Ringtail Software

Connected devices from kickoff to mass-market

A UK software consultancy, Ringtail Software works on connected devices, embedded systems and the cloud. Its aim is to carry a product from kickoff to mass-market and to keep it running afterwards. The company's work spans new design and development as well as legacy maintenance and documentation, for startups, defence bodies and government clients. By its own account, it has delivered challenging software projects for more than fifteen years.

IoT and M2M from prototype to deployment

On the IoT side, Ringtail covers strategy, prototyping and feasibility work, then development, deployment and maintenance of connected products. That work is informed by years of building smart-home products, internet television equipment and radio-based networking for consumer electronics.

Embedded firmware from bring-up to manufacture

Embedded work includes board bring-up and debugging, bootloaders, wireless systems, network stacks, real-time operating systems, toolchains, graphics, security, cryptography and testing. Ringtail has built home gateways, set-top boxes and wireless sensors, taking them from bench prototype through manufacture to deployment. Production firmware was written for PISCES, a ruggedised kit of lights that attaches to fishing gear to reduce bycatch, with one of six light colours selectable for the species a fishery wants to catch or avoid.

Linux, cloud and web services

Linux work covers kernel drivers, userspace applications, scripting and custom tools across embedded, server and desktop variants. The web side designs and implements RESTful services and web applications, and builds hosted and embedded interfaces across modern and legacy stacks. Cloud work produces low-cost, scalable systems for IoT and multi-tenant applications on a range of providers, covering evaluation, specification, development, testing and deployment.

Process help for software teams

The consultancy also improves how software teams work, from source control and automated build systems to bug tracking, release process, specification, continuous integration and automated testing. It takes a flexible, pragmatic approach to development process so that the outcome suits each client.

Clients from the UK technology sector

For AlertMe, which now trades as British Gas Hive Home, Ringtail worked on cloud IoT device management. Its client list also includes companies in home automation and healthcare.