Code-Named ALCATRAZ
Developing Business Objects "For the Rock"

By Ramon Chen & Alan Jay Zwiren, Synon Corporation

Alcatraz is the infamous prison island, hewn from solid rock, in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. It is also the code name for the Obsydian third-party class library initiative. This initiative, which will be officially announced and named on September 1, 1996, is designed to promote the development of third-party Obsydian class libraries.

A class library is a collection of prebuilt abstract objects that are reusable to expedite the development of applications. Speed is only one of the many benefits realized by reusing existing components. Prebuilt components also come pretested; this ensures the components are of the highest quality. Finally, faster development and higher quality greatly reduce the overall cost of development.

Obsydian comes with a core set of class libraries. These class libraries were developed through working partnerships with groups of customers and software vendors, blending together the very best technology skills and business knowledge. The result is a robust set of prebuilt, expandable objects which encapsulate the structure and behavior of real-life business applications. The Obsydian class libraries now offer over 500 objects for:

• Business & Design
• Application Frameworks
• Technology Enablement

There are a growing number of third-party vendors creating Obsydian class libraries and frameworks. These innovative organizations have recognized the demand for class libraries and have already introduced thousands of prebuilt components. Alcatraz is designed to capture, identify and provide Obsydian users access to this rich resource.

The program is designed to highlight Obsydian class libraries developed by third parties. Developers building applications in Obsydian will be able to tour Alcatraz by browsing Synon's web page. A guide will make finding objects within these libraries effortless, accelerating Obsydian development by escaping the need to development sophisticated objects from scratch.

The key to identifying these libraries will be an Obsydian logo. This logo, which is currently being designed, will be prominently displayed on all vendor-built libraries.

Developers who are interested in participating in this program should contact either Ramon Chen or Alan Zwiren at 415-461-5000.

Watch for Alcatraz. There will be no escaping it!

Shipping Obsydian Class Libraries

A number of companies have already developed class libraries and frameworks for Obsydian.

• Azur Technology (33-7220-2255) has developed integration libraries for the integration of Office packages (Word, Excel) and graphic objects (graphs, browsers, etc.) into applications. They also have libraries providing automatic dispatch and reception of documents and messages by Internet, Fax, Lotus Notes and Exchange. A unique feature provided with these class libraries are wizards which guide developers on the use of the objects. http://www.azurtechnology.com

• Synobsys (31-10-458-5532) has developed class libraries for accessing and managing AS/400 system-level objects such as user spaces. These can be combined to provide very comprehensive access to native AS/400 system facilities.

• Impact Software Systems (1-610-758-8503) has announced a series of abstract object class libraries that extend the functionality of Obsydian's base classes and provide additional abstract business objects. One of these class libraries is an abstract object called Extended Audit Entity that extends the inheritable record stamp capabilities of Obsydian's Audited Entity to include the workstation and User Ids of the users changing an application's data files.

• Phoenix Business Solutions (1-217-344-5424) is offering the BOTs Base Objects Library, the first of several Business Object Templates class libraries that provide reusable operational frameworks. The BOTs class libraries are specialized Obsydian objects organized into logical classes that represent common business objects used by the majority of information systems. http://www.soltec.com/phoenix

• ProSys Group (1-708-922-9000) has announced ProSys-FirstWave Abstract 1.0, a group of business system patterns that bring standards, common entity specifications, specific behaviors and application frameworks to the Obsydian developer. http://www.psgsys.com/

Link to the MOVIEWEB "The Rock" Website

(c) 1996 Hollywood Pictures. All Rights Reserved          (c) 1996 MOVIEWEB. All Rights Reserved

Link to the U.S. National Park Service's official ALCATRAZ website

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Modified: 1st of August, 1996