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Technology Stocks : OBJECT DESIGN Inc.: Bargain of the year!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bob Trocchi who wrote (2598)	12/5/1998 4:47:00 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 3194

December 07, 1998, Issue: 820 Section: Applications & Tools XML For Web Design, Data Access Wylie Wong Burlington, Mass. -- Object Design Inc. released software that lets VARs and users employ XML to build Web applications and access data from databases and mainframes. The XML data server product, called eXcelon, lies in the middle tier and automatically caches and distributes data in XML format, whether it is for Web applications, electronic commerce, enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management or customer-service applications, said officials at Object Design, Burlington. "It's a data-integration tool that sucks data in the back end and pumps it out in the front end in XML," said Kevin Dick, analyst at Kevin Dick Associates Inc., Palo Alto, Calif. The product can serve as an XML data-management system, Dick said. For example, two companies that want to use eXcelon for supply chain management can define the parameters for orders and invoice documents, Dick said. When companies exchange documents, eXcelon can disassemble the information and immediately put data in the appropriate places in the back end, such as order-management and accounting systems. Caching is important because it allows users to more quickly access data and saves wear and tear on the databases, Dick said. With the help of webMethods' B2B Server, eXcelon takes information from databases by developers such as SAP AG, The Baan Co., PeopleSoft Inc., Oracle Corp. and others and changes it into XML format, said Object Design executives. The product also uses a proposed XML language called XQL to query and retrieve data. The XML data server also lets users put data into a tool such as Microsoft Corp.'s Excel to generate reports. In fact, eXcelon gives VARs a chance to differentiate themselves because the product lets users leverage legacy data, said Bill Gougler, managing director at Thoughtworks Inc., a Chicago-based systems integrator. "The key factor is with XML," he said. "I know I can get to the data from a browser and manipulate the data." Object Design plans a public beta of eXcelon next month and expects to ship the final product later that quarter. It will cost between $15,000 and $20,000. Copyright ® 1998 CMP Media Inc.

To: Bob Trocchi who wrote (2598)	12/7/1998 2:46:00 AM
From: hasbeen101	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3194

I know I've raaised this topic before on the thread, but here it goes again... . I really wonder if ObjectStore is too expensive, or at least if the pricing and marketing models are wrong. I was speaking to a prospective user of my company's software today, and he was genuinely shocked at the price of ObjectStore. The scary thing is that every prospect I talk to seems deterred by ObjectStore's price. Pricing for developers is also very high (my ObjectStore development license cost me more than the computer I run it on). I really think this is a big issue, how about you?