About

A Brief History of Actual Systems

(we promise)

Founded in 1988 by Bay Area computer geek and software designer Wes Headley, Actual Systems started out life as a consulting company focused on CRM and small local area networks.
 

It all changed on a Friday night in the early 1990's at a dinner party where there was a lot of talk about something called the "World Wide Web". This was long before there were any popular websites or even decent web browsers. Getting on the web back then was, to put it mildly, a pain. Yet in early '95, after a lot of experimentation and frustration, we produced our first website. Our experience with software, design, databases, and groupware helped us pull it off, and there was no getting around it; this was big fun. Building websites has been the direction and focus of Actual Systems ever since.
 

Not long after we produced Earth Day Online '95 at the Concord Pavilion; attracting a crowd of over 30,000 people, many experiencing the web over broadband Internet for the first time. Later that year we combined the Internet with live radio. We went on to produce live webcasts; combining broadcast video, television, and the Internet. We were an early pioneer in using databases and content management systems; enabling our clients to manage their own content and media in real-time long before it became fashionable.
 

Since then, we have focused on designing, building, and marketing unique and compelling websites for a very wide range of organizations. Clients over the years have included the Olympics Organization, Entercom, IBM, and The American Film Institute. We continue to enjoy working with businesses and organizations of all shapes and sizes. Always emphasizing distinct design and easy access, we approach each project as a unique reflection of an organization's personality and purpose.

Hard work, creativity, and fun-- that still kind of sums it up for us.

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