INSIDE! WHY A SOFTWARE MIGRATION CAN FAIL ... AND HOW TO STOP IT! $7.00 U.S. INTERNATIONAL ® SPECTRUMSPECTRUMTHE BUSINESS COMPUTER MAGAZINE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005 • AN IDBMA, INC. PUBLICATION appyappy HolidaysHolidays fromHH Spectrum to you! HH INTERNATIONAL ® SPECTRUMNOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005 appy WEBONOMICS: OPEN SAYS ME How does OpenOffice, the open appy 28 source software that you can use without coughing up hundreds of dollars per workstation, really stack up against Microsoft Office? BY MELVIN SORIANO to you! RFID — JUSTIFYING THE ROI If you can’t believe how much an RFID implementation can cost, take a look at this breakdown of costs and how it could pay HolidaysSpectrum 6 fromH off for your company. BY NATHAN RECTOR WHY THE MIGRATION TO A NEW SOFTWARE APPLICATION 26FAILS ... AND HOW TO STOP IT! Costs involved in a failed software migration can be immeasurable. Here are some tips to help you avoid the pitfalls. BY ROBERT R. COLTUN REVELATION TECH TIPS: CONVERTING, MIGRATING OR 18 FRONT-ENDING APPLICATIONS AND DATA FOR USE WITH OPENINSIGHT Learn about Revelation’s new Character to OpenInsight (CTO) interface, a set of features that allows MultiValue developers to take an account save of an existing application and restore the saved account as an application within OpenInsight. BY ROBERT CATALANO THEN... AND NOW — KEYSTONE: 30 YEARS OF DELIVERING 42 MULTIVALUE APPLICATIONS TO THE PUBLIC SECTOR Starting out as a Microdata Reality dealer, Keystone Information Systems has grown to be a cor- nerstone of the public education, local government, and public safety vertical markets, while retaining the value of MultiValue database management systems. TECHNICAL UPDATE: JBASE INTERNATIONAL ENABLES 22DATA AT REST ENCRYPTION WITH DREM As demand for data security continues to rise, organizations are starting to require that critical data be encrypted inside corporate databases. jBASE has a new solution with the intro- duction of the Data at Rest Encryption Module (DREM), which requires no appli- cation code changes. HISTORY OF MULTIVALUE: SPECTRUM’S 25TH DEPARTMENTS 38ANNIVERSARY — THE HALL OF FAME Growing from a user group meeting to a worldwide enterprise with trade shows and confer- 4 From the Inside ences in the U.S., London, and Australia, International Spectrum is an event that has covered a lot of ground over the last 25 years. Spectrum looks back 31 New Products at the exhibitors and show events that contributed to the making of the MultiValue industry. is a registered trade- AL SPECTRUM ATIO N A Inc. All TECHNICAL UPDATES FROM MULTIVALUE DBMS INTERN 12PROVIDERS Partners HealthCare Systems goes live with a ultiValue is a trademark of IDBM new system built on InterSystems’ CACHE post-relational database. Via mark and M Systems adds enhancements and new features to the Quantum VS other registered trademarks and trademarks are the myViewpoint business intelligence product. Raining Data inks marketing agreements with Sun Microsystems and Stonewall Networks. Northgate property of the respective trademark holders. Information Solutions lands new deals to provide technology solutions. INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005 3 [ FROM THE INSIDE] INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM® 25 Years NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005 GUS GIOBBI Chairman MONICA GIOBBI 94 Shows President and Counting... NICHELLE JOHNSON Editorial Manager When we started thinking about the 25th long as we're in the neighborhood, let's go TECHNICAL ADVISORY BOARD Anniversary Spectrum Show a year ago, we discuss it." Henry Eggers, Independent Consultant said, "Let's do one article in each issue After taking a closer look, "in the neigh- Tim Holland, Holland Consulting between now and the show that serves up a borhood," in this case, was an eight-hour Bruce Johnson, Tag Consulting nostalgic snapshot of the past." Sort of a flight away. I also remember one time flying Ronald H. Jones, Ron Jones Consulting "Let's look back to see where we've been; from San Diego to Heathrow, getting off Nathan Rector, Natec Systems maybe we'll learn something about where the plane and going straight to the Olympia Bryan Shumsky, Revelation Software we're going." Exhibition Centre for setup. We had come Melvin M. Soriano, Eagle Rock Information Systems One of the biggest questions was, "Count- a long way from the stomach-turning jitters of booking 200 rooms at Caesar's Lake MISSION STATEMENT International Spectrum ing regional shows, how many Spectrum magazine’s editorial mission is to be the premier independent source of Tahoe in 1982. I had visions of cement useful information for users, developers, and resellers of MultiValue data- shows altogether have we produced?" We shoes back then if we didn't come up with base management