Infoteria Inc. announced that the English version of their XML products iConnector and iMessenger will start shipping in the first quarter of 2000 and be available worldwide. iConnector and iMessenger are member of Infoteria’s XML Solution Components which offers comprehensive B2B database and application integration. iConnector and iMessenger are exhibited at the exposition of XML ’99 as the first public demonstration in the United States. The iConnector series, the leading XML software packages in Japan, is a gateway product between traditional databases and XML data. iRuleGenerator, included in the iConnector series, allows users to map XML data structure to the database schema, and visa versa. iConnector supports previous versions of databases, such as Oracle 7.x and Lotus Domino 4.5/4.6, as well as the latest versions. iConnector also offers cross database relational joins where incoming XML data can be stored using another database as reference. The iConnector series consists of 3 packages, iConnector for Oracle, iConnector for Lotus Domino and iConnector for Access. Additional database support is planned in the second quarter, 2000. iMessenger enables the sending and receiving of XML data via SMTP. It has GUI setting screen and can run as a server to pool the incoming XML messages using IMAP4 or POP3 protocol. Both iConnector and iMessenger are easily used in CGI and Active Server Pages to build XML based web services, in addition to integrating inter-enterprise information systems. iConnector and iMesenger are available for Microsoft Windows NT4.0 and 2000 in the first quarter of 2000. Sun Solaris and Linux versions will follow soon thereafter. iConnector for Oracle and iConnector for Lotus Domino are priced at $8,000 each, iConnector for Access and iMessenger 1.0 are priced at $4,000 each. In addition to standard package, C++ library versions will be available for OEMs. www.infoteria.com/
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Percussion Software introduced Percussion XSplit, a free utility for converting HTML into XML and XSL. XSplit meets the demands of organizations that need a simple and effective way of transforming thousands of Web-based HTML pages into XML for e-commerce and other applications. With XSplit, developers can easily create the XML and XSL equivalents of their HTML pages without investing a lot of time learning XML or writing the pages by hand. This is a critical need of most organizations, since the majority of Web content is currently HTML-based. This patent-pending technology is a key component of Percussion’s recently announced XML Data Server product, Rhythmyx, which dynamically serves structured data from relational databases into Web pages. Rhythmyx is one of the first products that makes use of XSL in a production environment and helps organizations benefit from XML today. After using XSplit to convert HTML to XML, Rhythmyx is the logical next step to make static applications dynamic without having to code or script. Percussion XSplit V1.0 is free for personal use and will be available in December 1999. Companies wishing to license the product for bundled distribution with their offerings should contact Percussion Software for terms and conditions. The utility runs on Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0. A free 30-day evaluation of Percussion Rhythmyx is available by registering at www.percussion.com/feel_the_rhythm
FileNET Corporation announced its new Panagon Web Publisher 4.0 software, which provides new XML language and incremental publishing capabilities for enhanced content management support of Web-based information portals. This is one of the first components of an upcoming major set of announcements slated for early 2000 in the e-content management space from FileNET. Panagon Web Publisher 4.0 (PWP 4.0) is a template-driven software engine designed to automate the conversion of native application-authored documents into stylish, consistent Web publications. This conversion is guided by user-specified templates and results in fully linked XML and/or HTML Web sites. PWP 4.0 eliminates much of the tedious labor involved in creating and maintaining Web sites because translation to XML or HTML is automatic, leading to increased organizational productivity because content authors aren’t required to learn XML and HTML programming and Web masters aren’t required to edit content. A key feature of Panagon Web Publisher 4.0 is its “abstraction” capabilities, which provide the ability to create a Web site with a consistent look and feel, even though the source documents are formatted in an ad hoc manner. Panagon Web Publisher 4.0 is available now. The suggested retail price for the basic Web Publisher software is US$19,500, and a base Panagon content management solution, including client and server software serving a potential universe of thousands of users and managing thousands of Web pages, starts at approximately US$85,000. www.FileNET.com
Hummingbird Communications Ltd. unveiled its metadata strategy and announced Genio MetaExplorer. A fully customizable, Web-based solution, MetaExplorer is designed to support the information search and analytical needs of information consumers by providing access to all decision support metadata repositories within an organization. At the heart of MetaExplorer is MetaData Server, an intelligent middle-tier solution with a driver-based, plug-and-play architecture. MetaData Server enables dynamic access to the rich variety of decision support metadata stored within the enterprise. Hummingbird will provide drivers to access the leading industry metadata repositories in addition to providing APIs to build drivers for accessing other metadata repositories. Complementing MetaExplorer and MetaData Server, is the new Hummingbird Enterprise Repository (HERO) that leverages XML-enabled metadata access and interchange. With HERO, organizations can now move to a common repository of metadata that provides the architectural glue that binds together the various components of the enterprise intelligence environment. HERO will simplify deployment, improve scalability to an enterprise scale, reduce integration challenges, and ease the maintenance burden to reduce the total cost of ownership. Genio MetaExplorer is expected to be available in Q1 2000. www.hummingbird.com
Staffware Plc announced an agreement with BEA, designed to give companies tighter control over their business operations across the enterprise through an off-the-shelf solution, while minimizing the amount of customization required for multiple applications to work together. BEA eLink and its options and adapters bring a range of high-performance connectivity methodologies, helping ensure secure transactions and transparent access to mission-critical applications and information throughout the enterprise and across the Web. Staffware’s portfolio of tools enables the rapid development of robust, highly scalable workflow applications for both client/server and thin client/Web-based architectures, providing a flexible, dependable infrastructure for distributing work among people and departments. The agreement provides for these technologies to be integrated to increase customer’s application integration capabilities, while expanding the scope of the two companies EAI efforts to include additional workflow features. www.staffware.com. www.beasys.com
Ariba, Inc. jointly announced a strategic partnership to provide end-to-end business-to-business e-commerce application services. Under the agreement, USi will provide Ariba solutions to mid-sized and large-sized companies through the ASP model. The comprehensive partnership includes product development, application implementation and management services, and cooperative sales and marketing. Under terms of the agreement, USi is a preferred ASP for Ariba solutions, and will introduce a new service offering based on the hosted Ariba ORMX application. USi will integrate the Ariba ORMX solution with its Internet Managed Application Provider (iMAP) portfolio as part of a complete eCommerce offering to its existing and future customer base. USi will actively market, sell, deliver and support this new service. Clients will pay a flat monthly fee to receive the Ariba ORMX application as an iMAP service while gaining access to the comprehensive functionality of the Ariba Network eCommerce platform. Suppliers to Ariba ORMX-equipped buyers can use USi’s sell-side e-commerce services to transact with buyers through the Ariba Network platform using the cXML (Commerce Extensible Markup Language) standard. www.ariba.com
Digital Creations announced increased interoperability between its Open Source Zope application server and Microsoft platforms using open standards. An early 2000 Zope release will include support for two protocols heavily supported by Microsoft, the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) protocol. Digital Creations is the creator of Zope. Zope is an Open Source application server for building high-performance, dynamic web sites. Zope runs on nearly all UNIX platforms as well as Windows NT, and can be used with popular web servers or its own built-in web server. Zope is free at www.zope.org, www.digicool.com
XMLSolutions announced that users of EDI systems can submit any standard X12 or EDIFACT document for XML translation by visiting www.xmls.com. XMLSolutions, after receiving the EDI document, will apply the XEDI approach to EDI-XML translation (www.xedi.org) and return to the user by e-mail, the XML representation of the EDI file. www.xmls.com
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