Our team has now landed in Portland, Oregon for RailsConf 2008. In preparation for the conference, E-xact has unveiled our new corporate website and landing page, PaymentsOnRails.

We’re on site right now in the exhibit hall so have a look around and stop by our booth to chat, view a demo, talk shop, and scoop up a USB thumbdrive. Who doesn’t love swag? We look forward to our time at RailsConf and will be reporting back throughout the weekend, leading up to our speaker Emil Marceta’s talk on Sunday afternoon.

Growing our development team at E-xact has meant expanding our company across the Pacific and over to China. Our colleages in Beijing and Chengdu (at Nibirutech) are valuable contributors to E-xact and are a part of our corporate family. In this time of need within their nation we’re here to offer our support.

Parts of China’s southwestern province of Sichuan have been devastated by the magnitude 7.9 earthquake that hit the area on Monday…

…The areas most affected by the earthquake account for roughly 8 percent of the province’s population and up to 10 percent of its overall economic output, according to initial estimates by the provincial statistics agency. [Reuters]

All those capable are encouraged to send support in any way they can.

As the scale of the earthquake devastation in Sichuan province becomes clearer, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has today launched an emergency appeal for approximately $20 million to support 100,000 survivors in China for at least the next 12 months… [Red Cross].

Canadians wishing to make a financial donation may give online at www.redcross.ca, call 1-800-418-1111 or contact their local Canadian Red Cross office. The 24-hour toll free line accepts Visa, MasterCard and American Express. Cheques should be made payable to the Canadian Red Cross, earmarked “China Earthquake” and mailed to the Canadian Red Cross National Office, 170 Metcalfe Street, Suite 300, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2P2.

E-xact will also have a donation button on our website to help support this cause.

With the 2008 RailsConf in Portland, Oregon only a few weeks away, here’s a look at what’s in store for attendees.

E-xact Transactions’ own Emil Marceta will be speaking about our unique ‘Payments on Rails‘ technology.

From the blogs:

• Speaking at RailsConf - “The Great Test Framework Dance-off” - Josh Susser
• Scaling @ Rails - Mark Holton’s picks for “what to see” at RailsConf 2008
• Talk Accepted - “De-Railing: Smashing the Rails Stack” - Aaron Bedra
• Speaking at RailsConf - “Entrepreneurs on Rails” - Dan Benjamin
• The New Rails Machine Speaking at RailsConf - Bradley Taylor and Dan Benjamin

E-xact will have coverage of the event over the next few weeks and our developers will be on hand at our booth. Feel free to stop by anytime during RailsConf for a demo, to ask questions, and to find out more about our payment gateway, powered by Rails.

Not only will Beijing, China be hosting the Olympics this summer it will also be home to the BC Technology Summit that will see several businesses from around the province showcasing their products and services.

E-xact’s President, Peter Fahlman will be in attendance to showcase our company and technologies as well as 28 other companies from BC (hat tip to Sitemasher for this list):

Verrus Mobile Technologies, Contec Innovations, Threewave Software, and Ballard Power Systems.

British Columbia-Canada Pavilion builds on BC’s Asia-Pacific Initiative, introducing the best of BC and Canada to an international audience. British Columbia-Canada Pavilion positions the province as the pre-eminent economic and cultural crossroads between Asia and North America. [BC/Canada Pavilion, Beijing]

The BC Technology Summit will take place May 21-23 and will feature interactive exhibits and displays for the worldwide audience during the 2008 Olympics and Paralympics. E-xact is very proud to be a part of this prestigious crowd, representing not only our company, but our region, industry and country to athletes, dignitaries, business people and the public.