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February 22, 2006

Microsoft Business Apps Unit Readies New Web 2.0 Mashups

Microsoft and its partners are developing new add-ons to Microsoft CRM and ERP products and licensing them under Shared Source. CRM Live and ERP Live, anyone?

Microsoft Business Solutions unit and its partners are testing new Web-service add-ons to Microsoft's ERP and CRM applications by making code available under various Microsoft's Shared Source licenses.

Microsoft quietly has been posting these add-ons to workspaces on its GotDotNet source-code hosting site since last fall. Like the MSN business unit, Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) is testing out potential new products and code samples by sharing them via "Sandbox" test sites, company officials said.

The most recent Sandbox project, which MBS unveiled officially on February 20, is a family of "Snap Dynamics" tools that are designed to bridge Microsoft Office 2003 with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 and Dynamics/AX (formerly Axapta) ERP products. Microsoft is making the Snap code for these first Snap tools available under the Shared Source Permissive license. And more Shared Source Snap tools are in the pipeline, officials said.

The Permissive License, known as Ms-PL, is considered the least restrictive of Microsoft's Shared Source licenses, allowing individuals to "view, modify and redistribute the source code for either commercial or non-commercial purposes," according to the company.

"MBS has been leading the charge internally in using these licenses," said David Dennis, group manager of Microsoft's Dynamics/SL product line.

But there are other MBS projects incubating in the GotDotNet Sandboxes, too.

In December 2005, Microsoft posted to GotDotNet a mashup of Dynamics 3.0 and MapPoint, its online mapping service. Such a mashup could allow customers to customize the Dynamics CRM contact form to show a MapPoint map displaying a contact's address.

A month before that, MBS made available on GotDotNet for download the Dynamics/SL (formerly Solomon) Portal Lite. Business Portal Lite enables multiple browsers – Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Mozilla and others -- to be used as a thin-client interface connecting the Microsoft Business Solutions Business Portal and the Solomon ERP system. The portal provides users with time, expense approval, alerts and project profitability tracking and reviewing functionality.

There has been a "surprising adoption rate" since Microsoft launched these GotDotNet projects, Dennis said. More than 750 individuals have registered to view code and information in the member-only CRM Sandbox.And more than 110 have registered for the Dynamics/SL Sandbox.

"Mashing up Web services with on-premise applications is something we're evangelizing today," said James Utzschneider, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics marketing.

Utzschneider said this kind of mixing is how Microsoft will likely extend its CRM and ERP applications to make them part of the company's overall "Live" strategy. Just as Windows Live is a set of services extensions to Windows, and Office Live a set of services extensions to Office, Microsoft will be doing the same with its MBS applications, he said.

"Customizing the user interface so it's relevant to me" – with RSS feeds, alerts, MapPoint, and various mobile extensions is the name of the game, Utzschneider said. "Role-based composite applications are the moral equivalent of Web 2.0 for business applications."

Microsoft isn't expecting all of its MBS mashups and/or Live extensions to come from inside the company, however. In the Navision ERP world, many of Microsoft's partners had grown accustomed to sharing bits of code via public and partner newsgroups, noted Dennis.

"What we're doing now are natural extensions of what our partners had been doing all along," Dennis said.

Microsoft will be elaborating on its MBS Live/mashup strategy at the upcoming Microsoft Convergence conference for MBS customers and partners in Dallas in mid-March, company officials confirmed.

Source

Posted by keefner at 03:19 PM

1 PC Driving Multiple Touchscreens

RedRadio have just announced their "100% QUIET TOUCH COMPUTER". The RelayTouch-UTMA is an in-wall 12.1" LCD touch monitor and hardware client that utilises one remote PC to drive multiple screens...

"RelayTouch-UTMA is the world's first wall-mount touch screen ultra-thin client that does not require a CPU, hard-drive, or CD-ROM, yet executes with all the power of a desktop PC. Using NComputing's exclusive UTMA (Ultra Thin Multi-Access) technology, RelayTouch allows you to leverage an existing home automation server to power up to 10 touch-screens around the house, or up to 30 with Windows Server 2003 or 2000 Server...

How does it work?
Each RelayTouch-UTMA is programmed to access the host PC's excess computing power. By utilizing Windows XP/2000/2003's multi-user feature with UTMA technology from NComputing, each RelayTouch-UTMA touch-screen can operate like a separate PC without decreasing the overall performance of either the host PC or each RelayTouch-UTMA. Therefore, each RelayTouch-UTMA unit can run any application from the host PC independently.

Each RelayTouch-UTMA connects to a common server running Windows XP/2000/2003 through the home's Ethernet network (Network Switches are required). UTMA software running on the host establishes a Windows desktop session for each touch screen. The touch screen has full access to the applications on the host.

Each RelayTouch-UTMA only requires power from a low-voltage UL listed power supply and an Ethernet (CAT5) connection to the network. Optionally, small in-wall speakers can be mounted above or around RelayTouch-UTMA for local stereo audio from the UTMA session. Benefits

* 100% quiet operation
* Powerful and affordable
* No maintenance required, ever
* Requires only CAT5 and power
* Runs any Windows application
* Secure and fast "

The RelayTouch 12.1" touch monitor with UTMA will be available in March, 2006 for around $1100.

Posted by keefner at 03:13 PM

Devon IT Announces Availability of New All-In-One Thin Client Terminal

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 21, 2006--Devon IT, the information technology products subsidiary of the Devon Group, today announced the availability of a new integrated All-In-One model that integrates a thin client terminal with built-in flat panel display, keyboard and mouse.

