News Briefs and Product Shorts

Cleo Delivers New Management GUI with VersaLex 2.2

Cleo Communications has launched VersaLex 2.2, the latest release of its Java-based B2B communications software for OS/400 and other platforms that allows trading partners to share documents via the AS2, FTP, FTP/S, HTTP, and HTTP/S protocols. New features with VersaLex 2.2 include support for the Red Hat Linux 9 operating system and a new GUI management screen that allows companies to configure, monitor, manage, and add capabilities to VersaLex via a standard Web browser. Cleo says this new GUI management screen was developed for platforms that do not have a native GUI (such as OS/400). VersaLex is the core communications engine on which Cleo bases several other products, including LexiCom, VersaLex Trader, and VersaLex Exchange. New features in VersaLex Trader and VersaLex Exchange include a new integrated FTP Server that allows companies to operate as a hub for FTP environments (in addition to AS2), and to manage all EDI traffic from a central point. The Rockford, Illinois, company also says it has added support for Web services in VersaLex Trader and VersaLex Exchange, and has made performance improvements in them as well.

iSeries Reseller Develops P&C Insurance Solution Based on WebSphere

CCS Technology Solutions, an Irvine, California, iSeries reseller, has developed WebSphere-powered applications for companies in the property and casualty (P&C) insurance industry. The product, called OneTimePortal, is a customizable Java-powered application that provides rating, quoting, underwriting, and policy-binding functionality for carriers and agents, and is compliant with insurance industry standards, such as ACORD XML. CCS says that OneTime can reduce transaction costs, improve responsiveness, and enhance profitability of the agency channel by giving agents a complete way of doing business with carriers. Namely, many of the transactions that insurance companies are pushing out on the Web involve customer data that agents have on their agency management systems, CCS says. So, by allowing agents to upload data to the carrier's Web platform, and then downloading the policy data to their local systems, OneTimePortal can help eliminate the re-keying of information, providing a productivity boost, the company says. For more information, contact the company at www.ccseservers.com.

ENER.G Group Happy with SpreadSheet Server for EnterpriseOne

A British electricity generation company has purchased a license to use Global Software's Spreadsheet Server for PeopleSoft application. Manchester-based ENER.G Group, which works to generate clean power, will gain the capability to work with their EnterpriseOne-based financial data from within standard Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. Spreadsheet Server for PeopleSoft has given ENER.G Group "flexibility and usability," says Stephen Treagust, the company's IT and business systems manager. Treagust adds that the product also allows his users to combine EnterpriseOne reports with data from other systems, resulting in "professionally formatted reports" that provide ENER.G Group users with the information they need to run the business. The systems integrator on the project, Differentia Consulting, is keen on Spreadsheet Server's prospects on the island-nation. "This product has been accepted with open arms in the PeopleSoft-J.D. Edwards user community in the Unites States, the rest of world, and now the United Kingdom," says Differntia's managing director, Adrian Parker.

ACOM Knocks 30% Off Electronic Checks and Xerox Printer Bundle

ACOM Solutions is offering a discount on EZPayManager/400, an application that allows companies to replace their preprinted check forms with electronic check templates, and lets them submit payments electronically. From now through October 30, customers can purchase EZPayManager/400 payment, the company's MICR checks module, along with a Xerox Phaser 4500 MICR laser printer, for $4,995. This is a savings of about 30 percent on the standard $7,000 price this solution would command, says James Scott, general manager of ACOM's iSeries division. The Xerox Phaser 4500 can print checks at speeds of up to 36 pages per minute, and uses MICR toner and blank-check stock from ACOM that the company has engineered to meet industry standards. ACOM is also offering to design the customer's first electronic check for them if they purchase training with the package.

CSG Systems Enhances Integration with New API in Telecommunications Solution

CSG Systems is shipping a new release of ICMS, the OS/400-based customer care and billing system that it bought from IBM two years ago. The Englewood, Colorado, company says the newest release of ICMS features an API layer that enables faster and more flexible integration between ICMS and other third-party applications, such as CRM, financial systems, and workforce management programs that must share data with billing and customer care software. The API is based in J2EE and has been implemented via an open Web services architecture, the company says. When CSG Systems bought ICMS from IBM, it acquired about 40 ICMS users, including companies like Saudi Telecom, Telecom New Zealand, ntl Group, Cable & Wireless, and others spread across 20 countries. Since then, it has completed additional ICMS deals, including landing Telecom Namibia as a new client.

California Software Updates OS/400 Migration Utility

California Software last week announced that it's now shipping a new release of InfiniteiSeries, a collection of compilers, utilities, and operating system services for migrating and recompiling OS/400 applications written in RPG III, RPG IV, or COBOL on Windows, Linux, and Unix platforms. With this release, which the company did not identify, California Software has made several feature enhancements, including new database commands that result in faster execution of migrated application running under Windows. This release also has ILE enhancements, including an improved ILE debugger and amendments to PPG/ILE/COPY processing, the San Clemente, California, software company says.