Application software developer Wall Data Inc has unveiled its new Cyberprise web application server product line as part of its strategy to break away from its reputation as a host access client vendor towards offering a broader range of server-based data access products. The new software is designed to enable users to web enable their information systems by accessing and publishing data held on legacy systems. The Cyberprise product line comprises three main components. The host products are designed to provide access to information and applications on host systems via any browser. Wall Data is also pushing a range of tool products to enable developers and VARs to create customized graphical user interfaces, migrate client/server applications to the web and build web applications that connect to host transaction applications. Finally, Cyberprise data products can be used to publish database queries and reports, database applications, spreadsheets and word processing documents to the web. Wall Data promises web access to any AS400, IBM Mainframe, VAX, and Unix system as well as data held on ODBC compliant databases. Chief operating officer Kevin Vitale says it will use ActiveX controls in Intranet environments where bandwidth is not an issue and Java Beans and HTML to publish over Extranets where bandwidth is more limited. Vitale commented: we are turning the whole ship in the direction of the internet. He says the company, which had net revenues of $140.9m last year, derives 80% of its revenues from its software business and the remaining 20% from services. He says on the software side most revenues come from the company’s Rhumba personal computer to host software (CI No 3,332) and around 5% from its Arpeggio Live information publishing server software unveiled in November (CI No 3,291). Vitale warns that 1998 will be a year of transition for the company as it seeks to move from LANs and WANs to the internet market. Wall Data expects primary competition to come from Netscape’s soon to be announced application server but describes that as a repackaging of products from its acquisition of Kiva (CI No 3,297). Vitale concedes that IBM Corp’s host on demand offering has similar web to host capabilities and that those of Business Objects and Cognos do similar things on the reporting side but claims that it is the first company with an industrial strength product suite. The Cyberprise web application server will be available on Windows NT in March with Unix versions for HP-UX, AIX and Sun Solaris due to be released sometime in the second half of the year. Pricing is on a concurrent user basis: a single user license will cost a couple of hundred dollars depending the number of extensions and custom configurations.
