A lack of viable software tools has stymied real growth in the area of electronic commerce believes Dr. Erwin Königs, Chairman and CEO of Software AG, one of the world`s largest software companies.
Dr Königs was speaking today at the South African launch of Software AG`s Bolero, the first integrated environment for building and deploying robust component-based electronic business applications to the Java platform. Software AG is represented in South Africa by SPL, part of JSE-listed Dimension Data.
The 27-year partnership between Software AG and SPL has been profitable for both companies, with revenue from Software AG products contributing significantly to SPL`s overall figures.
"Bolero was designed to meet that need for viable software tools by making true transactional application integration possible on the Web," says Dr Königs.
"Electronic business requires IT integration across systems and the enterprise and although many companies have already taken steps in this direction, they have been held back by this lack of integration."
In the field of electronic business, Java technology will play an important role in future information technology. As many as 50 percent of Fortune 500 corporations are already running Java-based business applications and a number of market observers predict this will increase to over 80 percent within the next few years.
Bolero, billed as the Application Factory for electronic business, is entirely based upon the Java technology, and extends its functionality with many features necessary to create complex business applications.
"Bolero is the first development environment for the Java world that is both specifically designed for the creation of business applications and allows the seamless integration of existing applications," says Dr Königs.
"This enables companies to use their IT investments for new application demands and to continue to leverage their existing investments in core business systems.
"Developers can now implement the requirements of electronic business in a company`s IT system and use the Web as a universal communication medium between the company and their markets, including customers and business partners, " explains Dr Königs.
"Bolero combines re-use productivity features with the robust functions needed to run complex e-business transactions in a cross-platform environment, effectively raising the bar for other development tool vendors," says Dr. Anthony C. Picardi, Group Vice President, Worldwide Software at IDC. "IDC expects Bolero to gain popularity among both sides of the Java debate because of its flexibility, ease-of-use, and built-in performance."
Bolero generates runtime programs in Java byte code, which allow the development and cross-platform distribution of server-based applications. It offers numerous advantages over programming on the pure Java level. This makes development faster and easier, allowing developers to focus on finding effective solutions to urgent business requirements instead of dealing with platform-specific features.
Bolero supports the DCOM and JavaBeans component models for reusable software component development or integration. This means Bolero accelerates the pace of software production. Existing applications that do not run on Java platforms can be integrated with DCOM, for example. The result: application systems for comprehensive business processes, including the Web.
Announced in February of 1998, the first release is now shipping as scheduled.
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