From CBS Marketwatch:
Object Design To Concentrate On XML Server Software -- Object-Oriented Database Vendor Is Getting A Boost From E-Commerce
SATURDAY, JANUARY 29 2000 1:26 AM EST
Jan. 28, 2000 (InformationWeek - CMP via COMTEX) -- Object databases are getting a new lease on life thanks to the need for better E-commerce technologies. This week, Object Design Inc., one of the original object-oriented database vendors, will unveil plans to focus on its Excelon line of Extensible Markup Language server software. Object Design's ObjectStore database provides the underlying technology for the Excelon line. The 12-year-old company will also change its name to Excelon Corp.
Such moves might appear to be a death knell for object databases. But industry observers say the market for E-commerce software is giving sales of object database technology a boost. "An object-oriented database is a good place to store XML data," says Anne Thomas Manes, a senior analyst with the Patricia Seybold Group.
When object databases first appeared, vendors predicted they would become more prevalent than relational databases. That didn't happen,
It is very important to understand why not.
but now object databases are finding their way into new applications. They are more effective than relational databases for storing complex data types such as video and graphics, and they're better than relational databases at handling the huge numbers of simultaneous users E-commerce Web sites can attract.
Nationwide Insurance Co., in Columbus, Ohio, used Excelon Dynamic Application Platform to build a portal that lets the company's sales force remotely access actuarial and other insurance applications, consolidating disparate data as XML.
EXLN is moving into new markets
This week, Object Design will unveil its Excelon B2B Integration Server, which will let companies with information systems using different versions of XML communicate and conduct business electronically. The software will ship later this quarter, starting at $75,000.
Excelon will also unveil XML software targeting vertical markets such as the insurance, banking, and health-care industries that runs on top of the other Object Design products.
"The growth in the object database marketplace is going to be in business-to-business," says Steve Lafferty, marketing director at Object Design. He says Excelon-related revenue is doubling quarter to quarter,
This is way above anything I have estimated. The wildest claim I ever made was doubling every year.
while sales of ObjectStore-which the company will continue to sell-is growing by only 10% to 15% annually.
Objectstore will only be supported as a standalone program because of the existing installed base. The great idea is to pull that base into Excelon configuration so that you get Javelin sales to old customers. Given the new marketing team, I'm sure that's what they have in mind.
In February, Versant Corp. is expected to unveil enhancements to its object database product line targeting E-business infrastructure applications. CEO Nick Ordon says he expects sales of Versant's object database products for E-business to increase two- to threefold this year and exceed 20% of the company's total sales.
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Excelon's New Product Lineup
Dynamic Application platform 2.0
- Toolkit for building XML E-business applications
B2B Integration Server
- Integrates business partners' applications
- Supports various dialects of XML
This is possible since the company went to great lengths to make Objectstore compatible with everyone's system. They had to do this because they were at a competitive disadvantage even though OBDMS is 100 times more efficient than RDBMS when data type complexity threshold is reached. On the Net this is the case.
E-solutions Services Organization
- Provides vertical-industry software
- Targets the banking, insurance, health-care, and manufacturing industries
This is a significant change from the target markets of the past.
DATA: OBJECT DESIGN
By: Rick Whiting
Copyright 2000 CMP Media Inc. |
