News from TopSpeed

by Danielle Guzzetta

Published 1998-05-01    Printer-friendly version

TOPSPEED SHIPS CLARION 4 INTERNET EDITION

Integrated Toolset Fully Automates Web Application Development

Pompano Beach, Florida, April 21, 1998 -- TopSpeedÒ Corporation today announced the immediate availability of Clarion 4^™ Internet Edition -- the latest version of TopSpeed's Internet solution. A 4GL Internet development platform, this Edition builds 3-tiered, Java-enabled applications in the most automated, economical way possible. Combining Clarion 4's -- winner of a PC Week Analyst's Choice Award -- automated programming environment with TopSpeed's powerful Internet Developer's Kit in a single, fully-integrated solution, Clarion 4 Internet Edition enables developers to develop and deploy full-featured Web applications for intranets, extranets and intricate public Web sites.

"With Clarion 4 Internet Edition, developers are free to concentrate on solving business problems rather than having to create an infrastructure for the application," says TopSpeed CEO Mr. Bruce Barrington. "TopSpeed's fully automated solution means developers can add Internet access to existing databases, or create new Internet applications without the need to learn Java. As a result, they can generate a complete Web site with full navigation, database updating and reporting facilities faster than with any competitive development toolset," says Mr. Barrington.

Universal Access, Economical Networking

Providing solutions to the key challenges of Web development, Clarion 4 Internet Edition delivers:

• Universal Access to Transactional Database Applications -- Developers can create Client/Server-based, full-featured "Windows-look-and-work-alike" database applications that run on the Web as a series of dynamically generated pages with user interface controls inside the browser. This enables end users to work most effectively and efficiently in the Web environment. Reports, for example, can be generated and printed directly from the Web.

• Economical Network Traffic Supporting an Ultra Thin Client -- After a one-time download of a compact Java package, the browser client requires only the data the end-user works with, and the associated formatting options, for each new dynamically generated page.

Complete Web Development Solution

Clarion 4 Internet Edition automates development and deployment of applications and can run from any platform that supports a Java-enabled browser, including Windows, Network Computer, Macintosh and UNIX. The integrated toolset includes: 

• Clarion 4 Professional Edition -- Automated development solution that fully utilizes the power of object-oriented programming with templates that generate pre-tested, object-oriented code to create applications that can be deployed in Windows and Web environments. Highlighted as an Analyst's Choice by PC Week Labs, Clarion 4 Professional Edition "gives developers a productive and affordable tool for building both Windows and Web applications with low initial effort and exceptional ease of maintenance," says PC Week analyst Peter Coffee.
• Clarion Internet Developer's Kit -- Web-enabling component that adds remote control to any Windows application via extension templates. Developers create applications that write an HTML page replica each time a window changes and automatically post events when an HTML control is manipulated at the browser.
• Clarion Application Broker -- Manages conversation between the browser and the Web-enabled client. Web extensions are transparent when applications are launched from the desktop.

Pricing and Availability

Clarion 4 Internet Edition, including a special version of the Application Broker for development and testing, retails for $999 and is available immediately at an introductory price of $749. Applications created with Clarion 4 Internet Edition can run on the Web, Windows 95, and Windows NT multi-tier platforms. Call TopSpeed today at 800-354-5444 or 954-785-4555 or contact your local distributor. Visit TopSpeed at www.topspeed.com for more information.

TOPSPEED APPOINTS SENIOR VICE PRESIDENTOF SALES AND MARKETING

Pompano Beach, Florida, April 28, 1998¾ TopSpeedÒ Corporation, a leading supplier of Client/Server rapid application development and deployment tools, has appointed Gene Piken as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Mr. Piken brings with him over 30 years of worldwide business development experience in the computer hardware, software and more recently the Internet marketplace.

"TopSpeed has an incredible product, and after years of development they have perfected the technology. The Clarion product line has a great reputation, and its recent and forthcoming innovations have proven superior to that of any competitive product out there. My job is to show the world just how superior," says Mr. Piken.

