rogress Software Corp. will begin shipping next month upgrades of its WebSpeed development tool and server.
The tool, called WebSpeed Workshop, is used to write applications that let users tap into client-server databases via a browser. These applications are used by businesses to share information in a secure manner with customers and suppliers. For example, distributors can have direct access to a manufacturer's inventory and order-entry systems. Or customers of a financial firm can track investments and check account records.
The
other upgraded component is the WebSpeed Transaction Server. Version 2.0 of both components will be available July 15.
Version 2.0 of WebSpeed will let developers work within a browser from any machine. This will save them from having to move back and forth between a Windows development and the Internet. The new version of the server will let developers build Internet applications that can handle more users. Version 2.0 of the server also will allow load balancing so data can be distributed among a cluster of servers without shutting any of them down.
WebSpeed 2.0 will support more operating systems than its predecessor, including Digital Equipment's Unix, Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX, and the Santa Cruz Operation's UnixWare. Like version 1.0, it will support Windows NT, Sun Solaris, and IBM's AIX.
The division of Cigna Corp. that handles corporate insurance policies has been using the beta version of WebSpeed 2.0 to develop extranet apps that will give outside insurance brokers access to policy data.
The extranet, scheduled to go online next month, will use WebSpeed 2.0 as middleware between a Netscape server running on Windows NT and a Progress database. The system could save brokers considerable time. "Currently, information has to be sent to brokers via mail or disk," says Patrick Depratti, senior systems designer for Cigna, in Bloomfield, Conn. "The information could be two or three days old by the time the broker gets it."
Initially, the extranet will let brokers view information on policies they administer. By the fall, Cigna expects to add apps developed with WebSpeed that will let brokers update account information and add policyholders via a browser.
Prices for WebSpeed Workshop 2.0 will range from $995 for a single user to $10,000 for 25 users. The new version of Transaction Server will be priced from $2,500 to $50,000.
Like version 1.0, the upgraded server will support native access to Oracle, DB2/400, and Progress databases. It will also allow Open Database Connectivity connect
ions from Windows NT to DB2/MVS and Informix databases.
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rogress Software Corp. will begin shipping next month upgrades of its WebSpeed development tool and server.
