Cloud Consultant Program Launched by mrc

October 1, 2013 Alex Woodie

One-man consultancies who have trouble balancing the demands of keeping up with technology and finding new customers may be interested in hearing about the launch of a new cloud consultant program launched last week by application development toolmaker mrc.

The new program from mrc will give consultants access to its m-Power application development tool running in the cloud. m-Power is designed to help developers create Web and mobile applications quickly by utilizing templates and wizards. The software generates Java code that can run on IBM i and other Java-supported platforms.

The idea of the new program is to give small consultancies low-cost access to development tools that support the latest technologies (AJAX, HTML5, mobile interfaces) without requiring them to make large up-front investments in money (to acquire the tools) and time (to learn how to use them).

m-Power has always had speed-of-development on its side. That is not surprising, considering that michaels, ross, and cole (mrc) has its roots in 4GL tools for the IBM midrange server. But with this new program, it looks like mrc is also looking to give developers a break on the cost of the tools, which carries a list price starting at about $18,000 for a one-year subscription. Unlimited licenses, we’re told, are closer to $40,000.

That’s not an unreasonable amount to charge for a development tool. But that price could prove to be an impediment to small consultants and integrators.

“This new consultant program really levels the playing field for small consultant shops and one-man operations,” says Sal Stangarone, mrc’s senior product consultant. “It brings the advantages of enterprise-class development software to any consultant, regardless of size.”