The company
Debamax was founded in 2015, after a successful experimentation under a simplified status in 2014. It is based in Dijon (Burgundy, France) and operates internationally.
Various modes of operation have been successfully experimented so far: some missions happened entirely on site (which makes it easier to meet various coworkers from different departments), while some happened entirely remotely (through SSH/VPN access); a sprint approach with remote work punctuated with face-to-face meetings also proved to be very efficient.
>> Read more about our services, or check out our references.
The team
Cyril Brulebois, founder and manager
Cyril is a long time Debian contributor: he’s been using this distribution since 2004 and has been contributing almost immediately. Over the years he has touched various areas within the Debian project, including QA work, Graphics Stack maintenance, and Release Management. Since 2012, Cyril’s main focus has been working as the release manager for the Debian Installer.
>> Read more about Cyril & Debian.
While improving Debian on his own free time, Cyril also worked in two start-up companies: Kerlabs and AriadNEXT, where he contributed to fast-paced development and deployment touching various topics. These include Linux kernel development, R&D and release management for a custom embedded operating system, but also developing/integrating monitoring tools to improve both customer experience and support efficiency.
>> Read more about Cyril as a salaried developer.
Partners
Debamax was founded in Rennes (Brittany, France) before being relocated to Dijon. It’s still a member of the Alliance Libre association and partnerships established with companies based in Brittany are still active.
It also knows how to turn to other experts, like Cerno, to serve its customers in the most efficient fashion.
Debamax was a member of the CapLibre association, which assembled companies specialized in Free and Open Source Software in the Brittany region. Debamax participated in regular meetings held to organize local events to foster Free and Open Source Software and CapLibre members in various environments: companies, universities, and local authorities.
In 2019, CapLibre merged with Alliance Libre, its equivalent in the Nantes (Pays de la Loire, France) area. Both associations have always worked hand in hand, sharing resources and organizing events together (including board meetings).
During the development of a product based on the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, the Cerno company has been solicited to debug some issues at the Linux kernel level. Those were quickly determined to be caused by a problem at the bootloader level, which led to a bug report and to a quick correction.
Thus Debamax can help its customers develop new embedded products and maintain them once they’re on the market: new features and possible regressions can be handled internally most of the time, with Cerno as a backup when needed.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) network has many regional and local offices, and CCI Ille-et-Vilaine (CCI Rennes initially) has been accompanying Debamax since the very beginning: it seemed highly relevant to get accompanied both before and after the company’s creation.
Many points were formalized and approved by the advisers during the pre-creation process: participating in the various workshops organized by the CCI made it possible to establish a business plan, based on the first few months under a simplified status. This facilitated meetings with various suppliers (lawyer, accountant, insurer) as there was a clear plan for most points.
It was also great to get accompanied after the creation, as regular meetings were set up over three years and used to establish progress reports; those were a nice opportunity to take a step back and to benefit from an external perspective.