Al Tools

ALTools Company Overview

ALTools is a desktop utility software suite developed by the Korean software company, ESTsoft, and it is developed for Microsoft Windows operating system. It consists of eight programs: ALZip (compression and archiving utility), ALSee (image viewer and editor), ALFTP (FTP client and server), ALSong (music player with lyrics), ALShow (media player), ALToolbar (toolbar for Internet Explorer), ALPass (password manager for websites) and ALYac (antivirus). ESTsoft was founded in 1993. Jangjung Kim, co-founder of ESTsoft, and his friends developed a word processor program called “21st Century” in 1992. In 1996, ESTsoft decided to merge with Hanmesoft, a well-known Korean software company at the time, but the IMF financial crisis of 1997 in Asia derailed that plan. So prior to the release of ALZip, the first of their ALTools products, in 1999, ESTsoft’s reputation was not impressive, known mainly for developing software for niche markets, such as POS (point of sale) systems or management software for PC Cafes. However, ALZip’s success in 1999 gave ESTsoft a chance to grow. Building on ALZip’s popularity, it introduced other products in the “AL” series and launched the ALTools software suite in 2002. Moreover, it expanded its business areas to include a web storage service called Internet Disk in 2001 and launched an online game, Cabal Online, in 2005. Both of these new businesses also succeeded in their respective markets. Cabal Online, for instance, accounted for more than 60% of their total sales and serviced more than 60 countries via local distributors. These successes boosted sales 16 times to that of 2001 and the company became listed on KOSDAQ in July 2008. In March 2010, the company announced another online game, Howling Sword, to be introduced to the Korean market to expand its game business. Currently, ESTsoft has two overseas branches (Japan and the US) and three divisions distinguished by product and service. Additionally, it has...