Columns
Product Briefs
Natural Version 4
Version 4 of Software AG’s Natural 4GL development platform for mainframes now supports the creation and processing of XML documents, allowing developers to extend mainframe applications to the Internet, Web and Web services.
Version 4 contains improved object-code-handling techniques, redesigned execution algorithms, widened access paths, increased buffer sizes, a new version of the RPC server and utilizes 64-Bit technology. Access to the company’s Adabas product by other mainframe apps is said to be improved through support for dynamic changes in read directions and dynamic repositioning within read loops, as well as by Natural 4GL’s ability to use Adabas’ read-ahead capability. With this release, developers are said to be able to create apps for a Unix environment using a Windows desktop. Through a remote development architecture called Single Point of Development (SPoD), applications for a target platform can be developed using an instance of Natural on Windows. Version 4 also includes expanded interoperability between Natural for IBM’s OS/390 or z/OS and Natural for Linux.
Natural Version 4 for OS/390, z/OS, Vase’s, VM/CMS and BS2000/OSD is available as a controlled release to registered customers.
Software AG Inc., Reston, Va., www.softwareag.com
Northern Storage Suite
Northern has released the Northern Storage Suite, which is said to centralize control over the storage infrastructure and reduce network clutter. The product gives IT administrators more control over diverse user populations and the flexibility to implement a customized solution.
The Northern Storage Suite forecasts storage trends and expenditures; enforces storage policies; budgets, allocates and “charges back” resources; and improves productivity by limiting and filtering “recreational” data. The suite’s core modules include: Northern Quota Server 2003, which allocates storage resources through systematic quota management; Northern Storage Reporter, which performs system analysis; and Northern Storage Portal, which enables users to prioritize their data while reducing IT’s workload. Each of these components can be implemented individually to extend existing functionality, or together as an integrated SRM suite.
The Northern Storage Suite is priced at $3,195 per host. Pricing for modules start at $995 per host, except for the Northern Storage Portal, which starts at $295 per host.
Northern, Tampa, Fla., http://www.northern.se
ServiceBuilder
ClientSoft has announced ServiceBuilder, a product that allows enterprise developers to wrap existing legacy programs into .NET, Java or Cobol components, as well as Web services. The product also publishes legacy transactions as Web services and allows legacy programs to consume Web services.
ServiceBuilder helps legacy and distributed application programmers to navigate the host app and requires minimal knowledge of the legacy system and target service-oriented development environment. It also abstracts developers from the complexities of mainframe and iSeries integration. Development and deployment capabilities include direct access to host logic, SOAP over MQSeries, advanced security features and host-initiated actions within external apps.
The product allows developers to use either the company’s wizard-driven environment or Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. This allows .NET programmers to use their existing knowledge of VS.NET to re-purpose legacy transactions as components and Web services. The product also allows developers to select the deployment platform best suited to their own architecture. It works within the .NET Framework, or J2EE-compliant app servers.
ClientSoft Inc., Miami, Fla., www.clientsoft.com
Uniface 8.3
Compuware Corp. has released Uniface 8.3, an enterprise development environment for building, renewing and integrating business applications.
Version 8.3 offers increased capabilities for integrating with existing apps through Web services support. Functionality built into Uniface can now be made available as Web services, enabling integration between Uniface, J2EE, .NET and legacy apps.
Compuware Corp., Farmington Hills, Mich., www.compuware.com
XGrotto Web Services Integration Platform and Directory
The XGrotto Web Services Integration Platform and Directory allows users to find and invoke dynamic online Web services. It is available from Ogis International.
The XGrotto platform enables firms to define their own business processes and integrate different Web services, without any programming required.
A key component of the platform is the XGrotto directory, a standards-based repository of Web services that provides automatic client generation and workflow-driven support of business processes.
Ogis International Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., www.ogis-international.com
MitemView Version 6
MitemView Version 6, from Mitem Corp., includes a new Enterprise Messaging Architecture that is said to bridge the gap between legacy systems and messaging middleware. V6.0 allows firms to connect disparate systems, further automate business processes and accelerate the deployment of end-to-end integration solutions. The product ships with support for IBM MQSeries, Tibco Rendezvous and Tibco Active Enterprise. MitemView apps can now be developed using Visual Basic .NET and Visual C# .NET.
Mitem Corp., Menlo Park, Calif., www.mitem.com
VordelSecure 2.0
VordelSecure 2.0 is an enterprise-grade XML security suite that responds to the security needs of firms that are taking advantage of XML for software integration. It is available from Vordel.
The product secures Web services by filtering XML traffic based on both XML content and the identity of the sender. Content filtering is performed based on target, XML format, XML content and XML integrity, using SOAP routing, XML Schema Validation, XPath evaluation and XML Signature. Core components include VS Server, a security server for XML-based traffic; VS Enforcer, which intercepts XML traffic at an HTTP server and communicates with VS Server; VS API; and VS SOAP browser, a SOAP Client GUI tool.
