JBuilder Project Preview: InnoVal Systems Solutions, Inc.

JBuilder
Developer Support
Newsgroups
Case Studies
White Papers
In the News
Books
Product Manuals
Press Releases
Previous Versions

INPRISE
About INPRISE
Corporate Info
World Wide
Where to Buy
Developer Support
Partners
Professional
Services
Product Manuals
Case Studies
Tech Corner
Books
Events & Seminars
Customer Service
Year 2000
INPRISE Jobs
Pressroom

INPRISE Programs
Education
Certification
Product Training
ESP Program

Project Preview

INNOVAL SYSTEMS SOLUTIONS, INC.

COMPANY BACKGROUND
InnoVal Systems Solutions, Inc. is a commercial software development company producing OS/2 and Java software for the corporate, SOHO, and individual users markets. The company is located in Harrison, New York.

SITUATION
InnoVal needed to build a professional, full-function e-mail package that could be implemented on any platform, with special emphasis on the multi-platform environments frequently encountered in corporations and universities. Such environments can encompass systems from Windows to UNIX to Macintosh to mainframes, and all operating systems between. The company knew that, by producing the new e-mail package in Java, its multi-platform customers would be able to minimize the issues and costs involved in supporting many different platforms.

SOLUTION
Evaluating Java tools to develop the new system, InnoVal managers considered Symantec's Visual Café, IBM's Visual Age, Microsoft's Visual J++, and Inprise's Borland JBuilder. JBuilder was the only available tool built on JDK 1.1, which InnoVal needed for its advanced capabilities. In addition, JBuilder delivered 100% Pure Java applications, so the "Write Once, Run Anywhere" goal could be realized, and the system could be constructed in the shortest time possible. As a final selection consideration, developers much preferred the JBuilder look and feel and its ease of use. They found that the Borland and KL Group controls, the compiler, and the debugger contributed to rapid application development. They especially liked the Active Help feature and loved the JAR-building utility.

Today, InnoVal has customers using J Street Mailer on at least eight major platforms, in both individual client and network environments. And many of those customers are dual-boot users, working for a while in OS/2 for one task, for example, then switching to Linux for another task, all while depending on a single e-mail system. InnoVal's customers report that not only is cross-platform compatibility important now but that it will significantly increase in importance in the future.

Application Screen Shot

TECHNOLOGY

Platforms

Currently implemented on Windows 95 & NT, OS/2, Solaris, AIX, Linux, MacOS, Java OS

DEVELOPMENT

Tool used		JBuilder Client/Server
Other tools evaluated		Symantec's Visual Café, IBM's Visual Age, Microsoft's Visual J++
Timeline		3 developers produced the first production release of J Street Mailer in 7 months

CUSTOMER COMMENTS
"We found JBuilder to be extremely robust and very scalable. That's important because J Street Mailer is a big application. We compile upwards of 250 classes, and we're combining upwards of twice that amount with the core Java controls, the Borland controls, the KL Group classes, and Sun's HotJava component. It's a sophisticated, extremely advanced application, and it's fast. We couldn't have done it without JBuilder."

—Dan Porter, President,
InnoVal Systems Solutions, Inc.