A Brief History of aQuatic

On May 18-19, 2006, the first acrocheck(tm) User Days took place in Berlin. Twenty representatives from nine global corporations gathered at the offices of SAP, which hosted the event. Participants decided to form an acrocheck user group and voted to call the group aQuatic (acrocheck Quality Assurance Tool - International Community). A steering committee, consisting of Melanie Wells (SAP), Paul Brownsey (Business Objects), Len Simmons (SWIFT), John Kohl (SAS), and Alexia Idoura (Symantec), was elected. The steering committee elected Melanie Wells as secretary, and she served in that position for two years.

The first official aQuatic event was held on May 21-22, 2007 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Heidelberg, Germany. Melanie Wells and her colleagues at SAP did an outstanding job of organizing the event, with input from steering committee members. This event was attended by 12 member companies. acrolinx joined us for the second day.

The 2008 user event was co-hosted by acrolinx and aQuatic in Berlin on May 5-7 at the Sony Centre Film Museum, just off Potsdamerplatz. The event was attended by 25 companies, with several new and prospective acrolinx customers coming to share the open and friendly atmosphere. Mike Mercier (John Deere) was elected to the steering committee, replacing Paul Brownsey, whose term had expired. In addition, Stephen Johnson (SAP) replaced Melanie Wells, and John Kohl (SAS) was elected to serve as secretary.