Vordel, Dublin, Ireland, www.vordel.com
PowerTCP Telnet for .NET
PowerTCP Telnet for .NET, from Dart Communications, is said to enhance Microsoft’s .NET Framework with native components that add stream-based Telnet, rexec, rsh and rlogin capability for client-to-server communications.
All components included in the product are designed with a multithreaded architecture and have a design-time testing environment to maximize the RAD capabilities of Visual Studio .NET. Documentation is natively integrated into the Visual Studio IDE and includes tutorials in addition to the reference guide.
Dart Communications, Rome, N.Y., www.dart.com
WebWare ActiveMedia 4
WebWare Corp. has announced WebWare ActiveMedia 4, the latest upgrade to its digital asset management software (formerly WebWare Mambo).
New features include full text-search across multiple file types, visual annotation of image files and single-page PDFs, an Interwoven TeamSite plug-in, an Adobe Graphic Server transformation engine, as well as automatic ingest and indexing of Microsoft Office documents.
WebWare Corp., Sausalito, Calif., www.webwarecorp.com
Smtp.NET Version 2.0 and emailQ.NET 1.0
Smtp.NET Version 2.0 and emailQ- .NET 1.0, from ExclamationSoft Corp., are said to offer developers extensive e-mail functionality with shortened development and testing cycles.
Smtp.NET Version 2.0 extends the basic functionality found in .NET e-mail libraries, and includes features such as authentication and the ability to specify multiple mail servers for failover and redundancy. EmailQ.NET 1.0 is an e-mail queuing component that integrates with Smtp.NET 2.0 to schedule e-mail delivery, offload e-mail transmissions and track sending progress.
ExclamationSoft Corp., Furlong, Pa., www.exclamationsoft.com
Codagen Architect 3.0
Codagen Architect 3.0, from Codagen Technologies, helps companies to streamline their development process by speeding project time to market and minimizing development costs.
The software development tool enables businesses to automatically generate app source code from UML models. Enhancements include interoperability with Together ControlCenter, as well as Rational Rose and Microsoft Visio UML; a generic UML adapter that allows architects to generate code from any XML-compliant modeling tool; and the addition of statechart, use case and activity diagrams.
Codagen Architect 3.0 is an MDA-compliant “white-box” solution that can be customized to support a variety of technologies and programming languages.
Codagen Technologies Corp., Montreal, Quebec, www.codagen.com
EiffelStudio 5.2 for Unix
Eiffel Software has released EiffelStudio 5.2 for Unix.
With the product, users can create reusable objects and libraries that can run identically on a variety of platforms. Functional improvements in Version 5.2 include a faster, more efficient compiler; a redesigned EiffelBuild cross-platform GUI builder; major improvements to EiffelStudio’s best-in-class debugger; improved speed of interactions with diagram and editor; and the ability to call external tools from within EiffelStudio.
Eiffel Software, Santa Barbara, Calif., www.eiffel.com
UltraMon Developer Edition Version 2.0
Realtime Soft has released Version 2.0 of its UltraMon Developer Edition, a collection of components for developers who want to add multi-monitor support to their apps (Windows 98 and later).
The product provides a COM- based multi-monitor API with features that can be used from most programming languages and environments. Users can get and set monitor properties, move or desktop-maximize windows, provide a user interface for visually selecting a monitor, and treat a monitor as detached from the desktop.
Site licenses for UltraMon Developer Edition Version 2.0 are priced at $49.
Realtime Soft, Bern, Switzerland, www.realtimesoft.com
Wing IDE for Python Version 1.1.8
Archaeopteryx Software has released Wing IDE for Python Version 1.1.8, a maintenance release for its software development productivity environment.
The product supports Web development with Zope, Plone, CGI, Apache mod_python and other tools. Wing can also be used for cross-platform GUI development with PyQy, wxPython, Tkinter and PyGTK. Other key features include module and class-oriented code browsing and source structure analysis; a source code editor with syntax highlighting, structural folding, auto-indentation, indentation guides and conversion facilities; and a graphical debugger.
A single-user license for Wing IDE for Python Version 1.1.8 is priced between $149 and $179 for the Standard Edition; the Lite edition is $35.
Archaeopteryx Software, Brookline, Mass., www.wingide.com
TotalDeveloper
Green Hills Software has released TotalDeveloper, a royalty-free total solution package that features affordable subscription pricing, full RTOS source code and unlimited royalty-free target licenses.
The product is a fully integrated solution that includes an RTOS, C/C++ compilers, source-level debugger, networking protocols, hardware debug probe, development and analysis tools, on-site engineering services and technical support.
