From: Darren_Smith@NeXT.COM (Darren Smith) Subject: NeXT INTRODUCES ENTERPRISE OBJECTS FRAMEWORK Date: 25 Jun 1994 13:49:34 -0400 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Karen Logsdon NeXT Computer, Inc. 415/780-3786 or Charlotte Penner Copithorne & Bellows 415-975-2225 NeXT INTRODUCES ENTERPRISE OBJECTS FRAMEWORK Customers Can Create and Reuse Business Objects that Process Information Stored in Industry-Standard Relational Databases SAN FRANCISCO - June 21, 1994 - NeXT Computer, Inc. today unveiled Enterprise Objects Framework, a breakthrough technology that brings the benefits of object-oriented programming to database application development. With Enterprise Objects Frameworks, which consists of both an architecture and a suite of products, customers can now construct reusable business objects that combine business logic with data stored in industry-standard relational databases. Enterprise Objects Framework allows developers to build reusable business and application-level objects that are independent of the underlying data structure. It is the industry's first framework for constructing business objects that can be distributed throughout an enterprise network. "NeXT is again demonstrating its lead in object-oriented technology, by bridging the gap between object-oriented business modelling and relational databases, " said Jnan Dash, vice president of product strategy and technology of Oracle Corporation. "Enterprise Objects Framework merges the benefits of object persistence with the power and reliability of a relational database such as Oracle." The product's three main benefits are: 7 Seamlessly integrating object and relational database technologies. Enterprise Objects Framework delivers a robust infrastructure for providing object persistence in industry standard relational databases without requiring developers to write a single line of code to move data between their objects and the database. 7 Minimizing database application development and maintenance costs. Using the product, developers can build feature-rich, graphical database applications with reusable software components that tightly couple business information with the business policies for properly managing that information. 7 Enabling cooperative client/server computing by leveraging NeXT's Distributed and Portable Distributed Objects technology to distribute business objects. Alpha Customers Find New Product Enables Developers Logibec, a systems integrator in Montreal, Canada, has been working with the alpha version of Enterprise Objects Framework. The company plans to use the product to develop reusable business objects for healthcare information systems and to develop and market applications that require database portability and user interface independence. "We are very impressed by Enterprise Objects Framework because it is the first product to advance object orientation by enabling our developers to construct applications using software components that directly implement our business model," said Real Forte, director of R&D at Logibec. A New Way of Thinking: Enterprise Objects Framework Traditionally, developers have taken a 4GL or screen-centric approach to constructing database applications. Developers determine what data should be displayed in a given data entry screen and business logic is added to screens incrementally. For example, a customer's credit information may be stored in several tables in a database and accessed through the business logic written into each screen. Using this approach, a simple change in business policy often calls for reprogramming multiple screens. As a result, complex applications written using 4GLs can be very costly to maintain, and business policies tend to become inconsistent between screens within even a single application. Enterprise Objects Frameworks provides a fundamentally different approach to constructing applications. Using a business-centric approach, developers transform a business analysis model directly into reusable software components that encapsulate business data along with the business policies for managing that information. Application screens simply become a means for viewing business objects, they do not contain the business logic in the actual screen. Therefore, as business requirements change, the policies in effect for a particular business object can easily be redefined and every screen used to view or interact with that business object automatically incorporates the new policies. "When you have a bunch of different ways to update customer information like we do, the maintenance costs of 4GL development can be significant," said Tyler Gingrich, director of software engineering for Vanguard Software, who also evaluated the product's alpha version. "With Enterprise Objects Framework, we'll be able to drastically cut our maintenance costs by creating business objects that enforce business policies across all of our applications." The Framework's data scheme independence enables developers to design business objects that incorporate business logic once and reuse those objects to manage enterprise-wide operations, even if the data is stored differently in various divisions of an organization. With this new product, customers will also be able to reuse customizable, vertical industry business objects supplied by specialists, even if their organization stores data differently than competitors do. "Enterprise Objects give developers the richness and flexibility of a true object model while allowing them to take advantage of the performance, security and transaction management facilities provided by relational databases," said Felix Lin, database product manager at NeXT Computer, Inc. Product Components, Pricing and Availability Enterprise Objects Framework consists of three modules: The Enterprise Object Modeler, the actual framework utilized by applications, and the different adapters needed to interface with commercial database engines. The Enterprise Object Modeler is used for two things: it is used by developers to build Enterprise Objects (NeXT's term for business objects); and it creates a mapping structure that sits between these Enterprise Objects and the databases used by the application. If the structure of the database changes, the Enterprise Object Modeler can be used to reconfigure the mapping structure. The framework enables Enterprise Objects to run on the NEXTSTEP operating system and is required for all systems on which Enterprise Objects Framework-built application will be deployed. This runtime module is available for NEXTSTEP today and will be available for PDO early next year, enabling Enterprise Objects to be deployed on servers running HP-UX, SUN OS, Solaris and Digital OSF/1 operating systems. Enterprise Objects Framework includes an adapter layer which provides database independence by enabling the framework to communicate to a variety of RDBMSs, transparent to Enterprise Objects. Today, there are database adapters available from NeXT for Oracle and Sybase. In the future, adapters for many other databases will be available from NeXT, database vendors and third party developers. Enterprise Objects Framework is being distributed to more than 1000 conference attendees at NEXTSTEP EXPO today. The product will ship in the fourth quarter of this year and costs $299. NeXT Computer, Inc. NeXT develops and markets the award-winning NEXTSTEP object-oriented software for industry-standard computer architectures. Customers use NEXTSTEP's advanced object environment to rapidly develop and deploy custom, enterprise-wide, client/server applications. NeXT is headquartered in Redwood City, California, and has offices in North America, London, Paris, Munich and Tokyo. # # # # NeXT, the NeXT logo, NEXTSTEP, PDO, Portable Distributed Objects, the PDO logo and Enterprise Objects Framework are registered trademarks of NeXT Computer, Inc. All other trademarks mentioned belong to their respective owners.