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Product Briefs

Business Development Suite 3.50
Four J's Development Tools has released Business Development Suite (BDS) 3.50. The new version provides Web services client and server support across operating environments from PDAs to Unix workstations.

The development environment includes a set of tools to help build scalable Web services servers. The product is said to help companies use the business logic in their existing applications by opening them up to other applications and the Web. Through Web services, BDS applications can communicate directly with programs written in such languages as Java, C# and VisualBasic.NET. With the product, server-side WSDL files can be generated automatically from business logic. Also, client-side applications can automatically generate the business logic to access server-side Web services from a WSDL file.

BDS is priced at $5,000 per developer seat. The company also offers a $400 end-user runtime rate.
Four J's Development Tools, Bath, U.K., www.fourjs.com

BPML 1.0
The Business Process Management Initiative has released BPML 1.0. The BPML specification defines a formal model for expressing abstract and executable processes that address many aspects of enterprise business processes and also provides a grammar in the form of an XML Schema for enabling the persistence and interchange of process definitions across heterogeneous systems and modeling tools.

BPML 1.0 works with the Web Service Choreography Interface (WSCI) specification developed by BEA Systems, Intalio, SAP AG and Sun Microsystems. These two specs together are said to provide an end-to-end view that depicts the role of each individual business process and the business activities performed by each role. This is said to assist business analysts and software engineers in collaborating on modeling processes. BPML 1.0 was developed as a semantic superset of previous releases of the BPML specification, as well as the WSFS specification developed by IBM and the XLANG specification developed by Microsoft.

The BPML 1.0 specification is available for download royalty-free from BPMI.org's Web site at www.bpmi.org/bpml-spec.esp.
The Business Process Management Initiative, Denver, Colo., www.bpmi.org

WebInspect 2.5
SPI Dynamics has released WebInspect 2.5, an assessment product that adapts to various enterprise environments. The product's Adaptive-Agent technology lets users perform security assessments on Web-enabled applications, and has specific assessment capabilities for IBM WebSphere, Lotus Domino, Oracle Application Servers and MacroMedia ColdFusion.

The Adaptive-Agent technology enables the product to perform intelligent application-level security checks. As a user initiates an assessment, WebInspect assigns Assessment Agents that dynamically catalog the Web app. As these agents complete the assessment, findings are reported back to a main security engine that analyzes the results. WebInspect then launches Threat Agents to evaluate the gathered information and apply attack algorithms to determine what vulnerabilities exist and the severity of those vulnerabilities.

In addition, the product is said to save users time in assessing their Web applications, contain the latest security vulnerability and assessment technology, enable users to perform security assessments for any Web application, and have advanced executive-level reporting functionality.

Pricing for WebInspect 2.5 is $4,995 per server, with a yearly maintenance fee thereafter. A free 15-day trial copy of the product can be downloaded from the company's Web site.
SPI Dynamics Inc., Atlanta, Ga., www.spidynamics.com

RetrievalWare 7.0
Convera's RetrievalWare 7.0 combines multimedia and cross-lingual search capabilities in a single product.

RetrievalWare delivers a higher level of interoperability with enterprise applications using XML and is said to provide easy integration into the Microsoft .NET environment. The product also allows user information to be stored in an existing LDAP directory.

Version 7.0 supports multilevel categories and taxonomies, and enables large, multinational companies, government and financial organizations to search and categorize across many types of document repositories and multimedia objects in many languages. Users can also search, retrieve, categorize and view video files, as well as more than 200 proprietary document formats from a single user interface.
Convera, Vienna, Va., www.convera.com


MetaBase 2.1
MetaMatrix has released Version 2.1 of MetaBase, an enterprise meta data management system, and the MetaMatrix Information Integration Server. The two products are said to simplify the construction of model-driven architectures for information integration.

MetaMatrix 2.1 introduces features that are said to ensure interoperability, promote enterprise-wide information visibility and increase application development efficiency. New enhancements allow users to search and browse meta data models, analyze the effects of changing any element within an environment, import and export complete interrelated model sets, and build transformation queries.

An evaluation download of MetaMatrix 2.1 is available at www.metamatrix.com.
MetaMatrix, New York, N.Y., www.metamatrix.com


RTPatch Pro for Windows Version 6.5
Pocket Soft has released Version 6.5 of RTPatch Pro for Windows, which includes 20 new features, 22 new commands, support for Netscape 6 and a VB.NET example with source code.

One new feature, Client Management Aid, is a patch logging mechanism and report tool that allows RTPatch developers and end users to identify which patches have been applied and when they were applied.

Other features include an extended Client API that gives users greater control over the update process for a more customizable end-user experience, and new parameters that allow developers to redirect a user's browser depending on the result of the patch application. In addition, a new patch application option lets developers create a log file, add a bitmap to be displayed during patching and optionally hide the main EZPatch window.
Pocket Soft, Houston, Texas, www.pocketsoft.com

Cypress Publishing Factory
Cypress Publishing Factory, from Cypress Corp., is an end-to-end content assembly and delivery solution that captures and aggregates content created by ERP, CRM and other enterprise apps, and then delivers it to any destination across the enterprise and to the Web.

