Aldon and Vision Partner for CM Solution

• 09/04/2000

Application development in the distributed computing and client/server spaces has traditionally been a much more complex, altogether more frenetic enterprise than it has been in the host-based world of the AS/400. And yet the AS/400 has not been insulated entirely from the anarchic state of programming in the distributed and client/server worlds.

For years, developers on all platforms have relied upon so-called change management software, which helps to facilitate collaboration among different development teams by tracking programming changes and allowing multiple teams to participate in even large-scale development efforts from geographically dispersed locations.

Along with Peterborough, N.H.-based Softlanding Systems, Aldon has been a provider of change management solutions in the AS/400 world for some time. Aldon/CMS, the company’s flagship change management product suite, is said to effectively manage four different areas of the software development process, beginning first and foremost with the problem of version control.

As representatives from both Aldon and from Vision Solutions tell it, most programming today takes place over LAN and WAN network connections – or over the Internet itself -- and is rarely centralized. In the AS/400 space – where reliability and availability are key concerns -- coordinating the efforts of distributed teams of programmers has proven to be a complicated issue.

And then there’s the spectre of confusion introduced not only by virtue of the problem of geographical dispersion, but by the issue of time zone differences, as well. A development team in London, for example, may in some cases already be making changes to code that a development team in Los Angeles hasn’t yet had a chance to see, much less debug.

Consequently, claims Aldon president Daniel Magid, his company’s change management software solutions are complemented in turn – and especially in the AS/400 space -- by Vision Solutions’ high-availability products.

"With global software development, on individual projects, becoming more prevalent, Aldon recognizes that Aldon/CMS users on the IBM AS/400 platform need to consider a quality High Availability solution,” Magid says. “As a leading provider of high availability, Vision Solutions was an obvious choice and we are very excited to partner with them.”

On the change management side of things, Aldon/CMS’ version control feature is capable of managing multiple versions of an application development effort simultaneously. Aldon/CMS’ Network Management capabilities also automatically ensure the distribution and installation of software across a network, while its project management functionality can automate the process of tracking projects. And because end user feedback is of value during any development process, Aldon/CMS' user request management feature can facilitate communication between an IS department and its end users.

For its part, Vision Solutions’ contribution to the partnership, Vision Suite, leverages proprietary replication and data transportation technologies to facilitate highly available – in the neighborhood of 24x7 – information systems operations. Vision Solutions CEO Nicolaas Vlok says that the combination of his company’s high availability know-how with Aldon’s change management expertise will be a boon to AS/400 developers.

“We believe the synergy between the two companies and its products will provide a solid foundation for AS/400 application development - a quality change management system running on highly available servers," Vlok claims.

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