"We have worked carefully to build the most advanced and affordable terminals that enable our customers to easily implement a secure thin-client solution," explained Joe Makoid, President, Devon IT. "Based on our customers' expanding needs, we have now extended the NTA thin client terminal offerings to include more options at lower costs than competing products."

The NTA All-In-One Terminal (NTA-6027L) is powerful multiple-usage terminal that integrates a 17-inch LCD display. When connected to a network environment, the All-In-One Terminal provides user experience is similar to a desktop PC. Using the "Server Centric Computing" approach to enterprise information access, the NTA Terminal minimizes the cost of support by centralizing management.

Features of the NTA All-In-One Terminal (NTA-6027L) include:

-- Designed specifically for Server Centric Computing, No software installation required - Simplifies deployment

-- Easy-to-use Graphical User Interface (GUI) based on Windows XP theme

-- Displays Windows desktops, web browsers, and applications from multi-user Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Microsoft Server 2003

-- Supports RDP, Xterm, and 5250 clients

-- Support for 802.11B wireless connections

-- Displays IBM 3270 session from NTAVO appliance

-- Displays Unix and Linux XWindows applications

-- Integrated 17 inch TFT LCD Panel with resolution up to 1280 x 1024 pixels

-- Full multimedia support, 2 USB, 1 Serial, 2 PS/2, 1 Parallel ports, built in speakers and 2 audio ports

-- Integrated Firefox Web Browser

-- 256 MB Memory, 128 MB Flash Memory

-- No moving parts (i.e. hard drive) to fail

-- Priced starting at US$899

"NTA thin client terminals are excellent solutions for anyone looking to improve the security and reliability of their computer systems," explained Makoid. "NTA thin client terminals is used by many of the world's largest financial, manufacturing and retail companies. It enables enterprise customers to access the capability of today's most powerful personal computers at much lower up-front and total costs. Because NTA thin client terminals are more secure, more reliable and more manageable than PCs, they can provide significant improvements in cost savings and security to organizations around the world."

To Contact Devon IT to receive more information about the NTA Virtual Office solution or to arrange for a demonstration, email [email protected] or call: 610-757-4110 or Toll-free Phone: 888-524-9382. Information is also available at www.ntavo.com

About Devon IT

NTA thin client terminals are available from Devon IT, a leading provider of server-centric computing products and services. Devon IT focuses on offering thin client terminals and ultra-secure remote access solutions that provide enterprise customers with greater security, enhanced manageability, improved reliability, and lower costs. Devon IT is headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. For more information, please visit www.devonit.com
Contacts
Devon IT
Paul Mancini, 610-757-4108
[email protected]

Posted by keefner at 03:11 PM

February 01, 2006

Vendors Form Collaborative AJAX Push

FEBRUARY 01, 2006 (COMPUTERWORLD) - The market for AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), a technique for developing interactive Web applications, is heating up with the announcement today that several vendors, including IBM, BEA Systems Inc., Borland International Inc., Novell Inc., Oracle Corp. and Red Hat Inc., have formed a collaborative to help push AJAX in the open-source community.

Called Open AJAX, the new group plans to contribute code and work together to promote the use of AJAX tools with which developers can build rich Internet applications. Those applications offer the rich content and interactive features of the desktop in software that can be accessed via a thin client. The tools essentially eliminate the need to refresh a Web page every time a user enters or receives new data. This can allow users to scroll through a virtual map or photographs, for example, without refreshing their browser screens.

IBM will propose to the collaborative that its AJAX Toolkit Framework be contributed to the Eclipse Foundation and the Mozilla Corp., said Rod Smith, vice president of emerging technologies at IBM. That framework supports multiple AJAX runtime tools and can be used to develop and debug applications. In addition, San Mateo, Calif.-based Zimbra Inc., which has been developing AJAX applications for two years, will make its AJAX runtime toolkit available to the community under Apache and Mozilla public licenses.

“This group is getting together to collaborate by donating open-source [code] ... to collaborate on the tools and seeing AJAX hit that next phase of adoption,” Smith said. “Enterprises are now getting very interested in AJAX, but the tools lag behind the technology. Google surprised folks [with] how far you could push the browser in terms of Web interactivity. AJAX is a technology that is an extension to the client space, [similar to how] Web services have been to the [business-to-business] space.”

Tony Baer, principal of New York City-based IT research firm OnStrategies, said Open Ajax is to AJAX what J2EE was to Java. It signals that the grassroots growth of AJAX among developers has gained enough momentum to force vendors to take notice, he said. Developers were using AJAX on their own as a way to get away from static Web applications acting like “dumb terminals,” where users had to click each time they wanted to refresh a page, according to Baer.

“[AJAX] has taken on a life of its own,” he said. “It was a train leaving the station with or without [vendors].”

In addition, Microsoft upped the AJAX ante last year when it announced that it would support AJAX as an alternative to Windows Presentation Foundation, its next-generation Vista rich client, he added.

“There was a genuine fear that Microsoft could eventually just co-opt this technology and add its own extensions to it, which would ruin one the beauties of AJAX in that it runs on every browser. [Open Ajax] creates the classic ‘Microsoft and the alternative market,’ and it finally presents a common target around which vendors can focus their develop efforts on.”

BEA’s AquaLogic User Interaction and WebLogic Portal support AJAX for building Web-based user interfaces to improve a user’s experience, Kent Dickson, BEA’s vice president of engineering, said in a statement. The open-source, community-based approach of Open AJAX will help evolve programming frameworks and foster the maturation and adoption of AJAX, he said.

The initial supporting members of Open AJAX include the Dojo Foundation, the Eclipse Foundation, Laszlo Systems Inc., Mozilla, Openwave Systems Inc., Yahoo Inc., Zend Technologies Ltd. and Zimbra.

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Posted by keefner at 06:24 PM