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EnterpriseObjects.txt
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1995-06-12
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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.