Secant Technologies Inc debuts its Extreme multi-tier object application server next month and is pulling no punches about its claims for the technology. The Cleveland, Ohio-based company believes it offers the most highly-integrated, pre-packaged environment for assembling, deploying and managing C++ and Java applications across Corba networks. The Extreme server includes a persistent object manager for C++ and Java and object-to- relational mapping for which the company was founded in 1995, a code generator, object request broker, OLTP monitor, web server support, security, two-phase commit, events and out-of-the-box support for Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) with the entity functionality that’s missing from the initial EJB release. It doesn’t offer programming tools per se but is integrated with Rational Rose’s modeling tools. It supports C++, Java and web clients – with support for client side Visual Basic, Delphi and other COM components due in December – and Oracle, Sybase, SQL Server and DB2 back-end databases. Microsoft MTS and DCOM support will follow next year. The server starts at $30,000 per server CPU and $2,600 per developer seat. The server is available initially for Windows NT with HP-UX and Solaris releases to follow in September and October, AIX next February, AS/400 in March. Secant says it can leverage existing TP monitors and ORBs where they exist and figures its key application and database server competition is Weblogic, Gemstone, Persistence (which has licensed its object-relation mapping technology to Sun Microsystems Inc), Sun’s NetDynamics, SilverStream, Bluestone, Inprise, Iona, BEA, Oracle, Netscape and IBM. None, however, offers its range of services, Secant says. It discounts the likes of Forte and Dynasty as cumbersome and proprietary. The 93% employee-owned company claims to be profitable and says it will seek its first venture capital funding in the first quarter of next year to spearhead and marketing drive. Its first distributors will be in Germany and Australia. á
