History

EAS is Born!

EAS established as a niche enterprise architecture consultancy.

Essential is Conceived

Surprised at the number of organisations that used only PowerPoint, Visio and Excel to support their EA work, EAS start to investigate the use of tools more suited to analysing large data sets to aid them in their EA engagements. Initial versions looked at the use of Rational Rose, amongst others, until we identified Protégé and the power of ontologies.

Essential is Launched

The first open-source EA tool built by architects for architects, providing the capabilities ‘essential’ to supporting EA engagements, hence the name. We expected to shake up the marketplace, we were staggered by the uptake with over 200 downloads within the first few weeks and 1000 achieved in just a few months.

Launch of EAValuator

Our online maturity assessment tool, to help organisations understand their maturity levels and assess the best route forward.

1st Anniversary of Essential!

Over 3,000 downloads of the Essential tool in just one year!
2010 also saw extensions to support Strategy Management and Information and Data Management as requested by our growing community.

Our Community Grows

The Community continues to grow with over 6,000 downloads and 1200 active community members by the end of the year

We’ve got you covered

A rewrite of Essential Viewer, the addition of Security Management to the meta model and a range of packs to provide dedicated support brings Essential into the mainstream.

Version 4 Released

A major upgrade including a multi-language framework for the viewer and modeller; packs are available in Arabic, US English, French and Spanish. Also, a significant update to the integration tab and the addition of the Essential Import Utility, allowing easy importing of existing Excel spreadsheets

Analyst Recognition

Forrester name Essential one of the top 10 EA Tools

TOGAF Mapping

An often-asked question, “Does Essential support TOGAF?”, prompted the release of a TOGAF to Essential mapping.  The Essential meta model is, in fact, richer in content and supports all major EA Frameworks whilst remaining framework agnostic.

Over 120,000 downloads of Essential

Essential has been used by over 50% of fortune 500 companies as well as making EA tools available to many medium sized enterprises previously excluded.

2016 also brings Version 5, a major upgrade incorporating a redesigned Viewer and significant update to the meta-model, as well as the first solution packs

Essential Cloud General Release

Essential Cloud moves to general release providing a much-requested commercial platform with full support to the market.

Essential Launchpad Live

The first version of the free Essential Launchpad launches, allowing organisations to import existing data held in excel spreadsheets directly into the Essential, providing a quick-start to populating key views

Version 6 Released – Easy Data Maintenance

A major upgrade with some key usability improvements, including the introduction of the first Everyones Essential Editors that make it easy for all users, not just architects and analysts, to maintain data – no training, no hassle.

Analyst Recognition!

Just two years after launching Essential is recognised as a Visionary in the Gartner EA Tools Magic Quadrant, with a specific acknowledgement that our price point combined with our tool capabilities makes us the disruptive offering in the enterprise architecture tools market

Continued Analyst Recognition

Essential continues to evolve, offering an excellent EA Tool at a very competitive price point, and is recognised once again by Gartner as a Visionary on the EA Tools market.

Visionary once again

For the third consecutive year Essential is the only Visionary in the Gartner MQ for EA Tools, once again recognised as an outstanding, feature rich tool, offered at a price that is affordable to organisations of all shapes and sizes.

Continued Development

We will continue to develop Essential to meet the needs of our Customers and Community, with new views, editors and functionality.

Visionary once again

For the fourth consecutive year Essential is the only Visionary in the Gartner MQ for EA Tools, once again recognised as an outstanding, feature rich tool, offered at a price that is affordable to organisations of all shapes and sizes.

EAS Expands

As growth continues EAS has expanded its team in 2024, primarily across the development, marketing and consultancy functions

Further Platform Development

Many exciting new features in 2024 have closed the gap on the EA Tools Leaders – Essential now offers comparable functionality at a considerably lower price.  Watch out for the door to slam in 2025!

Visionary for the Fifth year!

Once again Essential is named as a visionary in the 2024 Gartner MQ for EA Tools