NEW ORLEANS, LA-At Computer Associates' annual user conference and exhibition held here in July, all attendees' eyes were focused on the magic of software. Among the products showcased by the Islandia, NY-based software company were its enterprise-management solution, Unicenter TNG, and Jasmine, its new application-development solution.
In his keynote speech, Computer Associates chairman and CEO Charles B. Wang addressed a hall filled with more than 25,000 attendees. "I once asked a well-known magician for a definition of magic; he had an interesting answer. He told me that, for him, magic is simply
doing what seems technologically impossible," he said. "And if you think about it, that's a pretty good definition of what we need to do to create great enterprise software. To make our clients successful, we need to empower them to do great things."
MK Group (Islandia, NY), CA's independent business unit dedicated to providing complete manufacturing and distribution solutions, had several announcements.
- MK Enterprise, MK Manufacturing, and MK Logistics now support complete application deployment across the Web. The new Web-enabled capability allows companies to share their corporate information with their suppliers, distributors, and/or customers on a privately managed intranet or the Internet network, making it easier for both supplier and customer to do business.
- Microsoft certifies these same packages for use with its Back Office family. This certification assures clients that their investment in Microsoft and MK Group technologies will provide a seamless
solution that joins the enterprise manufacturing components with the software that automates the rest of the enterprise.
- Full-motion audio and video that trains and provides manufacturing and service assistance will be available through the
integration of Jasmine. Availability is
projected for the release of MK Manufacturing 8.0.
- A business partnership between the MK Group and Champs Software (Crystal
River, FL) will extend the capabilities of the MK Group's ERP solutions to include an integrated solution for managing the main-
tenance activities and costs associated with plants and equipment. The Champs-CMMS application will be offered as an optional extension to MK Manufacturing, MK Enterprise, and ManMan.
- A partnership between MK Group and Thru-Put Technologies (San Jose, CA) will give MK Group customers the
option to include Thru-Put manu-
facturing planning and scheduling software as part of their business solution.
A slew of companies was on hand
either to announce or emphasize business relationships with CA, or products that integrate with various Computer
Associates software packages.
Hewlett-Packard (Cupertino, CA) will bundle CA's Unicenter TNG Framework with all HP-UX servers and workstations. This global agreement, the two com-
panies say, will reduce the cost of ownership of client/server and Internet
computing for their respective customers. In addition to delivering the TNG Framework, HP will also resell the enterprise- management solution built on the TNG Framework, Unicenter TNG, and provide services through its Professional Services Organization (PSO) and support through its Response Center Organization (RCO).
"HP is focused intently on bringing down the total cost of system ownership as we continue to enhance the power and functionality of our product line," said Rick Belluzzo, executive vice-president and general manager of HP's computer organization. "By incorporating Unicenter TNG Framework into our systems, we are giving our customers a valuable product that controls management costs while maintaining system uptime."
"HP's decision to embed the Unicenter TNG Framework in the operating system raises the bar for the entire computing industry," said Wang. "Our collaboration is an outstanding example of two complementary, world-class companies working closely together and building on each others' strengths for the benefit of clients around the world."
In addition, HP and CA announced that a range of HP systems-administration tools for HP-UX servers and workstations and Intel-based NetServers have been
integrated into the Unicenter TNG framework. Examples of the joint integration include HP's Systems-Administration
Manager (SAM), which helps configure and administer HP-UX systems, and
ClusterView, a cluster-monitoring application. TopTools and NetServer Assistant, configuration and management tools for HP's Intel-based servers and workstations, have also been integrated within the Unicenter TNG Framework.
HP is offering the Unicenter TNG Framework as a part of the HP-UX operating system to its new and existing
customers at no additional charge. HP customers who buy Unicenter TNG and its options will benefit from the complete, fully integrated Unicenter TNG application suite.
Mobile Data Solutions Inc. (Richmond, B.C., Canada) spoke on the software-
marketing agreement it reached with Computer Associates' Acacia Technologies division. The agreement, under which Computer Associates will facilitate the introduction of Mobile Data's IBM AS/400 field-service management solution to its CA-PRMS clients, was announced earlier this year.
Mobile Data Solutions' field-service management system tracks service and
warranty agreements, processes service calls, dispatches service personnel, schedules preventive maintenance at customer sites, handles billing of service and off-warranty work, and provides a number of performance reports. Special Mobile Data Solutions interfaces allow a field technician to communicate via a wireless data network or by wire using a mobile computer. The technician can receive
service-call information, query service history or inventory pricing and availability, update the status of calls, complete calls, or contact other technicians.
"The ability of manufacturers and distributors to provide product warranty tracking and field service has become a competitive battleground," said Ken Modaff, general manager of Acacia Technologies. "Mobile Data's field-service management solution gives CA-PRMS clients the edge needed to provide outstanding customer service while reducing costs and increasing the efficiency of their service organization."
Thru-Put Technologies (San Jose, CA) announced that its Resonance Theory of Constraints/Drum Buffer Rope (TOC/ DBR) scheduling, execution, and planning software is now offered as an integrated
extension of both MK Manufacturing and MK Enterprise. Sanjeev Gupta, president of Thru-Put Technologies, said, "With
Resonance TOC/DBR, MK Group
customers will have access to an unequaled manufacturing advantage."
"Think of a manufacturing plant not as a collection of resources existing in iso-
lation, but as a chain of resources requiring synchronization to perform together toward common objectives," explained Kurt Siebert, MK Group general manager. "Resonance allows MK Group users to identify bottlenecks and constraints,
exploit those constraints, and synchronize all other jobs to those constraints in order to maximize plant throughput."
Bradmark Technologies (Houston, TX) announced that it converted CA's ManMan to a Windows-based graphical user interface (GUI) system. Working with Quantum Software, Bradmark released StarMan-a client/server system for the HP3000 version of ManMan. StarMan eliminates the need for terminals, or
terminal emulation, and delivers a system that takes advantage of the processing power of Pentium-class machines while using the existing ManMan core on the HP3000.
"StarMan actually distributes the processing responsibilities between the PC and the HP3000," explained Brad Tashenberg, president of Bradmark Technologies. "This increases the performance of the HP3000 by about 50%, while reducing its CPU overhead by 50%. This double hit is what causes the performance gain. This can have a huge impact on both the pocketbook and factory output." MA