Cast Iron To Update Application Integration Tool

Cast Iron Systems, a maker of application integration appliances, this month is expected to announce it has upgraded its main product with security improvements and better support for large data files.

Companies engaged in business intelligence projects use the Cast Iron appliance, called Application Router 1000, to gather customer data from multiple repositories and bring it together into a single data mart or enterprise application. The appliance is also designed to alert users to duplicate data records.

On the security front, the new version of Application Router will feature HTTPS-based access to data through a Web management console, password protection, and connectivity to applications through a secure file transfer protocol.

The updated tool also will be able to handle large XML and flat files. It will have the ability to "split" large files into smaller pieces in orchestrations, said Cast Iron CEO Fred Meyer.

Cast Iron charges a flat $75,000 for a version of Application Router that has full internal hardware redundancy, and $15,000 for a smaller version of the appliance. Annual maintenance is 18 percent.