The Green Hills TotalDeveloper package is priced at $150,000 per year for a 10-person development team.
Green Hills Software Inc., Santa Barbara, Calif., www.ghs.com
Perc 4.0
Perc 4.0, from NewMonics Inc., is a developer platform for complex embedded systems.
The latest release adds real-time timers for accurate triggering of time-driven tasks, improved memory management for greater system flexibility within smaller total memory footprint, and a new direct-memory API that allows the QuickPerc native compiler to optimize access to memory-mapped I/O ports and buffers that are shared with legacy components written in C or C++.
Perc 4.0 is priced from $4,995.
NewMonics Inc., Tucson, Ariz., www.newmonics.com
Clementine 6.5
ShowCase, a division of SPSS, has released Clementine 6.5 for companies that use the IBM eServer iSeries computing platform.
Clementine enables business analysts to develop predictive models and discover hidden trends and relationships in their data. The software then facilitates the delivery of data mining results throughout an organization. The product’s built-in logic and visual interface are said to make it easy for business users to develop, test and combine statistical models. Analysts initiate and guide data mining from their client PCs, but the actual data mining is carried out on the server level.
ShowCase, a division of SPSS, Reston, Va., http://www.spss.com/clementine/news_65.htm
CocoBase Enterprise O/R Version 4.5
Thought Inc. has released CocoBase Enterprise O/R Version 4.5.
The CocoBase query system is said to provide unlimited querying to application users without all of the work of pre-coded/pre-compiled SQL statements. Developers can also use EJB-SQL to express their queries, a standards-based object-oriented syntax as defined in the EJB 2.0 specification. These queries can be used with CMP Entity Beans, BMP Entity Beans, Session Beans, Dynamic Transparent Persistence, JSPs/Servlets and standalone Java persistence.
Thought Inc., San Francisco, Calif., www.thoughtinc.com
FDFMerge Version 4.0
Appligent Inc. has upgraded its FDFMerge product, a server-based app that streamlines document production and delivery.
Version 4.0 combines information extracted from a database in Forms Data Format (FDF) with a PDF file to create a complete PDF form. The resulting PDF file can be viewed, archived, printed or e-mailed with all data intact and secure.
V4.0 supports sophisticated typographic effects like stretching text across x and y coordinates; generates linearized PDF files; supports the XFDF data format; and has built-in support for 40- and 128-bit encryption of merged PDF documents.
Appligent Inc., Lansdowne, Pa., www.appligent.com
mEnable for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
mEnable for Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, from Syware Inc., is a wireless software architecture that allows mobile users to access and modify server data in real time.
mEnable allows for the development of data-driven applications that wirelessly connect Windows, Windows CE and Pocket PC-powered handhelds, including the new XP Tablet PCs, with corporate servers. The mEnable architecture extends the reach of mobile workers, using the TCP/ IP protocol to seamlessly communicate over LAN, WAN or Internet connections, whether wireless or wired.
The mEnable Software Development Kit packaged with 10 runtime licenses costs $499. The mEnable SDK packaged with 100 runtime licenses is $1,999.
Syware Inc., Cambridge, Mass., www.syware.com
PowerGrep
JGsoft has released PowerGrep, a Windows grep tool that lets users search through any number of text and binary files for words, phrases and strings.
The tool extracts information from server logs, Web site pages, programmers’ source code, financial reports or any data that is scattered across the network. It lets users look at different types of files in a single search using standard Windows masks. In addition, PowerGrep uses “regular expressions” when performing complex search-and-replace operations.
PowerGrep is priced at $99 for a single-user license.
JGsoft, Ubonratchathani, Thailand, www.powergrep.com
EditLive! for Java 2.0
EditLive! for Java 2.0 is a Web-based content authoring application. It is available from Ephox.
Version 2.0 lets users insert XML tags into XHTML-compliant content. The app now supports the Web-based distributed authoring and versioning (WebDAV) protocol, allowing users to browse WebDAV-compliant repositories such as Stellent, Microsoft IIS, Apache and Oracle.
Pricing for EditLive! for Java 2.0 starts at $35 per user or $5,000 per CPU.
Ephox, San Francisco, Calif., www.ephox.com
FileNet P8
FileNet Corp. has released FileNet P8, an integrated framework designed to leverage content management, BPM and enterprise connectivity capabilities to speed business decision making.
The product’s architecture combines the capabilities of FileNet’s Panagon platform, Acenza application framework and its Brightspire e-business framework and business process management technology into a unified ECM platform. In addition, the FileNet P8 architecture utilizes a single API set for developers. The product features four pre-packaged suites: Business Process Manager, Content Manager, Web Content Manager and Image Manager.
