The solar eclipse – and the story of how Solsoft got its name

On Monday, millions of people across North America will be treated to that most spectacular of natural phenomena – a solar eclipse. The eclipse will be visible from the far north-east of Canada all the way to Mexico, with countless events planned to mark the occasion.

You might be wondering just what this has to do with Solsoft – but in fact, there’s a clue in our name (and in our logo). Because, all the way back in 1999, we were inspired by a solar eclipse visible here in the UK to name our company in honour of this amazing event.

The total solar eclipse of August 11th, 1999 was one of the most widely viewed in history. It was the first total eclipse visible in the UK since 1927, with wall-to-wall media coverage and thousands of people descending on Cornwall (it must have helped, of course, that it took place at the height of the summer) to get the best possible view.

Solsoft was founded towards the end of that same year – 1999, that is, not 1927 – and the members of its founding team themselves went out into the street outside their office in Clifton, Bristol, to watch the eclipse as it happened. All the traffic came to a standstill and the sky went pitch black – right in the middle of the day.

Taken aback by the experience, the team decided to come up with a new name drawing inspiration from it: Solsoft. The ‘sol’ part of our name is therefore a direct reference to the 1999 solar eclipse – ‘sol’ is both the Latin and Spanish name for the Sun – and if you look at our logo, you’ll notice the sun symbol as well.

So there you have it – the story of how Solsoft got its name! We can only wonder how many of those lucky enough to see Monday’s solar eclipse on the other side of the Atlantic will take inspiration from it themselves.

At Solsoft, we’re passionate about providing high-quality managed IT services at affordable rates for clients including SMEs and not-for-profit organisations. To find out more about how we can help you, simply get in touch with our friendly team of experts today.

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