We received news this week that the software Fencing Time has achieved FIE approval to be used at World Cup events! This marks a great milestone for Fencing Time and Dan Berke who has worked for years on this fencing tournament software to get it to the point where it is trusted to be used at USA Fencing and now FIE level events.
In discussions on the forums, Dan pointed out that “the partnership between USA Fencing and Fencing Time will be expanding to include FIE events held in the USA, including the 2014 San Francisco Foil World Cup, 2014 NYC Saber Grand Prix, and the 2015 Phoenix Saber World Cup.”
Fencing Time will be used to run the Junior Men’s Epee World Cup in Luxembourg later in September.
Dan and his club-mates celebrated with cake (photo via Facebook)
Below is the press release from Dan Berke and Fencing Time.
US software ready for the Olympic challenge
Fencing Time is first US software ever FIE-homologated
Seattle (WA, USA), Lausanne (Switzerland): Fencing Time, LLC is proud to announce that its tournament management software Fencing Time has been officially certified as “FIE-conformant” by the FIE’s technical commission SEMI. This certification closes an almost two-year process of development and in-depth testing.
With the homologation, Fencing Time becomes the first US software ever FIE-homologated.
“I am very proud that Fencing Time is now officially recognized by the FIE. I am especially happy that Fencing Time could easily be adapted to the FIE rules,” says Fencing Time, LLC CEO Dan Berke.
Fencing Time has been used to run tournaments of all sizes in the USA since 2002. In 2011, Fencing Time became the official tournament management software for USA Fencing, running flawlessly in every small and major event.
“USA Fencing has been a long-time user of Fencing Time; it has made the operations of our tournaments more efficient and run smoothly. The system works well and is also very user- friendly. USA Fencing is excited to know that now we will be able to use Fencing Time for our International Events. We look forward to using it at our Men’s Foil World Cup in San Francisco and Sabre Grand Prix in New York City later this year,” stresses Don Anthony, president of USA Fencing and member of the executive committee of the FIE.
With its competitive licensing model, Fencing Time will continue to be a prime choice for small and medium clubs. It is also quite capable at running large-scale events. This was demonstrated in June 2014 by running the USA National Championships with almost 10000 participants spread over 90 events and 12 days. With the new certification, It is now also allowed to be used on official FIE events.
“I am looking forward to providing software made in the USA to World Cups and Grand Prix run on the American continent,” adds Dan Berke, “I am confident that Fencing Time will become the solution of choice for tournament organizers worldwide once they learn of its capabilities.”
With homologation awarded, Fencing Time will also go to Europe, where on September 20th it will be used in Luxembourg’s World Cup. “We’ve chosen Fencing Time because of its versatility and the large feature set allowing an extensive display of the competition’s status for the participants and the public,” explains Pascal Tesch, president of Luxembourg’s Fencing federation and coordinator general of the world cup.
Fencing Time distinguishes itself by easy installation and straightforward implementation. Its user-friendly, intuitive interface is unprecedented in the world of tournament management software.
The FIE homologated version 4.1 will be publicly released in October 2014. Pricing starts at $99.
About Fencing Time, LLC
Fencing Time, LLC is run by Dan Berke, a software developer and fencer. Born as a solution for small clubs, Fencing Time developed over the years into a powerful competition management tool.
Version 1.0 was released in 2002 and quickly became popular at club-run tournaments in the USA. Within a few years, it had been adopted by nearly every club that frequently hosted tournaments.
Fencing Time was nationally-recognized in 2011when USA Fencing selected it as their official software.
In 2013, version 4.0 was released which included a centralized server to allow the use of multi-computer environments.
On August 28th 2014, the FIE awarded official homologation to version 4.1 of Fencing Time.
About Dan Berke
Dan graduated in 1993 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a major in Computer and Systems Engineering. He has been a professional software developer for over 20 years. His career has taken him to well-respected companies such as Electronic Arts, Microsoft and Concur.
In addition to his experience developing software, Dan is an active foil fencer and official in the US fencing community. He organizes and runs many tournaments each year, giving him the practical experience needed to understand what challenges tournament organizers face. This perspective leads to continual improvement and new features in Fencing Time, which is what makes it the best solution on the market.
