So, you want to know more about us?
You must be keen if you're here in the About Us section, but who are we to judge. Anyway, thanks for taking an interest in what we’re doing, and hopefully, you find our story “informative and stimulating.”.
Back in the Day
Aireforge was founded by Drew and Phil back in 2015. At the time, Phil was working as a contract DBA for a customer with a pool of around 150 SQL Servers replication subscribers. A slight difference in server configurations could wreak havoc on response times and stability. After spending countless hours creating, running, analysing, and tuning scripts to compare servers, we finally decided to build an application to do a proper job.
Alien👽Armpit and OmniCompare
As we planned to create a range of products for managing large SQL Server estates, we chose to prefix module names with “Omni”—like OmniCompare, OmniScript, and OmniCheck. We also needed a company name. Though it's not exactly clear where the idea came from (you have to remember, this was 2015, a simpler time before COVID), Phil suggested “Alien Armpit”—which stuck... for about six months.
I like the Alien Armpit name but the colour is nasty!
By 2016, we got rid of the name and kept the color.
Aireforge ("After the Virus")?
Drew left citing artistic differences, and the Aireforge team continued on. Since then, we’ve focused on building out our product range, tackling challenges in SQL Server, infrastructure, and application observability. Our tools have been stress-tested on large-scale environments, helping our customers manage hundreds of databases, versions, and unique business requirements.
Although we’re based in Leeds, Yorkshire, we mostly work remotely, catching up whenever we can.
We’d offer to stick the kettle on, but we probably wouldn't be in. If you fancy a chat, send us a message, and we can arrange a virtual brew.