Enterprise configuration price points for FileNet’s P8 platform range between $125,000 and $420,000, depending on the specific suite.
FileNet Corp., Costa Mesa, Calif., www.FileNet.com
EspressChart v4.0
EspressChart v4.0, from Quadbase Systems, is a charting tool that allows both developers and end users to create and configure professional-looking charts with its point-and-click Chart Designer interface.
In Version 4.0, the Chart Designer has been redesigned in Swing to provide a simpler, user-customizable design tool. The Designer can now be launched via the API in custom configurations with full internationalization, allowing users to completely integrate it within their applications. The latest version also adds several new chart options, including pie charts with data series, and multi-axis overlay charts. A more expansive drill-down capability, allowing users to rely on data relationships within relational databases to link a series of charts, has also been added.
Quadbase Systems, Santa Clara, Calif., www.quadbase.com
InstallShield Express 4
InstallShield Software Corp. has announced InstallShield Express 4, the latest version of its solution for creating installations for Windows software applications.
Express 4 is said to simplify installation authoring for Microsoft .NET apps through complete integration with the Visual Studio .NET IDE. Developers can now run Express inside the Visual Studio .NET shell or use the traditional Express IDE. The product also includes enhanced Web services support with a new IIS view that lets developers create and configure virtual directories.
InstallShield Express 4 is priced at $349.
InstallShield Corp., Schaumburg, Ill., www.installshield.com
Jive Forums Version 3.0
Jive Software has launched Jive Forums Version 3.0, the latest release of its discussion forum app, as well as a beta version of Jive Knowledge Base, an application for searching and browsing support documents.
Jive Forums has been updated with features that more closely monitor and manage communities, such as showing who is online, tracking which threads have been read and by whom, and allowing administrators to branch topics and move posts.
Jive Knowledge Base turns critical pieces of knowledge into reusable documents. Documents can be adapted from Jive Forums, created manually or pulled from internal content management systems.
Jive Software, New York, N.Y., www.jivesoftware.com
Application Data Management (ADM) Suite
The Application Data Management (ADM) Suite, from OuterBay, is “application-aware” software that lets enterprises monitor and manage data growth to maintain high service levels of app performance, reduce infrastructure costs, speed upgrades and do more with existing resources.
The suite consists of three key components: ARM, which harnesses OuterBay’s app knowledge and enables enterprises to monitor, detect, diagnose and resolve problematic data growth; Instance Generator, which eliminates full-size production database copies in favor of smaller, but relationally intact, subsets of the database that provide more efficient test, development, staging and training environments; and LiveArchive, which identifies inactive app data and moves it onto more cost-effective storage.
OuterBay, Campbell, Calif., www.outerbay.com
SANavigator 3.5
SANavigator 3.5, from McData Corp., is the latest version of the firm’s storage network management software.
The product allows IT managers to control the assets, costs, access to data and risks associated with maintaining a multivendor and mission-critical storage network. Version 3.5 increases data security and centralizes control of a company’s stored data through multivendor fabric zoning, multivendor LUN management and role-based user access. New functionality includes greater control with a highly customizable user interface, as well as more intelligent decision-making with advanced diagnostics.
McData Corp., Broomfield, Colo., www.mcdata.com
Omegamon Extended Edition (XE) for Linux
Candle Corp. has released Omegamon Extended Edition (XE) for Linux, a solution for managing the performance and availability of the Linux OS running on IBM eServer zSeries mainframes.
The product targets the requirements of technical managers testing apps before implementation and in deployment, as well as the needs of business managers focused on analyzing performance to assess service-level management and return on investment. Omegamon XE monitors critical system characteristics, such as disk inode, disk use, file system and network connections, as well as system-wide performance statistics and processes.
Omegamon XE for Linux is priced at $15,000 per engine for production licenses. A development license is $7,500 per engine.
Candle Corp., El Segundo, Calif., www.candle.com
BitDefender Enterprise v2.0
BitDefender Enterprise v2.0 uses workstation, file server and mail server clients to prevent any potential attempt to infect a system or to commit a breach in company policy. It is available from BitDefender.
This beta version of the antivirus software allows users to know in real time where, when and what happened anywhere in the network and on any platform. The alert is scaled depending on client type and provides three different levels of information -- critical, warning or simple report.
BitDefender, Bucharest, Romania, www.bitdefender.com
ON Command CCM V5.4
ON Command CCM V5.4, from ON Technology, provides enhanced security features for administering geographically distributed IT environments.
The latest version includes the ability to configure security access and permissions for multiple types of IT administrators, each with varying levels of control over specified users and groups. Also included is the ability to perform complex SQL queries from the Command Center console, as well as the ability to search the client database for specific text strings using wildcards.
ON Technology Corp., Waltham, Mass., www.on.com