Ascential Software has unveiled its strategic product development plans for the next 24 months to capitalise on emerging technologies, meet evolving enterprise data integration requirements and "future-proof" IT investments.
Customers and partners can expect 64-bit computing and expanded grid-enabled capabilities, continued innovations in support of service-oriented architecture, and new functionality for radio frequency identification (RFID), among others.
As part of this strategy, Ascential has announced the general availability of DataStage TX and its incorporation into the Enterprise Integration Suite. The company has confirmed the value of and alignment between Ascential`s plans and the enterprise integration requirements of customers and partners through a series of planning sessions and surveys.
"The product direction that Ascential has outlined maps directly to what the market is telling us it needs in an enterprise-wide data integration environment," says Sandra Rogers, director, Web Services and Integration Software, IDC. "Ascential`s strategy to partner and provide open technology based on industry standards that interface with other essential integration software is critical in today`s evolving system and services-based architectural landscape."
Complete, integrated data gives companies the visibility to make strategic decisions today and insight for the future. Julian Field, MD of local Ascential distributor CenterField Software, underscores the significance of this announcement by pointing out that integrating applications and business processes requires a data integration platform that operates across the full spectrum of current and future transactional, operational and analytical application environments.
"Customers want a complete enterprise data integration platform to support strategic business needs. Ascential is the only company that satisfies all enterprise integration requirements, enabling customers to meet challenges and create business opportunities," says Field. "Ascential is solely focused on data integration, taking an active role in standards bodies, investing in research and development, and closely collaborating with customers and partners."
Product roadmap
Ascential unveiled three strategic product initiatives, codenamed Trinity, Hawk, and Rhapsody. The results of these development projects should be in the market as soon as the first half of 2004.
These product releases will expand Ascential`s leadership in providing enterprise solutions designed to enable customers to build an integrated view of data for more effective business analytics and decision support, enable the interoperability of multiple applications for a higher level of customer service and operational performance, and reduce the number of data sources that IT personnel need to understand in order to develop new applications.
The product releases are designed to improve development efficiencies, reduce the complexity of integrating new and legacy systems and help manage the exponential growth of data to meet user requirements for immediate access to information.
The product initiatives are:
"Trinity" - Anticipated completion mid-2004. Highlights include:
* Expanded service-oriented architecture capabilities;
* 64-bit performance and expanded mainframe support;
* Increased functionality for enterprise grid computing initiatives; and
* "Frictionless connectivity" - eliminating barriers to connectivity inside and outside the enterprise.
"Hawk" - Expected delivery late 2004. Highlights include:
* User interface innovations for enhanced productivity;
* RFID infrastructure support;
* Next-generation metadata services infrastructure; and
* "Rhapsody" - Next-generation platform that will deliver a quantum leap in productivity, manageability and scalability.
Jeff Turner, engagement director, Pinnacle Technical Resources, Inc, an enterprise systems architecture consulting firm, says: "Ascential`s vision and real-time capabilities resonate with customers because that`s where most companies want to go. For example, one of our clients, Verizon Communications, has a large data warehouse and the company wants to introduce real-time capabilities in that environment. We`re looking for partners like Ascential that can get us there."
DataStage TX
Ascential DataStage TX, formerly Mercator Inside Integrator, transforms and routes data in transactional application environments and business processes such as consumer portals, business-to-business exchanges, and trading partner networks. The solution delivers field-proven and time-tested support for industry standards including EDIFACT, HIPAA, and X12. DataStage TX handles $100 billion per day in SWIFT transactions between major international financial institutions.
DataStage TX is integrated into the Ascential Enterprise Integration Suite through Real-Time Integration Services.
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