Progress Software Launches New Subsidiary; PeerDirect Announces First Product Suite for Distributed Enterprise Applications.Business & High Tech Editors BEDFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 2002 PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise Suite Allows Companies to Radically Improve the Availability, Performance and Reliability of Business Applications PeerDirect Corporation, a new operating company operating company A business that engages in transactions with outsiders. of Progress Software Corporation (Nasdaq: PRGS PRGS Phosphoribosylglycinamide Synthetase ), today announced the immediate availability of PeerDirect(TM) Distributed Enterprise, the first product suite that enables companies to deploy data and applications directly to remote offices and mobile workers. This capability lets remote users enjoy the same application performance and availability as workers in the central corporate office. Most business applications today are centralized cen·tral·ize v. cen·tral·ized, cen·tral·iz·ing, cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To draw into or toward a center; consolidate. 2. , requiring mobile and remote workers to have continuous network connectivity to a data center. This model of application deployment has two significant limitations: mobile workers can't access critical data when they're in the field and need it most; and network outages A network outage is an interruption in availability of a system due to the communication failure of the network. Network outages cost money directly to the organisation (for example Banks, Airlines, Online Transaction companies); or cost money indirectly to customers ISP, and performance problems can prevent remote business locations from accessing critical applications, thus disrupting operations. Furthermore, slow response times and other issues associated with network latency See latency. can create a poor user experience that discourages application use. In contrast, PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise allows organizations to move business applications to regional offices, onto desktops and even notebook computers, creating superior information flow across the enterprise so applications and data are available when workers need them. With PeerDirect, previously centralized applications can be used by remote workers when disconnected from the network, just as if they were online and connected to the data center. PeerDirect implements distributed application An application made up of distinct components running in separate runtime environments, usually on different platforms connected via a network. Typical distributed applications deployment while retaining centralized control 1. In air defense, the control mode whereby a higher echelon makes direct target assignments to fire units. 2. In joint air operations, placing within one commander the responsibility and authority for planning, directing, and coordinating a military operation or group/category of over the applications and data, avoiding the significant problems and high IT support costs associated with earlier attempts to gain the benefits of distributed applications. PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise accomplishes this by synchronizing synchronizing, n a technique that a therapist uses to coordinate his or her breath with that of the client; builds trust and establishes relationship. , distributing and replicating corporate data and applications across multiple locations, while providing IT departments with a centralized console for easy administration. "PeerDirect enables us to deploy applications and data directly to our field offices, leveraging our unique software architecture and platform for maximum business impact," said Albert Prast, chief information officer at RoTech, Inc., a leading supplier of durable medical equipment Durable medical equipment is a term of art used to describe certain Medicare benefits, that is, whether Medicare may pay for the item. The item is defined by Title XVIII the Social Security Act: v. syn·chro·nized, syn·chro·niz·ing, syn·chro·niz·es v.intr. 1. To occur at the same time; be simultaneous. 2. To operate in unison. v.tr. 1. databases across all of our remote offices, delivering enormous application performance and high availability Also called "RAS" (reliability, availability, serviceability) or "fault resilient," it refers to a multiprocessing system that can quickly recover from a failure. There may be a minute or two of downtime while one system switches over to another, but processing will continue. to our end users. And, we're able to maintain full centralized control over all our corporate data." Already deployed in production at many sites, PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise is based on proven, field-tested technology, including version 6.0 of PeerDirect's patented replication engine. This core technology allows automatic bi-directional data synchronization Keeping data in two or more computers up-to-date so that each repository contains the identical information. Data in handheld devices and laptops often require synchronization with the data in a desktop machine or server. between any combination of databases, including products from Oracle, Microsoft, Progress, IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) , Sybase, Informix and even the PostgreSQL open source database. This support for heterogeneous database environments means that companies can choose the best price/performance database for remote application deployment, rather than being forced to use the offering of their existing corporate database vendor. For example, a company can maintain its Oracle database in the corporate data center, deploy open source databases in remote offices, use Microsoft databases on mobile computers, and synchronize See synchronization. the same application over all these databases. This makes formerly cost-prohibitive distributed enterprise architectures cost-effective, enabling new kinds of applications and unprecedented levels of performance and reliability. "PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise is central to our multi-store point-of-sale system," said Dan Stratton, development manager of QDS QDS Questionnaire Development System (trademark of NOVA Research Company) QDS Quarter Degree Square QDS Quote Dissemination System (NASD) QDS quater die sumendus , makers of TireMaster, one of the tire retail industry's most widely deployed point-of-sale systems. "If one retail store loses connectivity, it can continue to operate unimpeded unimpeded Adjective not stopped or disrupted by anything Adj. 1. unimpeded - not slowed or prevented; "a time of unimpeded growth"; "an unimpeded sweep of meadows and hills afforded a peaceful setting" , capturing customer data, processing transactions and viewing inventory across all store locations. When connectivity is restored, the system synchronizes with the other stores and it's as if nothing had ever gone wrong in the first place. This is a truly powerful