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INSIDE! $7.00 U.S. NORTHGATE INFORMATION SOLUTIONS ROLLS OUT REALITY V9.0 IN THE U.S. INTERNATIONAL THESPECTRUMSPECTRUM BUSINESS COMPUTER MAGAZINE JULY/AUGUST 2001 • AN IDBMA, INC. PUBLICATION ® FACTFACTOR FICTIONFICTION Is the MultiValue Industry Really Shrinking? on t gh Deadlines he Web? ng Tou Faci Let WebWizard Get You Out of a Bind Here’s Just Some Of The Companies That Found The Way To The Web With Via Advanced Duplication Services AF Supply Corporation Alcoa Barclays Stockbrokers Ltd. Oglethorpe University M Metropolis Industries Building web applications in the MV industry shouldn’t Scalamandre M TRW have to tie you up in knots. With Via Systems Consulting and Training Ser- Why get stuck with those proprietary web-development vices, Web and Windows Integration Tools, you systems that just leave you dangling? too will find your way to the web. You don’t have to be a Houdini to get your way. WebWizard from Via Systems frees you up to tap into the Get the knots untied at www.via.com web on your terms. or call 1-888 TEAMVIA WebWizard is an easy-to-use tool that allows developers International customers contact: and administrators to create sophisticated web-based UK/Europe: Anjec www.anjec.co.uk applications quickly and inexpensively. Australia/Asia: Meier Business Systems Web Wizard lets you write ordinary MV Data/Basic code to customize and create a web page automatically. www.mbs.net.au WebWizard can also be integrated with any Windows web design tool. And cross platforms without the fear of getting even more in a bind. The Way to profitable Web Wizard works with your existing dictionary defini- e-Business tions, so you don’t have to play tricks with your 660 Southpointe Court, Suite 300 application. Colorado Springs, CO 80906 And your web wizardry will make training nightmares Phone: 888 TEAMVIA Fax: 719 576-6842 disappear with the click of a mouse. Email: [email protected] On the web: www.via.com INTERNATIONAL COVER STORY ® DEBATE ON THE FRONT SPECTRUMJULY/AUGUST 2001 32 LINES: THE STATE OF THE MULTIVALUE MARKET FEATURES After all the transformations that have FEATURES occurred in this industry, does a distinct SPECTRUM SPOTLIGHT: NORTHGATE INFORMATION MultiValue world still exist? The cover 40 SOLUTIONS - REALITY RETURNS TO THE U.S. story probes the viability of MultiValue MARKET in today's computer market as a whole. Word on the street is that the Reality DBMS is on the comeback trail after BY STEVEN BACKMAN being absent from the U.S. scene. Northgate unveils its global strategy to roll out the flagship Reality V9.0 DBMS and how it has continued over the years to keep Reality on the technical cutting edge. PALM PROGRAMMING TOOLS 20 Creating a Palm program is not as hard as you may think. Learn about the many different programming languages that can be used to create a Palm application. BY NATHAN RECTOR GETTING STARTED WITH INCORPORATING 26 C CODE INTO YOUR UNIBASIC DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT As a programming language, UniData's UniBasic has a lot to recommend it; however, some tasks are hard to accomplish without third-party tools and add- ins. The C programming language is very good at filling in some of those gaps. Here are three steps that allow a C function to be called from within a UniBasic program. BY OWEN MARKS 6 From the Inside WEBONOMICS 101: POST-MODERN PLASTIC 36 Many Web sites, especially from traditional, offline brick and mortar shops, do 16 Newsmakers well enough without credit card payments. But expectations are changing, and you may need to address the online credit card payment issue to attract new 34 New Products customers to your e-business. BY MELVIN SORIANO 46 Marketplace DIARY OF A WEB SITE - ENCRYPTION 22 Continuing the discussion of Web site security, this installment of the diary takes a look at how to keep data from the prying eyes of people we don't want to see our data. BY BRUCE JOHNSON DEPARTMENTS FIELD-BY-FIELD WEB APPLICATION 10 DEVELOPMENT Since the early days of Web experiments, the challenge has been on to make INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM is a browsers act more like terminals so they can support an "evolution not revolu- registered trademark and MultiValue tion" approach to Web-enabling existing applications. See how Pixieware Soft- ware accomplished its mission. BY JOHN CALDER is a trademark of IDBMA Inc. All other registered trademarks and 8 PERSPECTIVE: SERVICING THE WEB trademarks are the property of the The idea behind Microsoft's Web Services is not a new one. It's a recycling of the component reuse philosophy of the early 1990s. But this time around, will respective trademark holders. the idea take off and gain acceptance? BY BRUCE JOHNSON 4 N INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM JULY/AUGUST 2001 INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM® [ FROM THE INSIDE] JULY/AUGUST 2001 GUS GIOBBI Chairman MONICA GIOBBI President NICHELLE JOHNSON Editorial Manager OR TECHNICAL ADVISORY BOARD FACT Jackie Burhans, Informix Software Henry Eggers, Independent Consultant Tim Holland, Raining Data FICTIONFICTIONIs the MultiValue Bruce Johnson, Tag Consulting Really Ronald H. Jones, Ron Jones Consulting Industry Shrinking? Sherwood King, Raining Data Nathan Rector, Natec Systems Do you think the MultiValue market is Here’s what I found out. Since January 1, Bryan Shumsky, VIA Systems growing, staying the same, or shrinking? 