Loading ...Metal Toad Media 15 December 2008
Specialists in Open Source based web application development
Metal Toad Media began as a web development company in 1999, just in time to see (and survive) the dotcom crash. Since that time, we’ve continued to grow and innovate. Through our passion for technology, we’re able to offer a wide range of services to our clients as new technologies come on the scene, whether that’s social networking consulting or a new development framework. Regardless of platform or language, we’re committed to staying focused on the thing that we do best - building robust, dynamic, database driven web sites and custom applications that leverage the power of the web to transform your business.
Over our history, we’ve applied that knowledge and passion on behalf of a variety of clients. From building a daily fantasy sports website for a small startup to a product site for local software company with 100 employees to custom applications for Fortune 500 companies, we’ve been able to respond nimbly to a wide range of customer demands.
Originally based out of San Diego, CA, we’re now located in downtown Portland (we <3 Oregon). While we work with clients both down the street and nationally, we continue to travel on a regular basis up and down the west coast to meet with clients in Seattle, the Bay Area, and Southern California.
What are you up to?
These days, we’re staying pretty busy, whether it’s building a custom, web based, maintenance tracking application for a national telecom or a Drupal based casting site for Sony Pictures Television International. I have to admit, that has been a fun project and we’ll be glad to see it go live as they roll out the new television show in markets around the world.
In fact, Drupal development has really been big for us this year - we love that it’s such a vibrant framework that offers so much to our clients, supported by strong community of developers around the world.
If that wasn’t enough, we’re also committee members of the SAO and the Portland chapter of AIGA. We’re glad to give our time, as both are incredibly valuable resources for the local creative business community.
What do you do best?
It sounds cliche, but what we do best is work closely with our clients to identify their business needs and opportunities and translate those into dynamic, database driven web applications, based on open source technologies. If that’s wrong, in this post ironic culture we live in, then we don’t want to be right.
You’ve said that you wouldn’t describe yourself as an “agency” - what does that mean?
As the web has matured as a medium, the time needed to remain an expert on any one portion of it has gone up. We realized that our passion and expertise lay with the technology that makes a site work, so we don’t try to be all things to all clients. We’re not afraid to admit that we’re not always the best fit for every project. After all, the beauty of the web is there are always a number of ways to solve a problem.
That being said, nearly every project we work on has a need for design or branding or marketing. We would much rather build partnerships within the amazing pool of talent Portland has to offer and use those resources to ultimately deliver a better product to our clients.
Why do you feel open source technology is important? Just because it’s free?
I think it’s important to make a distinction about what “free” actually means in the context of the open source community. There are certainly still costs associated with development, whether based on open source technologies or not. Free means free from a purchase price as well as freedom to modify, update, and use the software the way that you feel is best. The real enemy is proprietary software, locking you into one vendor or one platform.
Any recommendations for Sunday brunch?
Absolutely. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all. If you can get in, The Screen Door is amazing, but usually has a line to match. Otherwise, we love Milo’s, Besaw’s, or J&M.
Or you could come back to our place and we’ll make pancakes.
Connect:
- Sam Laroe (Account Manager)