Application Development Trends' News


Can Grid meet its challenges?

Industry maven Ahmar Abbas sees grid computing, the collaborative, network-based model that enables the sharing of data and computing cycles among many processors, as a new paradigm that could dramatically alter the IT industry's competitive landscape.

SBI to buy downsized Lante

Salt Lake City-based SBI has agreed to acquire consultant Lante Corp., Chicago, in a move to boost its expertise in manufacturing, retail, transportation, telecommunications, financial services and consumer packaged goods industries.

CommerceOne sets Web services course

Can Web services champions convince skeptical corporate IT managers that this emerging technology can make it safe to spread the confidential data outside the firewall? Struggling CommerceOne, once an Internet high flyer, is betting big that the model can work.

SALT telephony products emerge

The SALT Forum, a group of technology companies working together to accelerate the development of speech technologies in telephony and so-called multimodal systems, has released the 1.0 version of its Speech Application Language Tags (SALT) specification.

SyncML comes of age

Gregg Armstrong, CEO and president of Starfish Software, along with colleagues from Ericsson, IBM, Lotus, Matsushita, Motorola, Nokia, Openwave and Symbian, joined forces to establish a single, synchronization protocol based on XML. By the end of 2000, the initiative produced the first specification of SyncML.

NEWS ANALYSIS: Lies, damned lies and benchmarks?

There's one set of benchmarks that no one seems to want to talk about anymore -- The TPC (www.tpc.org). These performance benchmarks were once the darling of vendors like Oracle and Sun. The problem now is that the top TPC benchmark products are dominated by Microsoft.

Business Objects to buy Acta

Business Objects has agreed to acquire data integration specialist Acta Technology as part of an effort to evolve from a business intelligence (BI) tools provider to an enterprise analytic platform player.

HP vows support for WLAN 'hot spots'

More details are emerging from Hewlett-Packard Co.’s pledge last month to support the concept of wireless LAN "hot spots" with a new initiative aimed at providing high-speed wireless access points in large, public areas, such as airports, hotels and restaurants.

NEWS ANALYSIS -- Psst: .NET's far ahead of rivals

Microsoft’s .NET technology is at least six months ahead of its rivals. It’s more complete, more ready and more widely deployed than any of its Web services framework competitors.

Can WorldCom debacle cripple the 'Net?

Fears that WorldCom's meltdown might cripple the Internet--even shut it down completely--were spreading like an Arizona forest fire last week.

Can schema agnostic databases boost Web services?

When Excelon Corp. disclosed plans for its Extensible Information Server (XIS) XML database to support Oracle 9i, the company's Coco Jaenicke was often asked an important question: Why would one organization need two databases to store XML data?

IBM acquires Metamerge

IBM has acquired Metamerge, a directory integration software provider based in Oslo, Norway.

Distributor has high hopes for Web services

XML standardization is not solving all the problems in e-procurement, said Charles Ewen, e-business development manager for Premier Farnell. But he does expect that Web services can eventually resolve many of the issues his company faces in setting up electronic transactions with customers.

Java back in XP for now

Microsoft will package its Java Virtual Machine (JVM) software in the upcoming Service Pack 1 update to Windows XP, but the company does not plan to include a JVM in future versions of Windows.

Telecom woes key Orbit expansion

Toronto-based Orbit E-Commerce Inc., looking to take advantage of turmoil in the telecommunications industry to expand its voice over IP (VoIP) business in the United States, has agreed to acquire the primary network assets of NetVoice Technologies Inc.

Consultant: Grid's the 'next big thing'

Grid computing, the collaborative, network-based model that enables the sharing of data and computing cycles among many processors, represents a new computing paradigm with the potential to dramatically alter the IT industry's competitive landscape, according to a new report entitled "The Global Grid Computing Report 2002 -- Technology and Market Opportunity Assessment" from consulting firm Grid Technology Partners.

Managing health Web services without 'flailing'

Providence Health System, a Seattle-based integrated delivery system provider, has entered a Web services initiative with Infravio, Redwood City, Calif., that provides a platform for the development, management and execution of Web services.

Another consortium creates another spec

Another collection group of techno-companies has added to the alphabet soup of Web services with a newly published spec that's said to let developers "choreograph" events and transactions between computers when applications and services are accessed over the Internet.

HP, BEA swing a deal at BEA eWorld

BEA and Hewlett-Packard will jointly sell integrated hardware, software and services solutions built around BEA’s Weblogic application server and running across all HP operating systems. -June 25

'Design CRM to improve overall process,' says FleetBoston manager

Streamlining business processes is a key to achieving a successful CRM implementation, a FleetBoston executive told DCI CRM conference attendees in Boston this week. -June 21