IBM’s long-promised AD/Cycle applications development environment with its core Repository Manager/MVS duly arrived yesterday – but none of the new products will be available before June next year. The aim of the array of new products, which include the software engineering offerings from IBM’s partners – and affiliates – Bachman Information Systems Inc, Index Technology Corp and KnowledgeWare Inc is to enable IBM customers to develop more comprehensive applications faster with fewer errors – and they will of course conform to the Systems Application Architecture schema that is designed to ease portability of applications between 370, AS/400 and PS/2 machines – and PL/I is added to the languages supported within SAA. Repository Manager/MVS – a version is promised for VM and for OS/400, but no word on OS/2 – is the single point of control for shared application development information and is to serve as the foundation for integration of information and function in AD/Cycle. It supports the definition, collection and control of application development information, including information about a business’s data processing environment, organisation, activities, processes and assets – but is available only for development and not at run time. It will be available in June 1990 at a one-time $94,000 on a Model Group 30 CPU to $243,000 on a Model Group 50n Hmong the other new products, Developmate is an enterprise modelling and prototyping tool, to be available in December 1990. There are two new versions of the Cross System Product applications generator designed to integrate with AD/Cycle. Cross System Product 3.3 runs on a PS/2 and creates an application definition – in June 1990. Cross System Product/370 Runtime Services generates program instruction code using the application definition, and will begin limited shipment in June 1990, with general availability in November. Software Analysis Test Tool is a verification and validation tool that enables the software developer to manage the testing process better – from June 1990; the Workstation Interactive Test Tool provides the capability to record and re-play interactive application test sessions for verification purposes automatically, and arrives in March. The Bachman/Re-Engineering Product Set, the Index Excelerator Series and KnowledgeWare’s Informa tion Engineering Workbench, all MS- DOS products, will be offered in versions for OS/2 Extended Edition. Over 30 firms said they planned tools for use with AD/Cycle, and in the US, IBM Systems Integration Di vision is establishing an applicat ion development consulting practice to provide support for customers in on-site planning, project manage ment and training – with the help of CAP Gemini America, Computer Po wer Group, Computer Task Group and GE Consulting. And IBM promised that it would one day provide know ledge-based support within SAA.
