By ADAM GIFFORD
German software company Software AG has opened an office in Wellington as part of a worldwide effort to push a new range of e-business products.
Software AG is mainly known for its Adabas database and Natural programming language, which are used by several NZ companies, including Fletcher Paper, Woolworths
and Sovereign Assurance.
It also has a range of integration technologies or middleware.
The new products are Tamino, a fast XML (extensible mark-up language) information server, which can turn any data source into XML objects, and Bolero, a development tool which generates Java source code.
New Zealand manager Dave Marsh said Software AG was distributed here for more than 20 years by SPL WorldGroup.
But when SPL indicated it wanted to become more of a services company, Software AG acquired its enterprise support division in Australia and the United States. This included all staff responsible for Software AG products.
"One of the first items of business for the Australian arm was to open an office here," said Mr Marsh, who worked for SPL WorldGroup until it closed its New Zealand branch several years ago.
"Because the new e-commerce products are aimed at a fast-moving market, we don't have time to delay with distributors. We need that direct commitment."
He is talking to consulting firms, system integrators and application developers about partnership arrangements.
XML is seen as a key technology for e-commerce and e-business because it describes the nature of the data contained within it. This makes it far easier to exchange complex structured data over the internet or within systems.
"While there are XML extensions to other databases, Tamino is the first native XML server," Mr Marsh said. "By holding the data in native XML, it means you don't have to rebuild it, so there are gains in performance and in the integrity of the data."
