starting from little or no base.
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We are highly experienced in terms of driver design and maintenance for the NT core (filesystem, KMD, UMD, PNP, legacy, etc.) and the BSD systems family (FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, etc.).
We are also capable of making the necessary adjustments to Linux and BSD cores with the aim of optimizing your embedded system or resolving any compatibility problems.
Examples
- Design of a FreeBSD driver for a proprietary PCI card
- Migration of a legacy Windows NT driver to the KMD framework
- Design of a Linux based boot cd to help system administrators with data recovery
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We use C++ to design high performance WAN or LAN oriented servers, based on a vast toolkit (ZeroC Ice, Boost.Asio, Wt, sockets, etc.).
Our system programming expertise means that we can design customized systems capable of processing large volumes of information on modest servers. This approach makes it possible to avoid a never-ending arms race by rethinking certain modules of a web infrastructure, thereby reducing infrastructure costs.
If necessary, we can organize interfaces between the modules and your existing system (Ruby, PHP, Python, Java, etc.).
Examples
- Diagnostic web server running on a Soekris system
- Redesign of certain functions in C++ to relieve servers of the most intensive tasks
- High-speed authentication server
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Centring an IT system around a Workflow engine can lead to productivity gains of 20% to 50% on the tasks automated by the engine.
We can help you with automation and modelling of business processes, the formalization of business rules, development of specific software bricks within Workflow, or again the production start-up of complete systems based on the use of a Workflow engine (production or collaborative).
Examples
- Modelling and production start-up of various business processes within the framework of an information system overhaul.
- Development of application bricks (MMI, brokers) around a Workflow engine
- Development of an ad hoc workflow engine based on the XPDL standard
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Real operational experience (particularly in the field of derivative calculation using Monte Carlo methods) of IceGrid and Platform Symphony middleware means that we can offer customized calculation solutions to demanding clients.
Examples
- Design of a task scheduler for a grid with approximately a thousand cores.
- Integration of an existing system into Platform Symphony middleware.
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Present-day multi-core architectures sometimes tax programs which are generally developed and tested on single-core machines.
Thanks to our team’s wide experience of multithreaded programming – right to the core of the system – we can assist you in the design, development and maintenance of highly multithreaded programs.
Going beyond application burn-in, it may also be necessary to rewrite part of the program so that it benefits from the multi-core architecture of new platforms (using Intel Threading Building Blocks, for example).
Examples
- Bug squashing of an application with random behaviour on a multi-core machine
- Hardening of an application not originally designed in a multithreaded context
- Rewriting of program algorithms to maximize performance on a multi-core platform.
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Lying at the heart of many concerns, IT security covers a set of heterogeneous skills requiring both a solid technical base and experience in the field. Good security protects your assets while remaining adapted to your core business and to the reality of threats.
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Whatever the design of customized systems, to ensure the confidentiality, authenticity and integrity of messages, or the production of reliable and secure cryptographic modules, we offer you all our experience acquired during the development of military systems.
Examples
- Production of a data validation module
- Implementation of a Diffie-Hellman key exchange protocol
- Application audit using symmetrical and asymmetrical encryption algorithms
- Design of a cryptographically secure pseudo-random generator
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In addition to intrusion tests, system security is dependent above all on an audit of practices within a company. In close cooperation with the teams responsible for the security of IT infrastructures, we assess and test these infrastructures in the face of credible threats.
Conscious that security must above all serve the core business concerned, we start all services with a study of your environment in order to construct an appropriate strategy with you.
Examples
- Audit of the security of client workstations for a major account
- Study on the choice and design of a VPN architecture
- Implementation of a strategy to limit viral threats
- Assistance during transition to OpenBSD
- Intrusion tests
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We offer reverse engineering services on various platforms within a strict legal framework. In addition, we also offer services to companies who want to protect themselves against illegal reverse engineering activities.
Examples
- Reverse engineering of a file format for interoperability reasons.
- Modification of a program no longer working under an updated operating system
- Reverse engineering of an algorithm implemented in a binary system where the source code had been lost
- Application protection to make applications harder to counterfeit
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The combination of our skills in cryptology, reverse engineering and information system security enables us to test the resistance of network-oriented software to common and more exotic vulnerabilities.
This type of unique service offers you the assurance of an independent and confidential opinion, enabling you to direct your developments intelligently.
Examples
- Detection and correction of vulnerabilities on a web oriented server
- Correction of an erroneous implementation of encryption algorithms
- Quality study of a client/server architecture
- Analysis of a proprietary communications protocol and recommendations for making it more robust
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