Aspect Development Announces Explore '98 Architecture
Leading CSM Solution Supports Both OMG and Microsoft Distributed Object Systems, Standard Object Oriented Programming Languages, All Web Languages And Open API's to Integrate With Any Desktop or Enterprise Application
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Aspect Development, Inc., (Nasdaq: ASDV - news), the worldwide leader of Component and Supplier Management (CSM) today announced details of the company's open, three-tier distributed application architecture supporting all current industry standards for enterprise applications. The Aspect Explore '98 architecture has been designed to utilize Microsoft's Component Object Management (COM), the Object Management Group's Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) standards, as well as Java's Remote Method Invocation (RMI) -- to allow complete flexibility in enterprise deployments and integration with desktop and enterprise applications.
''Aspect's state-of-the-art object-relational server is not limited to a particular distributed object system or architecture,'' said Jim Althoff, Aspect Development chief technology officer. ''Our CSM customers can adopt any standard -- from Microsoft, the Object Management Group (OMG), or Java. Explore technology will support them all.''
Aspect's three-tiered client-server architecture supports open standards in all three product tiers. The client supports desktop integration with virtually any application user interface; the middle-tier object relational server supports standards for distributed database objects as well as application programming interfaces (API's) to interface with other enterprise applications and workflows; and the underlying database built on the Oracle relational database management system (RDBMS) delivers rapid, open access to data that can be replicated.
Desktop Integration - OLE
Explore's client software is designed to provide rapid, intuitive access to the data managed by Explore, as well as various decision support and analysis tools accessible with simple point-and-click commands. The Explore client can be easily integrated with other desktop applications such as MS Excel, CAD tools or drawing applications using Microsoft COM/OLE. Delivered through full native client support on MS Windows, UNIX, and web browser support on any platform, Aspect's standard client interfaces ensure that all types of employees can use the system.
Object Relational Server -- Distributed Object System Support with CORBA
and DCOM
The Explore object-relational server marries the intuitive organization and search capabilities of an object data model with the robust database functionality of a relational database system. As an example of applying an object-relational approach, Aspect's standard classification scheme is modeled in Explore as a hierarchical grouping of part classes and subclasses with associated attributes, enabling even the most intricate component to be easily classified and managed, while being stored in the underlying Oracle database.
Explore supports distributed object standards -- including both CORBA from OMG and DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model) from Microsoft -- the two most important distributed object systems used within enterprises today. CORBA and DCOM provide interoperability between objects that may be built in different languages and/or running on different machines, enabling integration with any other client-server system, including email, spread sheets and proprietary databases.
Open API's support VB, Java, and C++
Explore can be integrated with other enterprise systems using open API's that are written using today's most popular object oriented (OO) programming languages: Visual Basic, Java, and C++. These API's enable Aspect to easily integrate with any enterprise application -- ERP, PDM, and/or CAD systems.
To tailor the CSM enterprise solution to individual customer environments, the Aspect Explore object-relational server also supports the development of custom functions to perform a specific customer requirement -- delivering maximized extensibility at minimal cost.
Open Accessibility with RDBMS Database
Based on the Oracle RDBMS, the Explore database is the foundation for an open, secure, standards-based CSM system that can be deployed enterprise-wide. RDBMS support is essential for high performance data management, ease of administration, interoperability, enterprise replication, and standards support (SQL, ODBC, etc). Unlike proprietary object oriented databases, Explore offers both open access as well as data integrity to CSM customers with Oracle's relational core functionality.
When customers require support of multiple server sites, Explore provides sophisticated server replication of CSM data. Customers can configure multiple enterprise sites to provide geographically diverse access to enterprise data, while administering localized content and control. With the Explore CSM replication capability, users can extend the value of CSM to all areas of the corporation -- different users, divisions, business lines, and vertical suppliers.
About Aspect's CSM Solution
Component and Supplier Management, or CSM, is Aspect's breakthrough inbound supply chain management solution. The system is a bridge between Design and Procurement, allowing both organizations to share comprehensive, organized and current information on parts, cost, lead time, quality, and suppliers-saving manufacturers millions of dollars a year. Explore provides sophisticated data modeling and data capturing tools to model, cleanse, enrich, and integrate information supplied through legacy databases, to be used within an enterprise CSM implementation.
Over 125 of the world's largest manufacturers are using Aspect's component and supplier management system to reduce product development and procurement costs. The heart of the Aspect CSM system is a rich central repository of information on parts and suppliers coupled with a powerful search engine and diagnostic tools for analyzing information. Aspect's CSM delivers an impressive return on investment, measured typically in the tens of millions of dollars per year for large manufacturers.
About Aspect Development, Inc.
Aspect Development Inc., the leading worldwide provider of Component and Supplier Management (CSM) solutions, develops, markets and supports enterprise client/server software and reference data products that enable manufacturers to improve product development and business processes through CSM. Aspect's products enable rapid search, comparison and selection of optimal components and suppliers, promote the reuse of design and manufacturing knowledge, support the consolidation of suppliers, and facilitate automation of the related design and procurement processes. |
