Forte To Debut Scalable Transactional

Forte Software Inc. will unveil next week an application server designed to let developers build complex transactional Web applications. The company says its WebEnterprise Professional Edition application server will help customers create cross- platform applications.

The server features a wizard-based server engine that automatically generates HTML components. The server's application designer lets developers build transactional database applications by importing database schemas from any relational database from Informix, Ingres, Microsoft SQL Server, ODBC, Oracle, and Sybase. It also integrates with today's popular object architectures, such as ActiveX, C++, COM, Corba, JavaBeans, and IIOP. It also incorporates programming interfaces for Cobol, 3GL wrappers, MQ Series, and Tuxedo platforms.

Forte says most application servers on the market provide fast and easy solutions for building Web applications. But, the vendor says, companies aren't getting the support they need for scalability or integration with multiple platforms--and that's where WebEnterprise claims its competitive advantage. "Many (application servers) work with lightweight user groups of 30 to 50 users, but when that grows to 200, those companies' (products) get strained," says Ed Horst, VP of product marketing for Forte.

Still in beta, WebEnterprise will support Windows NT, Alpha NT, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, Digital Unix, and OpenVMS. Shipping in the fourth quarter, the server will sell for $24,990.