systems, open systems business database solutions, didn't know the answer, but we knew it was and related hardware, software, and peripherals. Published bimonthly, the goods. International Spectrum provides comprehensive coverage of the products, a lot. We also wondered how many compa- companies, and trends that shape the MultiValue marketplace as well as the computer industry at large — helping its readers get the most out of nies have exhibited at Spectrum shows over The list of companies that exhibited at their business computer systems. the past 25 years and what could be said Spectrum shows over the years was stag- about them? gering. We found 550 and at that we're not sure we found them all. When you look at So that was the task we took on for this this list, it will conjure up memories. Some issue. What we found was interesting to say comments you'll find yourself muttering MV.ENTERPRISE Mentor Pro the least. are: "Remember that guy — he was a jerk. MO/E MULTIVerse We first looked at how many Spectrum Remember that company — that was a big Native PICK shows had been produced. We had never company back then. Remember that com- PCVerse PICK OA done that before, and guessed it would be pany — what a stupid name! Remember tm about 50. We were way off — it turns out that company — they should have had it Power95 that there have been a total of 93 Spectrum all! Remember that company — I wonder R91 REALITY shows over the past 24 years. The Long what happened to them?" AP/PRO Beach show in March will be the 94th. There's probably limited value in publishing That explains why even though we take the data contained in this archival article, RPL them all very seriously, we've become except that as I've always said, "Spec- MV•BASE somewhat blasé about travel and the trum's activity is a mirror of what's IDBMA’s International Spectrum is published six (6) times per year at the logistics of producing a smooth-run- happening in the MultiValue market at subscription price of $40.00 U.S. in the U.S.A.; $45.00 U.S. in any point in time." When we Canada and Mexico; $50.00 U.S. for other countries. Single copy ning event. I remember having a rates are $7.00 U.S. in the U.S.A. and Canada, and $9.00 U.S. in conversation in Sydney not that looked at the data, it brought all other countries. International Spectrum is published by IDBMA, Inc., back memories of the ebb and 715 J Street, Suite 301; San Diego, CA 92101; Tel: 619/515-9930; many years ago when General Fax: 619/515-9933 E-Mail: [email protected]; Website: flow of our market as the http://www.intl-spectrum.com. Copyright 2005 International Data- Automation wanted us to con- base Management Association, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction sider doing a Spectrum show in inevitable waves of prosperity in whole or in part, without written permission, is prohibited. and rough times came along. Singapore. We said, "Well, as PRINTED IN USA • ART AND DESIGN: CP Design; 619-246-6878; San Diego, CA NEWS RELEASES/UNSOLICITED ARTICLES International Spectrum is eager to print your submissions of up-to-the-minute news and feature stories complementary to the MultiValue marketplace. Black and white or color photographs are welcome. Although there is no guarantee a submitted article will be published, every article will be con- — GUS GIOBBI, CHAIRMAN, IDBMA, INC. — sidered. International Spectrum retains all reprint rights. [email protected] International Spectrum is a registered trademark and MultiValue is a trade- mark of IDBMA Inc. All other registered trademarks and trademarks are the 4 N INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005 property of the respective trademark holders. RFID Justifying the ROI BY NATHAN RECTOR I’ve been talking about RFID for the past year at the Interna- tional Spectrum Shows, as well as in my articles, and to those of you who signed up for the Spectrum Webinar in November. During all of these, I’ve alluded to the costs of implementing an RFID project. I can’t see your faces when you are reading my articles, but when I talk about it at the Spectrum shows, I see a lot of shocked faces. Most people don’t believe me until I start adding up the expenses for them. As IT people, we don’t always have to think about ROI other than the project will cost X and the sales it will bring in is Y. RFID is not as simple as Y - X = profit, and I’ve yet to see a really good formula you can use to generate the ROI of RFID. Because of this, you have to look at several factors, including the nebulous “soft profit” from personnel savings and efficiency gains, over-stock/out-of-stock savings, and the advantage of the collected data. Continues on page 8 6 N INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2005 International Spectrum’s 2005 Webinar Series Webinar #7 Thursday, December 1, 2005 Using Excel Pivot Tables to Analyze Your