J Connects and Third Party Products -- SYSTEM21



A question was raised about the use of J Connects with 3rd Party products.
THe J Connects piece of the puzzle is a subset of the Active Architecture
picture overall, which includes XML as well as J Connects.

Vertex was mentioned as one example or an interface that might be impacted.
Active Architecture will not be used for Vertex at present. It will
continue to be an RPG based interface. This interface is maintained in some
situations by the Geac American distribution organization.

In the labs we have been working on a replacement for our RPG based EDI
interface module. This involves using J Connects in conjunction with a
product from IBM called MQIntegrator. This IBM product allows for rules
based mapping between different XML messages. We have completed initial
alpha testing on simple transactions and are in the process of creating
more complex transactions. This will allow for the manipulation of EDI
messages through XML, leading also the ability to integrate System 21 to
Biztalk and other XML derived communication providers. Harbinger themselves
are moving away from the EDI translation business on an AS/400  and are
promoting a portal which they hope to have their customer base port to this
year by year end. We are discussing how to work with them at present in
this new scenario. However, one possibility is that we would send an XML
message to thier portal. We will be interested in potential beta candidates
once we get the EDI pieces a little farther along. This will need 3.5.2b as
the platform for betas.

The Nutech Viewpoint warehousing product is a competing technology to the
Actived Architecture. However, if it is working it is difficult to see why
anyone would displace it.

Varsity Logistics is a potential for integration through the Active
Architecture.

With third party integration and Active Architecture in general we have
proven the technology internally, we have integration on beta test at
customer sites. We are not intending to build interfaces to lots of
products in the product center but to deliver XML as the integration
vehicle with a tool set to allow for integration to be built for many
different packages. To facilitate which messages we need when we are asking
for input from our distribution operations on which XML messages should be
created first. I would offer the same thing to the list, which XML derived
messages would be of value to your integration requirements overall?

The e.supply application that was asked about is not a supported product
center development. It is supported by the distribution companies. We are
providing links to Websphere Commerce Server as an example of how we can
integrate e commerce applications using Active Architecture.

We are also developing new applications in conjunction with the IBM labs,
based in Java, which will be additional modules that will work with System
21. These developments will be the subject of several announcements and
articles in the near future. We anticipate that the availability of Java
based applications, structured as EJB's, whose functional content exceeds
System 21 today, will represent a more appealing deployment of server side
logic to support web and other integration efforts. We are working closely
with IBM to ensure that we are able to take quick advantage of the
evolution of the AS/400 into a java server. Please note that we are aiming
these new modules at the generic and food verticals initially. There are no
plans at present to build these across Drinks or Style.

We are going to beta this summer on these new products with GA in early
2001. More detailed information will be coming out in the not too distant
future.

I hope this helps.


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