webMethods Advances Composite Application Development
webMethods Access delivers a personal workspace for creating, managing, and monitoring business processes
FAIRFAX, Va. -- Feb. 16, 2006 -- webMethods, Inc., a leading business integration and optimization software company, today formally unveiled webMethods Access, a newly available component of webMethods Fabric(TM) that provides enterprises with a powerful framework for the rapid assembly of new processes from existing applications and Web services.
Key elements of this composite application development environment offered by webMethods Access include a host of powerful visual assembly tools, a sophisticated user management system that includes advanced personalization capabilities and role-based security, and out-of-the-box collaboration, community and document management features.
webMethods Access can be used to simplify and speed the creation of unified user interfaces and customized business dashboards, allowing users to define their own “personal workspace” for accessing and organizing transactional business applications and data in both structured and unstructured forms. More specifically, it provides a standards-based presentation layer so users can intuitively visualize, navigate, and manage the specific applications and services underlying their key business processes while providing them with centralized access to the diverse range of information, organizations, and people at the core of these processes. As a result, it can be used to address the user interaction requirements associated with a service-oriented architecture (SOA) in a manner consistent with the collaborative way in which people and businesses actually operate.
"Service-oriented architecture is proving to be a more reliable, efficient, and cost-effective means for delivering new solutions to the business faster," said Peter Carlson, vice president, product development, webMethods, Inc. "Recognizing these strategic benefits, many enterprises today are looking to increase their payback by putting more power in the hands of end-users. Unfortunately, most SOA investments to date have focused on the back-office infrastructure and as a result, fail to address the opportunity on the user's desktop. webMethods Access fills this gap by bringing users more completely into the SOA equation, allowing them to take advantage of the latest enabling technologies for implementing new business solutions faster while at the same time enhancing their ability to collaborate with people related to their job functions."
Specific features offered by webMethods Access include:
Application assembly tools that build upon the Eclipse IDE framework to provide developers with an easy-to-use, feature-rich development platform. Through the availability of a visual page developer as a drag-and-drop interface for assembling composite applications, users can enact design-time configurations of application flow, application wiring and other configuration settings. Developers can also call upon the many widely available Eclipse-based portlets that have already been created.
Visual user interface tools that streamline the creation of new applications from existing assets while also enabling application developers to quickly customize the look and feel of their applications to conform to corporate branding and governance requirements. Portlet and user-specific attributes, data, events and properties can also be "wired" to other objects or functions within an application, which can then be used to dynamically drive information displays or business processes.
The enhanced ability to create dynamic, user-based knowledge centers that combine social bookmarking and keyword tagging with content aggregated from RSS feeds and document management repositories as well as simplified collaboration around team-based projects through the use of a Wiki feature.
Sophisticated user-, group-, and role-management features that eliminate the need to replicate or synchronize user and group data through integration with other user directories, such as Microsoft Active Directory and LDAP. This cross-directory model also allows for a wider range of personalization options and forms the backbone of the role-based security model. Other features included advanced personalization that can be dynamically rendered at runtime and single sign-on via SAML.
Embedded support for a number of key standards, including OASIS Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP) Producer and Consumer, JSR-168, and SAML.
For existing users of “My webMethods,” webMethods Access offers added abilities to further customize display as well as the enhanced ability to package together various dashboard, monitoring, and reporting tools in the format that best meets specific business requirements. “My webMethods” is the embedded user interface for webMethods Fabric, providing single-screen access to all of the product suite's integration, process modeling and management, and real-time monitoring components. webMethods Access also offers these users a convenient interface for exposing functionality and data offered by the “My webMethods” interface to additional, third-party applications and portals, and for importing data and features into the “My webMethods” environment.
webMethods Access is offered as an enhancement to webMethods Fabric, the company's flagship product suite for total business integration, and is available immediately from webMethods. webMethods Fabric delivers within an industry-leading SOA a comprehensive array of tools for integrating disparate systems and trading partner networks, managing complex business processes and proactively monitoring service levels from both an IT and business perspective with predictive analytics helping users anticipate and respond to real-time change.
About webMethods, Inc.
webMethods provides business integration software to integrate, assemble, and optimize available IT assets to drive business process productivity. webMethods delivers an innovative, enterprise-class business integration platform that incorporates proven integration technology with next-generation capabilities into one interoperable set of tools that delivers a unique combination of efficiency, agility and control. More information about the company can be found at http://www.webMethods.com.
The webMethods name and logo are registered trademarks of, and webMethods Fabric is a trademark of, webMethods, Inc. All other marks mentioned are trademarks or service marks of their respective companies.