The product is said to enable corporations to capture year-end statements from multiple applications; create new document packages for all customers; automatically insert targeted marketing messages; bundle marketing messages by customer, location and fiscal status; and deliver these messages simultaneously to a production printer, e-mail boxes and the Web.
Cypress Corp., Rochester Hills, Mich., www.cypressdelivers.com


Foglight for the Oracle E-Business Suite
Foglight for the Oracle E-Business Suite, from Quest Software Inc., provides application-centric monitoring, diagnostics and transaction monitoring to track the health and response times of components within a company's Oracle E-Business application.

The product also guides IT professionals from an application service alert to the problematic application server, Web server or database server, and then to the actual transactions executing on those servers. Quest's OnWire, a transaction response time monitor, captures and analyzes all Oracle E-Business transactions maintaining information such as response time, original user, form, module and SQL to pinpoint the source of the problem.
Quest Software Inc., Irvine, Calif., www.quest.com


DbCAD dev, DbGIS dev and DbMAP Internet Server
ABACO has launched DbCAD dev, DbGIS dev and DbMAP Internet Server.

DbCAD dev is a component library that unifies raster/vector and database functions. It supports such file formats as AutoCAD DWG/DXF, ESRI SHP, MicroStation DGN, TIFF, JPG and BMP. The product also displays drawings, maps and images simultaneously with unlimited dimensions.

In addition to all the functions of DbCAD dev, DbGIS dev supports GeoTIFF 24-bit file formats, excluding LZW compression, and includes SHP, MrSID and ECW drivers. It also provides boolean operations between polygons, spatial analysis and raster tassellation and transparency.

DbMAP Internet Server is based on client/server architecture for the development and distribution of GIS apps and data, and uses a scalable system to design intranet/Internet solutions.
ABACO, Mantova, Italy, www.abacogroup.com


e-Merchandising System (EMS)
FinanCenter has released e-Merchandising System (EMS), a new Web site personalization engine.

EMS employs interactive personal finance tools that engage customers while capturing key profile data. The product then analyzes this data and responds with targeted, relevant content.

With EMS, authorized users access setup and maintenance features through a standard Web browser (IE 4.0 and above) and follow EMS smart wizards that guide the process of defining target audiences, determining content type and placement, inserting the content and scheduling its deployment. EMS is TRUSTe privacy certified and is also fully compliant with Gramm-Leach-Bliley privacy laws and P3P-imposed practices.
FinanCenter, Tucson, Ariz., www.financenter.com


IntaSpaces
IntaSpaces, from IntaMission, enables businesses to keep their distributed systems running while changes are made to enterprise applications and services.

The product targets globally active companies that run multiple applications and services across widely distributed networks of diverse and varying systems. IntaSpaces' architecture and design are said to make complex tasks simple, allowing businesses to expand existing operations while managing costs, increasing productivity and bringing new services to customers faster.
IntaSpaces, Windsor, U.K., www.intamission.com


CrossOver Office
CodeWeavers Inc. has released CrossOver Office, a software solution that allows enterprise-level Linux users to install and operate Microsoft Office and Lotus Notes on their PCs without the Windows operating system.

CrossOver Office eliminates the need for both a Microsoft Windows OS license and a Windows emulator when running Microsoft Office or Lotus Notes in Linux. With the product, users can go directly to Notes or Office, speeding deployment and improving the user experience.

The product is priced at $54.95 per user.
CodeWeavers Inc., St. Paul, Minn., www.codeweavers.com


RichPayments on First Data Merchant Services (FDMS)
RichSolutions Inc. has released RichPayments on First Data Merchant Services (FDMS) South Platform. RichPayments is said to enable merchants to securely process payments in retail, e-commerce and wireless industries over the Internet, resulting in five-second or less transaction times.

RichPayments has been designed to support a range of needs from standalone merchants, multilane retail outlets and online merchants operating their own Web sites to large Internet service providers hosting multiple merchant sites. The product is said to provide businesses with faster transaction processing, seamless updates, cross-platform support and enhanced security.
RichSolutions Inc., Redmond, Wash., www.richsolutions.com


NeuArchitect 4.0
NeuVis Software, acquired by Rational Software in August, has released NeuArchitect 4.0. The latest release features new design, construction and integration capabilities that are said to increase developer productivity, speed product knowledge transfer and leverage products that support key parts of the application development life cycle, including Rational Rose and IBM WebSphere Studio Application Developer.

Version 4.0 provides developers with a model-driven development environment for creating Web services, XML, Web and wireless applications. From these models, NeuArchitect's code construction system creates executable e-business apps, including presentation, interaction, business object and database layers, for deployment on all leading deployment platforms.

Other features include more than 70 extensible and customizable code templates, and support for BEA WebLogic Web services and HP application server.
Neuvis Software, Shelton, Conn., www.neuvis.com