News Briefs and Product Shorts

Sapiens Americas Seals $4.5 Million Deal for OS/400 Insurance Software

The time it takes insurance agents to bind policy quotes at one insurance company will be cut from two weeks to about 30 minutes as part of a comprehensive upgrade to the company's OS/400-based policy and risk management application being conducted by Sapiens Americas. Last week the insurance software specialist announced a five-year, $4.5 million deal to install its Policy INSIGHT, develop portals, and do associated consulting work on the legacy systems of a large U.S.-based insurance company, which didn't want its name used. The Policy INSIGHT software, installed on an iSeries server, will present a more resilient and scalable solution for the customer, Sapiens says. With this software, the insurance company will be able to capture policy information online and provide real-time services to its customers, including "quick-quote" functionality. Sapiens says a key advantage of its "open-standards-based" software is that it allows companies to upgrade their core applications "without embarking on a risky, full-scale platform replacement, which is typically the case in older AS/400 environments." The Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, software company says it was chosen because of its domain experience in the insurance industry and its successful track record. "We are proud that market leaders continue to select Sapiens' solutions for their business needs," said Steven Bessellieu, president of Sapiens Americas.

Quadrant 'FastFax TuneUp' Includes Training, Services

Organizations that use Quadrant Software's FastFax products can now get training and optimization services rolled into a tidy, one-day package. Launched last week, Quadrant's FastFax Tune-Up service involves an onsite visit from one of its professional services engineers, who will provide any needed training and perform a range of actions to get the FastFax product up to full speed again. The FastFax Tune-Up includes updating the software to the latest release, the installation of antivirus software on the Windows-based FastFax Server, updating user and priority settings, configuring purges and system scans, and a range of other administrative and housekeeping tasks (the full list is available on Quadrant's Web site). FastFax users who sign up for a tune up before July 30 will also receive a free online training session as part of Quadrant's ClickScholar Class, which normally cost $200.

ASC Announces New Dynamic Drill-Down in SEQUEL Database Tool

Advanced Systems Concepts says it will be easier for business executives and other users to pull usable information from their iSeries databases with the new dynamic drill-down feature that has been added to the company's OS/400 database query utility, SEQUEL. ASC says the new dynamic drill-down feature in SEQUEL gives users the capability to perform deep analysis of information in iSeries transaction databases, even those with more than one million records. Setting up drill-down capabilities in SEQUEL is a cinch and takes just a couple of minutes, ASC says, with no requirement to establish predefined drill paths or definitions or to set up complicated data marts or cubes, as the function works from non-summarized files in standard SEQUEL "views." ASC's SEQUEL data access solution is a replacement for IBM's Query/400 product and features host, Windows, and Web interfaces and numerous other features and add-ons, such as DB2-to-PC file conversion or the capability to e-mail reports. For more information or free downloads go to www.asc-iseries.com.

Seagull Achieves Microsoft Certification for BlueZone Emulation Software

The BlueZone terminal emulation programs from Seagull Software have received "Designed for Windows XP Gold" certification from Microsoft, it was announced last week. BlueZone is a suite of 5250, 3270, and VT emulators for accessing OS/400, mainframe, and Unix hosts from PC- or Web-based clients. To obtain the Microsoft certification, Seagull had to prove that the BlueZone software cleanly installs on and uninstalls from Windows XP, and that it meets basic security requirements for the operating system, with a minimum of conflicts of shared components.

FormScape's Covus Certified for EnterpriseOne

FormScape has achieved PeopleSoft EnterpriseOne certification for another of its document management applications. Two weeks ago we told you that FormScape's core document management product, Express for PeopleSoft, was certified on the EnterpriseOne ERP suite. Last week we learned that FormScape's Covus product, a "content process fusion" application that brings more business process management capabilities, has also achieved certification on PeopleSoft EnterpriseOne 8.9 SP2, for both the OS/400 and Windows platforms. Half of FormScape's installed base of 7,000 are J.D. Edwards users, according to FormScape's vice president of marketing, Brian Reed. For a complete list of PeopleSoft's certified output partners for EnterpriseOne, go to PeopleSoft's site.

TSM Reports.com Update: Introductory Pricing Extended Through July

Last week we told you about new software and services that could help you get the most out of your IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) implementation (see "Introductory Pricing from Key for TSM Reports.com Reporting Tools"). Guild Companies has since learned that the introductory pricing, offered by TSM Reports.com and its partner, iSeries reseller Key Information Systems, has been extended through the end of July. The offerings include a 30-day license to use the TSM Reports Package for $2,000 and a 12-month contract for the Findings Review service, conducted by Key or TSM Reports.com analysts, which costs $14,000 and includes quarterly reviews.