Prior to joining TopSpeed, Mr. Piken was the Director of Worldwide Business Development for Progress Software Corporation, a $200 million company in the software application development tools and RDBMS business. At the time when Mr. Piken started with Progress ten years ago, it was only a $8.5 million company. He was responsible for growing worldwide distribution and is credited for breaking new ground and having established much of their international distribution as it exists today. More recently, he was involved in opening new business for Progress' new Internet products.

Prior to joining Progress, Mr. Piken developed a voice/database system that he marketed to the Boston banking industry. He also held international and domestic positions with General Electric, Data General and Analog Devices Corp.

As the new Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for TopSpeed, Mr. Piken plans to lead the company into new application development and deployment markets involving Client/Server and web-based software projects.

Enterprise Edition Beta 1 Now Shipping

TopSpeed Corporation is currently shipping the first beta of its Enterprise Edition.

This is a new generation of Clarion technology with compelling benefits for every corporate programmer as well as every independent software developer who programs for a living.

Enterprise Edition delivers a unique combination of automation features, sound development methodology, blazing execution speed, extensive database awareness and effortless connectivity, as well as easy-to-program flexibility. It automates every phase of your work starting with design, through development and deployment, all the way through ongoing maintenance.

Best of all, Enterprise Edition allows you to CODE! (Create Once, Deploy Everywhere). It's the only development environment that lets you create 16- and 32-bit programs for Windows 3.x, 95 and NT¾ all from a single source.

What to Expect

Automate the Design Phase

With Enterprise Edition, dictionaries can now be displayed and edited graphically, making it easier to visualize the files and the relationships between them. Enterprise Edition's Data Modeller feature has comprehensive built-in error checking that ensures that dictionaries are accurately designed. Developers can now make a change to a field in one file and Data Modeller automatically ensures that the change cascades to other identically defined fields elsewhere in the dictionary. Data Modeller helps you apply your "preferred" field names and field properties to new files and tables, automatically. Use Data Modeller to design new databases faster.

Streamlined Development ¾ Reduced Time Spent Maintaining Existing Applications

The dictionary synchronizer imports the structure of any database into a Clarion database dictionary automatically. With this breakthrough technology, a developer can automatically update the dictionary to match any changes that the database administrator might have made since the project was last worked on¾ even after months.

Improved Database Connectivity Opens New Doors

Applications with native drivers sell for more money. Applications with supercharged native drivers sell for a lot more money.

Increase Team Communication and Productivity

Seamlessly integrated into Clarion for Windows, the power of PVCS Version Manager places PVCS functionality on the Windows menu. When it comes to group development, Enterprise Edition's team developer feature allows multiple developers to share an application file, each "locking" the procedures they are responsible for. Yet, each developer still has access (read-only) to their fellow developers' procedures, giving the entire development team an opportunity to view the most up-to-date versions of each procedure. Additionally, team developer offers compelling advantages for a single developer project¾ version control¾ the best way to manage the needs of users who work with different versions of an application. The TopSpeed Version Control System decreases time spent on application maintenance by better managing the versions of your application. A version control system is the most productive way to manage the different needs of the users who work with different editions of your application. Multiple developers can check in and check out procedures from the same application, so that two or more can easily work on the same application at the same time.

Automate the Setup Program Step ¾ Create Setup Programs by Running a Wizard

Enterprise Edition offers the best solution for deploying mission-critical database applications to Windows 3.1, 95 and NT. Enterprise Edition's application deployment feature gives developers 100% control of customizing setup¾ even providing source code¾ far beyond the level of any other install maker. Developers can standardize their setup user interface, so that every setup takes just minutes, hence the developer can spend time on more profitable tasks.

TopSpeed Corporation, an international company based in Pompano Beach, Florida, is a leading supplier of rapid application development and deployment tools for Web and multi-tier platforms. Founded in 1982 as Clarion Software Corporation, the company became known for its integrated development environment for database applications. Clarion merged with JPI (started by former members of the Borland team, developers of Turbo Pascal) in 1992, combining JPI's superb compiler technology with their award-winning database development environment.

TopSpeed is a registered trademark of TopSpeed Corporation. All other products or company names contained herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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Clarion Magazine ISSN 1718-9942