Apilink Software SA has a suite of system software that it claims it can read from any legacy information store in the world and bring simple HyperText Mark-up Language instructions back to the user. The system looks as if it might solve the problem of bringing basic reservation and booking systems, such as those based on teletext and videotext, up to date with the Internet. Apilink’s script language, which is called Apitalk, is a fourth generation language that access any database, searches for required information, and passes it on in normal HyperText form to the browser, according to vice-president Stuart Kenley. Cybermalls and airline reservation brokers can access a wide variety of information stores and collate the information – typically from differing and proprietary systems – into a single readable form for the user. Some [database scripting languages] can do this, but only from their own databases, Kenley said. The Apilink software is claimed to be ‘application neutral’ – which means it requires no extension to the browser as it converts the database into standard HyperText Mark-up Language. The software sits on most Unix systems and co-ordinates between the back-end browser and the front-end server. It sets up a channel to the back-end legacy database, reads remarks from the user via the browser, and tallies the two. In addition, it will handle remote File Transfer Protocol transfers as if the request was made directly from the browser. Unsurprisingly, Kenley’s team is looking at Java (interesting) with the view to generating Java code that derives from the hundreds of thousands of information sources around the world. Apilink is targeting financial World Wide Web banking, as well as travel agencies, on-line shopping , (if it gets more sophisticated we can make a major face-lift to that area as well) – and any reservations system in general.
