New York software house Information Builders Inc is trying to move away from its traditional image as an IBM Corp mainframe specialist to reposition itself as an open systems-based client-server company. To this end, it has launched the Adaptive Open Information, AOI, architecture – an extended version of its Enterprise Data Access/SQL middleware that sits above the network and operating system and provides a raft of gateways and external ports to both Information Builders own and other third party products. The firm has made its Adaptive Open Information application programming interfaces available to any interested parties. Adaptive Open Information comprises a five-tiered modular architecture that has been under development for the past three years. Each of the five tiers are claimed to be independent of the rest – this mix-and-match approach means that customers can swap their hardware and software components around in heterogeneous networks, under different client-server configurations, without affecting other parts of the system. The five tiers comprise a user interface layer, which supports both character and graphical front-ends, such as Microsoft Corp’s Windows 3.0 and the Open Software Foundation’s Motif; a user language, such as Information Builder’s Focus fourth generation language, for accessing and manipulating applications and data; a communications or middleware layer, that handles protocols, packet transmission and compression; a data view tier that provides users with a generic view of enterprise data, mapping relationships and the like; and a database management system access layer. Information Builders eventually intends Adaptive Open Information to support up to 35 hardware environments and provide interfaces to 100 front-end products and 50 databases. It says it is currently about two-thirds of the way through this project, and will announce the availability of more interfaces in the fourth quarter of this year. The product is available now in Europe, but won’t be announced in the US for another month. Pricing is dependent on the configuration, but no details were available. And the first quarter of 1994 should see announcements on a re-architected version of EDA/SQL, aimed at the workstation and desktop markets. Release 3, which is due to go into beta test next year, should also ensure that users don’t need to know where data is being held to access it. Finally, Information Builders has now converted its Focus proprietary language to Digital Equipment Corp’s Alpha AXP RISC and to Unix System Laboratories’ Tuxedo System/T.
