Retrospective 25 years XSARUS: a technological journey
25 years ago XSARUS was founded. Since then, everything has changed in the world of technology. Except our drive to be pioneers and partners in digital transformation.
XSARUS has always had a "high-tech" profile. Not the advertising agency that added web, but born in the latter days of the DotCom world around 2000. Where DotCom turned out to be a bubble, XSARUS has become an established name in the world of digital commerce. Let's look back on a quarter century of technological growth, innovation and impact.
The early years: the Web 1.0 era
At the turn of the millennium, the Internet was still in its infancy. Websites were static, mobile Internet was a dream, and e-commerce was about to break through. XSARUS positioned itself early in this emerging market by building robust, always database-driven solutions. At a time when standard solutions were still scarce, it was all about customization, automation and reliability.
What always remained constant? The curiosity, desire to innovate and focus on delivering value through technology
In 2005, Ideal was born. Thanks in part to this safe, low-threshold online payment method, e-commerce made its entry into the average Dutch living room. Together with a number of retailers, all of whom can safely be called pioneers, we developed our commerce proposition. This was not done without a struggle; a lot of evening and night work went into the foundation of our technology. The result was there: TableTop made Rapid Application Development possible and many a web shop or web application was launched.
The rise of open source & platform thinking
Between 2010 and 2015, technology went through a marked shift: open source came of age. XSARUS moved to frameworks such as Zend (later Laminas) and Symfony. Magento and later inriver aligned with our technological vision, allowing customers to move even faster without sacrificing quality. At the same time, the philosophy of best-of-breed began to gain ground: instead of one big system, technology became modular, linkable and API-driven. XSARUS led the way in this with integrated solutions that seamlessly connected data and systems.
Mobile-first and omnichannel
The smartphone changed a lot. Around 2015, the focus shifted to mobile-first designs, responsive frontends and faster load times. Technology became not just a backend issue, but a crucial part of the customer experience. XSARUS evolved with it, with strong frontends and headless architectures. And with the rise of omnichannel retail, connecting online and offline data and processes became more important than ever.
Real growth came when technology and data met. XSARUS invested heavily in data integration, BI solutions and personalization. With customer data platforms as the foundation, marketing became smarter, more relevant and more effective. Customers could not just sell, but truly understand who their customers were. Technological innovation became strategic capital.
The future: composable and AI-driven
Today we are on the eve of a new revolution. XSARUS embraces the composable commerce mindset, where flexibility, speed and scalability are key. Technology is no longer a bottleneck, but an accelerator. With the advent of AI, new opportunities arise once again to better serve customers and further optimize processes.
Conclusion
25 years of XSARUS is 25 years of technological evolution. What always remained constant? The curiosity, desire to innovate and focus on delivering value through technology. The tools have changed, so have the platforms, but the mission has remained the same: creating digital change.
On to the next 25 years!
Domain name registrations used to be done by fax; a signed order including Chamber of Commerce extract were a requirement to get a .NL in your name.
Web hosting ran on gray, power-hungry, 4U servers and data center migrations physically went by "estate bin."