Sterling Software’s NewLook Agreement
Joanna Doyle
Sterling Software Inc. (Dallas) and Look Software Inc. (Melbourne, Australia) have entered into a global distribution agreement that will allow Sterling to market Look Software’s NewLook solution for AS/400 to its customers worldwide. NewLook graphically enables AS/400 applications without requiring complex new toolsets or multiple user interface code sets.
Greg Roberts, director of midmarket solutions for Sterling Software, says the partnership with Look Software will strengthen Sterling’s overall portfolio of e-business offerings.
“We’re very pleased to add NewLook’s dynamic Web-enablement capability to our existing set of e-business solutions,” Roberts says. “The speed with which NewLook can extend existing AS/400 applications is truly amazing, and since a large proportion of AS/400 applications and packages are written using (Sterling Software’s) COOL:2E, we believe our customers will benefit immediately as they take their applications to the Web.”
Look Software, an All Star member of IBM’s Partners in Development program, developed NewLook to assist in increasing productivity by eliminating traditional programming and compiling. It provides a fast solution for converting existing AS/400 applications to Internet-ready applications. AS/400 users can integrate, extend and Web-enable their applications in a real-time environment, while still relying on their existing skills, people and tools such as RPG and COBOL. Sterling Software is one of the 20 largest independent software companies in the world, providing products and services for a range of IT markets including application development, business intelligence and information management. The two companies expect customers to find that their products complement each other in meeting business needs.
“NewLook’s real-time architecture is well suited to graphical enablement of COOL:2E applications,” says Simon Williams, chief executive of Lazy Software and founder of Synon, Inc. “The real-time architecture allows customers to continue using COOL:2E and rely on New Look for easy desktop integration and graphical forms generation.”