Software that helps businesses streamline their myriad applications, sourcing needs, and customer interactions led the pack of new applications being shown at the Demo 2002 emerging technologies show last week.
The annual three-day conference highlights up-and-coming technologies for the year, and this year the name of the game seemed to be putting corporate technology in order with a number of software products meant to clean up the clutter of divergent applications.
Here’s the lowdown on some of the wares unveiled:
– So, your company’s e-business infrastructure is up and running, but you still can’t sleep at night, worrying that the whole thing will crash while your IT department slumbers? Then Altaworks Corp.’s Panorama e-business infrastructure performance and availability management software may be of interest. Panorama identifies and helps solve common infrastructure bottlenecks by measuring live transactions, the company said. The software displays performance metrics of the infrastructure platform on a user interface that can be customized. Panorama is now generally available, and works on e-business infrastructures such as those built on BEA WebLogic and IBM WebSphere. Pricing was not immediately given. Altaworks can be contacted at http://www.altaworks.com/.
– For businesses that deal with a variety of vendors and their differing business applications, Troux Technologies Inc. unveiled its Troux Solution application relationship-management software Monday. Troux Solution provides businesses with a continually updated blueprint of their application systems, helping them pinpoint operational problems, reduce overspending on projects and plan growth strategies, by discovering, documenting and validating interrelationships between business applications, the company said. More information is available at http://www.troux.com/.
– Another company tackling interoperability at the show was Anysoft Inc., which previewed its Digital Cortex technology and product line, which enables universal application integration. Digital Cortex allows companies to make front-end application changes without having to access underlying source code or databases, the company said. Anysoft is offering Digital Cortex Developer, allowing developers to build and test Digital Cortex applications. The developer product includes a visual design environment and uses a set of ActiveX components, tools and utilities. This product is priced at US$495.
The company also announced a Digital Cortex Desktop product, which includes a runtime that installs on Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP and a console that manages applications created using the Digital Cortex system. Digital Cortex Desktop is a single-user desktop deployment priced at around $1,200.
Server editions of Digital Cortex will also be available, allowing applications to be accessed by multiple users and offering security, session management, load balancing and application monitoring. The server products range in price from $7,500 to $50,000.
The Digital Cortex products will be generally available in the first week of April. Anysoft is a limited partnership between Anysoft Ltd. and Anysoft Holdings 2001 Ltd. The company’s Web site is at http://www.anysoft.com/.
– Elance Inc. also threw its hat into the software management ring Monday, offering up the Elance 3.0 services procurement and management application. The Web-based software is intended to help companies reduce costs and improve service quality by streamlining procurement and management, the company said. The product includes a management and reporting console and a project management system that helps contract labor, manage workflow and create a database of service providers. Elance 3.0 is now available directly through Elance. Pricing was not immediately disclosed. The company can be reached at http://www.elance.com/.
– Dealigence Inc. also served up a sourcing application product with its Dealigence Sourcing product, which allows buyers to evaluate bids and negotiate deals online. The product also automates some time-consuming acquisition tasks, the company said. Pricing and availability was not available Monday morning. More information can be found at http://www.dealigence.com/.
– With infrastructure and products in place, companies may want to focus on their client relationships, and that’s just what SeeRun Corp. is offering to help businesses do with the launch of SeeRun Acquire, the first module in its Customer Lifecycle Management Suite. Acquire aids marketing professionals by allowing them to track and analyze campaigns and promotions. SeeRun can be reached at http://www.seerun.com/.
– Companies employing XML (Extensible Markup Language) for their trading networks and Web services may be interested in the debut of Forum Systems Inc.’s XML Security Appliances. The company’s products protect XML data while in motion or at rest, Forum Systems said. The security appliances translate, validate, archive and route documents while supplying data-level encryption. The company also provides dedicated hardware with a single management point. The company did not disclose pricing and availability information in a press release Monday. Forum Systems is online at http://www.forumsys.com/.
Web services, e-mail accoutrements and video conferencing also added a sprinkle of news from Demo. Microsoft Corp. unveiled the beta version of its MSN Money Professional, the first .Net service for the financial industry, the company said. MSN Money Professional is a subscription-based finance service that allows financial professionals to offer customers personal finance Web sites, and breaking financial information. Among other features, MSN Money Professional offers publishing, notification and collaboration tools. Microsoft can be reached at http://www.microsoft.com/.
For e-mail addicts, Emeris Technologies SA delivered its Annotis Mail product, which adds highlighters, pens, rubber stamps and sticky notes to traditional e-mail. The application runs on Microsoft Outlook and Express for Windows and is available in English, French, Spanish, German and Russian. More information can be found at http://www.annotis.com/.
If, despite all these added features, e-mail still isn’t personal enough for some users’ needs, GlobalStreams Inc. offered a new video presentation software Monday that lets users create and deliver video presentations from their PCs. The company’s software, called OnQ, combines video, audio, pictures, instant messaging, Microsoft Powerpoint presentations and Web pages to allow users to make full-media presentations. GlobalStreams can be reached at http://www.globalstreams.com/.
The conference, sponsored by IDG Executive Forums, showcases 65 top new products for the coming year. The parent company of IDG Executive Forums, International Data Group Inc., is the parent company of the IDG News Service.
DEMO 2002 ran from February 10-12 in Phoenix, Ariz. More information about the show can be found at http://www.idgexecforums.com/demo/index.html/
