Rapid-Gen Systems Ltd has launched the immodestly named Genius Solution of integrated software packages for DEC and IBM environments. It comprises rapidGenius, caseGenius, simplyGenius, corporateGenius, infoGenius, laserGenius, and linkerGenius. The first is based on RapidGen software launched over a year ago, and it incorporate several features like computer aided software engineering technology, a data encylopaedia and database. CaseGenius, described as an UpperCase tool, is claimed to provide facilities needed during the design stage of a project by simplifying the documentation, design and building of systems. SimplyGenius provides the programming environment via a menu and function key-based machanism. It can be used for creating and modifying programs and because it is menu-based, doesn’t require extensive knowledge of language syntax. CorporateGenius provides a framework for generating reports from hierarchical data structures. It defines corporate entities and owner-member relationships and then rolls the data up into a report. InfoGenius is the user documentation and it is derived from the same inputs as program code. LaserGenius generates hard copy printouts, and Rapid-Gen is planning to release versions with multiple graph output, screen-based laser forms and a laser forms editor. The last module is linkerGenius which provides a transparent interface to standard file structures and a variety of databases that includes Rdb, Oracle, Ingres and DB2. The London-based company says that for a typical VAXcluster installation it will cost around UKP50,000 and a 3090 installation is nearer the UKP60,000 mark. A Unix-based version is in the pipeline, although Rapid-Gen’s technical director says that Posix-compliance is probably more important to MVS users.
