Integration Solution Update from Sterling Commerce

Business integration specialist touts latest version of suite as platform for real-time and batch processing

Business integration specialist touts latest version of suite as platform for real-time and batch processing

Columbus, Ohio — May 6, 2004 — Business integration specialist Sterling Commerce announced has released the latest version of its flagship integration platform, adding new capabilities for handling bulk data files that allow the solution to now be used for real-time information exchange, on-time processing of large data files and the transfer of various types of data.

Sterling said that its Gentran Integration Suite offers a modular business integration platform that provides a range of capabilities, including Internet B2B, Web services, electronic data interchange (EDI), business process management, enterprise application integration and enhanced file transfer.

New features in the version 3.1 of the suite include the ability to transfer various types of data, ranging from more structured data such as EDI and XML to such unstructured data as flat files and e-mails. In addition, new Connect:Enterprise and Connect:Direct adapters help manage data exchange between customer deployments of the Connect solutions and Gentran Integration Suite.

A Perimeter Services security component in version 3.1 manages the communications flow between Gentran Integration Suite and the perimeter network or "demilitarized zone." Perimeter Services is designed to solve problems in network congestion, security and scalability for high-volume Internet B2B gateway environments, according to Sterling.

The new version also includes support for version 2.2.2 of the UCCnet Services standard for data synchronization, including the support for the "price" product attribute. And Sterling says that the suite can now be deployed in a standalone Java Unix environment without the need for a J2EE application server.

"This offering supports the various information exchanges companies deal with depending on their particular business need including a range of transport protocols and data types," said Sam Starr, president and CEO of Sterling.

With the latest release, Sterling is particularly highlighting the suite's ability to provide a platform for real-time and batch processing. The company noted in announcing the new suite that while there is a growing interest in real-time information exchange, a recent Deloitte Consulting study found that in today's corporate IT environment, approximately two-thirds of all system interfaces are still batch.

"The key for businesses is to manage and optimize the latency required of both periodic and real-time business processes," Starr said.

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