Tamino, IFS top tools for e-business
The right mix of databases, application servers, data-mining tools, and CRM (customer relationship management) solutions is the foundation for a solid business infrastructure. The technologies I cover within this field are far from exhaustive, but I've found the following products to be indispensable building blocks that can save money, reduce headaches, and help keep your business humming.
Twenty months after its initial European release, Software AG's Tamino, the first XML-based database system, is still making news by adding the prestigious IBM Corp. RS/6000 and S/390 to its portfolio of supported platforms.
Tamino makes sense from both technical and business perspectives because it demands dramatically fewer machine cycles than do hybrid solutions such as IBM Corp. DB2 or Oracle Corp., which are based on relational data repositories. In addition, Tamino easily combines existing databases into vendor-independent XML structures, making it an appealing choice for e-business developments.
At a time when companies can lose thousands of dollars daily to computer problems, any product that makes Web applications more scalable and fail-proof should attract attention. Extreme Internet Server (EIS) from Secant Technologies Inc. captured mine with its straightforward load management and distribution capabilities that can keep Java applications happily running on your servers.
Sadly, Secant no longer sells a stand-alone version of this champion of resilience and simplified management for server-side Java applications. Rest assured, however, that EIS functionality is still available as part of ModelMethods Enterprise Server, a UML (Unified Modeling Language)-based development suite that includes application design, development, and deployment tools.
Sure, EIS is pricey, but you gain built-in integration with Rational Rose modeling software and the capability of easily building and deploying object-based, CORBA-compliant applications.
The ideal UI is one that you use without knowing it and with the same ease as moving your eyes from line to line while reading. Oracle came very close to that ideal with Internet File Server (IFS), an add-on to its database software that allows end-users to seamlessly store and retrieve multimedia files in Oracle databases.
Although IFS requires a database administrator to do some background work, the end-user working from a Web browser can then easily manage files without knowing that a database is involved. Moreover, IFS extends the security and reliability of an Oracle database to multimedia files managed by nontechnical users.
In fact, files stored within Oracle using IFS behave exactly as those stored on your local directories. Clicking on a movie clip stored within IFS, for example, automatically launches the file in your player of choice. Products such as IFS make my day: They are effective, useful, and easy.
Statistics is generally not a preferred subject for casual conversation. But applying statistical formulas to your data warehouse can reveal critical trends that allow you to improve your operations or to exploit new business opportunities.
PolyAnalyst, a data-mining product from Megaputer Intelligence Inc., brings the subtleties of statistics within reach of the average human being with a set of tools that reveal repetitive occurrences in transactional archives. The solution describes them as generalized math formulas that can be used for projections and what-if analyses.
A recent version of PolyAnalyst includes in-place exploration of very large repositories and the capability of importing data from the popular SAS format. PolyAnalyst can help you dig out those hidden golden nuggets from your data archives.
Having an independent software vendor host CRM applications for you saves on capital expenditures and operating expenses. Free from the burden of managing abstruse technicalities, companies can focus on the institutional business of making money.
A small company, Upshot Corp., heralded this approach to CRM for small-and mid-size companies, a sector that big-league service providers often overlook. Offering solid CRM functionality, wireless devices connectivity, a service-level guarantee, and a two week turnaround time, Upshot ESP (Extended Service Plan) offers a viable alternative for companies that are too busy or that lack internal resources to deploy their own.
» posted by abennett
InfoWorld
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