The South African market has become fruitful ground for rapid application development tools, with development company Pro IV forming closer relationships with its reseller in South Africa. "We have found that businesses are demanding a more interactive relationship with us, because RAD tools are being used mainly for time-critical systems, and once a company settles for a development tool, they deploy it throughout their business and come to rely on it heavily," says Dion Retief, MD of business solutions house Business Unusual.
In terms of the agreement with Business Unusual, Pro IV will provide Business Unusual with the utilities it uses for its own application development to assist companies in improving their speed of application development. Key customers in South Africa will be given the opportunity to attend training courses at Pro IV headquarters in the UK.
Pro IV claims 25% of the UK and European market for high-end development tools, but views Africa as a promising emerging market for its tools.
According to Alicia Aldis, general manager for Pro IV, South Africa will in future be included in Pro IV`s beta testing programme. "There are some very powerful users in South Africa, and we find that users at this level provide valuable input for future versions."
She indicated that a beta version of Pro IV 4.7 is currently being tested on Unix and NT platforms, which provides both Windows and Web front-end options. "The move in the development world is toward a Web-based look and feel, but we will continue to allow for both options."
Retief says that Business Unusual will continue to focus on taking Pro IV to the end user. "Software developers that use the tool create specific solutions. The real power of a 4GL lies in the ability to develop business-specific applications really quickly - something that can be done by the business decision-makers themselves. In the larger enterprises where data repositories are stable, and information is accurate, the ability to use that data flexibly through 4GL-developed applications contributes directly to company competitiveness."
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