CODE NO MORE
Vision Software announced a new rules-based development tool called Vision Builder, which lets developers create partitioned client/server applications by writing declarative business rules instead of code. The new product uses languages (including Visual Basic) and SQL triggers to generate scalable, portable client/server applications from the specified rules.
At the core of Vision Builder is a repository that stores a complete description of the application including business rules, graphical application designs, and database design. Vision Builder's open environment lets you add custom code to both the client and server while preserving any customizations you may have added. It integrates with third-party OCX controls and works with most leading CASE tools, and it automatically partitions the application logic into client and server pieces to reduce network traffic.
Vision Builder stores the entire application as a set of target-independent business rules and application models. Vision Builder is available for Microsoft SQL Server 6 and Oracle, with more platform support planned for later this year. Contact Vision Software, 505 14th St., Ste. 940, Oakland, CA 94612; 510-238-4100 or fax 510-238-4101; http://www.visionsoft.com.
NEW CHANNELS
Visigenic Software Inc. announced OpenChannel, a database connectivity architecture that is based on the ODBC standard. It provides data access through a common infrastructure that supports multiple systems, applications, and databases. The new product is being billed as the first complete server-centric architecture to shift ODBC application administration and processing over to the server.
The OpenChannel Client, which interoperates with both the ODBC API and the JDBC API, replaces multiple software components with a single client driver on client machines. The OpenChannel Server centralizes data access control on the server, and it provides client machines with DBMS location transparency. The OpenChannel Manager, included with the OpenChannel Server component, lets you monitor all OpenChannel activity. OpenChannel ships with the Visigenic ODBC Driver and starts at $3925 for five concurrent users.
In conjunction with the OpenChannel announcement, Visigenic also announced two new tools that support distributed client/server data access for Java development environments, applications, and applets. Visigenic OpenChannel Client for Java and the Visigenic JDBC to ODBC Interface provide access to remote databases via the Internet and private TCP/IP-based networks by using a client/server architecture that supports ODBC functionality. Both products will be released at the same time as the final release of JavaSoft's JDBC API specification and platform support. Contact Visigenic Software Inc., 951 Mariner's Island Blvd., Ste. 460, San Mateo, CA 94404; 415-286-1900 or fax 415-286-2464; http://www.visigenic.com.
ETA FOR EDA
Information Builders Inc. announced Enterprise Data Access (EDA) version 4, a multifunction middleware product that offers messaging and queuing services, EDA/Message Server, EDA/Message Hub, and EDA/Message Switch products that let organizations use the same middleware infrastructure to support synchronous and asynchronous applications including DSS, EIS, and OLAP. It also supports such enterprise applications as SAP, PeopleSoft, and Walker Financials. Another component of the EDA suite is EDA/WebLink, a CGI that lets customers connect their corporate computing resources through middleware to the Web and corporate Intranets. Also new is EDA/Metadata Exchange, which supports leading CASE tools, dictionaries, and repositories.
EDA version 4 also includes several enhancements to EDA's advanced data access capabilities, including secure data transmission, support for user-defined security, authentication check sums, encryption, signatures, compression, and logging. The various components of EDA will be shipping throughout the third and fourth quarters of this year. Contact Information Builders Inc., 1250 Broadway, New York, NY 10001; 212-736-4433 or fax 212-268-7470; http://www.ibi.com.
Level Five Research released its Level5 Quest Server, the first in a new family of server products based on the company's Level5 Quest search technology. Level5 Quest Server is a database publishing and discovery tool for Internet or Intranet Web sites. The company is billing the server as the first Web-oriented data query and analysis engine to use fuzzy logic and concept maps to provide an intuitive form of data discovery and data mining.
The Level5 Quest Server works with all SQL DBMS data sources and Web HTTP servers. All database connectivity, fuzzy search engine settings, and search results formatting settings are controlled and maintained using the Level5 Quest Workstation, which was released last October. Contact Level Five Research, 1335 Gateway Dr., Ste. 2005, Melbourne, FL 32901; 800-444-4303, 407-729-6004, or fax 407-727-7615; http://www.15r.com.
Sybase Inc. (Emeryville, Calif.) expanded its support from Unix to Windows platforms with the shipment of SQL Server 11 for Windows NT. With this release, Sybase has added extra per-incident technical support and new electronic support services. The release includes a new graphical installation and setup utility, a graphical administration tool, the SQL Server Monitor, and Open Client support for DOS, Windows, Windows NT, Windows 95, OS2, and Macintosh. It is also ISO 9001 certified. Contact Sybase Inc., 510-922-3500; http://www.sybase.com.
Forté Software Inc. (Oakland, Calif.) announced the Forté Web Software Developer's Kit (SDK), a collection of extensions that enable enterprise applications to take advantage of the World Wide Web. An add-on to the Forté Application Environment, the Web SDK will enable Netscape's Navigator and other Web browsers to function as Forté clients, making the Web an extension of an organization's existing business infrastructure. Contact Forté Software Inc., 510-869-3400 or fax 510-869-3480; http://www.forte.com. Another new Web-oriented product, DB/Text WebServer, is shipping from Inmagic Inc. (Woburn, Mass.). The new product is a text-centric DBMS designed to manage HTML document text on the Internet. In addition to offering individual access to corporate textbases across organizations, DB/Text WebServer includes corporate Intranet publishing applications, customer response services, and directory publishing, as well as instant text retrieval, batch data management, and a report writer. Contact Inmagic Inc., 617-938-4442 or fax 617-938-6393; http://www.inmagic.com.