Platinum Technology Inc has announced version 6.0 of its web- enabled rapid decision support development tool, Forest & Trees. The release is significant in that it is Platinum’s first 3D- enabled enterprise computing software product, and perhaps the first shot in an impending war with Computer Associates International Inc. Last week, CA bought two 3D content publishing companies, ViewPoint and 3name3D (CI No 3,528). CA’s reasoning was that before the company could sell more business software, that software had to be 3D-enabled. Platinum agrees, but where CA has chosen to buy libraries of object models, Platinum has invested heavily in two pioneers of virtual reality modeling language (VRML): InterVista and Cosmo. Now both companies must demonstrate that there is more to 3D visualization in the corporation than illicit Quake deathmatches on the departmental LAN. Forest & Trees bears the weight of these expectations. Platinum claims that its product lets users perform more thorough analyses of explicit information through drill down and navigation capabilities. It says the software will make development of decision support and executive information systems faster and simpler, and that such applications can then be deployed on the web.
Forest & Trees can invoke other decision support systems, including OLAP applications, and embed them in applications developed using Forest & Trees. That should help maximize legacy investment, which in turn could help offset the price of Forest & Trees. A development license starts at $895, with $295 charge per runtime license and a minimum of 25 seats.
