JOLT Winner
AquaLogic Data Services Platform (BEA Systems)
Nishi Deokule
Reviewed by Seth Grimes
BEA's AquaLogic DSP provides data services in a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)--real-time, on-demand, in-place federation of diverse data sources--with a focus on standards-based information access via SQL, XQuery, and JDBC interfaces. The aim is to facilitate data-consumer/application utilization of distributed enterprise information. The product enables a model-driven, Information as a Service approach on an integrated BEA WebLogic server platform. It supports not only portals, reports, and specialized tools but also Excel, the interface of choice for many information consumers. There's also strong attention to features for developers, including an Eclipse interface, for deployment on Linux, Windows, and Unix. We were impressed with AquaLogic DSP's ability to turn heterogeneous enterprise information into data services and with the focus not on coding, but rather on modeling, a higher level of abstraction. AquaLogic DSP goes beyond ETL's extract-transform-load paradigm to provide on-demand, in-place, bi-directional, reusable information access. We were impressed with BEA's initiative to extend the now-familiar Software as a Service (SaaS) model to enable Information as a Service. We liked the interface, the capabilities, the architecture, and the product's leadership in a demanding data-integration space that is far from mature.
Aleri Streaming Platform (Aleri)
Reviewed by Seth Grimes
Complex Event Processing (CEP) has continued to gain visibility in the quest to react nearly instantaneously to events--to opportunities and risks--discerned in high-volume, real-time data streams. Aleri has maintained its position as a leading vendor in CEP's core financial services market while building partnerships to develop solutions for a disparate set of industries that are adopting event-driven Service-Oriented Architecture with the aim of turning a flood of data to competitive advantage. CEP enables organizations to respond quickly to rapidly changing market and business conditions. Aleri, via its continuous query architecture, remains an innovator in delivering CEP capabilities to capital-markets and other high-data-volume customers.
Crystal Reports (Business Objects)
Reviewed by Seth Grimes
Crystal Reports was hugely disruptive and important - revolutionary, even - for several years following its 1984 introduction. It was an easy-to-use reporting tool bundled with a wide variety of productivity software packages. In the past decade, the reporting market has become crowded with low-cost and open-source tools for the desktop, enterprise, and web. Crystal Reports, now part of the Business Objects business intelligence product line, has kept up with the times. The product now provides import of Flash files generated with Business Objects' Xcelsius and Adobe Flex, web services support, parameterized reports, an Eclipse designer, and a salesforce.com driver: a solid product that enhances programmer productivity.
EnterpriseDB Advanced Server (EnterpriseDB Corp.)
Reviewed by Seth Grimes
Central to EnterpriseDB Advanced Server's appeal are its Oracle compatibility and its reliance on the proven, open-source PostgreSQL database management system. Combined, these ingredients provide Oracle shops a low-cost, plug-replacement DBMS alternative and create a very attractive DBMS option for everyone else. But these properties are only the starting point for EnterpriseDB AS's Jolt-worthiness. The company is one of the top contributors to making PostgreSQL--the underlying DBMS and not just their extended version--a viable enterprise DBMS. They are improving the state of the art for all PostgreSQL users, and because of the value they put on top of PostgreSQL, they are motivating free-software users to become commercial customers. In the words of Jolt Judge Robert DelRossi, "Is their aim altruistic? Commercial? A blending of the two? It may not matter as the result appears to be a good one."
