Valid Technologies recently took the wraps off a new product called Valid Secure Systems Authentication (VSSA) that uses fingerprints to grant users access to computers, programs, and data–or more importantly, prevent the wrong person from gaining access. While it can be used to grant access to a variety of applications, the product itself runs only under OS/400, because it is the most secure platform on the market, according to company officials.

In development for the past 20 months, VSSA became generally available in August as version 1.4. The software works in tandem with biometric fingerprint readers from American Power Conversion

Five years ago, XML was seen as a cure-all for the escalation of disparate document formats and the new common language for conducting business online. While XML has become a key standard, it hasn’t replaced other types of documents, such as EDI and flat files, which are still in widespread use. DataMirror, one of the companies filling the need for data transformation tools, recently updated its DB/XML Transform software to better support flat files.

DB/XML Transform serves as a data conversion hub for a range of IT projects, including handling B2B transactions, populating Web portals, transforming EDI to XML

In marketing lingo, IBM‘s Workplace gets described as “the next-generation front-end for end-user computing.” Although most Four Hundred Stuff readers are probably familiar with the Workplace brand name, a clear understanding of this software portfolio and its benefits remain out of reach. To put a better handle on it, you need to see it as a single work environment in which you can access applications, information, business processes, and people. Another way to say it is the combination of collaboration and portal software in one package.

Last week IBM opened the door to another piece in its Web-based collaborative

SSA Global wasted little time incorporating technology from one of its most recent acquisitions, Boniva Software. Last week it launched the version 2.0 release of its Human Capital Management (HCM) suite. The new release of the Java-based employee management suite bears the employee recruitment, learning management, and performance assessment capabilities developed by Boniva, as well as new self-service capabilities and enhancements to payroll and benefits modules.

It’s been less than a month since SSA Global acquired Boniva Software, a Santa Clara, California, developer of Java-based e-learning, skills management, and performance management software. At the time, SSA Global chief executive Michael