COMPANY HISTORY PEOPLE NEWSFLASH   Synthesis releases Sy4 .NET assembly This product enables .NET developers to harness the power of nCipher's HSM platform by way of a convenient interface that masks the low-level intricacies of the native hardware. New AORTA MAC released Version 1.8.3.0 of the AORTA MAC supports native execution of Python scripts. This functionality provides intergrators with significant leverage in performing more challenging data manipulation tasks - including mathematical manipulation and the orchestration of external processes. Python was selected as the native scripting language for the MAC because it has been widely adopted in the industry as the platform-independent scripting language of choice.   HISTORY   When Dr Jack Cohen left the University of the Witwatersrand in 1994 he formed Jack Cohen and Associates, a company providing consulting services relating to IT strategy, process and architecture. After Jake Shepherd joined in 1998 the company became known as Synthesis Software Engineering (Pty) Ltd. A year later Synthesis Software Engineering merged with CQS Technology Holdings, which Michael Shapiro joined in 2003. In 2004, Synthesis Software Technologies (Pty) Ltd was created out of the unbundling of CQS. At that time the company employed a total of eight software engineers. Today the Synthesis team consists of more than twenty software engineering professionals. Together they have more than 300 man-years of software development experience – and every second engineer has a postgraduate degree.