In-Depth

Industry News

• 05/01/2000

IBM has selected the BROCADE SilkWorm 2010 to provide connectivity for IBM Enterprise SAN solutions. In addition, IBM also uses the BROCADE SilkWorm 2400 and 2800 Fibre Channel fabric switches to connect servers and storage devices through a SAN.

"BROCADE’s approach to open SAN connectivity supports our commitment to offer customers a full range of SAN connectivity options and the freedom to mix and match servers and storage solutions of choice," says Duane Dueker, Vice President of Marketing for Storage Area Networks at IBM.

The BROCADE SilkWorm 2010 entry-level Fibre Channel switch is an alternative to traditional managed hubs, providing high-speed interconnection for Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) environments. It outperforms traditional managed hubs by logically connecting all eight ports on the switch into a single loop, while providing full bandwidth per port. The SilkWorm 2010 provides support for simultaneous data transfers to and from all ports, fault isolation and easy migration to full fabric solutions.

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ParaSoft is releasing their C/C++ Developers Kit to run on DYNIX/ptx for IBM’s NUMA-Q servers. The kit, which includes ParaSoft’s CodeWizard, Insure++ and the add-on modules TCA and Inuse, helps C/C++ developers prevent and detect errors in numerous types of programs, including e-business solutions, mission-critical applications and crucial financial programs.

CodeWizard is an error prevention tool, which automatically enforces a set of more than 120 industry coding standards, flagging high-level design flaws in C and C++ programs. The RuleWizard feature allows developers and managers to customize their own rules to be enforced.

Insure++ is an automatic runtime error detection tool which detects errors and provides repair information. With three levels of instrumentation, Insure++ can customize the error detection process, regardless of the size of the application. TCA and Inuse, the two add-on modules, show test coverage and graphical depictions of an application’s dynamic memory usage.

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A new report from IDC highlights legacy middleware products as the bridge that joins e-business to the business. The report, by analyst Ed Acly, focuses on Computer Network Technology’s (CNT) Enterprise/Access, a rapidly deployable legacy integration solution for e-business. This software gives companies a cost-effective way to move toward e-business without altering or affecting their legacy systems.

Citing that the Internet has shrunk the time available to deploy new services and applications, while expanding customer and user expectations, the report highlights the role of multitier legacyware solutions in offering the advantages of speed, flexibility, lower cost and reduced complexity. Acly says, "Speed has become the essence for legacy integration in two ways. First, new applications must be integrated quickly with existing information assets to achieve maximum returns. Second, integration solutions must enable realtime access to customer information, especially when the Web is a factor … CNT’s Enterprise/Access has earned high marks as a multitier legacyware server from customers and influential third parties." In fact, the report states, companies like Cap Gemini, Deloitte Consulting, and PricewaterhouseCoopers have endorsed Enterprise/Access for use in their products and services.

Enterprise/Access’ scalable, server-based, multi-tiered architecture, and its non-invasive approach to legacy access and integration helped the product earn high marks in the IDC report. The report also cited, "The decoupling [of the client from the back-end legacy application programs] delivered by Enterprise/Access allows customers to enable a great deal more flexibility and reuse in their distributed application architectures as existing legacy applications are extended to e-business. … [it also] greatly simplifies programming and makes it much easier to change the business logic later if business requirements demand a new presentation or delivering of the processing results."

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Business intelligence (BI) solutions provider Pinnacle Solutions has acquired BizIntel Technology, an analytical applications consulting firm. The new Pinnacle organization’s signature solutions link organizational operations with business intelligence and analysis across the enterprise, including data warehouse applications, customer relationship applications, BI for ERP and Web operations.

"The merger will provide increased services and complement Pinnacle’s existing expertise and partnerships with Hyperion Solutions, IBM and Microsoft, as well as our premier partner relationships with Oracle and MicroStrategy," comments Mark Cawi, former President of BizIntel Technology and now Director of Consulting for Pinnacle Solutions.

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Stampede Technologies, an acceleration software developer, has added to its TurboGold product family for Lotus Notes. The new products for the IBM AS/400 and IBM RS/6000 (AIX) servers join the already released Windows NT server version. Client/server and server-to-server TurboGold accelerators are available on all three platforms.

TurboGold incorporates caching, compression and streaming techniques to accelerate the replication of Lotus Notes databases to and from mobile or remote users, as well as between Domino Servers. They provide the means to run mission-critical applications, including Lotus Domino’s collaborative software.

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Sterling Software Inc. has signed a worldwide OEM partnership agreement with Resonate Inc., a provider of Internet Services Management (iSM) solutions. As a result of the worldwide partnership, Sterling Software will market and support two Web management solutions.

FUSION:Balance is a software solution for e-business enterprise traffic management. Sterling Software will offer a single site option, as well as a multi-site option for geographically distributed Internet sites. FUSION:Balance balances traffic across an e-business infrastructure, without incurring the overhead of passing all data through a single distribution point.

FUSION:Director integrates the key elements of Internet traffic and systems management to enable monitoring, reporting and control of service levels across Internet sites.

In February, Sterling Software was acquired by Computer Associates. Both of these solutions are complementary to Computer Associates’ Web management offerings.