- Object UK, UK distributor for software development tools
company Togethersoft, shipped version 4 of its Together software
modelling tool at the Application Development 2000 show. The
product includes Together Control Centre, which is designed for
team-based development of Web applications using Enterprise Java
Beans. New features include a code editor that automatically
completes code as it is entered, along with an animated
debugger.
The company also launched an accompaning Web site called
Together Communities. Essentially a portal for the data modelling
community, the Web site can be found along with evaluation
downloads of Together at http://www.objectuk.co.uk
- Poet Software, which made its name in the niche object software
market, is getting increasingly involved in online
business-to-business (B2B) marketplaces through its eCatalog
product. The company is considering moving into the area of hosted
catalogue provision. Poet's eCatalog software is designed to pull
data out of databases and ERP software, cleaning it and producing
catalogues that reflect each customer's pricing and product
selection. The online service would take companies' data straight
from the database, tailoring it into catalogues before sending it
to a B2B marketplace such as Ariba or Commerce One. Poet is also
planning to sign a contract with Commerce One to integrate its
e-commerce Catalogue environment with the online B2B trading
supplier's marketplace. The XML-based product already supports
Commerce One's xCBL XML-based Commerce Business Library, but the
firms will tie together systems integrator, sales and marketing
efforts.
- Alan Boxer, managing director of the UK electronic commerce
industry body eCentre UK, told software development consultants at
the Application Development Show to smarten up and be more
responsive to customers. He pointed to survey figures showing that
larger companies felt software solutions were inconsistent, with
untested code and "partial solutions dressed up as more". Over 60%
of larger companies said their software had been delivered late and
quality suffered if software was delivered on time. Some 55% said
information was not provided in an intelligible, jargon-free way,
and over 60% felt suppliers didn't embrace open systems, unless it
suited the suppliers' agendas.