2001, 367 new companies had request- Melvin M. Soriano, Eagle Rock Information Systems That was a key subject of panel discus- ed a subscription; 172 used UniVerse, sions we conducted in Chicago and 106 used UniData, 63 used D3, 21 used MISSION STATEMENT International Spectrum Boston last month at the Spectrum Re- jBASE and 5 used UniVision. Eighteen of magazine’s editorial mission is to be the premier independent source of useful information for users, developers, and resellers of MultiValue gional MultiValue Conferences (See also the companies had recognizable names database management systems, open systems business database solu- Steven Backman's article on page 32 in including Marriott, USA Sprint, Unisys, tions, and related hardware, software, and peripherals. Published bi- monthly, International Spectrum provides comprehensive coverage of the this issue). Serta, CBS, Cigna and Blue Cross. products, companies, and trends that shape the MultiValue marketplace as well as the computer industry at large — helping its readers get the As moderators in both cities indicated If you want my opinion (you know I’ll most out of their business computer systems. that the market was shrinking at an give it to you anyway), here’s what I alarming rate, other panel members and think those panel discussions suggest members of the audience anxiously might be going on. The VARs with quali- shifted in their chairs and raised their ty vertical market software and Internet hands like townspeople at a city council MV.ENTERPRISE Mentor Pro savvy are penetrating fewer but more Reality meeting discussing whether a sewer substantial new customers. To them, the MO/E MULTIVerse Native PICK processing plant should be built on market is growing. VARs with strictly Main Street! legacy applications see a shrinking mar- PCVerse PICK OA How could the perception be so different? ket. The MultiValue consultants are so tm Power95 There were as many opinions as there busy they don’t care. Older legacy end users who were used to getting every- REALITY were people in attendance, but here's one R91 impression that stood out. Representa- thing in the past for a nickel over cost AP/PRO tives in attendance from Informix, Raining are being ignored, and the newer, more Revelation Data, jBASE and VIA Systems were incred- substantial customers are not always ulous at the suggestion that there were aware (nor do they care) that what they MV•BASE RPL “no new customers” coming into the are buying has a MultiValue engine. All of this lends to the perception that IDBMA’s International Spectrum is published six (6) times per year at the MultiValue market. subscription price of $40.00 U.S. in the U.S.A.; $45.00 U.S. in Cana- the market is shrinking when in fact I had a similar positive impression da and Mexico; $50.00 U.S. for other countries. Single copy rates are it is growing. $7.00 U.S. in the U.S.A. and Canada, and $9.00 U.S. in all other in that it felt like there were countries. International Spectrum is published by IDBMA, Inc., 7596 Eads Avenue, Suite 140, La Jolla, CA 92037; 1-800-767-7469; E- more than normal new peo- We’re going to continue this de- Mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.intl-spec- bate at the Spectrum Regional trum.com. Copyright 2001 International Database Management Associa- ple requesting subscrip- tion, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part, without tions to this magazine in MultiValue Conferences in written permission, is prohibited. recent months, so when I Seattle and Cincinnati in PRINTED IN USA • ART AND DESIGN: CP Design, San Diego, CA returned home, I took a September, and in New Jersey NEWS RELEASES/UNSOLICITED ARTICLES look at our database to in November. Come join us and International Spectrum is eager to print your submissions of up-to-the- minute news and feature stories complementary to the MultiValue market- see if the facts backed add your perception to the place. Black and white or color photographs are welcome. Although knowledge base. there is no guarantee a submitted article will be published, every article up the feeling. will be considered. International Spectrum retains all reprint rights. International Spectrum is a registered trademark and MultiValue is a — GUS GIOBBI, CHAIRMAN, IDBMA, INC.