Metafile Debuts New WebSphere Portlet for COLD Suite

Metafile, the Rochester, Minnesota, developer of content management and imaging software for OS/400 and other platforms, this month launched a new portlet application for IBM‘s WebSphere Portal Server software. Metafile’s MF.net Portlet for IBM WebSphere software provides another way for users to access the MetaViewer Enterprise electronic report management system from Web portals hosted on the WebSphere software.

MetaViewer Enterprise is a Windows-based enterprise report management (ERM) and computer output to laserdisc (COLD) suite, designed to capture, organize, and redistribute output from applications running on OS/400, mainframe, Unix, Windows, and Linux servers, although most of Metafile’s 600 customers run the software on OS/400 servers. MetaViewer Enterprise has the capability to full-text-index millions of pages of documents per day, including AFP, PDF, green-bar reports, X-rays, barcodes, Excel spreadsheets, and many other types of documents.

Before this release, users worked with MetaViewer Enterprise through a Windows or a browser-based client. With the introduction of the MF.net Portlet for IBM WebSphere, Metafile has delivered a new option that Metafile says will reduce application development and administration costs. By using site security and database information already configured in WebSphere, Metafile says, it is much easier to add users and deliver personalized and secure content.

As with other ways of accessing the software, users of MF.net Portlet for IBM WebSphere get the benefits of MetaViewer Enterprise’s full-text search. This means that customer service representatives can simply type in whatever information they get from a customer, such as a customer name or account number, and be able to call up any saved document or transaction in a matter of seconds, Metafile says.

One of the new users of the MF.net Portlet is an AS/400 shop, ASICS America Corporation, the sports apparel manufacturer based in Irvine, California. The company’s customer service reps were spending too much time searching for documents, particularly bills of lading generated by its AS/400 applications. The company had recently implemented WebSphere and wanted an imaging system that would integrate with it, says Leo Ghazarian, the company’s IT operations manager. “MetaViewer Enterprise was the only software package we could find that met our requirements,” he says.

ASICS used the MF.net module of MetaViewer Enterprise with WebSphere, using Java servlets that are hosted on the WebSphere portal site. Ghazarian says the software makes it easier for both customer service and ASICS IT administrators because they’re using existing WebSphere applications software that they’re already familiar with. “MetaViewer coexists well with the WebSphere environment and also provides an extraordinary level of integration with the AS/400,” he says. “MF.net Portlet provides our users with the information they need in seconds, from within the comfortable and secure environment of our WebSphere portal.”

Metafile’s MF.net Portlet for IBM WebSphere is available now and should work with WebSphere Portal running on any platform. The extension adds about an extra $10,000 to the cost of a MetaViewer Enterprise license, which starts at about $18,000 for an entry-level package. More product information can be found on Metafile’s Web site, at www.metafile.com.