about us
Many moons ago our venerable founder Jerry Whiting learned PostScript from Aldus/ Adobe developers. Applying this newly-acquired knowledge to printing barcodes (yes, he is weird like that) JW labored many a late night at his kitchen table*. The result was the acclaimed ElseWare Barcode Kit, published by ElseWare Corporation, a.k.a. Ben and Clyde. When ElseWare's marketing agreement expired, Jerry released it himself, under the Azalea Software banner. The world hasn't been the same since.
“Why Azalea?” you ask. Because Squid totaled the car in Azalea, Oregon (97410). Because it's kewl to have a Z in a tech company name, and it's even kewler that it gives no clue as to what we do. Because it begins with an A and people do shop alphabetically. An Azalea also makes for a really nice logo, and Jerry loves flowers. All that aside, after sixteen years it's simply too late to change.
Founded in 1992, we approach our work as craftspeople taking great pride in what we do. We're both old-school software foundry and neo-modern telecommuters, and we love having fun. As JW puts it, “We’re incorporated but we ain't no corporation”.
There are a few of us here at Azalea; a small core of loony barcode nerds and a rotating cast of interns, friends, assorted offspring, micro brew aficionados and unindicted co-conspirators. We're aggressively family-friendly, and our goal is what we call the Fuzzy Blue Slippers lifestyle: laptops, cell phones and broadband wi-fi at home and in the wild. Working whenever and wherever, cybergypsies armed with cell phones & laptops. Most days around 11 you'll find us snagging our coffee at Freshy's. Sometimes Miranda photographs the patterns in the foam of her coffee. And we really do love barcodes - don't just take our word for it, check our blog.
We tithe ourselves to support:
Working smart, not hard. Striving to provide our customers and partners loving compassion and some damn fine software. Finding happiness, laughing a lot, doing whatever we can to make the world a better place. Life is good.
Need help ordering? email us at salesinfo at azalea dot com or call 1.206.336.9575
