Java Technology in Action

When it comes to 'real-time enterprises', software vendor Applix, Inc. of Westboro, Mass. is an undisputed authority. Applix has built a successful $45 million company by providing advanced client/server software solutions for the real-time enterprise. In Applix's view, real-time enterprises are organizations that seek and gain competitive advantage by converting raw data into effective action, in the shortest possible time. With customers in capital markets, trading, retail banking, insurance, telecommunications and manufacturing, Applix clearly has insight into what it takes to automate mission-critical tasks and decision-making processes for real-time response.

Achieving these goals requires powerful software applications and tools, tailored to today's distributed, heterogeneous -- and evolving -- computing environments. And so it makes sense that client/server expert Applix was one of the first major software vendors to embrace Sun's advanced Java^TM computing platform, recentlyintroducing a new family of commercial application solutions built around it. Called Anyware, the product family grew out of the original Applix Espresso! project, launched in November 1995. When citing the number one reason the company chose Java platform as its development platform for Anyware, Applix President Jit Saxena says "Java technology's availability across the broadest number of computing platforms is a key advantage for us."

"Last year Applix embarked on an ambitious project to leverage the many benefits of Java technology. Our goal was to be the first independent software vendor to bring to any Java technology-enabled desktop -- be it a browser, Webtop or network computer -- the broadest collection of software applications from any single source, designed to enable the rapid deployment of business solutions in heterogeneous environments. The Anyware product family is the culmination of that effort," says Saxena.

Delivering Content in Context

Anyware is a unique family of client/server applications and tools that deliver interactive information access to any networked, Java technology-enabled desktop, regardless of physical location or configuration. Plus, Anyware delivers this information in context -- that is, in an intuitive, content-appropriate form.

As an example of content in context, imagine locating the numerical row/column data you're seeking and immediately being able to manipulate it in a familiar spreadsheet format, performing various modeling and analysis tasks to test different business scenarios. Thanks to the Java platform, these dynamic, interactive capabilities embedded in Anyware are a giant step ahead of the static, HTML pages now prevalent on the Web.

Another one of Anyware's advantages is its ability to provide information to users from the widest range of data sources available. Users can access interactive, real-time content at any location, including local, distributed and remote intranets, as well as over the Internet. Anyware supports more than 50 different data sources, ranging from data distribution services such as Reuters and Dow Jones/Telerate, to information stored in popular relational database formats, such as Oracle, Informix, Sybase and others.

A Declaration of Desktop Independence

The implications of the Java technology- based Anyware solution are far-reaching -- revolutionary, in fact. Reversing the trend toward proliferating platforms, the innovative Anyware employs Java technology's platform independence to create a universal interactive desktop, with a single, identical client deployed everywhere. The Anyware client runs on any desktop with a Java^TM Runtime Environment, typically in the form of a Java technology-enabled browser. In addition, Mark Yohai, Director of Business Development for Applix points out that "the Anyware client exemplifies the spirit of thin client computing," requiring less than 300 Kbytes of local storage space.

Leverage is Key

Drawing on many years of experience with client/server applications and data integration, Applix has fashioned a simple, elegant solution for moving and processing information across today's networks. Extending the proven capabilities of the leading Applixware software suite, company developers have added support for Java technology and remote clients. By leveraging Applix's core technology in this way, the company has combined a mature, client/server architecture with the interactive new medium of the Web.

Server-Centric Means Lower Costs

In reality, the Anyware Java platform-based client is an intelligent viewer applet that manages communications with the server, renders the application user interfaces locally, and handles all user interactions.

The Anyware Server software is essentially the base platform for all Anyware applications, publishing both content and interactive applications directly to the client. The distributed, Java technology-based architecture ensures that, whenever a client invokes an application, the requested application executes over the network -- or 'thin pipe' as Yohai calls it -- on the desktop.

Java platform's desktop independence and server-centric nature is a boon for corporate IS departments, as well as users. IS can centrally manage the Anyware applications and information access, reducing the need to distribute, install and maintain individual software modules on a large number of enterprise desktops. "Because the Java technology-based applications never require installation at the desktop, this dramatically reduces the time and cost to deploy enterprise applications" Yohai says. Applix anticipates that the centralized management afforded by the Java platform will lead to significant reductions in software cost of ownership for Anyware customers.

"At Applix, we think that Java platform's server-centric, light client/thin pipe model for deploying network-based applications is the most efficient, intuitive and cost-effective approach for interactive information access," explains Yohai.

The Anyware Application Family

Among the applications included under the Anyware umbrella are the following: Anyware WebSheet -- the first fully interactive, graphical spreadsheet designed for the Web. Totally portable and content-driven, Anyware WebSheet is compatible with all popular spreadsheet formats. Anyware Innovators Workbench -- an object-oriented, rapid applications development environment for the creation of real-time, Web-ready, GUI applications. The drag-and-drop IW also includes graphical charting capabilities and extensive data links.

Applix Helpdesk & Service -- incident management and call tracking modules, respectively. An interactive, Web-based customer service solution, based on the Applix Enterprise suite, and designed to improve the efficiency of online customer service.

Anyware? Everywhere

Applix has big plans for Anyware. Citing the ubiquity of the Java computing platform, Yohai anticipates that Anyware will effortlessly interoperate with a growing list of other applications written in the Java programming language, delivering even bigger benefits to Applix customers down the road.

Applix is also committed to ongoing development with the Java platform. Applix intends to fully exploit Java technologies on both the client and the server side of the Anyware solutions platform, including support for the emerging Java platform API standards and the latest versions of the Java platform, Yohai says. Enthusiastic about the future, Applix believes that Java technology's distributed, server-centric model is the ideal way to deploy network-based applications like Anyware -- and the best bet for realizing the true potential of the burgeoning Web. Long a promise of the Net, interactive information access takes a big leap forward with the combination of Java technology and Applix's Anyware.