capability that we found to be impossible to achieve using vendor-specific replication tools or any other solutions." PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise also radically improves system availability and resiliency, by providing built-in system redundancy. The software automatically replicates and synchronizes, so if one of the PeerDirect-managed applications or databases goes down, its workload is moved to another synchronized and replicated system located elsewhere in the enterprise. And when the local system comes back up, it is automatically updated by the other systems without any human intervention. "The central database has played a key role in corporations for many years. Yet, to maintain the integrity of the database it has been necessary to keep all relevant data in one place. This has severely inhibited flexibility for distributed organizations or organizations with mobile workers. The alternative has been expensive, complex, and error-prone attempts at data movement and satellite database management. As a result, companies have never had a practical way to deploy true distributed applications," said Carl Olofson, program director for information management and data integration software at IDC. "IDC has long suggested that the ideal approach is one that has corporate data managed centrally, but deployed locally. The approach taken by the PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise suite addresses this requirement by enabling synchronized distributed data for an application architecture in which companies can effectively utilize the people and low-cost hardware resources in all their remote locations." PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise comprises the following components: - The PeerDirect InnerEdge(TM) Server is a replication technology suite used within a central, corporate data center (the "inner edge" of the enterprise), which works in conjunction with existing databases. This integrates data sources, providing end-users with superior application performance, and also provides built-in database redundancy, eliminating the need for an expensive fail-over infrastructure. For organizations with an existing centralized database resource that needs to be distributed, the PeerDirect InnerEdge Server includes the PeerDirect Replication Engine, a database-specific adapter and an administration console. Each InnerEdge Server can maintain a partial or complete data set, and allows full read and write access to that data. - The PeerDirect OuterEdge(TM) Server is used in remote or mobile offices (the "outer edge" of the enterprise). This deploys both the data and applications to remote locations, extends the reach of the IT organization and allows centralized control of decentralized de·cen·tral·ize v. de·cen·tral·ized, de·cen·tral·iz·ing, de·cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To distribute the administrative functions or powers of (a central authority) among several local authorities. resources. The OuterEdge Server provides a complete distributed replication platform for distributed deployment to remote organizations and individuals. OuterEdge Servers can be configured with many different databases or with the PeerDirect UltraSQL(TM) database server and the PeerDirect Secure Server - an affordable, integrated database, Web and application server environment designed for the push-button (electronics) push-button - A roughly fingertip-sized plastic cover attached to a spring-loaded, normally-open switch, which, when pressed, closes the switch. Typical examples are the keys on a computer or calculator keyboard and mouse buttons. deployment of applications on remote machines. "Our mission is to free companies from the tyranny of centralization cen·tral·ize v. cen·tral·ized, cen·tral·iz·ing, cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To draw into or toward a center; consolidate. 2. , allowing our customers to deploy truly distributed applications that enable disconnected use and stay up and running even if there are network or database problems," said Lorne Cooper, president of PeerDirect Corporation. "By giving our customers the opportunity to manage their applications centrally and deploy remotely, we are giving network architects new, more efficient ways of designing the information flow in the enterprise." About PeerDirect Corporation PeerDirect Corporation is a supplier of advanced, patented technology for distributed application deployment and management. The company's flagship product A primary product of a company, which is typically why the company was founded and/or what made it well known. For example, MS-DOS, Windows and the Microsoft Office suite have been flagship products of Microsoft. CorelDRAW is a flagship product of Corel Corporation. suite, PeerDirect(TM) Distributed Enterprise, allows companies to centrally manage distributed applications with fully synchronized databases deployed across widely distributed Adj. 1. widely distributed - growing or occurring in many parts of the world; "a cosmopolitan herb"; "cosmopolitan in distribution" cosmopolitan bionomics, environmental science, ecology - the branch of biology concerned with the relations between organisms locations. PeerDirect Distributed Enterprise accomplishes this with a core technology that replicates, distributes and synchronizes data and application components across multiple locations, giving customers more responsive and reliable applications with less dependency on network connectivity to a central data center. Based in Bedford, Mass., with additional development operations in Toronto, PeerDirect Corporation is an operating company of Progress Software Corporation (Nasdaq: PRGS) and provides customers with a comprehensive range of enterprise technical support, consulting and training for PeerDirect products. More information on PeerDirect can be found at www.peerdirect.com, or by calling 781-280-4080. About Progress Software Corporation Founded in 1981, Progress Software Corporation, or PSC (Public Service Commission) Same as PUC. (Nasdaq: PRGS), is the parent organization for the Progress Company operating unit operating unit A type of operating company that engages in transactions with outsiders and that is owned by another business. For example, in 1995 the stockholders of Capital Cities/ABC approved a $19 billion merger with the Walt Disney Company, whereupon , Sonic Software Corporation, NuSphere Corporation, and PeerDirect Corporation. PSC provides industry-leading technologies for all aspects of e-business development, deployment, integration and management. Progress Software Corporation is headquartered in Bedford, Mass., and can be reached at +1-781-280- 4000 or on the Web at www.progress.com. PeerDirect, InnerEdge, and OuterEdge are trademarks or registered trademarks of PeerDirect Corporation's affiliate PeerDirect Company in the U.S. and Canada. Any other trademarks or service marks contained herein may be the property of their respective owners. |
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